Books You Wish You Hadn't Bought?

Silver Crow

I've never regretted a tarot book purchase. Even the ones that approach tarot differently than I do have something to offer. The more angles I and learn about in regards to tarot, the better I understand it, even if I don't agree with some of them.

Oops - thought the first one didn't post, sorry.
 

Greg Stanton

The Way of Tarot by A. Jodorowsky - probably the worst book on tarot in existence. No scholarship, just a collection of quasi-mystical ramblings.
 

Libra8ca

whipsilk said:
I have to say I rather liked the activites in Mark McElroy's book - succinct and fairly quickly completed, encouraging a wholly different, idiosyncratic way of looking at the card(s), which will often lead to the development of a truly personal intuitive system, as each individual will find different activities that resonate with them, and use those to help develop a truly personal intuitive approach.
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I actually liked Mark McElroy's "What's in the cards for you?" too. The activities are very playful; it's not a serious or deep book but helps you look at the cards in a different light.
I didn't like "Tarot Plain and Simple" by Anthony Louis - it REALLY is very plain and simple. He lists like 50 meanings for each card and then you can take your pick.....
"Masks of Tarot" was another one that really mystified me. I still can't figure out how any of these "techniques" are useful for a tarot reading....
One problem with tarot books is that they tend to be repetitive; Strength is Strength no matter how many books you buy :D
 

northsea

I placed a general moratorium on buying tarot books a long time ago, and I've gotten rid of several. A few of the least helpful for me were Ziegler's Tarot Mirror of the Soul, Christine Jette's Tarot for the Healing Heart and Rachel Pollack's Seventy-Eight Degrees of Wisdom.
 

amethyst57

Two books come to my mind right off...neither were any real help or were not what i expected...."Tarot Journaling" and "The Power of Playing Cards"...
 

psychopractor

I've only started a collection of books on the tarot and for the most part I've done well. The only one I've really grated on is 'Tarot: Theory and Practice' by Ly de Angeles.

The good stuff: She definitely has her own (strong) views on what the tarot is and how it should be used. I generally root for the people on the fringes of a community because that's where I personally find where the real interesting stuff is. There's some interesting metaphysical concepts about tarot that I haven't seen elsewhere.

The bad stuff: A lot of her claims tend to be just that - there's no real explanation or backup, it just 'is'. 70-odd pages are wasted on definitions of cards that you could basically get from any LWB.

I really wanted to like this book, however I was left disappointed. This book had the potential to be so much more and it just didn't cut it for me.
 

daphne

psychopractor said:
I've only started a collection of books on the tarot and for the most part I've done well. The only one I've really grated on is 'Tarot: Theory and Practice' by Ly de Angeles.

The good stuff: She definitely has her own (strong) views on what the tarot is and how it should be used. I generally root for the people on the fringes of a community because that's where I personally find where the real interesting stuff is. There's some interesting metaphysical concepts about tarot that I haven't seen elsewhere.

The bad stuff: A lot of her claims tend to be just that - there's no real explanation or backup, it just 'is'. 70-odd pages are wasted on definitions of cards that you could basically get from any LWB.

I really wanted to like this book, however I was left disappointed. This book had the potential to be so much more and it just didn't cut it for me.
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Good to know. I don`t have it and I will not buy it. :)
 

Sulis

'The Tarot Handbook' - Angeles Arrien
'Tarot Made Easy' - Nancy Garen
'Super Tarot' - Sasha Fenton
'Tarot Plain and Simple' - Anthony Louis
 

amethyst57

Muir Aingeal said:
Tarot D' Amour by Kooch Daniels 5 stars on Amazon but I'm really not sure why.
I hated it, thought it was weird and I finally sold it to a book shop where it languishes on a shelf since no one has bought it, though can't say I blame them much.
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you're right about that book...shoulda checked it out at the library before i bought it...
 

Pagan X

lark said:
Anything by Emily Peach.
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Word. She is so "THERE IS ONE TRUE WAY AND IT IS MY WAY" and still meaningless and fluffy.
 
Pamela Coleman Smith Commemorative Set A Published National Novel Writing Month Novel Featuring Tarot Cards