Is this book accurate? A Magical Coursein Tarot by Michele Morgan

betille said:

I really struggle with the idea of "anything goes" (or close to it). How can there NOT be some form of absolute in everything? It makes no sense to me. :/

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You've hit the nail on the head. Not only do different authors have different 'takes' on their cards because of their a)intent if they're also artists b)their own personal experience c)intuition, at times these meanings will completely contradict each other. Tarot information, books, keywords, etc. are meant to get you to understand the 'energy' of a particular card, to send you down a path of your OWN intuition. Once you 'get' a card, step back & mentally come up with all the different ways that card could apply in many different situations. Then you'll understand why there are no absolutes in tarot because of the infinite vagaries of life.

I do like that book, along with a few others named in this thread, plus I found New Age Tarot by James Wanless to be a great workbook. Even though it is designed with illustations for the Thoth, the exercises can be done with any deck.

Each author's book seems to use different decks for purposes of illustration, but that never throws me off even though I do not use the deck featured in the book. I enjoy reading the different possible interpretations and uses of the cards because it enlarges my range of options when I read.

It is all about looking at the cards for this reading at hand, then trusting your instincts as to which possible interpretation feels right for this person at this time. That is the art of reading.

betille said:

I really struggle with the idea of "anything goes" (or close to it)... It makes no sense to me. :/

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It's not a matter of anything goes, but of establishing a set of conventions. The letters CHAT together mean to talk in English, a cat in French, they do so according to two different sets of established conventions, not according to some absolute law.

Kwaw - that is BRILLIANT - THANKS ! (I am routinely accused of anythinggoesishness for my way of reading - and it doesn't !)