I reviewed Tarosophy, here is the review
“Tarosophy will be sure to become a new instant classic in the tarot community that in 50+ years people will still be reading & learning from it.” – Angelo Nasios
Unique, comprehensive, ambitious, fresh and elegant, these are just a few words you could use to describe Tarosophy: Tarot to Engage Life, Not Escape It. Even these words limit how excellent this piece of tarot literature truly is. Tarosophy combines the words Tarot & Sophia (Greek for Wisdom) which simply means Tarot Wisdom / Wisdom of tarot. This book is packed full of wise words and excellent information, the material in here lives up to the name Tarosophy.
Marcus Katz author of Tarosophy has done the almost impossible, compiling 30 years of studying, reading and teaching tarot into one book that is suitable for beginners to advance readers.
Tarosophy is not another Tarot 101 beginner’s guide/ card meaning cookbook. This book is more like a professors lecture. If that sounds boring trust me this book is no dud. The writing style of Marcus is one of my favorites. In the world of Tarot books most authors are female, there is a small percentage of male tarot authors simple because there is a small percentage of male readers. I love to read a tarot book that is written by a man, simply because of the clean, cut and the less “woo-woo” airy aura, that female readers often attach to their work. Marcus is a down to earth author who presents tarot in the right way to new readers without them feeling they are getting into something that requires special spiritual lexicon or understanding.
Tarosopy is broken into three sections, with each section broken down into separate parts. The first section is for beginners. The second section is for intermediate and the finale third section is for advance tarots, which focus in on spiritual/progressive subjects like astrology and Kabbalah. I will talk about section one mostly for this review.
Marcus introduces us to tarot and goes to work throwing out the myths of tarot like the requirement that a deck be gifted to you and the like. What is the Tarot? Marcus goes on to explain that tarot is a metaphor, a map, compass; it’s a mirror and can be used in many ways. It can be used for casting spells, making talismans, telling fortunes and to discover yourself. Marcus says, “tarot is not a solitary system, it likes to make friends”. The tarot has been connected and associated with astrology, kabbalah, psychology, magick, Gnosticism and much more. Simply put, tarot is a lot and has no limits to how you want to use it and what to apply it to. It is flexible.
Marcus then goes to talk quickly about Tarot History and those dam pesky gypsies and bunk and junk in that is floating in the air about tarot origins.
After than comes some very good information that all readers should read. The parts about Metaphor, Symbols, Archetypes and How does Tarot Work were very enjoyable to read and very fresh. Marcus explains what a metaphor is (via three qualities) and how tarot is a metaphor by way of the symbols in the images. Symbols are components of the metaphor, which are seen as clues and triggers to something hidden or unknown to us.
How does Tarot work? Marcus takes his own jab at this with the help of some quantum physics (based on Itzhak Bentov’s description of holograms) I wont go into detail about this, you need to read it yourself. Synchronicity is next talked about as a way tarot may work and Marcus explains it better than any other person. There is some confusion as to what synchronicity is and how it relates to tarot and Marcus clears the air about this.
Archetypes are touched upon quickly, mainly to explain what they are and are not in the tarot. Marcus makes it clear that The Fool is not an archetype its self. “The Fool is an example of an underlying archetype of which the fool, jester, clown, trickster are all arising images”.
This is all just a small part of Section one. Now just imagine the rest of the book! Tarosophy is filled with exercises (50 of them!) as well as illustrations. Tarosophy is also sourced and footnotes are everywhere, so if you can look at Marcus’ sources for yourself. Tarosophy will be sure to become a new instant classic in the tarot community that in 50+ years people will still be reading & learning from it.
