What Do You Think? [Joan Bunning's Learning the Tarot]

Hiya Everyone

I've just ordered this book from Amazon.

Learning the Tarot: A Tarot Book for Beginners by Joan Bunning

Was wondering if anyone on here had it, if so what do you think of it. Is it "really" a good book for a beginner? Or would I of being better off getting something else?

Love Angel_fire x

I like her book. She does have a web site. I'm not sure how to add the links, if you just do a search for her I'm sure it will come up.

It's a good book for a beginner although the main spread this book uses is the Celtic Cross which in my opinion isn't a beginners spread.

She also has a free on-line course based on this book. Here's a link: http://www.learntarot.com/course.htm

TABI - the Tarot Association of the British Isles runs a free, mentored course based on Joan Bunning's book too.
Click on the 'course' link on the left hand side; http://www.tabi.org.uk/
I think quite a few Aeclectic members are doing this course at the moment.

Love

Sulis xx

The link that Sulis provides actually has the entire book, which is free, rather than purchasing it from Amazon.

I like the book, however, I was unable to get to grips with it without the help of the TABI mentors. I've found I really need the feedback to see if I am doing it correctly. Had I known that Joan ran a course herself (through Barnes and Noble), I might have done that instead.

Cheers,
Webwitch

Well the book arrived and while looking trough it, I realised I had printed off the course a couple of years ago, but it is nice to have the whole thing at hand.

It's not a bad book and really good for beginners, so I am pretty pleased with it.

Love Angel_fire x

Hi Angel_fire,

I printed off the course about 3 years ago too lol - took me forever but at the time I couldn't afford the book. My binder started to fall apart so I finally ordered the book earlier on in the year. I like it - I like keywords anyway so this book has been ideal as a memory jogger. Not to keen on the Celtic Cross spread but I've use aspects of the spread just not all of it. And I like the charts.

I've been thinking about this and I've decided that the thing I don't like about Joan Bunning's book and course (apart from using the Celtic Cross as a beginners spread) is the fact that the keywords aren't based on any system.
She gives you the keywords but there is no expanation as to how she's got those keywords. There is no mention of numerology, no mention of any storyline running through the suits, no linking the minors to the majors, no comparison of cards with the same numerological value from different suits.

There is no system to learn, just a bunch of keywords which presumably are meant to be learned and then used parrot fashion.

So yes, it's a good book to get you familiar with the 'traditional card meanings' but it doesn't actually teach you to read, it teaches you how to learn keywords.

Sulis xx

I agree with Sulis on this.
I've only read part of the online-course and while the exercises were great, the keywords put me off. I was more interested in what the imagery meant than what "possible meanings" could be defined from the image.

Still, the exercises are great for getting to know the cards and ones own responses to them. In my experience they got me to work With the cards, as more of a partnership than just as 'a reader and bits of printed cardboard'.
Also, I've moved on to reading about all sorts of more or less related subjects like numerology etc. which has given me a lot more than that long list of keywords ever did.

It is a good place to start though, especially if one does not get stuck on "there is only one way of reading" and listens to the communication with the cards that the exercises can spark.

Eco74 said:

I agree with Sulis on this.
I've only read part of the online-course and while the exercises were great, the keywords put me off. I was more interested in what the imagery meant than what "possible meanings" could be defined from the image.

Click to expand...

This is very interesting.... I "learn[ed] Tarot" (heh) from this site first, 8 years ago. It was my first exposure to the cards -- I didn't even have a Waite-Smith deck at the time. And I remember very distinctly being blown away with how well her keywords summed up the very visceral (and, at times, hard to articulate) reactions to the card imagery. I'd get a feeling from the picture, struggle to put it into words myself, then read her meanings and say to myself, "That's totally it."

I don't think that the lack of a system is a drawback when you're getting to know the cards in this way (which is about all I could handle at the very beginning, anyway).

Definitely good to hear another perspective.

I've used the website card definitions there a lot lately, and I've found it an excellent "quick-reference" source to help me begin to get my thoughts down. I sorta skimmed her exercises, then decided I didn't like them and went off and did my own, writing down all the keywords on paper and then writing how I thought they related to my deck. I then went off and wrote a story about the wands suit, from ace to king, using my notes as guidelines. Since that, I've never had any trouble reading wands, and I'm starting to get my own ideas on what they mean to me.

So, yea, I found it very useful as a jump-off point for my own explorations, and I'll probably keep using it for quite awhile. It's an excellent reference guide, and I'm tempted to buy a copy for offline use.