Tarot Dictionary and Compendium, Jana Riley??

I was told this was a very useful book. I can't find it in the review section here - wondering if anyone has it and more importantly - opnions on it?

I have it and it is useful, although I'm not big on book meanings; in a sense it's the ultimate LWB of modern Tarot.

It's actually a perfect compliment to Butler's Dictionary of the Tarot, because Butler uses older sources, and Riley uses contemporary authors along with a few classics (Waite, Crowley, Wirth). A terrific book to flip through to approach a card from a new angle...

That said, if I'm researching for collated meanings, I always go to Butler first... possibly because, although there are fewer authors, it doesn't overwhelm you with conflicting opinions, and the limited pool is less overtly new-agey than Riley. Also, Butler includes descriptions and a bit more overview, while Riley's Compendium doesn't actually identify any of the decks referenced by the assorted authors.... making it less useful and more of a hodgepodge.

I found a TarotPassages review here and a Villa Revak review here.

Hope that helps.

Scion

Reference books

In my opinion, both Riley's Compendium and the Butler's Dictionary are indispensable reference books. I keep both nearby whenever I work with the tarot. Each serves its separate purpose as noted most astutely by Scion.

If you can only own three tarot books, I would say buy these two plus Rachel Pollacks' Seventy-Eight Degrees of Wisdom (both volumes).

These may be out of print now. I just checked and all three of these books are available on Amazon.com, if you don't mind gently used books.

Happy studies!