Best Books for Beginners

Books

On the notion of asking for help, can anyone suggest any good tarot reading books? I don't mean to exclude "beginner" books like "the Death card means great change," or anything like that, but I'm looking for something meatier, more scholarly, with more about types of spreads, insights, etc. Any help/advice would be deeply appreciated!

My all time favorite book on the tarot is Rachel Pollack's 'Seventy-Eight Degrees of Wisdom'. It takes a scholarly, serious look at the tarot. This book really took me to a whole new level of understanding and appreciation. You won't find any concise card interpretations here...It is very indepth. It features the Rider-Waite deck, but what you learn in this book will extend to any deck with Rider-Waite influences. If the Thoth is your deck, I recommend a wonderful book entitled, 'Tarot: Mirror of the Soul'. I forget the author's name. I found that the Thoth deck wasn't my cup of tea...It gave me the proverbial "hee-bee-gee-bees", but when I was trying it, I picked up this rather amazing little companion book. It approaches the tarot from a largely psychological perspective. It is excellent. Wish I could have taken to the deck half as well as I took to this marvelous little book! Hope this helps...hope you find just the book you're looking for.

I second the vote for "78 Degrees of Wisdom" by Rachel Pollock. I would also like to recommend a book called "The Truth About Tarot" I can't remember the author (Suster is the last name I believe) at this time but I will look it up and post it for you tomorrow. This book goes into various aspects of the Tarot in general (astrology, numerology, qabalah, etc) in a very understandable way. The last 5 pages of the book I did not agree with, but the rest of it was excellent. Also if you are into the Thoth book there is a book by Angeles Arien that I have heard recommended over and over again. If you like work books, I would recommend the 3 work books by Mary Greer "Tarot for Yourself", "Tarot Constellations", and there is one more.

Love & Light,

Thanks everyone! I will go my way into purchasing these... I've suddenly got into a Tarot craze after a little hiatus and want to LEARN LEARN LEARN everything one can possibly learn. I'm practically gasping to get those books now. Thank you everyone, again.

I'll third the nomination - Rachel Pollack's book is wonderful.

I've just gotten 2 new books from Amazon that also look facinating.
One is "Tarot and the Tree of Life: Finding Everyday Wisdom in the Minor Arcana" by Isabel Radow Kliegman. It is unusual in that it targets the minors. It relates them to the sefirot and paths of the Kabbalah, which I've always wanted to know more about. I've read the first 3 chapters - and it's a very thought provoking book.

The second is "Tarot and the Journey of the Hero", by Hajo Banzhof and Brigitte Theler. This explores the Majors. He relates them to the myths of heros, and to the Jungian collective unconscious. It has lots of interesting photographs of mythological paintings, sculptures, etc. While he uses the Waite deck to illustrate, his examples seem come from all faiths.

Cynthia Giles' *Tarot: History, Mystery & Lore* is a good one. I think it's published by Simon & Schuster.

Kalin

best books for beginners

these are the books that have been essential to my tarot development and which i would recommend to a beginner. what do y'all think? i'm wondering if 78 degrees would be too overwhelming for a beginner who was less analytical than myself? what would be your first picks?

for the very early stages: whatever LWB came with your deck. just to see if you like tarot well enough to continue to invest your time and money.

78 degrees of wisdom -- rachel pollack
tarot: your everyday guide -- janina renee
the complete book of tarot reversals -- mary greer

I don't have the first two, so can't realy comment, but I do have the last one, as well as Tarot for a New Generation by Janina Renee, and it is excellent. I imagine that Tarot: Your Everyday Guide would be excellent as well.

If the person is already interested in things like Meditation Tarot for Yourself is very nice

My first book was Learning the Tarot by Joan Bunning. I would recommend it to every beginner.