Choosing tarot books

[Angua]

I was looking at tarot books on amazon uk. There are thousands! Why?
Surely there is a finite amount that can be written about the cards? Is there a lot of repetition of similar content in these books or a lot of authors with conflicting ideas?

How can you tell which ones are worth buying?

 

[GryffinSong]

Mary Greer is one of my favorite tarot authors. She has a lot of suggestions on reading intuitively, which is a lot more interesting to me than memorizing meanings.

 

[tarotbear]

Buy MY book if it's still available! LOL!!!! "It's All in the Cards; Tarot Reading Made Easy." ISBN 1-4027-0986-2 .

{Couldn't resist!}

To answer part of your question - yes, there seem to be hundreds and hundreds of them, and you ask if they are just repetitious information: Many are. But every one of us has a unique understanding of something, no matter how mundane that something might be. Some people write books to make a profit, some people write books to convey information, and some people should stick to bowling.

Conflicting ideas? Of course! If there was only one interpretation for things there would only need to be one book about it. That would be boring as hell!

For every book someone trashes, two people will say it's their Tarot Bible.

 

[cardlady22]

Hello, Angua! I love to read almost as much as I love to flip through my decks, so buying Used at the lowest cost possible is the way I try to go. My library doesn't stock titles of any alternative religion or occult nature.

The books that come back off my shelf the most are

Pictures from the Heart: A Tarot Dictionary by Sandra A. Thompson

Tarot Dictionary and Compendium by Jana Riley

The Complete Tarot Reader by Teresa Michelsen

Tarot Decoded: Understanding and Using Dignities and Correspondences by Elizabeth Hazel

The Mystical Origins of the Tarot by Paul Huson

Who Are You in the Tarot?: Discover Your Birth and Year Cards and Uncover Your Destiny by Mary K. Greer (a reworking of her previous Tarot Constellations)

 

[Angua]

Thank you for the responses!

Mary Greer is one of my favorite tarot authors.

Thank you, I already have tarot for yourself and really like it, I've now got another of her books on its way.

Buy MY book if it's still available! LOL!!!!

I amazoned it out of curiosity. New ones start at £75. Also - "some people should stick to bowling" - can I steal that?

My library doesn't stock titles of any alternative religion or occult nature.

I know the feeling, my local library here only seems to stock mills and boon. Thank you for the recommendations - I now have an amazon wishlist and who are you in tarot ordered.

 

[Zezina]

Tarot Dictionary and Compendium by Jana Riley

I totally agree about this book - I've had it for years and it's an enduring favourite.

*Z*

 

[Bhavana]

I like Marcia Masino's books.

 

[tarotcognito]

I think at some point you just have to take a deep breath, dive right in and just pick a couple to start SOMEwhere. One thing I do when I'm snooping around on Amazon is look at a book's rating, number of ratings, how the ratings are spread out, author reputation and book content. Many books have a table of contents that you can view before purchasing.

"How to" books for subjective topics like the Tarot have their uses and limitations. They are useful for giving someone new to the Tarot a place to start. They are limited because the Tarot is largely subjective, even when one follows traditional systems of interpretations. I found, as I became more comfortable with reading, that my interest in "how to Tarot" books waned while my interest in the history of Tarot waxed.

So yes, I personally find that a lot of "how to" books repeat similar type of content, but they sort of have to, in a way, because Tarot, once again, is ultimately a personal and subjective experience.

Just my two cents.

 

[annabel398]

Something I'm seeing more of these days is books that have LOTS of sample readings (as opposed to, say, books that have lots of pages dedicated to "meanings" of individual cards. I have mixed feelings about this. On one hand, it is very useful, especially for relative beginners, to see how a READING goes--how the cards interact with each other, their positional meanings, the synergy among them. Learning card meanings is just the start, not the end. On the other hand, I would think this kind of book would be unrewarding to read and re-read ... more like a magazine, where you read it once and you're done. Still undecided... I've bought a couple (one hardcopy, one accidental Kindle purchase that I decided not to undo) and enjoyed them, but not sure yet whether it was money well invested.

For card meanings, though, I'll second Tarotbear's plug for "It's All in the Cards." it's well worth seeking out in used bookstores.

 

[gregory]

I amazoned it out of curiosity. New ones start at £75. Also - "some people should stick to bowling" - can I steal that?

Try abe !!!

Mary Greer's 21 Ways is really good for offering options. James Ricklef's books for showing readings in action.