FraterGrant
Does anyone know anything about this book? I am thinking of buying it, but I dont know if I should. Does it give meanings of both the Thoth and Rider Waite? Does it explain both equally and fully? Let me know your thoughts on this book.
Introduction to Tarot by Susan Levitt
Scion
a TERRIBLE "Introduction to Tarot"
Taran, it's been a while, but I've just finished this book and wanted to post a few thoughts in case anyone else is thinking of buying it.
The book is attractive and well organized, and I love being able to look at the RWS & the Thoth cards side by side. There are danger signs though... Right at the outset, Levitt starts with a strange introduction focussing entirely on Chakras in which she informs us:
Informed or not, Levitt treats the RWS & Thoth images as if they sprang into existence from thin air. She provides basic analysis of the imagery of both (although she occasionally seems to forget to which card she is referring in certain sections). Nevertheless the book has a feel of a softcover "coffee-table" title. Lovely pictures, some pithy little sidebars on tangential topics, slick charts and overviews of complicated topics, a chatty and vague tone... (Qabalah in two pages!) but I have a complaint that's serious enough that I felt like posting this on Aeclectic.
While I do like the format and the slickness of the book, Levitt's scholarship leaves something to be desired. No sources are cited, no bilbliography is provided and at times her assertions are unquestionably out-and-out wrong. I don't want to take the time to enumerate them but I'll give a couple examples just to ward off any possible purchasers of this drivel:
First: when discussing the RWS HIgh Priestess card she says:
Or in her discussion of the Devil:
Or perhaps you'd like to imagine what happens when Levitt compares the a Knight in the RWS to a Knight in the Thoth or an RWS Ace to a Thoth Ace, apparently deciding that because they share a name they share a meaning. Differing attributions, Ms. Levitt (n.b. these two men loathed and ridiculed each other) AAAGH! Bizarre.
I realize this response may seem extreme for what is only a simple coffee table book masquerading as a comparative Intro to two beautiful decks. Partially I am disappointed at the opportunity missed; a juicy, full color comparison of two of the most popular Tarot decks in the world sounds like a must have, and it should be. But I am driven mad by the thought of unwitting consumers buying this thing and promulgating her annoying mishmash of new-age claptrap and half-remembered legend. There are a few things worth reading in this little text, but nothing you won't find articulated better elsewhere.
Avoid.
Scion
Taran, it's been a while, but I've just finished this book and wanted to post a few thoughts in case anyone else is thinking of buying it.
The book is attractive and well organized, and I love being able to look at the RWS & the Thoth cards side by side. There are danger signs though... Right at the outset, Levitt starts with a strange introduction focussing entirely on Chakras in which she informs us:
Really? News to me... and a bizarre assertion that has me on full hogwash alert. But then on the first actual page Levitt begins strongly, immediately discussing the accepted historical origins of the Tarot (though she doesn't favor the Marseille with so much as a glance) and glossing over the RWS & Thoth creators in about 300 words and then forgetting them thereafter. She dives right into the RWS & the Thoth with gusto
Informed or not, Levitt treats the RWS & Thoth images as if they sprang into existence from thin air. She provides basic analysis of the imagery of both (although she occasionally seems to forget to which card she is referring in certain sections). Nevertheless the book has a feel of a softcover "coffee-table" title. Lovely pictures, some pithy little sidebars on tangential topics, slick charts and overviews of complicated topics, a chatty and vague tone... (Qabalah in two pages!) but I have a complaint that's serious enough that I felt like posting this on Aeclectic.
While I do like the format and the slickness of the book, Levitt's scholarship leaves something to be desired. No sources are cited, no bilbliography is provided and at times her assertions are unquestionably out-and-out wrong. I don't want to take the time to enumerate them but I'll give a couple examples just to ward off any possible purchasers of this drivel:
First: when discussing the RWS HIgh Priestess card she says:
Ummm, no. Although I love the goofy idea of Waite using the King James name for the Almighty in a deck that's designed around the name's 4-letter mystery and peppered with yods like the night sky. Or that she's decided Jehovah is "a male god" of a monotheistic culture. Actually, the pillars are explicitly identified by the Golden Dawn as the pillars in the Temple of Solomon: JAKIN and BOAZ. Oopsy. And to tell a tarot novice looking for a solid introduction to the two most famous Golden Dawn Decks that one pillar is identified with a sephira and the other with YHVH is not a casual mistake.
Or in her discussion of the Devil:
Again, what?! I'm not even going to look at her logic there... the history of the Devil is just slightly more complicated. And attractive as she may find one-to-one correspondence, monotheism and polytheism don't work that way. But in what world is the Roman name for Dionysos actually Pan? That would be Bacchus, Ms. Levitt. And not only was he not a "prototype" for the devil, much of his mythology gets subsumed into early Christianity as part of the Jesus narrative: including communion/omophagia, the conversion of water to wine, and harrowing the Underworld... And lover of what Goddess exactly? Demeter at Eleusis? Maybe she means a mortal: Ariadne the abandoned? Agave the beheader? Nope. Dionysos is sexually ambiguous, rarely with any female, mortal or otherwise, and certainly mated to no one goddess. Methinks Ms. Levitt flipped through her Edith Hamilton in high school and left it at that. This kind of moronic half-baked scholarship should be shunned and pilloried.
Or perhaps you'd like to imagine what happens when Levitt compares the a Knight in the RWS to a Knight in the Thoth or an RWS Ace to a Thoth Ace, apparently deciding that because they share a name they share a meaning. Differing attributions, Ms. Levitt (n.b. these two men loathed and ridiculed each other) AAAGH! Bizarre.
I realize this response may seem extreme for what is only a simple coffee table book masquerading as a comparative Intro to two beautiful decks. Partially I am disappointed at the opportunity missed; a juicy, full color comparison of two of the most popular Tarot decks in the world sounds like a must have, and it should be. But I am driven mad by the thought of unwitting consumers buying this thing and promulgating her annoying mishmash of new-age claptrap and half-remembered legend. There are a few things worth reading in this little text, but nothing you won't find articulated better elsewhere.
Avoid.
Scion
Emily
I bought this book as part of a kit which included a pocket Thoth and a pocket Rider Waite, a journal and a comparison chart of the two decks - these were the best things about this set, that and I got it for a really knock down price.
The book 'Introduction to Tarot' I was really looking forward to getting but once I started to read it - well you'd do better buying a good book on the RWS and another one for the Thoth - you wouldn't be able to study these decks with this book. Also she tried to cram too much information in about other things:- rituals, numerology etc but the info was sketchy - it just left me wanting to know more . But there were aspects of the book I liked but it didn't do what I wanted it to - I was studying the RWS and the Thoth side by side at the time.
There was one thing that I did notice and that was that she used the Thoth Knight and the RWS Knight together - In my eyes the Thoth Knight is equal to the RWS King but in the book she just glosses over that and makes no comparison as to which card in the Thoth is equal to the RWS King. A little thing but it mattered to me.
The book 'Introduction to Tarot' I was really looking forward to getting but once I started to read it - well you'd do better buying a good book on the RWS and another one for the Thoth - you wouldn't be able to study these decks with this book. Also she tried to cram too much information in about other things:- rituals, numerology etc but the info was sketchy - it just left me wanting to know more . But there were aspects of the book I liked but it didn't do what I wanted it to - I was studying the RWS and the Thoth side by side at the time.
There was one thing that I did notice and that was that she used the Thoth Knight and the RWS Knight together - In my eyes the Thoth Knight is equal to the RWS King but in the book she just glosses over that and makes no comparison as to which card in the Thoth is equal to the RWS King. A little thing but it mattered to me.
Dean
Uk
Hi Taran,
thanks for the IM chat we had the other day nice to know we share the same interests out-side AT.
Well it's been sometime since you posted this thread about Susan Levitt's Book -Introduction to Tarot, and i agree with the other comments here on after buying this book.
Although it as an interesting layout with the RWS along side the Thoth deck, the book seems abit far off on it's introduction on Tarot and also on many other things too. This book does not really go into much detail on each card meanings, and it gives very little information when trying to understand what each card means with it's connection to each deck.
Hi Taran,
thanks for the IM chat we had the other day nice to know we share the same interests out-side AT.
Well it's been sometime since you posted this thread about Susan Levitt's Book -Introduction to Tarot, and i agree with the other comments here on after buying this book.
Although it as an interesting layout with the RWS along side the Thoth deck, the book seems abit far off on it's introduction on Tarot and also on many other things too. This book does not really go into much detail on each card meanings, and it gives very little information when trying to understand what each card means with it's connection to each deck.
Deana
I love this book. Granted, I haven't read a single word of the text. I just love flipping through it and looking at the gorgeous full-color pictures of the decks side-by-side. I did notice that the Thoth Knight was erroneously placed with the RWS Knight, but other than that I haven't paid any attention to what the author herself did; I just really enjoy looking through it. It's certainly easier than spreading both decks all over the bed and looking at the cards next to each other. I was actually feeling guilty that I purchased it and then never "read" it, but after reading the bad reviews, maybe I'm getting enough out of it just looking at the pictures, since that seems to be it's best feature. Coffee table book, for sure.
Dean
Uk
Hi Deana,
well i was trying not to give this book a bad review, because the book does look visually out-standing. As you said the book is usefull in having the two decks of cards listed on each page which can be alot easier then laying all your cards out at once, i was just a little disappointed with the lack of interpretion on each card meanings and their connections to each other.
Hi Deana,
well i was trying not to give this book a bad review, because the book does look visually out-standing. As you said the book is usefull in having the two decks of cards listed on each page which can be alot easier then laying all your cards out at once, i was just a little disappointed with the lack of interpretion on each card meanings and their connections to each other.
OakDragon
Very interesting responses here. I vaguely recall loving this book when I first read it, wishing I'd had it when I got into tarot. I don't remember the bits Scion and others pointed out at all. I guess I'll have to go back and read it again with fresh eyes. Could it have been totally revamped in a later edition? (I got it as part of the "Complete Tarot Kit", btw).
NightWing
The Kit
The concept of "The Complete Tarot Kit" was a very good one, IMHO. Even without the book, it still includes two good decks (pocket RWS and pocket Thoth), a spreadsheet to get started, a handy "meanings" card, a journal, and a magnetic-closure storage box that will nicely take about 10 decks in two layers. So even setting aside the book, it was a good deal for the price I paid for it. With a revised book, it could be a great deal! And yes, the book is well illustrated.
The concept of "The Complete Tarot Kit" was a very good one, IMHO. Even without the book, it still includes two good decks (pocket RWS and pocket Thoth), a spreadsheet to get started, a handy "meanings" card, a journal, and a magnetic-closure storage box that will nicely take about 10 decks in two layers. So even setting aside the book, it was a good deal for the price I paid for it. With a revised book, it could be a great deal! And yes, the book is well illustrated.
Scion
A nice package to be sure.
But just to be totally clear, the book was not revised. Yes, it would be nice if it was, but it has not been. Caveat emptor.
But just to be totally clear, the book was not revised. Yes, it would be nice if it was, but it has not been. Caveat emptor.
OakDragon
Hmm. Then what was I smoking?? I will definitely have to go back and read it again, then.
(Side note: If I can find it, that is!)
(Side note: If I can find it, that is!)
