Tarot Card Combinations

Rating:
Summary: So so, but worth the read
Review: First off, I'm really glad that this book is in my collection, and this is not a book I'd recommend to a beginner. This book covers good ground, but does not waste time hashing over the basics. I'd recommend having a solid comfort level with interpretations of single cards before starting in on this book.

Starting with the negative side, I didn't agree with many of the card interpretations. They were generally simplistic, however it may be that the author intended it that way in order to better illustrate the concepts that she was trying to convey. Many of the combinations are also simplistic due perhaps to the same principle. The author's approach is to assign a shortlist of keywords to each card, then read them like flashcards. If 4 Staffs is "Peaceful" and 6 Cups is "Often", the two cards together mean "Peaceful Often". Although my own experience is admittedly limited, I do not personally know of anyone that reads so literally.

On the positive side, the author's oversimplification freed me up to not overcomplicate relationships between the cards. While I do feel that the specific examples are oversimplistic, I also think that was useful to break down my fear of allowing it to just be simple. I haven't found that I've directly used the lessons from this book, but it has definately had an influence on the way I link cards together.

One wonderful thing about this book is that the focus on combinations means that it can print repetitive combinations for certain sets. Such as (example is from my head, not book): Ace Wands/Two Wands, Ace Wands/Three Wands, Ace Wands/Four Wands, etc. It clearly can't cover every combination that exists, but it covers enough to allow you to exrapolate your own beyond a certain point. It also makes for easy light reading -- would be easy to read a few pages here and there when you have the time.
I feel that this book is generally most useful for those who have a good feel for what the cards mean on their own, but aren't as comfortable reading them together or in spreads.

Rating:
Summary: So so, but worth the read
Review: First off, I'm really glad that this book is in my collection, and this is not a book I'd recommend to a beginner. This book covers good ground, but does not waste time hashing over the basics. I'd recommend having a solid comfort level with interpretations of single cards before starting in on this book.

Starting with the negative side, I didn't agree with many of the card interpretations. They were generally simplistic, however it may be that the author intended it that way in order to better illustrate the concepts that she was trying to convey. Many of the combinations are also simplistic due perhaps to the same principle. The author's approach is to assign a shortlist of keywords to each card, then read them like flashcards. If 4 Staffs is "Peaceful" and 6 Cups is "Often", the two cards together mean "Peaceful Often". Although my own experience is admittedly limited, I do not personally know of anyone that reads so literally.

On the positive side, the author's oversimplification freed me up to not overcomplicate relationships between the cards. While I do feel that the specific examples are oversimplistic, I also think that was useful to break down my fear of allowing it to just be simple. I haven't found that I've directly used the lessons from this book, but it has definately had an influence on the way I link cards together.

One wonderful thing about this book is that the focus on combinations means that it can print repetitive combinations for certain sets. Such as (example is from my head, not book): Ace Wands/Two Wands, Ace Wands/Three Wands, Ace Wands/Four Wands, etc. It clearly can't cover every combination that exists, but it covers enough to allow you to exrapolate your own beyond a certain point. It also makes for easy light reading -- would be easy to read a few pages here and there when you have the time.
I feel that this book is generally most useful for those who have a good feel for what the cards mean on their own, but aren't as comfortable reading them together or in spreads.

Rating:
Summary: Combinational interpretation is good, but the rest is not
Review: I have bought numerous tarot books over the years. This one seemed to be one of the wrong decision.

For the explanation of Cards combo, i think it is pretty cool, but not very thorough. Sometimes,the groupings of the combo cards are not very organized.

For anyone who is a beginner for tarot or just begun to read reverse and combo cards, it is a relatively good reference. however, i got sick of reading it a few times later. This books doesn't give deeper insight into the combinations and does not offered not too many options.

I would advise looking for other books or try to learn combinations on your own, as individuals may vary in how they read their spread. For these reasons, i would give this a pass.

Rating:
Summary: Great insight...
Review: I would not suggest for the beginner insofar as there is no explanation about the cards per se. I believe that it is good to get a description of the cards rather than just key words. On the other hand, people might come up with their own description. Sometimes, things are too subtle for a beginner to see them. However, this book has really good spreads and the key words are very useful. The combinations given are very helpful too. It is a great guide. This is the book I used most when I deal with the tarot used here. If you know a little about tarot, this is an awesome purchase.

Rating:
Summary: With explanations for hundreds of combinations
Review: Tarot Card Combinations by Australian tarot expert Dorothy Kelly is an informed and informative guidebook to interpreting the mystical tarot cards, including basic tarot definitions and layouts, as well as advanced information concerning the nuances of how cards relate to and interconnect with one another in revealing the whole of their meaning. Simply illustrated and demonstrated using the Waite tarot deck, and enhanced with explanations for hundreds of combinations of 2, 3, 4, or even 5 cards, Tarot Card Combinations is a superb and strongly recommended resource for any tarot practitioner whether novice or expert.

Rating:
Summary: Learn the system, not card meanings!
Review: This book was very useful to me because I was able to learn the logic behind how to put cards together which actually is the purpose of the book! those looking for a combinations "dictionary" will be dissapointed, the goal of the book is help you understand how cards mix and combine, after that, maybe you go back to the book just once in while for reference.

This book can be used in parallel with other books by begginners which are studying card meanings and symbolism, the book offers 12 keywords for each card (6 upright and 6 reversed) might be consider very simple words, but once again the goal of the book is to teach a thinking system not card meanings.

The only part I disliked of the book was that samples seemed very redundant to me, but understand that authors must think in readers of many levels of comprehension, anyway a very useful book.




Rating:
Summary: a lot to get through, but worthwhile!
Review: This is a bigger and more detailed book than I expected, but I'd rather have more than less. It will be most helpful in learning the combinations (or at least basic ones that you can use and learn in order to apply to other ones as you go). I think it is very useful and a great reference for any tarot reader who (like me) is having a hard time connecting the cards, and reading with their associations to one another rather than one by one - a much more complete picture emerges.

Rating:
Summary: A good second book on tarot
Review: This is not a beginner's first book, but rather second book.

Most books I know give more or less detailed description of each card, a couple of spreads, and maybe a few examples.

For a tarot beginner who does not yet have a lot of experience, a book of that type does not give enough examples of how to interpret a few cards together.

And that's where this book fits in - it gives a lot of tarot cards combinations (with both straight and reversed cards) and their meanings.

A previous reviewer wrote that only keyword meanings of cards are given and that the way the combinations meanings are not explained.

The first issue is, in my humble opinion, a minor issue *if* the book is not used as one's first tarot book.

The second is, in my opinion, a good challenge for the reader - figuring out the way the meaning was reached makes for a better studying.