Understanding The Tarot : A Personal Teaching Guide

Rating:
Summary: A beautiful Tarot primer
Review: "Understanding the Tarot" certainly lives up to its title. Previously, I had thought I would have to do a lot of memorizing, using the miniscule, ill-printed pamphlets that come with some decks. But here, clear, concise descriptions of each card using full color examples from 13 different decks, make the "understanding" come naturally. Various symbologies are touched upon as threads to aid comprehension. For example, the astrological relationships in suits and court cards will become obvious even before the third suit.

The basic interpretations of cards from the several decks include discussion of similarities and differences among them. This exposure also will help beginners find a deck that fulfills their expections. Sample readings in dialog format demonstrate five popular spreads in the final chapter on doing a reading.

This book has taken me from beginner level to merely inexperienced! I feel better able to digest the text-only material that I have collected and avoided until now.

After reading/using Juliet Sharman-Burke's "Understanding the Tarot," you may find, as I have, that the Tarot makes so much SENSE, you'll wonder what's so arcane about it, after all?

Rating:
Summary: What's in a spread
Review: Although this book has good explainations of the cards and very vivid pictures from various decks it lacks a good explaination of tarot spreads. It demonstrates a tarot spread through the first person by walking you through someome's personal reading. This only gives one interpretation of the location of the card within the tarot spread. There is no discussion on how the locations of the card within the spread relate to each other.
This is a good book to provide example to a beginner but those seeking more in depth knowledge will find it lacking.

Rating:
Summary: Brilliant for beginners
Review: This is an absolutely brilliant book for people who are just beginning to get into tarot cards. It explains very little about the history of the tarot and things like that so for that you'll need to find another book but in terms of getting to know the different cards and different sets and also ways of laying the cards it is absolutely indispensable.

For each of the cards in the major arcana (the "picture" cards) cards are shown from four different sets and each is gone through meticulously in terms of symbols and how the meaning of the card is represented in the picture. Because it deals with four different cards it gives a very extensive understanding of what the card stands for and so it is a great help when you pick your own set and look for things in its pictures which communicate the meaning to you. For each of the cards in the minor arcana only one card is shown but you still get a really good idea of what each card means.

At the end of the book, eight different ways of laying up the cards are shown and explained through cases, which makes them very easily accessible.

All in all, cards from 12 of the most populars sets of cards are used and so you get a good idea of the diversity which can be found and how different cards suit different people.

All in all this really is a must for people who are beginning to look into tarot cards. I doubt if you'll find another book which is as extensive and easy to use as this one. Once you've gotten into it a bit it also works great as a place to look if you're in the middle of a reading and have just forgotten the meaning of a card or two.