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.. so I ordered this from Amazon, and I also ordered a deck of awesome cards with a companion book. The companion book is WAY over my head, but the Idiot's Guide is actually really good so far. I'm almost finished with the book, and I'm wondering what other good/simple to comprehend tarot reading is out there, and I was hoping that you guys could help me out. I know that practice makes perfect, and I've been doing a reading on me every morning (as suggested by the book).
I don't know, I guess I just wanted to know if picking up the idiot's guide was a good idea or not? Do you think it's dis-respectful to Tarot?
I don't know, I guess I just wanted to know if picking up the idiot's guide was a good idea or not? Do you think it's dis-respectful to Tarot?
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Re: Idiot's Guide to Tarot
Sun, September 6, 2009 - 2:27 AMHi Marisa,
You're on the path to understanding the tarot, thats great. There is nothing disrespectful about using a simple approach, I think it's fine, just remember to open up and close down properly after a reading - is there something in one of the books that could explain it to you?
Use the books as much as you need, and as you get better you will rely on your eyes and instinct much more, it's like anything, only easy when you know how. I have been doing the cards for years and I always have a reference with me, some things are not always in the books and some things you need direction on.
Good for you, good luck with it!
Lorraine -
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Re: Idiot's Guide to Tarot
Sun, September 6, 2009 - 9:23 AMThe book mentioned spiritual cleaning the area where you're doing your reading. I'm happy to know I'm not being disrespectful to Tarot, that was my main concern. I'm not Marisa though; I'm Luna. thanks for the reply
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Re: Idiot's Guide to Tarot
Mon, September 7, 2009 - 10:32 PMHow wonderful for you. I know this sounds sooooo basic but I always tell students to start by reading one card-get a good feel for that card (I'm a big believer in the power of the intuitive reading style-opening the third eye and all) Once you are very comfortable with one card-and believe me you can get an amazing amount of reading with one card! Then after a coupel of weeks you go to three cards and then so on. Don't read for yourself too much-you start to get a mish-mosh after a while-just "play" with the cards and enjoy them. This is just one reader/teacher's advise-take it for what you paid for it! :) -
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Re: Idiot's Guide to Tarot
Mon, September 7, 2009 - 11:48 PMGypsy Dragoncat ~ That is pretty much what I did to teach myself Tarot. Studying and meditating on the graphic of one card at a time can be amazing. This book is out of print now, I believe, but I also found the individual card descriptions in Fred Gettings' The Book of Tarot to help a lot in uncovering the richness that lies in the graphics of the old cards. I would also look to the historical versions of the cards first to see the foundation of more modern decks. Sort of like learning the roots to see how the thing has flowered over time.
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Re: Idiot's Guide to Tarot
Wed, September 9, 2009 - 4:33 PMMary Greer's 21 Ways to Read a Tarot Card is really helpful.
www.amazon.com/Mary-Greer.../ref=sr_1_1
She gives you a bunch of different ways to look at the cards along with exercises to help you develop your own meanings for them. There are beginner and advanced exercises for each section.
Another good book is The Complete Tarot Reader by Teresa Michaelson. she also guides you through developing your own meanings.
www.amazon.com/Complete-T.../ref=sr_1_1
Pictures from the Heart is a symbol dictionary specifically focused on tarot.
www.amazon.com/gp/offer-l...=sr_1_olp_1
Tarot Plain and Simple at Anthony Louis is a good common sense book for any of the Rider-Waite-Smith family of decks as is Learning Tarot by Joan Bunning.
All of the above are available at Amazon at a reasonable price. My recommendations to beginners are the 21 Ways to Read a Tarot Card and the Pictures from the Heart together, if you can afford two books. -
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Re: Idiot's Guide to Tarot
Wed, September 9, 2009 - 10:09 PMI would recommend "The Book of Thoth", but there's no way anyone but Crowley could mistake that for a beginner's guide. One of his students, Israel Regardie once wrote, "There are a lot of good books on Tarot, but to compare any of them to Crowley's "Book of Thoth" would be like comparing a third grade arithmetic textbook to a treatise on fourth dimensional geometry." (Probably not an exact quote, since it was from memory--and I'm getting old).
It has been truly said that a great Tarot deck is like a picture encyclopedia compiled by a great occultist representing everything he has ever learned (or even suspected) about the Universe and its processes. The Thoth Tarot contains every idea Crowley ever had that had something to do with occult philosophy. So you will find QBL, the Tree of Life, number symbolism, color symbolism,. astrology, tantra (especially tantra), Thelemic philosophy, medieveal grimoires, mythologies of various cultures, the Hebrew alephbeth, the Arabic alphabet, the Sanskrit alphabet, the Greek alphabet and alchemy. Jungian psychology is also relevant. There are echoes of Christian, Jewish, Buddhist, Taoist, Islamic and Hindu teachings in the deck. And there is probably not a thought we can think that will not be reflected somewhere in the cards. So it takes forever to learn the thing, but even a beginner's understanding of any Tarot deck will be useful, provided the reader's intuition is fully engaged.
And I'm beginning to sound tedious even to me, so I'll stop now.
With love under will,
Bob, Adastra,
The Wizzard of Jacksonville -
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Re: Idiot's Guide to Tarot
Wed, September 9, 2009 - 10:29 PMDon't forget projective geometry.
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Re: Idiot's Guide to Tarot
Thu, September 10, 2009 - 10:26 AMAdastra, I picked up the BOT about 30 years ago when I first bought the deck. It was completely incomprehensible. Now, 30-odd years of study later, it makes a lot of sense. But it will only confuse the heck out of a beginner, lol! Ya gotta do the 3rd grade arithmetic first. -
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Re: Idiot's Guide to Tarot
Thu, September 10, 2009 - 7:13 PMThanks you guys for the recommendations. I haven't meditated on the cards yet, what a good idea. The cards that really speak to me the most are "The World" and "The Lovers" in the Major Arcana and as for Minor, I really like the Wands the most. I just started reading more about the numbers and what they mean.
Sometimes it can seem overwhelming, and I wonder if I'm ever gonna get it. A few of my friends have been all, "do my reading.." and I have to keep telling them no, cause I totally don't feel ready for that yet.
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Re: Idiot's Guide to Tarot
Fri, September 11, 2009 - 10:48 AMOne way to work with the minors, if you like the numbers is to come up with a few good key words for each number and then for each suit. Combining the key words for number and suit gives you a way to start working with the cards.
Example - twos are about choices, Cups are about emotions. So the 2 of Cups is about emotional choices. Simple but a start. -
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Re: Idiot's Guide to Tarot
Fri, September 11, 2009 - 11:23 AMwhat an awesome idea!! thank you! -
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Re: Idiot's Guide to Tarot
Fri, September 11, 2009 - 1:19 PM"I just started reading more about the numbers and what they mean."
There are traditional meanings, but what's important is what they mean to you.
The same with the rest of the Tarot. Don't get too bogged down by orthodoxy where it doesn't serve you.
Use your feelers. -
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Re: Idiot's Guide to Tarot
Fri, September 11, 2009 - 4:52 PMthanks, Rydell.. I try and let the cards speak to me too.. there's just so much sometimes, and i know i need to come to it in my own.. like I know it will reveal itself slowly.
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Re: Idiot's Guide to Tarot
Fri, September 11, 2009 - 10:56 PM>>>It was completely incomprehensible. Now, 30-odd years of study later, it makes a lot of sense.<<<
Absolutely. I believe I mentioned it is not much help to beginners. And thirty years seems about the right amount of time to spend on studying the book to get it to make sense. Every year that goes by, I find new insights that open up brand-new vistas for me. Just recently, I started being able to see the alchemical processes described in the cards; it becomes more amazing the more I study. However, even a beginner will get something out of the book, even if it's on a very superficial level. We all start somewhere and almost anywhere is a good place to start if we work at it for long enough.
I found that for me, the astrological associations were the easiest to begin with. Then the letters of the Hebrew alephbeth. After that other things began to fit into place. Lately, the alchemical symbols are beginning to make things much more clear. But that''s just my experience; in practice, it comes down to what approach works best for the individual.
With love under will,
Bob, Adastra,
The Wizzard of Jacksonville
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Re: Idiot's Guide to Tarot
Tue, September 15, 2009 - 1:07 PMI've often found the "Idiot's Guide" series helpful; the same with the "For Dummies" books. You start with something that makes sense and go on to the more puzzling questions as you have time and interest for more profound study.
And I don't see how "disrespect" comes into it. Tarot is not a religion; it is a tool for probing one's own intuition. It is also a tool for sharpening and honing that intuition until it becomes a powerful searchlight illuminating the fogs of the human heart and mind, a piercing light to reveal what is hidden in the future or the depths of the unconscious. But it doesn't call for or require religious faith, only concentrated attention. There is no magick in a set of 78 pictures on pasteboard. The magick comes from the place it has always come from--from within the mind of the seeker. There is no other magick that humans can access than that which is already their own. It becomes powerful as we work with it, practice with it, study it and, most of all, use it. The genuine desire to help yourself and others is the only key you need.
Sorry, I'm beginning to preach. These are, of course, my own opinions and others are free to disagree with them, but I will insist that inflating Tarot into a holy calling is a disservice to the art and all who would practice it.
With love under will,
Bob, Adastra,
The Wizzard of Jacksonville
