I highly recommend Magician and Fool to Tarot readers and magic enthusiasts of all kinds. And even if you don’t read cards, or care about the Golden Dawn, it’s still a delightful mystical romp. I’m really looking forward to High Priestess and Empress … stay tuned!
Tarot Guide – Tarot For Troubled Times is not a how-to guide for Tarot reading, and I expect that most people drawn to it already read cards to some degree or other. Working through the book and doing the exercises though, will likely deepen your relationship to the cards whatever level of Tarot reading you’re at.
Main Themes – This book focuses on both personal development and confronting one’s shadow self, as well as looking at our individual roles and actions in the grander outside world.
Journaling – Throughout the book, Miro and Reed highly recommend the process of journaling your thoughts, and provide many helpful prompts in every chapter.
Exercises – Tarot for Troubled Times contains multiple Tarot spreads, and self-reflection question prompts. It also includes directions for finding and using personal and yearly Tarot archetypes, as well as providing ideas and suggestions for magic work like rituals and spells. I love this stuff!
Allies and Activism – The book closes with a focus on the outer community and societal themes, offering constructive advice on what it means to be an ally and an activist and how you might use the Tarot to help guide you on your path.
I really like Tarot for Troubled Times. It’s self-empowering without being unrealistically positive, has tons of interesting and fun exercise suggestions, and encourages us to recognize we have a valuable part to play in both our personal lives, and the larger world outside ourselves.
Genre:The Lost Tarot is a novel, fiction, not a how-to guide on how to read Tarot (but it’s good anyway!)
Chapter Titles – Tarot anchors the book with chapters running from the Fool through the World, finally ending with the Fool again.
Themes: Not only does the story of The Lost Tarot swirl around Tarot themes, it also features a couple of my other obsessions – cults and art. Not to mention, two of the main characters are from the University of Toronto … my own alma mater. If you were putting together a novel that I might be interested in – this one is almost too on point …I love it
Story: Tells the story of a search for a surrealist Tarot deck thought to be either a fake, or mostly burnt up in a terrible fire. It’s a fabulous tale taking us from Toronto to England to Wales, and across time from 1938 to today… through cults, galleries, psychedelic trips, and university politics. The Lost Tarot explores the idea of what it means to be a Seer.
Tarot: Not much actual Tarot reading in the story (I think there was a three card spread in the Devil chapter), but some of the cards being searched for are described. Wow, I’d love to have a copy of the Ringold Tarot (the name of the deck in the book). I wish they’d made one as a companion piece… sounds gorgeous, if not a little disturbing.
All in all, I think Tarot enthusiasts (and non-enthusiasts alike) will really enjoy The Lost Tarot. Plenty of unexpected twists and some absolutely beautiful imagery. And of course, underneath and above it all, the inspiring magic of Tarot.
History: As the title suggests, this book is focused on the history of Tarot… or more specifically, the history of the use of Tarot for divination and the meanings assigned to each card.
Major Arcana: After revealing his theory on the provenance of the whole series, Huson goes through each of the Major Arcana card by card, attempting to identify the origins of each image … Spoiler Alert: Huson believes that Tarot’s Major Arcana began as a representation of the ancient Mystery, Miracle, and Morality plays. He makes a compelling case.
Minor Arcana: For the Minors, Huson goes suit by suit, and card by card comparing the interpretations of historical Tarot heavyweights: Ettellia, Mathers, the Golden Dawn, and Waite.
Spreads:Mystical Origins includes a whole chapter on historical Tarot spreads. Some of them are straight forward, some very, very complicated, but I found all of them quite interesting. Huson includes a sample reading as well.
Tarot Reading Advice: Though this book isn’t so much a Tarot learning guide as it is an historical dissertation (with lots of illustrations), I think it could be quite helpful to new and seasoned readers alike. There’s some excellent advice on doing readings (though, obviously, everyone has their own style), and of course, as already described, there are detailed descriptions of each card, as well as some Tarot spreads to try … if a new or practiced reader is interested in learning the context from which Tarot evolved, as well as how it works, and general instructions on how to use it, this is a great book.
Overall, I very much enjoyed reading Mystical Origins of the Tarot. Don’t know why it took so long for me to get to it, but I’m glad I finally did.
March 14th, 2017 § Comments Off on Tarot For One: The Art of Reading for Yourself § permalink
Tarot For One took me longer to read than I expected, but not because it’s difficult, or heavy, or in any way hard to read. In fact, it’s just the opposite, Courtney Weber has written an extremely accessible Tarot guide that’s a true pleasure to read.
It took me so long to get through because instead of just breezing through a collection of card definitions, Tarot history, and sample spreads (all of which are included in the book and are very well written), I actually worked through every exercise while using a new deck I wasn’t at all familiar with.
The time taken was well worth it, as not only did I really get to know my new deck, but I also deepened my own relationship with Tarot and how I use it to read for myself.
What’s especially wonderful about Tarot For One is how it helps you to develop your own personal connection to the cards. Working through the exercises shows you how you can build a language using the images on your cards that reflects your own life, something memorizing other peoples’ definitions can never do.
And the process of creating that personal language is super fun!! I was having insights left, right, and center the whole way through the book. Even an exercise asking readers about their last meal was unexpectedly interesting and enjoyable.
If you decide to get this book (which I recommend), I strongly suggest you do all the exercises, and most definitely use your Tarot journal. I started a new one just for the book and I’ve already filled more than 160 pages!
Tarot For One: The Art of Reading for Yourself is a book I think both new and seasoned readers will enjoy. I know I’m going to be gifting it to some of my Tarot buddies. Whether they’ve been reading for a long time, or just starting out, it’s the type of book that can help everyone become a better reader.
