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A Collection of Tools If you’ve noticed a conspicuous lack of tarot material in The New Times of late, I assure you it’s no conspiracy. Instead, as tarot’s popularity spreads ’cross store shelves, and books on the topic begin greeting me at work more often, I decided to pull together a collection of those recently sent to me for review that I felt most worthwhile for New Times readers and those I came across in other ways that I thought should be included. To a number of recent arrivals then, from which I hope you’ll find a few that intrigue.
The book includes a brief history of tarot and talk on the topics of symbolism, visualization, and meditation. Importantly, Ozaniec also introduces the related topics of the Hebrew alphabet and the Tree of Life, which both need further study for a decent grasp of tarot. And finally, the author covers the major and minor arcana, as well as a couple of spreads, while ending the book by showing how the student must make tarot one’s own. So the book’s ending is just the student’s beginning, and some of the following books may be the reader’s next step.
The book covers a delicious array of tarot questions, even going into detail on that above query on the timing of events. A small dictionary of tarot symbols is offered before the book launches into tarot’s connections with numerology, elemental and standard astrologies, cabala, I Ching, runes, color, and chakras.
The books above — as well as other important works such as those by Gareth Knight, Dion Fortune, and others — introduce the intellect to the tarot topic. But after all, tarot is about the cards. One needs the intellectual backing, but then one must sit with the cards, spread them out, and read. I haven’t had new decks sent my way, but I felt I should include a couple of the many decks available, just to get the reader started on the search. Two companies producing a bulk of the decks available are Llewellyn and U.S. Games Systems, though most of what I have in hand is from Llewellyn. Still, I’d probably be remiss if I didn't mention a deck produced today by U.S. Games Systems, and that is the Rider-Waite tarot. If you want to get to the basics, this might be your deck — a time-tested deck using many basic and archetypal symbols to enable a reading. Another deck I should mention here, from the same company, is the blank one for making your own tarot — maybe something you’ll want to do along the way, and certainly something that helps to really grasp the details of tarot.
For me, however, the lack of standard symbols makes this deck hard to read, but I suspect those who study dragons and their symbols wouldn’t face that problem. The included book contains a meditation section on "Meeting Your Special Dragon," "Spiritual Dragon Initiation," and more. My favorite for its art is Llewellyn’s Sacred Circle Tarot by Anna Franklin and Paul Mason. The deck is based on the British pagan tradition.
I end my look at decks with mention of the Golden Dawn decks. Llewellyn and U.S. Games Systems again both carry decks from this tradition, which is among the most thorough approaches today, fully incorporating the Tree of Life and the Hebrew alphabet. The deck consists of 79 cards for ritual purposes of the Golden Dawn Order (two temperance cards), but only 78 are ever used in a reading. Llewellyn’s deck was created by Chic and Sandra Tabatha Cicero under the partial guidance of Israel Regardie. I find this deck the most useful of all because of the powerhouse list of names that have written from this tradition. But of course what it comes to is that the reader of tarot is seeking what will stimulate his or her own subconscious to work alongside the conscious mind.
True, a computer can never speak from its own subconscious, so the user incorporates this into the reading. Some folks will never be comfortable with computer tarot, and that is fine. But for some, this may be an important introduction; different means for different people. We’re each seeking that which helps in personal growth, and be it through books, cards, or software, tarot certainly has its place along the way. |
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The oldest of the collection in hand, the only one published last year, is Naomi Ozaniec’s Illustrated Guide to Tarot, produced by Godsfield Press. I thought to include it for its simple, attractive, and rather complete approach for the beginner. The book is beautifully laid out with numerous pictures and diagrams, emphasizing the pictorial power of tarot. Its pictures include numbers of cards from at least nine different tarot decks to begin familiarizing the reader with what’s available to work with, and each set of facing pages is designed to cover one topic, so that any page turned to can offer a lesson unto itself.
Keeping it simple for the newer student, we next take a peek at the work of a tarot trio: Sandra Thomson, Robert Mueller, and Signe Echols. Having already put together two books on tarot, they call their most recent The Heart of the Tarot: the Two-Card Layout, published by Harper San Francisco. As do many books, this one gives some tarot basics and defines all 78 cards in the tarot deck; unlike others I’ve seen so far, this one thoroughly details the absolutely simple two-card layout as a quick and effective way of using tarot every day. The basis is as easy as one card telling of a current situation, the other telling of a challenge in the way. The authors not only give their detailed thoughts on the meanings of every card in the tarot, but they also give specific meanings for each in both of the above positions; for the beginner, then, this is an easily maneuvered launch to a study of so much depth.
A book similar in scope, yet quite different in focus, is Nancy Shavick’s Tarot Universe, published by Santa Monica Press. Again offering some tarot basics, and then a whopping 14 tarot spreads, the book even moves into an interesting chapter called "Techniques for the Tarot Card Reader." This chapter covers important topics for anyone to remember, including "The Hazards of Speculation" and "The Timing of Events," and asks such questions as "What If a Reading Does Not Make Sense?" and "How Often Should the Cards Be Read?" The bulk of pages is dedicated to interpreting every card in the tarot, yet the student benefits here from having each card further explained in terms of "Romance," "Work & Business," and, appropriately, "Spiritual Growth." The book concludes with some interesting appendix items, including "Tarot Card Combinations" and "Tarot Cards with Similar Meanings."
Having covered many of the basics in the first three books, I have to make my continued push for spirituality to become practical by offering the next title: Tarot: Your Everyday Guide, written by Janina Renee and published by Llewellyn. This book interprets all 78 cards of the tarot, but unlike books that offer traditional readings, this one modifies the emphasis toward advice leading to action: "You interpret a card in terms of things you can do," says the author in the introduction. "The central figure in the card usually models what ought to be done. You could say that the central figure represents you."
As the student begins entering more deeply into tarot’s mysteries, there is a growing need for reference material that outlines not only traditional readings and card combinations, but that covers many of the more subtle tarot connections. Llewellyn offers one solution with Tracy Porter’s Tarot Companion: an Essential Reference Guide.
After one becomes more expert at tarot readings in general, interest may turn toward more specific topics considered in depth. One of the fascinating ideas of tarot is that the first 22 cards — the Major Arcana — represented stages in a person’s life. One new title devoting its pages to the topic is Hajo Banzhaf’s Tarot and the Journey of the Hero, published by Samuel Weiser. The author takes an archetypal look at the hero, acknowledging and drawing from the depth of work by Carl Jung. The Major Arcana are depicted in a circle, showing the life cycle, and each card is considered in depth for its meaning along this important path. Included is a simplified box for each card showing Archetype, Task, Goal, Risk, and Feeling in Life. This well-illustrated work could even be an important resource for those studying the hero topic without interest in tarot, but certainly offers the most for those intrigued by both.
Moving away from the standard tarot symbols, many of the decks today approach from other traditions, drawing interest from those who might not be otherwise intrigued. I bought one of my earliest decks because of my deep interest in the Arthurian saga — this is Llewellyn’s Legend: The Arthurian Tarot by Anna-Marie Ferguson. Each card of this deck shows either a famous personality or scene from the Arthur stories through which to tap one’s subconscious for reading. The exception is probably the most difficult face card to read in traditional decks, and that is the page — this deck uses animals rather than pages. Perhaps the difficulty with such a deck is the lack of consistency in the Arthurian history; but the included book gives explanations of every card, and if you’re comfortable with your own take on the stories, then it should work with your own subconscious mind.
In the related field of fantasy, Llewellyn and U.S. Games Systems both have dragon tarot decks. The one I have is Llewellyn’s, which is actually a Celtic Dragon Tarot by D. J. Conway and Lisa Hunt. Because I love dragons, I can just sit and stare at these cards for their art.
Although the Major Arcana uses a few different names from the standard deck (the Fool, for example, is here called the Green Man), the overall symbolism is quite familiar to the experienced tarot reader. Also, the Minor Arcana includes keywords at the top of each card to help the less experienced, or to help the seasoned reader focus.
I ought to add one title more for our still-dawning computer age. A company called Visionary Networks (check out <