Cult of Tarot Forum

What are some good beginner tarot books?
Especially ones that deal with card meanings?

Hello
Sorry for late response. Books by Mary Greer are always value for money. I am reading Tarot - Get the Whole story by James Ricklef. This focuses on spreads he uses with advice on how to design your own. Also reading Tarot Interactions which goes into depth exploring how the cards within a spread relate to each other. I think you will find these give you much food for thought.
spider

This one will get you started with RWS - it worked for me. https://smile.amazon.com/Mastering-Taro ... RJSCTK0FQG

Anything by Sasha Fenton is also useful.

For Thoth https://smile.amazon.com/Understanding- ... 320&sr=1-1 (Of course, Crowley's Book of Thoth is required reading too. Just don't expect to understand it all at once.)

And for Marseilles and other pip decks https://smile.amazon.com/Untold-Tarot-R ... 244&sr=1-1

Mine LOL. Tarot: Temple of Paper, House of Cards

But yeah, Greer like someone said above for sure. I also highly recommend Sir Michael Dummett even though he had serious disdain for the occult aspect of tarot. His work is without question 'the' source for scholarly history of the objects themselves.

I am working my way through Holistic Tarot by Benebell Wen (and at 800+ pages that's quite the journey) and I really like the additional info in there that goes beyond the card meanings (yin/yang, elements, astrology correspondences).

It would also depend on which school of Tarot you are learning or reading with.

Rws, Tdm and Thoth variant tarots all have somewhat different meanings, and also reading methods too.

There are so many books on the Tarot that it is difficult to know where to start. I quite like the books by Sasha Fenton. I also remember when I first started reading, a book by Emily Peach which was quite useful. Alas it was so long ago I have forgotten the title. However, the book that I first learned from around 33 years ago was a very good one called Tarotmania by Jan Woudhuysen. It was the very first book I ever got on the tarot and it was a great help. The book seems to be out of print now but I do believe it can be obtained online free somewhere or other.

I am actually writing a book myself on the Tarot entitled "Street Wise Tarot" the title of which should give you an idea of the tone of the book. However, don't wait for me since I procrastinate greatly when writing and I will probably have to complete it posthumously. However, I do know several spiritualist mediums on this earthly plane so perhaps I can arrange something in advance!

One great advantage of my book which will be of interest to the original poster is that I will be explaining a system using memory tricks so that the meanings of all 78 cards can be memorised in around a week to two weeks at the most instead of the months normally necessary. Hard to believe? Yes. Possible? Also yes!

mark lewis wrote: ↑08 Jun 2020, 16:59 I am actually writing a book myself on the Tarot entitled "Street Wise Tarot" the title of which should give you an idea of the tone of the book. However, don't wait for me since I procrastinate greatly when writing and I will probably have to complete it posthumously. However, I do know several spiritualist mediums on this earthly plane so perhaps I can arrange something in advance!

As Mark has let us know, his work is almost ready for publication!

mark lewis wrote: ↑12 Oct 2020, 23:06 My book "Streetwise Tarot" is nearly ready. It will shortly be on my website for sale. The foreword has been written by best selling author Richard Webster who has written at least 150 books on metaphysical subjects and has sold the staggering amount of 10 million (probably even more by now) through Llewellyn.

You can read more about his book in The Artisans of Tarot sub-forum.

viewtopic.php?f=18&t=3212

Maybe you will find some more recommendations in this old thread: viewtopic.php?f=10&t=305

I still stand by my original recommendations

Charlie Brown wrote: ↑12 Oct 2020, 23:36

mark lewis wrote: ↑08 Jun 2020, 16:59 I am actually writing a book myself on the Tarot entitled "Street Wise Tarot" the title of which should give you an idea of the tone of the book. However, don't wait for me since I procrastinate greatly when writing and I will probably have to complete it posthumously. However, I do know several spiritualist mediums on this earthly plane so perhaps I can arrange something in advance!

As Mark has let us know, his work is almost ready for publication!

mark lewis wrote: ↑12 Oct 2020, 23:06 My book "Streetwise Tarot" is nearly ready. It will shortly be on my website for sale. The foreword has been written by best selling author Richard Webster who has written at least 150 books on metaphysical subjects and has sold the staggering amount of 10 million (probably even more by now) through Llewellyn.

You can read more about his book in The Artisans of Tarot sub-forum.

viewtopic.php?f=18&t=3212

Actually the book IS ready now! Here it is. If anyone wishes a short extract or two just let me know:

I have now figured out how to put the book on my website so it can be ordered direct from me. Here you are:

http://marklewisentertainment.com/html/magicians.html