Around the Tarot in 78 Days: A Personal Journey Through the Cards [Paperback]

Marcus Katz (Author), Tali Goodwin (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 8, 2012

Welcome to the land of tarot, where each and every card is an adventure of discovery

Journey into the exciting world of tarot with this comprehensive 78-day course. Uniquely presented in a one-card-per-day format, this workbook provides a solid foundation in tarot—and offers new ways to enrich your life using the wisdom of the cards.

Well-known tarot readers and instructors Marcus Katz and Tali Goodwin take you through the symbolic landscape of tarot card by card. Progress through the exercises in sequence, or study the cards in whatever order you like. Casting traditional interpretation methods in a fresh and modern light, Katz and Goodwin teach you how to interpret spreads by experiencing them as meditations, activities, affirmations, and oracles. Discover the keywords of each card and how to use them. Delve even deeper with gated spreads—a series of spreads guiding you toward a powerful experience—and integrative lessons on magick and kabbalistic correspondences.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Marcus Katz (England) is a tarot teacher and the director of Tarot Professionals, the world’s largest professional tarot organization. He has studied and taught tarot for thirty years and has delivered more than ten thousand face-to-face readings. He is the co-founder of Tarot Town, the social network for tarot readers, with thousands of members worldwide.

Tali Goodwin (England) is the marketing director of Tarot Professionals and co-founder of the Tarot Town social network. She maintains a popular tarot blog at TarotSpeakEasy.com.

Product Details

• Paperback: 456 pages
• Publisher: Llewellyn Publications (May 8, 2012)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0738730440
• ISBN-13: 978-0738730448
• Product Dimensions: 7.5 x 1.1 x 9.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (88 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #201,664 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

33 of 36 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Building Strong Tarot Foundations May 3, 2012

By Angelo Nasios

Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase

"A workbook which builds strong tarot foundations in 78 knowledge packed days"

All aboard! You are going on a journey around the tarot in 78 days with authors Marcus Katz and Tali Goodwin. All you need is your tarot deck, Around The Tarot in 78 Days is tarot workbook which explores the cards. in you guessed it, 78 days I am normally not a fan of tarot workbooks, however when I heard about "ATTI78D" I was automatically excited. After reading and reviewing Marcus' previous work "Tarosophy: Tarot to Engage Your Life Not to Escape it" I knew this workbook would be different, unique and useful. I was right!

The book is designed to be read one card per day, each day has a lesson attached to it. The lessons are designed to give a new reader a well rounded introduction to tarot. The lessons are not just for newbies but intermediate readers will also learn from this workbook. Along your journey spreads, methods and techniques fill the pages so the learning never stops. In addition to the normal lessons there are "wayside lessons" which are optional lessons for intermediate readers. Which provide useful information everyone should know. With this said, let us explore the layout/structure of the book

Marcus and Tali do a wonderful job in the "Let's Get Started" section. It is in-depth and provides a lot. In this section the tarot foundations are laid out for you. I like how the cards are explained in the context of the theme of the book, Majors are "The Landmark Cards", which allow us to get our bearings. Minors are "The Signpost Cards", which illustrate all human activity. Court cards are "The Direction Cards", which represent forces at play in the universe through people or events. Further more within the Majors there are "Pitstop Points", which include Change Cards, Teaching Cards, Challenge Cards, Opportunity Cards, initiation Cards and Stop Cards. The inclusion of these pitstop points is a great thing as it places the majors into certain groups of a general meaning which is very useful in a reading when you notice a pattern developing.

It is also in this section the order of the cards is explained, most books list the cards in number sequence, from Fool to The World then Ace through King with each of the suits. The order here is based on what Marcus and Tali say is by the soul's journey through the Tree of Life.

Moving deeper into this section you will find yourself learning about the Keyword Kaleidoscope, a method of reconcile different card meanings. We all have been in that position where we seen different sources saying something different about a card. This method uses these meanings to create new meanings. At first I was a little confused about how this technique worked but after putting it into practice I was amazed at how cool and helpful it was! It is definitely unique and probably the number one thing I can walk away with learning. When you read about The Keyword Kaleidoscope I am sure you will be in agreement. There are additional methods included after the Keyword Kaleidoscope that aims to give you new approaches to using the cards.

With all that said it is time to move on into the core of the book, the cards and lessons. Each of the cards come along with side bits of additional info. Ways of connecting with the cards through affirmations, meditations, numerological equivalent and astrological correspondences, elemental quality and the Kabbalastic placement in the Tree of Life. The cards are then related to aspects in our life like work, relationship, health and the like so this book can also be used as a reference for when you reading the cards.

There are certain lessons which I personally liked. On day 15 you learn about the 9 of Wands. The lesson on this day is looking at the four levels of reading a tarot card. Day 20, the 8 of Swords the lesson is about using Astrological Correspondences. There are a few days you do one card narratives and my favorite was Day 28, 7 of Cups which was a fun exercise. Day 31, The Wheel of Fortune the lesson is narrative in time, where you learn how changing which tense you place the card can change your perspective. Being a big fan of 3 card readings, on day 36, Justice, you practice doing a 3 card reading answering a question presented to you. Love that one. Along in the lessons you are shown different spreads, spreads are not relegated to one section of the book, they are spread throughout it. One day 38, The Emperor you learn the Dawn Spread which is a useful daily spread. Another spread which really sparked my interest was the Discover Your Demon Spread, on day 45 learning about the 5 of Swords. You will also learn about "Opening of the Key Method" on day 59, The Empress. A card counting method created by the Golden Dawn in 1888. As I mentioned before there are wayside lessons, a few of these wayside lessons deal with numerology, the astrological deacons and elemental dignities.

Are all the lessons game changers are amazingly unique? No, I did not expect that, what I did expect though was lessons that could be used by everyone on any place of the tarot reading spectrum. There are basic lessons and there are more advance lessons. There is little negative to be said about the book, since this is a workbook with lessons you are in the end left to apply what you learn yourself. Not all the lessons are applied to all the cards through out the book. Which you can't expect because then it would be the never ending tarot book lol. There was one little thing I noticed which was the title change of The Wheel of Fortune, called simply The Wheel and The Tower which is called The Blasted Tower. I assume that is how the cards are called over in England, our authors are British after all. So I can't really complain about that because that is a linguistic issue and also these are the much older titles of the cards. The publisher is however based in the USA so I am surprised the titles were not changed because of the main market which the book will be sold in. The only reason I bring this up is it might cause a slight confusion to a new reader.

All in all, Marcus and Tali hit the ball out of the park with this book. Around the Tarot in 78 Days is a excellent workbook that any reader can use. The book holds within it a great collection of knowledge that only Marcus and Tali could have presented with such ease and grace. I recommend it to new readers as it will give them a strong foundation in tarot which will give them the proper tools and knowledge needed. The book is also good for veterans of tarot because there is always something new to learn.

21 of 22 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Excellent for beginners and experiened tarot users May 7, 2012

By Elizabeth Crowley

Format:Paperback

Around the Tarot in 78 Days takes readers into the heart of the tarot. Useful for both the novice and the experienced user, this book uses the tarot as a transformational tool to enrich your life. Marcus Katz and Tali Goodwin takes the tarot beyond the traditional divination definitions commonly found in tarot books. Instead, Around the Tarot in 78 Days lets the cards speak for themselves. Keeping a journal as you begin your journey is essential, as this is a very interactive book.

Instead of providing a list of possible meanings for each individual card, Around the Tarot in 78 Days lets the card speak directly to the reader. Each card definition includes meanings for health, career, romance, education, and spiritual questions. However, the author encourages and coaches the reader into studying each card and going beyond the traditional meaning. By following the guidance of the authors, the reader will learn how each tarot card is transformed by surrounding cards. I especially appreciated the time the author took with the Court cards. If you have ever had trouble figuring out if the Court cards in your spreads represent a person, you will find the author's tips useful.

This book also teaches the reader to creative a narrative for each card. By learning to create a smooth narrative, readers will learn how to turn a tarot spread into a proper reading. Whether you are using the tarot for the first time, or if you are an experienced user looking for new insight into the tarot, Katz and Goodwin draw on astrology, numerology, and Kabbalah to decipher the mystery of the tarot. This is an extremely user friendly book. Even the most experienced tarot user will appreciate the numerous spreads and fascinating insights the authors provide.

I would like to thank Net Galley and Llewellyn Worldwide for the opportunity to review an advanced reader copy of this book.

26 of 29 people found the following review helpful

2.0 out of 5 stars Creative but disorganized writing August 14, 2012

By Anna Wester

Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase

I was looking forward to reading this book for sometime. I am very disappointed. I returned it. I couldn't stand it just after the introduction and the 1st day of learning a card. I am an intermediate level tarot student. There were a lot of creative ideas in this book. However, the writing style is very disorganized and it is poorly edited. The authors seem to be "right-brained" thinkers and writing is a "left-brained" task. The book was just all over of the place. Sometimes the topic would change mid-paragraph.
Aside from the writing style, there is also no foundation. I would not recommend this book for beginners. The introduction just jumps right in and neglects to cover elementary concepts. Having experience, I could follow it but the poor writing style was so unpleasant it gave me a headache.
I had enough of it when I got to the lessons about the cards and they were just subjective descriptions about the meanings of the cards without really explaining the system of meaning behind them. I have never found this style of teaching tarot meanings to be useful unless descriptions are conveyed with exceptional emotion - which requires good writing skills.
Explaining the correspondences with the cards and explaining what those correspondences mean is a much more effective method of learning the meanings of the cards. Even when this book does reference the system it does not explain how system of the correspondences works for the reference to it to have any meaning. For example we learn that the Page of Pentacles is an earth card because pentacles are earth. However, there is no explanation of the system of elements prior to this. The elemental associations with the court cards (pages are earth, queens are water, etc) is also omitted. We also learn that Malkuth is the sephira for the P of P before there is an lesson on the Tree of Life, other than the explanation of the paths correspondences with the majors which again is just randomly thrown in there. Whatever concepts the lessons are dependent could possibly be explained at random disconnected points later in the book.

The journey is a really good concept and there are very creative ideas for reading in this book but the authors need to learn that a finished work of writing takes a lot of revisions. It is possible that this style of teaching would appeal to very "right-brained" persons. For me, the creative treasures do not outweigh the cost of the book.