Customer Reviews

Complete Book of Tarot Spreads

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

The Complete Book of Tarot Spreads at first look appears to be just what every serious tarot reader is looking for, this is sadly not the case. Many of the spreads are one card spreads with different meaning such as The Unknown, Stress Card, Your Dream Card or The Next Step. There are numerous 2, 3 or 4 card spreads also with trivial meaning for their positions. I find these smaller spreads to be disappointing and practically worthless. This type of information would be helpful for a starting student, but any experienced card reader could easily make these spreads up on the spot. There are 4 versions of the Zodiac Spread and 4 versions of the Celtic Cross, each with slightly varried meanings and counting as seperate layouts. I found about 6 spreads that had any depth and usefulness for professional work. These few spreads in this book that had value have been published by many other sources. The 1st chapter covers the tarot basics in a thorough manner. The intoductory chapter is the most useful part of this book because it's always good to hear other opinions and theories of professional card reader. This includes numerology, colors and tips on keeping a tarot journal. There is also about 7 pages of tarot in relation to astrology, this is mostly lists and charts with very little explanation. The astrology correlations are taken directly from the Golden Dawn teachings and may be confusing for the beginner. The bottom line is this book is neat to own for the ideas and helpful hints of the authors but the variety of card spreads are very minimal and practically worthless for any serious reader.

Most of this book is filled with pictures of layouts with two or three word descriptions of the meanings of each position. When I got this book I had been studying tarot for only two months. I found that my intuitive senses seemed to dull after considering only three or four cards. I did not have the experience to comfortably interpret large spreads like the Celtic Cross. Sensing connections in such a large spread was also difficult. Enter "The Complete Book of Tarot Spreads." The layouts are mostly smaller (2-6 cards) making reading much more accessible to the beginner. Many of the layouts have several variations, and by studying the variations I began to understand how to create my own layouts.

A more experienced tarot reader now (but not that experienced), I still occasionally turn to this book for ideas on creating my own layouts but rarely use the simple layouts now. The descriptions of the positions are incrediably simple. In some cases so simple I don't even understand what they mean.

If you are a beginning student looking for simple spreads, buy this book. If you are comfortable with larger spreads like the Celtic Cross or other spreads using greater than ten cards, don't waste your money.

This book didn't have quite the range of spreads that I'd hoped, but I did expect that when I bought it and I wasn't sorry. I won't comment on the introductory segments on numerology, astrology, or general card theory, as I largely skipped over that (although I suppose that's worthy of comment in itself). As some other reviewers have mentioned, of the 120 (or however many) spreads that there are in this book, a very large number of them are one, two, and three card spreads. I tend to make up my own spreads, often on the fly, so what I've found useful about this book is that both the simplistic and complex spreads give me different ideas or angles to use when I create my own spreads. To date, I've used this book to avoid getting into a rut in the way I define my cards, and I've used it to get inspiration for new spreads of my own. Quite frankly, I could get a lot of the same information browsing the web for spreads, but it's much more convenient for me to have a nice little collection that I can keep in the same place as my cards, plus it saves me the footwork.

In summary, this is an inexpensive book that I'd recommend for anyone with moderate expections looking for ideas or inspiration, but this book will definately not present you 100 new fancy spreads that you've never heard of before.

This book is great for someone getting started in the tarot. It has a very quick and easy method for learning the minor arcana, and even has a very brief discussion on some of the more esoteric aspects (i.e. colors, astrological attributions, etc.). Nothing too heavy for a neophyte to get drowned in, but a very good starting point.

The book claims to have 122 or so spreads. This is a little misleading, since a few of them are "Pick a card you like, and just think about it for a while" kind of spreads. Which those are great for people trying to become more intuitive readers, but a few of them seem to be there to soak up another page.

There's a lot of great spreads here, you're bound to find a few you'll love. A number of them are for more meditative purposes, and they've got spreads that couples are meant to do together, etc.

I really walked away liking this book for what it is. For the price, its worth it. If you're a seasoned tarot reader, however, it may be less appealing.

I bought this book along with the cards as a gift for my neice. She really enjoys giving the fmaily readings and has said the book has been very helpful. Over all, I'd have to say it was a good purchase.

This book has over 200 tarot spreads! It may not be a good book for a complete beginner, but anyone with a little bit of experiance will find this very useful! It has many diiferent types of spreads divided into catagories so it's easy to find the perfect spread. There are even spreds for meditative purposes! I love this book!

THIS BOOK HAS SOME ASTROLOGY ETC. YES THAT'S GOOD. BUT IT'S A BOOK ABOUT TAROT SPREADS.

WHERE ARE THE DETAILS FOR THE SPREADS? IF YOU'RE GOING TO GIVE PEOPLE COMPLETE TAROT SPREADS GIVE THEM MORE DETAILS ON THE SPREADS. NOT JUST PAST-PRESENT-FUTURE OR 1-2-3. WE WANT TO KNOW WHAT THE PAST POSITION REALLY MEANS, ETC. EVEN ONE LINE WOULD DO. ANYONE COULD HAVE WRITTEN THIS BOOK. JUST THINK OF SOME CATCHY NAMES FOR THE POSITIONS, NOT KNOWING WHAT THEY MEAN AND YOU'VE GOT THIS BOOK. AND OH, WHY HAVE THEY GIVEN US THE CELTIC CROSS SPREAD IN ABOUT TEN VARIATIONS AND CALLED IT 10 SPREADS WHEN IT'S JUST 1 SPREAD WHERE THE CARDS CAN BE INTERPRETED DIFFERENTLY?

I GAVE IT TWO STARS FOR THE ASTROLOGY PART. PLEASE WORK ON THE SPREADS AND GET BACK TO US WITH A REVISED EDITION. IF IT'S AS PRACTICAL AS THE ASTROLOGY PART PEOPLE WILL BUY IT.