Customer Reviews

Spiritual Tarot: Seventy-Eight Paths to Personal Development

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

After my trusted copy of Rachel Pollack's "78 degrees", I find myself turning to this book for a slightly different spin on things, and an enhancement of my tarot experience. Very refreshing description and comparison of Rider/Waite, Morgan/Greer, and Aquarian decks. I very much enjoy the "card" speaking to the reader at the beginning of each card's description. I especially enjoy the discussion by the Devil card :-) "Ugggnh, am I scaring you?" it starts out.

I had not considered looking at a reversed card as looking at its "shadow aspects", but this is a marvelous way to think about it. It's enhanced my knowledge and study of the Tarot immeasurably.

I like the authors' way of relating the interpretations of the cards to a spiritual journey in a much more open way than other books. I find this very thought-provoking, and makes me dig deeper within myself when I am reading for my own questions, and gives me a much richer interpretation when I read for others.

The key phrases for each card make good sense and great memory triggers. I would love to read more books written by the same team. Their skill, compassion, and experience come through very clearly in this book. I recommend it without reservation, especially for beginners. Can't go wrong.

I have given this book to many friends - it's the best Tarot book I have ever found on giving readings (and I have loads of books on Tarot, the Qabalah etc.) It's so very helpful! And that's no small matter when you are doing a reading for yourself, particularly. It's sophisticated and strangely perfect for someone who knows nothing at all about the Tarot but wants all that good wisdom - it's staggering how the authors distilled out the power and truth of each card and presented it in a way that guides you through your reading! Giving insightful questions to ask yourself if that card turns up in your reading and in another part of the book, how to look at the reading as a whole.

At the beginning section of each card, the card addresses you, as if the card was introducing itself and baring it's heart, all at the same time. Honestly, it's a brilliant book!

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The point is - even if you've studied Tarot and think that you know everything (I'd like to meet that person!), it'll teach, help you and inspire you to greater things ...

I take my hat off to these authors, and I thank them for a book that I absolutely treasure!

Many books try to explain Tarot cards in terms of very specific meanings rooted firmly in the day-to-day bric-a-brac of material life; this book deals with the spiritual essences of the cards which give rise to these specific material-world meanings. It's easy to read and understand, even if you're spiritually thick as a brick, what's more it encourages the reader to look in the cards for a situation's potential for transformation and understanding the self and others better. The down side is sometimes you want more concrete meaning to juxtapose against the spiritual meaning. However, before I look at any other book I look at this one to get the soul or essence of what a reading is trying to tell me, and then I look for messages in the cards themselves, and if I still haven't gotten anything useful out of the spread I go to other books (Eileen Connolly and Mary Greer are particularly useful). This book is special because it allows the tarot reader to grasp things in such a way so that s/he can convey information which illuminates the inner dynamics and illusions people have about any given situation--which is ultimately the purpose of divination. We all seek to be free...right? A must-have for anyone, particularly beginners, seeking to gain better understanding of the spiritual aspect of the Tarot.

Spirtual Tarot is designed for beginners and consists largely of a card by card description of the deck. Three decks are used for every card, the Rider-Waite, Morgan-Greer, and Aquarian Decks. Comparing the three was sort of interesting, especially since I generally don't use such Rider-Waite based decks. Each card begins with a two to four paragraph "I" statements written by the card itself, followed by a key phrase and 2-3 pages of further description. This is certainly more in depth than most books, which only spent a few paragraphs per card.

The authors tried to point out the spirtual aspect of each card. In some cases, this provided new insight into cards that are usually viewed in a more mundane manner. Just as often though, they missed the mark. Some cards really aren't about spirtuality. I noticed a decided theme towards polarity, and a tendency to describe too many cards as a balance or tension of themes. The emphasis on color symbology and right/left symbology is hard to relate between decks, but is quite insightful. I often forget to look to such details.

Towards the back of the book there is a list of layouts. I was very impressed with the celtic cross layout (cross of awareness). Not only does the book give the most clear and useful definitions of the positions I have seen in a long time, but it describes the important interrelationships between the positions. Unfortunately the relationships are described for each pairing seperately, giving one little clue as to how the pairings were detected. Still, this book takes it much further than most.

After the celtic cross, the book goes through a few other layout, but not the postion relationships. Finally, some sample readings are given, and they are pretty good. Overall, the book was decent, but not much different than the many other beginners books on the market.

This has been one of the most useful resources I've found about the Tarot (and there are many resources out there!). The authors describe each card in such detail that after a while, the cards seemed like old friends to me. I don't buy into a lot of the Tarot stuff, like praying to the cards for guidance, but most of the excercises in this book are excellent for tuning yourself to the cards.

I have been a reader, teacher and Tarot enthusiast for many years and find that this is the book I most often recommend. It is concise, insightful and lacks the yawning tedium of most books in this genre.

I especially like the first person introduction to each card which takes one out of the realm of dry memorization and into the realm of personal experience. A "must" for any and all Tarot enthusiasts.

Bravo to the authors!

The thing I like the most about this book is that under each card definition, three types of decks are covered; Aquarian, Morgan-Greer and Rider-Waite. Also, the writers have a statement from the card before they start explaining symbols, etc. Those of you who have read a few tarot books know how dry all this explanation can be, so any change is welcome! As the title suggests, the tarot is discussed in a more inward- searching, spiritual way.

I've owned this book for at least 10 years. The authors provide deep insight into to the tarot as a source of insight and a tool for spiritual development as was original intention of the creation of the tarot.

Not for fortune telling and those concerned with predicting the status of the everyday mundane aspects of life. A must have for those seeking insight and introspection for themselves and others.

Those who wish to learn to read the Tarot for the benefit of other's will be wise to incorporate the insights in this book as the foundation of their knowledge and interpretation of the tarot.

I love this book!

This book compares the symbology of three different Tarot decks, which offers a wider perspective on their deeper meanings. Also, what is intriguing about this book is that it discusses ways to use the Tarot for spiritual development. I love it! It's one of, if not THE best book I've ever read on the subject.

This book is very useful for those who are not so much interested in the fortune-telling aspect of tarot, but use the cards as tools for introspection. It is a good, basic guide to both the cards and the layouts and it is easily accessible to beginners.