Tarot & Dream Interpretation (Special Topics in Tarot) [Paperback]

Julie Gillentine (Author)

Book Description

Series: Special Topics in Tarot | Publication Date: July 8, 2003

The Tarot is both a symbolic alphabet and a book of wisdom that speaks directly to the subconscious. Dreams speak to us in the same way, namely in symbols of a universal nature. By integrating these two methods of symbolic communication, you can use your dream time as a source of spiritual enlightenment. Explore the meanings of the Major and Minor Arcana as they pertain to dreams, and use the Symbol Dictionary as a guide to common dream themes.

Editorial Reviews

From the Author

Tarot & Dream Interpretation is the culmination of thirty-five years of work with clients. Their many breakthroughs, from using these techniques, was an inspiration for the book.

About the Author

Julie Gillentine (Colorado) is a graduate of the BTA school, an ATA Certified Tarot Instructor, and astrology teacher. She is co-author of the book The Hidden Power of Everyday Things and is a skilled speaker, having conducted hundreds of workshops, lectures, and radio interviews. She has her own popular website at queenofcups.com.

Product Details

• Paperback: 240 pages
• Publisher: Llewellyn Publications (July 8, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 073870220X
• ISBN-13: 978-0738702209
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6.1 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,381,649 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Julie Gillentine opens anew an ancient doorway to the soul, February 28, 2004

By 

Ed Conroy (San Antonio, TX) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Tarot & Dream Interpretation (Special Topics in Tarot) (Paperback)

La vida es sueño-life is a dream, said Spanish playwright Pedro Calderon de la Barca. If that is so, then what are our dreams?

In "Tarot and Dream Interpretation," Julie Gillentine makes an original contribution to dream analysis that puts the intuition and reason of the dreamer-independent of psychoanalytic theory- right in the center of the process.

Gillentine asserts that, if the dream is an inner "oracle" of the dreamer's self and its relationships, then its symbolic meaning may be directly accessed and understood through the synchronistic process of meditating on Tarot cards.

For many persons, accustomed to viewing the Tarot as a spurious form of gypsy fortune-telling, such a proposition may justifiably provoke skepticism.

Yet for the reader seeking to assume greater responsibility for understanding his or her own dream life, Gillentine opens a doorway to seeing the Tarot in a new light.

In an initial overview, Gillentine reminds the reader that dreams may have mental, physical or spiritual significance, and classifies dream symbols as to their respective levels of meaning: universal, cultural and personal.

In the latter part of the book, she provides a basic outline of the Tarot cards, their distinctive symbolism, and their meanings, informed by her many years of study of the cabala and its allied art, astrology. She also has complied a comprehensive glossary of various meanings for dream images.

In between, Gillentine urges her readers to keep a dream journal, and presents her original dream-recording chart, which enables the dreamer to quickly identify key symbols and the feelings they evoked in the dream. This dream-keeping chart will benefit anyone desirous to quickly identify and reflect upon most the important elements of their dreams.

Gillentine's background as a psychology major in her undergraduate studies shines through in the chapter that recounts vivid dreams of her own, or of members of a dream group to which she belongs.

Her descriptions of the dreams convey the fluidic nature of dreamtime thinking itself. Through illustrating how dreams help readers answer significant personal questions and confront issues of growth, this section is an excellent encouragement to dream big and meaningfully but analyze carefully and thoughtfully.

This writer had to try the Tarot spreads Gillentine mentions in order to write an effective review. Suffice it to say that, while I was certainly familiar with the Tarot, this was the first time I had asked a question about a specific dream. After shuffling the deck and pulling out cards at random in the "Pyramid of Consciousness" spread, I received a reading that was stunning in summing up the major issues of my life at this time, while pointing me in a positive direction.

"Tarot and Dream Interpretation" is a tool-book for the dream artisan in all of us, a highly practical, effectively written guide to entering into an active relationship with one's own subconscious mind and the symbols it uses to speak.

Not sure if it's for you? Take out your cards and ask the question.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Do you understand your dreams?, April 17, 2007

By 

M. Meuse-Allard "Bast of Books" (Lowell, MA United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Tarot & Dream Interpretation (Special Topics in Tarot) (Paperback)

I can figure out many dreams. On others, especially the ones that hangs over you all like a dark cloud. The use of Tarot and dream interpretation can many times explain, not everything, but put the dream in a difference perspective. An understanding that helps the dream and a way to find out meaning. Dream dictionaries a good, but if you have the bizarre dreams I have, there isn't enough in the dictionary.
Dreams can be a huge insight into something happening to you or someone you care about, but don't understand. Oh ya, some dreams are easy to figure out when you think of the symbols it held and trace them backwards.
This is a combo that I have been looking for. My neighbor is always coming to me because of my insight and dissecting dreams. So now have this book and my own cards to help me.
BUY IT, IT IS WORTH IT IF YOU ARE ANYTHING LIKE ME.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Must own if you believe, February 18, 2004

By A Customer

This review is from: Tarot & Dream Interpretation (Special Topics in Tarot) (Paperback)

Well written, well organized and beautifully illustrated. The information about dreams and merging it with Tarot cards gives more insight into the issues and meaning in dreams. Easy to ready and easy to apply. The glossory of symbols and their meaning in the back simplifies looking up symbols.
Each Tarot cards is illustrated with explanations. One Tarot card per page. This one is a keeper with extra editions to give away to special friends.