The Tarot: History, Mystery and Lore [Paperback]

Cynthia Giles (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 1, 1994

With more than 40 illustrations and an entertaining informative text, this elegantly designed book captures the scope, powers, and romance of the Tarot throughout the ages. "Excellently researched, entertainingly and compellingly written". -Booklist.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Giles, a tarot card reader and a student of Jungian psychology, views the tarot deck as a map of the archetypal realm of the imagination, a symbolic language capable of representing almost any human situation, and a therapeutic tool that operates on rational, psychic and metaphysical levels at once. But this confusing study does not effectively demonstrate how the tarot reader accomplishes any of the above. It does provide a colorful history of the tarot, however, which apparently began as a 15th-century Italian card game and later became overlaid with associations to fortune-telling, magic, alchemy, Kabbalism, Jungian theory and, more recently, to goddess-worship and shamanism. Giles examines surrealist artists' use of tarot imagery, presents woolly speculations on the "new physics" and includes "quantum exercises for Tarot readers," a consumer's guide to tarot decks, tips on the use of tarot in self-analysis and an annotated listing of tarot-related books and periodicals. Illustrations.
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Library Journal

This excellent work traces the history, legends, and stories surrounding tarot cards. The origin of these cards tarot are lost. Consequently, the tarot has generated a wealth of speculation and pseudotruths. Giles, a reader, teacher, and consultant on the tarot, gives a fascinating precis of its history from the first mention in 1450 to modern times. In addition, the role of the tarot as a way of knowing is effectively examined. This is not a guide for using tarot but a literate study of the history, foundation, and uses of the cards. There is a list of the different kinds of decks available as well as a resource list. The thoroughly annotated bibliography, based on the author's personal preferences, is very good. Highly recommended.
- Gail Wood, Montgomery Coll. Lib., Germantown, Md.
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Details

• Paperback: 256 pages
• Publisher: Touchstone; 1st Fireside edition (October 1, 1994)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0671891014
• ISBN-13: 978-0671891015
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #438,822 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

27 of 28 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A good overview of Tarotology, November 25, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: The Tarot: History, Mystery and Lore (Paperback)

If you want to learn how to read the Tarot, this book isn't going to help you much. But if you want an introduction into the history and theory of the Tarot, this may be the book you want. Giles' history is refreshingly skeptical, compared to most Tarot introductions I've seen; the discussions of the development of the Tarot ties it in to broader esoteric traditions. I have to confess that I was unconvinced by her attempt to link Tarot to quantum physics. One of the big pluses of the book is a lengthy annotated bibliography of books on the Tarot, which gives you enough information to make an educated guess as to which books would give you what you need. (There's are also several reading lists scattered throughout the book on various fascinating subjects.) There's also a bibliography of decks, which is helpful but could be more detailed. This book is more an introduction to learning about the Tarot than a book about the Tarot itself; if you want to read only one book, this may not be it. (I'd recommend "Tarot as a Way of Life," by Karen Hamaker-Zondag.) But if you are thinking about reading several books on the subject, this would be a great place to start.

20 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An excellent intro to the tarot, but not it's use., September 28, 2000

By 

Uri Raz (Israel) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: The Tarot: History, Mystery and Lore (Paperback)

This book makes an excellent reading about tarot - it's very readable, and it approaches the subject in a sensible way.

The first four chapters deal with the history of tarot, which is presented in a based manner (= based on what historians can tell about tarot) rather than in a romanticezed manner (= based on wild fantasies, e.g. about the tarot originating in egypt).

The next four chapters describe the "mystery" of tarot - it's relationships with such subjects as alchemy, kabbala, chakras, etc. Included is an explanation of why does tarot works based on quantum physics, which I personally dont like - it sounds too much like psuedo-scientific mumbo-jumbo.

The last part deals with tarot lore - a part that lists various types of decks, which is nice for somebody who wants to find a deck to her taste, an excellent list of books about tarot, and a dozen tarot ideas which is recreational if nothing else.

All in all, I'd recommend this book to anyone who is interested in tarot. It's 97% gold, 3% tin, and a gem in a time where tarot is misunderstood by many.

18 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars What other people believe....., August 18, 2002

By 

Dianne Foster "Di" (USA) - See all my reviews
(HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)   

This review is from: The Tarot: History, Mystery and Lore (Paperback)

THE TAROT by Cynthia Giles is frequently cited (by the late Joseph Campbell for one), and although many of her more salient points are mentioned elsewhere, the book remains a classic and a must read for anyone who would know more about the Tarot. My own copy is so underlined and earmarked I hardly know where to begin this review.

Giles' book covers the `History' and `Mystery' of the cards, as well as the `Lore' in a final section where she provides a sampling of decks, a booklist, and a number of `Tarot Ideas.' In the `History' section, she reviews what was known about the Tarot cards as of the early 1990s. Unfortunately, research funding for this topic is not easily acquired, so the full history--which would require an investigation of primary sources including material in the Vatican, not a rehashing of material collected by 19th Century scholars-has yet to be written. Even the six-volume series on WITCHCRAFT AND MAGIC IN EUROPE edited by Ankarloo and Clark has given the Tarot short shrift, although the sixth volume on Witchcraft in the 15th Century due out in December 2002 may make up the difference.

The Tarot may have first appeared in 15th Century Italy. Initially, it may have been nothing more than a set of playing cards, or, the Minor Arcana may have been a set of playing cards tacked onto the Major Arcana. On the other hand, the whole deck of 78 cards may have an `arcane' history. Certainly, the images found in the Major Arcana appeared in one guise or another prior to the 15th Century. Artists and writers have long recognized the importance of these images, but in the 20th Century, the psychologist Carl Jung suggested they were linked to archetypes of the unconcious and set loose a flood of prose and poetry. Recently, a new spate of books linking the Tarot to Psychology have appeared.

Giles covers the `Mystery' of the Tarot in the second section of her book where she reviews four major levels of a Tarot reading: Rational, Psychological, Psychical, and Metaphysical. Certainly, some charlatans have used a rational approach to trick an unsuspecting client. On the other hand, the rational approach may be used by an analytic reader, a thinking personality type who relies on the content of the cards to deliver the message. The Psychological reader may use cues obtained from the querant at a feeling level, while the Psychic will rely on intuitive avenues such as ESP or clairvoyance. The metaphysical reader uses a form of sensory input not detectable by most people. These four types of readers are linked to the four Myers-Briggs personality types - Thinking, Feeling, Intuitive, and Sensate (or in the language of Tarot - Swords, Cups, Wands, and Pentacles).

Lest you think the Divinatory properties of the Tarot are impossible, Giles reviews recent developments in Quantum and Particle Physics, as well as material on the Holographic Universe that indicate the universe is not a well known entity. Her discussion of the shortcomings of believing only what one can empirically deduce with the five senses is cogent and fascinating reading.