Customer Reviews

Tarot Outside the Box (Special Topics in Tarot Series)

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There's never been a Tarot book quite like this one! From the Foreword by Mary K. Greer to the appendix of recommended books, Tarot: Outside the Box is packed with great suggestions for exploring the Tarot in unconventional ways.

Tarot literature is filled with books that "lay down the law," warning readers to shuffle, cut, deal, and interpret the cards in very specific ways. Tarot: Outside the Box offers a welcome, experimental alternative to this pedantic approach. In this book, the only rule is, "Break the rules!"

Got several decks on hand? Why not mix 'em together? Think one card provides an interesting commentary on your situation? Draw that same card from up to forty different decks, compare and contrast the illustrations and interpretations, and see your situation in an entirely new light!

Want something entirely different? How about spreads that combine cards from multiple decks? Have a client who packs four questions into one inquiry? Why not use the multiple cards depicted on each card of the Comparative Tarot - or several cards from several decks - to divine answers to his questions?

Other great techniques provide quick and easy methods for practicing readings for simulated clients, making readings more interactive, and designing your own spreads. Valerie's conversational tone and good examples encourage even the most timid Taroteers to try everything from comparative readings to elemental dignities.

Catching the spirit of comparative reading would be easier if the book contained more card images ... but Valerie (who hints at the difficulty involved in getting some publishers to support her efforts) compensates well with vivid descriptions of the cards we can't see.

As one of Llewellyn's Special Topics in Tarot, this book is positioned to sell to more advanced Tarot students ... but this title has a great deal to offer beginners, too. (If nothing else, it should get them past obsessions with "getting it right" and help them embrace the joy of exploration and experimentation.)

In <u>Tarot Outside the Box</u> Sim informs the reader up front that it is assumed that one already has a certain familiarity with the Tarot. It is expected that the reader knows the basic meanings of the seventy-eight cards, several spreads and is already comfortable with at least one deck.

Comparative Tarot, a method Sim named, if not invented, is mentioned frequently and forms the basis for most of the methods described in this work. Of the comparative method itself, Sim affirms: `Cards that I had previously found to be relatively "flat" in meaning frequently came alive by this method. Cards that were previously somewhat mute screamed for my attention' (pg 8). Essentially, what Comparative Tarot breaks down to is comparing the cards of a reading with one or more different decks to see the variances in meaning, and interpret the reading thusly. The myriad of variations on the theme one can come up with present the reader with a deeper, or at least different, take on the cards' meanings.

In addition to this, Sim also includes several activities and Tarot spreads which make use of more than one deck on the outset, and several suggestions for exploring the Tarot in uncommon ways.

While the beginning chapters are well-written and innovative, the second of half the book is mostly comprised of spreads, and, after a brief note on creative writing with the Tarot, appendices - including a twenty-eight page story that seems to have absolutely nothing to add to the book itself. After such a promising beginning, I found the book to be ultimately disappointing.

For those stuck in a rut with Tarot, this book may bring fresh activities to help liven up one's exploration of the cards, but ultimately I wouldn't recommend this book, there are others which offer more.

Valerie Sim, who is the list mother of one of the largest tarot e-lists on the Internet, has written her first book, in large part about Comparative Tarot, a technique she named. To read Sim's book is the equivalent of attending a graduate seminar with the Dean of the College of Comparative Education. However, "Dean Sim" not only explains the comparative technique, she gives many different examples of the various ways you can use more than one card to expand on, or give more depth to, your tarot readings. She also includes many readings with different spreads and with different decks. The book explores and explains exactly what Sim says in her title, i.e., ideas and exercises to challenge your imagination and to help you continue looking outside the box for different tarot experiences. It offers many techniques to learn and master. If you are unable to get anything new out of this book, draw the Judgement card immediately to help you get out of your own box.

Tarot Outside The Box is a guidebook written for enthusiasts of Tarot cards. Intended more for those who are already familiar with the basics of Tarot readings and seek advanced ways to apply their technique or add creative twists, Tarot Outside The Box includes how to read without a querent, interactive readins, original spreads, creative writing with the Tarot, comparative Tarot methods, combination Tarot, and much more. Diagrams and anecdotes help illustrate this marvelously clear-minded, inspirational guide.

If you depend strongly on the imagery of a tarot deck (your comfort deck or your preferred ones), but feel you have slipped into a rut and always perceive the same meanings at every reading, then this book is meant for you ! Multiple creative ways of renewing your contact with the arcana symbolism are now offered to you. And while you listen to Valerie Sim partaking of her experiences with clarity and a great inventiveness, you receive insights as to how develop your own tentative methods. V. Sims has greatly managed to stimulate both creativity and extra-intuition, and exemplifies how to stay on a sound analytical and logical basis. Some bright ideas : rock/crystal guides, tarot haikus, ramble method... Highly recommended for sailing out to new lands of the world inside !

I don't think I have ever written a review before finishing a book before, but the positive feelings this book has engendered in me have caused me to want to comment ahead of the end.

I am regaining my enthusiasm for Tarot because Valerie Sim is so obviously enthusiastic about the subject, it is just contagious. In the spirit of play, we learn with her book. I realize I am being shown how to really read the cards, because the Comparative Tarot method is all about taking in what's in front of you in various versions. Brilliant! (As they say in the Guinness commericial.)

I find myself really engaged with her writing style, she says just enough, doesn't over intellecualize, and keeps it all clear, and very welcoming and allowing. I had left off with Tarot for quite some time, and had been feeling badly that I had done so, only to read that Valerie had at times left off with it too. So sure, I'm feeling behind, but not left out anymore. I am glad my instincts led me to her book as one of the first I read to re-encounter the cards, because it quickly helped me regain my connection with the Spirits of Tarot.

Those are my thoughts for now, and I may be back with more after I finish the book. I can already say I'd recommend this highly to anyone seeking to both deepen and broaden their connection with Tarot.