Customer Reviews

Tarot as Your Companion: A Practical Guide to the Rider-Waite and Crowley Tarot Decks

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But not much to offer for intermediate to advanced Tarot students.

This book is a good start for beginning students, and an excellent resource for people who would like to occasionally consult the Tarot, but do not wish to study the symbolism and meanings in-depth.

The entire focus of this book is a four card spread called "The Next Step" which seems to be an effective spread for most any question. Card one shows the current situation, card two indicates what is important right now, card three shows what is not important right now, and card 4 suggests what your next step should be. Then each card from both the Thoth Deck and the Rider/Waite deck are displayed in excellent quality black and white images with the meaning of each card given depending on which position the card falls in the spread.

The general meaning given for each card is very brief and the meaning of the card in the specific position consists of one-liners. This will make it easy for the beginner to do a fairly effective first reading. However, for the intermediate or advanced Tarot student, this book does not offer any in-depth interpretations of Tarot symbolism or imagery. Given the quality and massive quantity of information and correspondences provided in Banzhaf's previous books I was disappointed that there wasn't a more intensive comparison of the two decks.

Beginners who plan to continue their study of the Tarot should follow this one up with Banzhaf's "Crowley Tarot" and/or "The Tarot Handbook". If you already have a basic knowledge of card meanings, skip this one.

Banzhaf is a fabulous German tarot interpreter and an excellent author who has had his works translated into English. In this book, he offers a side-by-side interpretation for the Crowley and Rider-Waite decks. I have read tarot cards for over twenty-years, and still, I am always amazed at how much more there is to learn regarding the complex imagery and symbols that both decks protect and yet reveal to the seeker through their presentation of the essential truths of mysticism. Banzhaf is a gem because a beginner will find him as lucid and informative as a seasoned reader. He gets to the heart of meaning in both decks and offers practical interpretations that do not obscure the more profound underpinnings in the card's symbolism. It is his general interpretations for each card that I find useful, because sometimes a tarot reader can get lost in profundities that need to be brought back to a more general tone; especially when doing a reading for someone who has no knowledge of what the symbols mean. Too often, mystical writers get carried away and become agonizingly ambiguous in their efforts to be comprehensive, which usually just leaves the reader perplexed. Banzhaf avoids this trap. He is practical and informative, and his book functions like a handy reference. When my readings get complex, and I find myself lost in profound suggestions, I recall his simple interpretations and they put me back on track. Banzhaf's interpretations accommodate both the profound and the ordinary, but he focuses mostly on simplicity.

The comparative explanations between the Rider deck and the Crowley deck are useful in that Banzhaf focuses on the additional meanings that are present in the Crowley deck, but which are not associated with the Rider. In fact, these additional meanings, which most students and users of the Crowley deck are familiar with, is the reason why the Crowley deck is usually considered a more comprehensive symbolic structure for divination. What's nice about this book is that this is the first time I've ever seen anyone write up a comparative, but brief, analysis between the Rider and the Crowley, specifically emphasizing where these two popular decks differ in meaning.

My criticism for this book is that, unlike his other books, his explanation regarding the Secret of the High Priestess spread is omitted, which is a truly amazing and informative spread. Nonetheless, here, you will discover how to cast the Fool's spread, which is also good. Banzhaf is lucid, profound, and always clear. However, in this book, his overall presentation format is according to one of his tarot spreads, the "Next Step," which is grossly simplistic. But in all fairness, his title does state that this book is "A Practical Guide to the Rider-Waite and Crowley Tarot Decks," which indeed it is, but perhaps if he used a different presentation, he could have covered just a tad bit more ground, which would have made this book a far more valuable resource. His comparative approach in discussing these two decks is what makes this book so valuable, but his discussion is limited due to his need to adhere to the format of the "Next Step" spread. The Learned may yearn for more depth, but if this book is viewed as a valuable resource for keeping readings accessible to non-initiates, then you will find this book very helpful. Beginners will clearly have the most going for them in purchasing this book because here you have a handy and lucid first look at what distinguishes the Rider-Waite deck from the Crowley deck.

If you feel excluded from the art of divination because of the language that its writers use, then you will truly value this book. Additionally, Banzhaf explains his own tarot spreads, of which, his Path spread and the Relationship Game are EXCEPTIONAL! They are very useful and quick spreads that shed general insights. Banzhaf's other books are equally good. Banzhaf's The Tarot Handbook is excellent for the Rider-Waite deck, which he exclusively focuses on in that book. His book entitled The Crowley Tarot is the best book offered on the Crowley deck, and this book is a wealth of resource for the advanced reader, and not too hard for the beginner, although it is a book that you will derive the easiest learning experience from, if you have prior knowledge of the deck.

I have given this book to many students and refer to it whenever I deal with issues that are extremely intense or emotion. The problem with most spreads and books is that they define a reading that is far too complex. By the time you finish you have micro-managed the topic, but you aren't really sure of what to do. This simple approach of defining the issue, saying what not to do, what to do and where that is likely to lead, is not only easy to work with but it gives advice which is VERY clear and can not be side stepped or reinterpreted to fit your assumptions. You have a very clear picture of what you need to embrace and accept. They give varied meanings for the cards as well as reducing Crowley's more energetically based meanings to a kernal of easily absorbed wisdom. Highly recommended to everyone! For a slightly deeper insight try their "The Tarot Handbook". I use both on a regular basis.

Had a "Search Inside This Book" feature been available, I would never have purchased this.

The reviews seemed (at least to me) to imply that this book doesn't go very deeply into Tarot symbolism - a fact which I figured I could deal with, in order to see how the authors approached the comparison angle. But the reality is that it doesn't go into Tarot symbolism at ALL - not one speck - and that this is intentional. The authors say it straight out in the Preface:

"This books offers the reader the opportunity to consult tarot cards without being required to learn the language of the cards."

Without learning the language? In other words, this is the Tarot equivalent of a foreign-language phrase book intended for tourists. ("Where is the bus station?" "Oo eh sta-seeyon d'ohtoh-booss...") Instead of actually giving you any small starting glimpse of the backbone of the language - the grammar, the shape and flow of it - to begin building your interpretations upon, it gives you a set of pre-packaged translations for specific situations. And the real problem with the book's focus on a single layout is that it makes it too easy to do this.

Now, this may be more a matter of taste than of necessity, but I cringe to think of "learning" Tarot this way. Good reading is as much about intuition as it is about "knowing the cards," but appoaches like this give intuition little deeper than everyday pop-psych images to build upon. The whole fascinating tangled web of interconnections with astrology, alchemy, mythology, mystical traditions, etc. is missing; substituted for it is a sort of surface-level translation of the pictures that just doesn't do it for me. (The Four of Cups as "Get over your hangover"??)

One has to at least appreciate what the authors tried to do, and it is true that the Thoth deck is extremely complicated and Crowley is very hard reading for beginners - although by that argument, the Thoth isn't really an appropriate deck for beginners (or tourists), and a travel-guide book like this one doesn't make it any more genuinely accessible, to my thinking. Some things just take time and work, period.

Of course different approaches appeal to different folks; that's what makes the world go 'round, as they used to say. I guess if all you really want to know from a tarot reading is how to get to the bus station, you might like this book just fine.

To try to "correlate" and compare two utterly different tarot decks -- with two utterly different audiences (although many collectors such as myself will delightfully have both) -- is ambitious, fraught with risk, certainly not "scholarly" and hardly authoritative. But it is fun. For those torn between these two decks -- and there's no need to be -- it's interesting to see this "spin" on interpreting the cards with both. However, it's far from a great reference in terms of practical use, except, perhaps, at that "dabbling" stage. It's just more an interesting essay or exploration, and it helped me, certainly, in researching my tarot-plotted book THE LAST TROUBADOUR. Although I use Medieval decks as my "plot pattern", one could argue that the Thoth tarot and the Waite tarot are derivative of earlier Medieval decks but which evolved in two different directions (others might argue they're not so different as advocates proclaim). This book supports this theory -- that both Crowley's Thoth Deck and Waite's deck are two interpretations of the very same root imagery. Still, it's not conclusive or authoritative, and more an entertaining spin on this theme. Credible, but not with great authority. Worthwhile, but not the last word. The word "practical" in the title's a little misleading, too. It is a practical, short hands-on book, but it's not complete or deep, and therefore I would say it's a very good companion for a tarot fan pulled by both decks, more or less at the beginning of the journey.