Tarot for Your Self: A Workbook for Personal Transformation [Paperback]

Mary K. Greer (Author)

Product Details

• Paperback
• Publisher: U.S. Games Systems (September 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0880797207
• ISBN-13: 978-0880797207
• Product Dimensions: 7.2 x 4.8 x 0.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (59 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #10,604,748 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Mary K. Greer is an independent scholar, writer, teacher, and professional tarot consultant. She has an M.A. in English Literature from the University of Central Florida where she also first taught tarot in 1974. For eleven years, she was a teacher and administrator at New College of California in San Francisco, including teaching tarot as an interdisciplinary subject integrating art, literature, history, and psychology. She is the author of eleven books on tarot and on magic.

Mary's books have pioneered entirely new techniques for learning about and working with the cards, including being the first to present in-depth techniques for reading for oneself. In 2007, Mary received the International Tarot Lifetime Achievement Award from the Association for Tarot Studies. She also received the 2006 Mercury Award from the Mary Redman Foundation for "excellence in communication in the metaphysical field," and the 2006 Coalition of Visionary Resources (COVR) award for best divination book. She is also an ordained priestess in the Fellowship and Church of Isis.

Mary has lived in Japan, Germany, England and Mexico and in six states within the U.S., and continues to travel around the world teaching. She currently produces "Mary K. Greer's Tarot Blog" at http://marygreer.wordpress.com which focuses on tarot history and research, tarot in popular culture, and tips and techniques for reading the cards. Her blog posts are frequently translated into other languages and reposted on other sites.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

144 of 147 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars One of the best tarot books ever!, December 19, 1999

By 

"outwood" - See all my reviews

This review is from: Tarot for Your Self (Paperback)

TAROT FOR YOUR SELF, is an excellent source of information for the beginner and the experienced tarot reader alike.

It is not a book that you read and think about, or a book that lists keywords for each card, it is a workbook that requires your attention. It is a tarot journal and an experience through which you learn valuable tarot lessons. Greer offers meditations, rituals, visualizations and dialogues. She introduces you to the court cards in such a good way, that you feel as though you would recognize them on the street, and yet, you are also able to recognize them in yourself too! She also offers mandalas, charts, astrology, numerolgy and affirmations, which are all designed to bring you closer to the tarot, to develop a better understanding and to allow you to "experience yourself in new and ever expanding ways" through the tarot.

TAROT FOR YOUR SELF is also an excellent reference book having a section dedicated to extensive meanings of each card and questions you need to ask yourself on pulling each card. It also offers insight on various spreads... from a one card reading, to the Celtic Cross, chakra spread and also the "Tree of Life" spread. Again, Greer introduces the spreads in such a way that it feels as though she is taking you by the hand and walking through each step. Its great... you just can't make a mistake no matter how complex the reading is!

Of course, TAROT FOR YOUR SELF can be found on most prominent tarot reader's bookshelves, as it is classified by many as an invaluable tool in your tarot journey and a "must have" for anyone interested in tarot. Dollar for dollar, it is excellent value. However the book has 253 good quality letter-sized pages.

Certainly TAROT FOR YOU SELF is a highly recommended book, and a valuable aid in learning and mastering the tarot.

124 of 127 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars There is no better book for beginner or experienced reader, October 25, 2002

By 

StalkingGhostBear "collecting dust" (Michigan, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Tarot for Your Self : A Workbook for Personal Transformation Second Edition (Paperback)

I had read cards for several years without much enthusiasm or depth before stumbling across this book and the two companion books, "Tarot Constellations" and "Tarot Mirrors" (both sadly out of print). The books were a turning point that allowed me to go beyond simply reciting memorized meanings of cards.

If you have no imagination or intuition this book will be frustrating. If you require a book on tarot to tell you exactly what the author tells you exactly what how to interpret each card in three sentences or less you will not enjoy this book. If you are a person who is unwilling to spend time reading, processing and doing some of the exercises presented you will hate this book. Of course if you are one of those people one has to wonder just why you are reading Trot in the first place. "Tarot for Yourself" is not a quick `how to read the tarot' book. Ms. Greer asks you to think and process her ideas for yourself discarding what you don't find useful and adding your personal views to make reading cards a unique experience.

Designed as a workbook "Tarot for Yourself" encourages you to expand your horizons with the method you use for reading. I recommend this book often and suggest people take a year to read, practice and grow while working through the exercises. Ms. Greer encourages you to discover your particular way of interpreting cards. "Tarot for Yourself" provides over a dozen spreads to spur your creativity and give you the information and confidence to create your own spreads.

The greatest message Ms. Greer imparts is `trust yourself.'

52 of 52 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars This is the only tarot book I use., April 7, 2004

By 

papermate flex grip ultra "vampiralu2" (Salem, OR United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Tarot for Your Self : A Workbook for Personal Transformation Second Edition (Paperback)

When I first discovered this book in the 1980s, I was amazed at how fast and how much I learned in a short period of time! It is fun, and very easy to understand. Not to say it isn't great for experienced tarot readers. On the contrary! It goes as deep as you allow yourself to go. I love the new ways to study and play with the tarot. It was so much easier to open the doors after using this book. Until I got "Tarot For Yourself", most if not all, the other books I had previously bought seemed boring and very dry, or too cynical. She also goes into other authors' interpretations.and that allowed me to be much more open and relaxed about reading tarot for myself, and other people. Until I got this book, not many people believed that it was okay to read cards for yourself! (That was in the 1980s, remember)--- I got rid of all my other tarot books after I found this one! Of course, I also read her others (2 at that time) which take tarot even further and deeper. I love this book! It's the only one I need to use, even after 20 + years of looking at newer and older books. Just one ingredient in this book makes it more informative than the other books on the subject, and that is the fact that IT IS FUN with Mary K. Greer. She opened the door to allowing oneself to enjoy and play with the cards. Whatever deck a person owns, or how many decks, you can use this book, because she also encourages and enables you to use your own interpretations, and that there is no "right interpretation". Symbolism and intuition, which the tarot is based on, are stressed here. No superior, esoteric puzzles to try and figure out. My recommndation: Buy this book, and PLAY with your cards. Most of all, have fun doing it!