Customer Reviews

Thinking Tarot : Be Your Own Reader and Advisor (Windows Format)

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Hello there folks! I'm the author of this book, and I wanted to clear up some incorrect information that I read in reviews here. (Amazon wouldn't let me put this review up without a rating, so of course I gave it 5 stars! Take it with a grain of salt, as I'm obviously biased!)

1) There are TWO full tarot decks in the software that comes with the book.

2) The software works just fine on Windows 2000. If it doesn't, your computer probably has some specific problem not related to the Tarot software. The tech support info on my website should help.

3) If you are using Windows XP, I have provided a patch on my website that lets you update the program to work on XP. Go to the web page listed in number (5) below and click on Technical Support.

4) Yes, the information in the book about my website is obsolete (I had to change my ISP), but if you search the internet for my name, you'll find it easily.

5) In case you CAN'T find it, here it is:
http://www.enteract.com/~edaviza/index.html

Thanks for your support and enjoy the book!

On the whole, a disappointing book and CD. Having never used software for Tarot, I was very disappointed with the CD. The spreads shown and the interpretations are very generic and never is the user guided on how to read the cards as a whole, or come to a conclusion. That's the hardest part of reading Tarot. One needs to be able to read the cards as a movie film the querent's life. This CD won't help in that area.

On the bright side, the author talks about the "language of Tarot" as symbolism. Not many books are detailed in symbolism of the cards. This one is pretty detailed in that aspect.

I have many books on Tarot and I feel there are many out there that are better for beginners, such as the Eileen Connolly series, or the books by Rachel Pollack. This one is OK as a reference, but if you are building a library, this isn't an essential.

This is a hands-on approach to the use of Tarot cards. It requires the combined use of the book and the program on the CD Rom in the back of the book. For those who are interested in the archetypal symbols of the Tarot but have an adversion to reading a dry tome on a subject, this is the way to learn the Tarot. Neither the software, not the book covers all there is to know on the Tarot, but there is plenty of time to research and learn more once the fundamentals presented in this book have been mastered. And do not underestimate the information contained here; both the book and the program will be more than sophisticated enough for the learner and for most casual users of the Tarot. More advanced users of the software will miss the ability to add new packs, and will be disappointed that they cannot add information on card placements to new layouts. Having said that however, the program is still better than most of the Tarot programs on offer. With this in mind it is difficult to do anything but to highly recommend this title.

Although the interpretations in the book tend to be relatively superficial, the author does an excellent job in teaching the reader to think for themselves, which is the important part. It's a non-threatening approach to Tarot interpretation and meditation which shows you how to think, not necessarily what to think. The reader can then take it from there.

The software does a fine job and may be the centerpiece for a lot of users rather than the book. The Windows XP patch that the author describes below DOES work. Download it from the website address he provided and then edit the settings file (very easy, just double-click the filename as he says and make the one edit, then File-Save and you're done.) I've noticed a little bit of quirkiness -- the individual card viewings don't seem to work on my machine yet -- but the spread viewings work just fine.

This tidy, well-written book is fabulous. It explains the images and symbols in such a way that it will not only help you to remember what they all mean, but will also help you find greater depth of meaning.

One warning about the CD though. It will not run under Windows 2000 or Windows XP. I loaded it onto my laptop, instead, which runs Windows 98, and it's a phenomenal CD. It gives great readings and it's a fun program. You can simply use the computer-generated readings, or you can review the readings and use them as a baseline. They will help prod your subconcious into finding deeper, more personal meaning.

But, keep in mind, if you have the wrong Windows OS, you won't be able to use it. Regardless, with or without the CD, the book is STILL worth the price.

"Thinking Tarot" is the best all-round tarot book that I've ever encountered! Using the Rider-Waite deck for it's examples, the individual card descriptions are short but concise; the author allows the reader to come to his own conclusions about the meaning of the cards. "Thinking Tarot" is an ideal book for both beginner and experienced tarot readers. I have tarot books by Joan Bunning (Learning the Tarot) as well as the series of books by Eileen Connolly ...(both authors are great as well!) but this book really is really in a simplistic league of it's own!

The CD ROM that accompanies the book is designed, in my opinion, as a lure to get people to buy the book. I'm not a big fan of the CD ROM; in my mind, it just cheapens the book by making it appear more of a novelty or 'for entertainment purposes only'.
If you buy this book, which I highly recommmend, take the CD ROM and throw it away! The material written in the book is what you want....the cd rom is a toy!

I was very happy to purchase this software. I downloaded the temp. file and was amazed. I usually do readings using the horoscope layout, and behold here was software with it. I have been doing readings for 20 years and was blown away at how good it is. Now no more having to buy new decks because my old ones have torn etc. etc. etc.. Just a BIG THANKS to the author. BUY THIS IT IS WELL WORTH THE MONEY.

I just bought this book - CD still sealed, I have XP and it won't work I followed the link the author
suggests here but it is no longer available, I went to the publishers site it's not available there so
I went to the Authors site n the book & it is no longer available either, rather disappointing really
as the book is great and I've tried every possible way to find how it will open on XP as the Author
clearly states here it will
I would hope he will see this and update the information - Book so far looks A1

like the book, but i want to use the software. it's the main reason i purchased it. but i have xp. and the link to the patch on his website doesn't work. when you try to download it says file does not exist. please fix it! thanks ;-)

"Thinking Tarot" is an amazing book, but I would not recommend it for beginners. The book is written with the assumption that the reader is familiar with Tarot. If your expertise with Tarot is on the intermediate to advanced level, you may want to give the book a glance and decide for yourself.
As for the CD-ROM, it's outstanding. What really blew me away was the ability to create your own spreads. Naturally there are limitations to this (limited space for card layouts being the biggest one) but compared to other Tarot software products the "CyberTarot" CD-ROM is a lot more flexible. BUT...
There is only one problem with the CD-ROM and it's a big one -- IT DOES NOT WORK ON MICROSOFT WINDOWS XP!!! I spent about two months trying to contact the author (whose e-mail address listed in the book is no longer valid) as well as the publisher to see if CyberTarot would be updated to be Windows XP compatible. No luck. A real pity, since the software is by far the book's major selling point.
Bottom line - yes it's a good book, but if the CD-ROM could run on newer computers it could have been a great one.