Beginner's Guide to Tarot (Paperback)

by Juliet Sharman-Burke (Author), Giovanni Caselli (Illustrator) "Each of the suits in the tarot describes a particular mode of life, which in turn reflects one of the four basic elements of astrology..." (more)
Key Phrases: divinatory meaning, card shows, The High Priestess, Major Arcana, The Empress (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description
The Tarot is an ancient art, dating back at least to the mid-15th century, and reading the Tarot is a skill that can be learned and ultimately mastered. While there are many books and decks for the advanced tarot enthusiast, there is very little for the beginner. Now there is Beginners Guide to Tarot,a book-and-card set designed specifically for the novice. In the fully illustrated, 192-page book, noted Tarot expert Juliet Sharman-Burke leads the reader through the cards and suits, the Minor and Major Arcana, and the major layouts for the complete 8-card deck. The book is comes with a newly designed and illustrated deck that draws upon both traditional and modern Tarot iconography and is rendered in a clear, distinctive style.

About the Author
Juliet Sharman-Burke is a practicing analytic psychotherapist who has taught tarot and astrology for twenty years. She is the author of The Complete Book of Tarot, Mastering the Tarot and, with Liz Greene, the The Mythic Tarot card and book set. She lives in England.
Giovanni Caselli is a well known illustrator noted for his work regarding the classical world and its literature, art, symbol and myths. He lives in Italy.

Product Details

• Paperback: 192 pages
• Publisher: St. Martin's Griffin (May 20, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0312284829
• ISBN-13: 978-0312284824
• Product Dimensions: 6.9 x 4.9 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars See all reviews (14 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #462,409 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

23 of 24 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Sharman Caselli Tarot-- RWS with European flavor, May 4, 2002

By	Cerulean (USA) - See all my reviews

The art style of Caselli has been a favored one for me. I checked out his art in the illustrated guide to Bullfinch Mythology, Legends of Charlemagne*. This deck emulates Rider-Waite workalikes---I might say the coloring is softer than a U.S. Games Rider Waite Smith (RWS) deck and is similar to Mary Hanson's Universal Waite (UW). To me the illustrations have finer lines, a richer contrast of colors and wonderful details than the RWS and UW. The Two of Swords pictured on the cover is a nice example. The back cover had a glimpse of a Hermit card that looked intriguing to me. After looking at the deck one evening, I was quite pleased. Not a 'treacle tarot'--- the so-called negative associations are calmly presented, the energy of knights are quite appropriate to their suit. I could use this deck to read for others.

The book suggests a new way of studying the majors---I tend to prefer Justice is eight and Strength is 11, based on Marseilles ordering. The book with this deck suggests that the historical Visconti and other decks were taken into account when these cards were designed. The designs of the majors are inspired and closer to 15th century Milanese Visconti and 18th century Marseilles styles. (Juliet Sharman Burke notes this on page 6 of her 2004 text called Tarot Workbook: Featuring the classic Sharman-Caselli deck.)

Juliet Sharman-Burke's Mastering the Tarot uses a comparative style when she describes decks: she includes the Visconti, Brian William's Renaissance Tarot and the Arthurian Tarot with Miranda Gray illustrations. When I look in the courts of the Sharman Caselli deck, I seem to find the softness of Miranda Gray's paintings, although Caselli's work seems more dynamic to me.

The cards are 4.75 x 2.75 inches. They are packaged in two small cardboard pockets in a fold-out flap attached to the back of the book. I had to snip the boxed flap off to make the softcover book easy to carry around.

I would recommend the book as a nice addition to the set and quite easy to read. Sometimes I like to travel with two decks and do a comparative reading for fun. I found a softly colored, nonstandard deck such as Trevisan's Tarot of the Renaissance as a pretty comparison to use with the Sharman-Caselli Tarot.

*Bullfinch is a popular children's summary of mythology. I don't recommend the illustrated Bullfinch as the best summary of Western mythology--but I do enjoy Caselli's illustrations.

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Only for beginners, August 15, 2006

By	Melifish (London, UK) - See all my reviews

I must say that when I first received this deck I was disappointed. It was the first time I looked up how you can return a purchased item. I had ordered it online after having seen images of the cards, and loved the art. However, when I held them in my hands, they looked, and felt, really cheap. The cards' quality is not good, and although the images are indeed very attractive, they lose a lot of their beauty because the cards' material itself is cheap. The same goes for the book. It looks more like someone's notes bound together at any photocopy shop.

Unfortunately, the packaging is not practical at all, either. The cards are packed in two stacks at the back of the book, which is a long, foldout flap. Once you remove the cards the first time, you have to improvise as to how you are going to store them (I had to use 2 rubber bands), and you have to cut out this huge flap with scissors, in order to be able to use the book.

Anyway, after this first disappointment, I decided to give it a chance, and use the deck with the book's instructions. The deck is a very attractive variation of the Rider-Waite-Smith deck, very artistic and full of symbolism. The back of the cards doesn't have any pattern or drawing but is a striking magenta color, in my view rather incongruous with the soft colors and lines of the cards.

I was surprised to see that the content of the book is actually great! In many cases, the standard book that comes with tarot decks is not worth to even leaf through. That's not the case with this one. I think that if you are a complete beginner, this is an absolutely wonderful book and deck to introduce you to the tarot and its symbolism in a simple, and still not superficial way. The author illustrates each card, describing it and explaining the symbolism and then gives simple and insightful divinatory interpretations. The cards themselves are full of deep symbolism, and the book explains every single detail. The images were designed very carefully and nothing on them is random.

With this book and deck one can build a good, solid foundation on tarot, before moving on to more advanced decks and books (such as Rachel Pollack's or Mary K. Greer's books).

So, if you can get past the cheaper quality, and only if you are a beginner, I would definitely recommend this as one of the best starter decks and books I have seen.

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars review from an honest beginner, May 21, 2005

By	M. Eng (Portland, ME) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

I bought this book/deck on a whim, and I have thoroughly enjoyed them.

I read the book and studied the cards during a vacation week, and I was thrilled that at the week's end I was able to give a pretty good reading to my wife without having to open the book (much) to interpret the cards she'd drawn. The cards themselves are beautiful and colorful, and the pictures are very evocative... you are led to the interpretation quite easily by the action of the card.

The explanations of the four suits are very well written, and I feel strongest in the numbers (ace to nine) in the four suits. That said, I wish there had been a little numerology, so I would have a better sense of the number on its own right, rather than depending so heavily on the picture. The court of the suits (page, knight, queen, king) are a bit more difficult, and I still am struggling to understand the essential difference between a queen and king.

The cards of the major arcana (fool, emperor, moon, etc) are subtle, and I think the author has done as well as one could hope, given that each card only gets two pages of text.

All in all, you get 78 handsome cards, less than 200 pages of text to learn what the cards mean and how to do a reading. It's a great start, and it's not too witchy or womany or fringy for a mainstream fella to enjoy. If you're still interested in learning more tarot after you've read this book, there are many more detailed resources. This book is just the beginning.