Tarot Outside the Box (Special Topics in Tarot) (Paperback)

by Valerie Sim (Author) "how many times have we rejected or missed a message from one person only to take it to heart later when delivered by another person..." (more)
Key Phrases: elemental dignities, original spreads, multiple decks, Nine of Cups, Elemental Dignities, Queen of Swords (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description
Looking for new ways to expand your understanding of Tarot? Renowned Tarot specialist Valerie Sim helps Tarot enthusiasts step "out of the box" and advance their practice to a new level. Emphasizing a fun, relaxed approach, she teaches how to break rules in order to stimulate creativity. Readers learn many valuable Tarot techniques, including the comparative method, which involves practicing with several decks to fully understand each card and its abundant possibilities for interpretation.

Tarot Outside the Box also offers original spreads, sample readings, and valuable advice for practicing Tarot without querents, engaging in interactive readings (both reader and querent participation), and using Tarot for creative writing.


About the Author
Valerie received her first deck of Tarot cards 32 years ago and began studying astrology in 1973. Both have continued to be passions for her over the years and have led to the authorship of her own Tarot and astrological teaching materials, with which she has been an online teacher for the past year and a half.is a Certified Tarot Grand Master (CTGM) and also the Listowner of a popular Tarot email list, Comparative Tarot, populated by over eleven hundred Tarot students, readers, teachers, authors and artists.

Valerie named and was the first to publicly write and teach about the Comparative Tarot Method.  Her book about the Comparative Tarot method and ways to keep Tarot fun and exciting, Tarot Outside the Box, is available now through Llewellyn Publications.  She also wrote the pamphlet, or "little white book," for the recently published Lo Scarabeo Comparative Tarot Deck, is the Editor for both Tarot Reflections and The ATA Quarterly, and is a frequent reviewer for Tarot Passages.

On the shamanic path and active in animal rescue, Valerie has many favorite decks including Animal Wise, Vision Quest, and Shining Tribe.



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Product Details

• Paperback: 170 pages
• Publisher: Llewellyn Publications; illustrated edition edition (December 1, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0738702773
• ISBN-13: 978-0738702773
• Product Dimensions: 8.8 x 6.1 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.1 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #822,640 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

16 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Think Outside the Box!, December 6, 2004

By	Mark McElroy "www-madebymark-com" (Jackson, MS United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

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.)

20 of 23 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Starts out well-written and innovative, then goes downhill, February 7, 2005

By	Psyche (spiralnature.com) - See all my reviews

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.

13 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars How Many Tarot Techniques Can You Find?, November 21, 2004

By	Sandra A. Thomson (Los Angeles, California United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

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.