Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A practical guide to improving tarot reading skills, April 24, 2001
It was a long wait for me, after reading Fenton-Smiths first book The Tarot Revealed. Mastering The Tarot offers a clear and simple approach to tarot reading without all the confusing mystical bits. It's filled with information you'll use in an actual reading.It also has a list of all the questions you'll ever want to ask in your next tarot reading and this alone is worth the price of the book. Drawing upon real life readings, it is filled with interesting and often humorous examples of what happens during a reading. It also provides useful tips on becoming professional, cleansing your workplace and a set of guidelines for practising Tarot readers. The chapter 'Stranger Than Fiction' had me laughing out loud as I could relate to some of the bizarre readings detailed there.
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7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Superb Book for Better Understanding the Tarot, January 9, 2001
I found this book to be of significant assistance in furthering my understanding and enhancing my self learning of the tarot. The author uses straightforward examples, and gives practical advice for those who are contemplating pursuing a career as a tarot reader. He speaks in concrete terms that are direct and helpful, something I don't usually find in other tarot books. It is a must-have in any tarot reference collection.
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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
A pretty good book with some great information, but also a lot of "take it or leave it" suggestions, January 23, 2007
The information in this book about the symbols in the cards and the colors is great, giving you a better understanding of how the colors of garments, flowers etc deepen the meaning of the card. They symbology is also explored for each card. This for me was one of the best parts of the book.
Some of the things about the book that are interesting are the examples he gives about situations he has been in, if you have never read for people before this can be useful. It can also be overwhelming. The types of people you will get as a Tarot reader are so varied; you would be writing forever if you attempted to suggest every possible client or scenario, Paul does however give some good situational examples. He also gives some interesting spreads and card combinations.
I have been reading Tarot Cards for over 5 years. I know that is not as long as the author and I do not claim to know everything but I found that a lot of things in this book do not go down well with me or my training. I was trained by an amazing Tarot Professional Gail. In her training she teaches that you should never suggest a physical death to a client, friend or anyone for that matter. To even suggest such a thing can plant a very powerful idea in a person's subconscious. The most you should ever do even if it looks very obvious in the cards is to suggest the person seeks medical attention. In more than one place in this book, Paul suggests that if there are enough of a certain card then if means physical death.
Paul also reads reversals. I personally do not do this. Some people do and it works well for them. I personally believe that there are enough "positive" and "negative" cards in the deck, the three of swords, nine of swords, the tower, five of pentacles, seven of swords and I can go on can be interpreted in a less than positive way. Even a card as beautiful as The Star, if surrounded by oppressive cards can mean that the lesson or beauty of the card is not there for the Client. Paul suggests that if the card is reversed the Client has not learnt the lesson of the previous card.
The suggestion in the book of using a blank card is something I have not really seen before. It is like using the blank rune (which I believe and it is only my personal view, is a spare. Just in case you lose another rune). I don't grasp why you would use that? Some decks like the Tao have a blank card included (the Tao is a black card) and Brian Froud's, Faeries Oracle also have a blank card, but to include that in a tarot reading is something I found a little unpractical.
I would not recommend this book to beginners and like all books, nothing should be taken as gospel, take what you want from the book and leave the rest. 78 Degrees of Wisdom by Rachel Pollack is recommended and so is Professional Tarot by Christine Jette.
Bright Blessings
Ethony
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