There is no one definitive book about the Tarot. Throughout the centuries, each one has been written with a different slant, a particular viewpoint and even different motives. What we've got to remember is that we are approaching the Holy here. Some modern writers on the subject that are financially dependent on the sales of books tend to forget that in their haste to be "popular" with the general reading public. They're easily detected by paying visits to their websites. If the visitor sees all sorts of gewgaws and whatnots for purchase, beware. The Tarot was never meant to be a carnival attraction; nor were manufactured curio offspring (like kewpie dolls rewarded to the winners at carnival plastic duck shooting galleries) imagined to promote a writer's career.
And that's when we turn to Sallie Nichols, for she studied at the C.G. Jung Institute in Zurich when Jung was still alive, and she was as devoted as possible, considering much of the origins of the Tarot are lost in historical mist, to keeping it pure and presenting it inviolate.
What is the Tarot? That's easy. Ms. Nichols here quotes Jung himself on the topic: "The Tarot presents a pictorial representation of the archetypes." However, there is no evidence that Jung ever used the Tarot as a resource in analyzing his patients, as he made use of astrology for that purpose.
The author points out that the Tarot cards were never meant to be interpreted "upside-down," and many Tarot consultants do not practice this method. Besides the Major Arcana and the Suit Cards, not much was to be concluded from the rest of the deck's numbered pip cards, as the early Tarot decks did not fancily illustrate them (that came later when esoteric sects sought to use the Tarot cards to express their tenets). And, above all, there was no text. No cast in concrete definitions were attached to them, no cardinal rules set down. The Tarot cards cry out and yet they are silent. The only message they clearly offer is, each in its own way, "Take me in!" And they do not mean that in an academic, pedantic way. Leave your rational handbag at the doorstep when you approach these cards, lest they fly away, or get purposely lost in a dark corner of a faraway cupboard.
Another problem with books on Tarot is they are not very interesting. Sallie Nichols, for instance, whose book is more readable than any other I've studied, admits that writing does not come naturally or easily for her. She is an extrovert most at home in giving lectures and teaching, which is exactly what she did. Some of the most prestigious Jungian analysts in the world, and particularly those based in Southern California where Ms. Nichols resided, attended her lectures and learned of the Tarot directly from her. Some, such as James Kirsch (author of
Shakespear's Royal Self
) and an extremely knowledgeable woman, Lore Zeller (wife of famed Jungian analyst Max Zeller, and head librarian of the C.G. Jung Bookstore at the Los Angeles Jung Institute until her death) are even acknowledged as having acted on an advisory level. These cards were a passion to the author which she accidently encountered during a "dry" period in her life. She would converse with them (using the Jungian technique of creative imagination), listen to their silent attentiveness and turn to them for guidance during stressful times in her life for an understanding of them, and of herself.
However, a teacher and a professor she was, and she does not escape with this book presenting her material at times in a dry, even boring, manner, as if she were burdened with pedantry, and repeating, for instance, many of Jung's discoveries so often that she is almost reciting them in a singsong voice. Some of the content, since the book was written in the late '70s, is dated. Her references to the behaviors of the hippie generation are passé, as are other local and cultural phenomenon of those times. Nevertheless, I read three other books on the Tarot in conjunction with Sallie Nichols's, and hers was by far the most helpful, interesting and clear. She has no secret agenda. She offers us her true love of the Tarot cards.
The author examines and reviews the 21 cards of the Major Arcana in depth, beginning with the card that is unnumbered, therefore assigned a zero to it, that of "The Fool." And which of us escapes starting off as "The Fool" in life? The final card depicts the illumination possible at the end of the journey of individuation, a state of being and awareness very few succeed in achieving. And then we once again confront The Fool, who is saying to us all: "Well, now that we have reached enlightenment, let's start all over again." The planet keeps on revolving around itself and the sun. And so do we.
If the reader is not familiar with the works of C.G. Jung, not to worry. Ms. Nichols does an exemplary job of explaining Jungian analytical psychology to the layman. She also explains spiritual numerology (numbers one through nine) that I found particularly informative. And then there are the archetypal images themselves. What a parade! From the beginning Fool with his knapsack and dog, through the various phenomenon we encounter and become in life: the Magician, the Hermit, the Heavenly Alchemist, even the Devil...they're all here. And each and every one of us is somewhere and everywhere in those cards.
As for the origin of the Tarot, there are many theories. But the only valid, provable one is that they owe their origin to the Albigenses, a Gnostic sect which flourished in Provence in the 12th century. As Ms. Nichols states, in my opinion with just conviction, "It is felt they were probably smuggled into the Tarot as a veiled communications of ideas at variance with the established Church." Remember, the Albigenses Cathars were horribly persecuted and ultimately exterminated. "Catharism disappeared from the northern Italian cities after the 1260s, under pressure from the Inquisition." (Wikipedia)
The second possible theory is that the Major Arcana cards are adaptations of illustrations from Petrarch's Sonnets to Laura (this is the theory of writer Paul Huson).
I first read this edition shortly after it was published in 1980. I was living in Pasadena, California at the time and knew that Sallie Nichols resided in Santa Monica, not far away. I also learned that she was available to give private readings; however, when I telephoned her home to make an appointment, the phone was answered by a man I judged to be in his mid-'20s to late '30s. I told him I wished to speak to Ms. Nichols and why. He told me that she had recently died. Of course, I was very flustered that through my unawareness of her death, I had added salt to the wound of grieving. I apologized for my call, and the man concluded by comforting me more than I him, assuring me that my telephone call was "all right." Yes, he did make me feel better. But I was very sad that we had lost such a sincere and knowledgeable Tarot pioneer.
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