Tarot- Where to Start?

Does anyone have any book recommendations for someone new to Tarot? I ask because there is so much out there in terms of books! I need something basic, nothing kabala oriented!

If you want to start practicing reading Tarot then E.A Koettings “Become A Living God” eBook is a good place to start, he has a chapter there on how to read it :slight_smile:

Also “The Pictorial Key to the Tarot” By A.E Waite seems like a good book if you want to learn the history of the Tarot and meanings of the cards etc. it can be read for free here:

[url=http://www.sacred-texts.com/tarot/pkt/index.htm]http://www.sacred-texts.com/tarot/pkt/index.htm[/url]

These are the materials I can think of for beginners :slight_smile:

Fuck books. But a deck and meditate on each card every single until you get it. That right there will teach you more about the cards than any book.

okay, do you want a NON-Kabalah/Qabalah oriented deck, great for beginners with the option to purchase it in a set that includes a guidebook with card meanings, types of spread layouts, how to read the cards and interpret the meanings? Try

The Guilded Tarot set

There is a section on minor arcana cards and major arcana. The minor arcana section explains everything separately like the meaning of pentacles cards, the meaning of six, and the meaning of 6 of pentacles as a whole. It will show you what each suit (wands, cups, pentacles, swords) means as associated with personalities, gender, age, etc. if doing a reading to reveal the identity of a person. Also tells you what they are associated with like which element (example: cups are associated with water) and so much more.

Then the major arcana section which is much harder to interpret as there are not as many details like numbers and suit types, those come with a 1-2 page explanation by the author but then she gives you a blank page with lines so you can write down your own interpretations of the cards after you start studying them. Very in depth book, very well explained. She even explains the art of tarot reading as a whole at the front of the book for complete beginners.

The cards that come with the book are the traditional wands, pentacles, cups, and swords and major arcana cards like emperess, emporer, the tower, death, the sun, etc. but the illustrations are so colorful they put the Rider Waite deck to shame. Personally, I cannot stand the Rider Waite deck. The cards are ugly, boring, plain, and I do not connect with them at all. I’m an artist, so my cards have to speak to me in more than one way visually. This book set will teach you how to form your own interpretations so with each new deck you buy, you will only need the deck and no guide book.

Ok, thanks for your input guys. I am looking for practicality and no bs. I don’t buy the k(!Q)abbala attributes with the tarot cards to be honest. Or the Goetia demon tarot attributes to be honest. I will do all suggestions. I am looking at Guilded Tarot set right now.

I have like 8 tarot decks, and I can say by far the Guilded Tarot is best for beginners. It has the most in depth explanations of any set that I have purchased in the past that came with a book. I would also recommend the Enchanted Oracle deck with Faeries, Witches, and Goddesses, but not to a beginner. It’s much harder to interpret as there are no numbers, no suits, but something to look into later on when you get the hang of things. But with that set, the artwork just speaks to you more and there a ton of symbolic things hidden all over the images for you to find so there is no need for numbers or suits.

Also, something else you should know for in the future, once you get good at tarot and you have mastered your first deck to the point that it’s almost natural to you, you may get bored and wish to include another deck into your practices. This is normal, and when you eventually have 2, 3, 4 or more decks lying around your home, each deck will seem to take on its own personality. Hard to explain to someone who has never experienced this but to put it in easier terms, when you go to do a reading, you will feel drawn to one particular deck.

Like if you are reading for a friend and you LOVE the artwork on your dragons tarot deck (there really is a dragon based tarot set by the way) but you realize that you keep thinking about your Faerie deck, you will soon learn to understand that, that deck is beckoning to you to use it. You will eventually just know which deck is best to use and end up using whichever deck calls your name instead of the deck you would rather use because of its pictures and whatnot. And the deck that “speaks” to you, changes with each reading.

I can sympathize with the desire to get the qabalistic theory out of learning the tarot. My very first book on the tarot (actually first occult book, period) was Crowley’s Book of Thoth. You know the kind of guy who, when you ask him to teach you how to drive a stick, starts by trying to teach you the details of how a combustion engine works? That’s Crowley in a nutshell.

A much better book, and you’ll have to look past the title, is R.T. Kaser’s Tarot in Ten Minutes. I really like this book because he uses a progressive system for teaching the tarot. You’ll be going through different readings, learning some cool techniques along the way, like breaking the deck into different parts and using only part to do the reading. For example, for a quick relationship reading you might use only the Cups cards minus the court cards, while for a reading to interpret a dream you would divide the Trumps into two groups, and pull from each group for different positions in the Celtic Cross spread. It’s simpler than it sounds, and quite powerful and adaptable. And, of course, along the way you’ll get pretty familiar with the cards, step by step.

The only caveat is that he does use some numerology that I found less than impressive, but it’s not an essential part of his approach, and you can easily ignore it to concentrate on the tarot material proper.

‘Golden Dawn Ritual Tarot’ (does implement kabbala but also tarot magic is covered), or Enochian Scrying Tarot (complex life’s work stuff).

Get a Rider Waite

Every morning ask how is gonna be your day

Do a 1 card spread and see what card you have

Look at the card, try to see the story within the card. Is the character happy ? Sad ? Lonely ? Surrounded ? Does he seems to struggle or is he successful ? If a court case appear, what does the iconography suggests to you ? Try to feel the impressions that the card gives you when you look at it. Don’t try to intellectualise too much, really see the feelings that you have when facing the card.

Go and live your day without thinking about the card

Go back home, go back to the card and review your day.

You’ll notice with practice and time how did the card told you about your day.

Not only your intuition will increase but you’ll get a better understanding at each card.

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