Following your Path: Using Myths, Symbols, and Images to Explore your inner life

SherryZoned

Following your Path by Alexandra Collins Dickerman

I picked this book up at the library for 50 cents. At the time of getting this book I was not into tarot and did not even relize the book used tarot..I was going through my things to put lots of items up for trade (in worldwide and U.S./Canada now)..When I looked through the book..i am like cool a tarot workbook...It is not a tarot workbook..it is about finding your inners self using tarot as symbols and storys..It is a pretty interesting book..I have not started working with it yet..I am going to very soon.. The book tells you how to use it also which is very useful..Here is an example of what is in the book...

The Fool

At the top of the page is a saying:

Whatever you can do, or dream you can, begin it.
Boldness has genius, power, and magic in it.
Goethe

Says "we begin as the fool" etc...
then it tells you a bit more..then once you are done studying the picture it gives (one is based on rider-waite and one is marsellies (sp?)) You can also color in the pictures if you want..
Then it does a saying by Jung

Then..Imagine that you are walking along your path....etc..yada..yada....Then "as you approach you notice that the Fool is holding a white rose" Then you use your imagination and write down the first thing that comes to mind.. Here are some of the questions or statements..
I am skipping the first few...

"The Fool is stepping out into the unknown, taking all he will need. His heart is filled with________________________

The Fool says,
I am going to______
I will try to_____
I can____
I fear____
I have_____

Then it tells you about your responses to the questions...Gives you an affirmation to say to yourself....Then...
Ask questions about the white rose..
Then it goes to staring off and then tells a bit of a story...THen you move on to the magician.

It does each Tarot card and each one is different in the question and ideas and stories...So it is not like you are going thru the whole thing answering the same questions...
Does anyone have this book? If so..What do you think of it?
 

truthsayer

redwood, i've had this wonderful book about eight years. i dabble in the exercises and i read the stories. it's one of my favorite resources for looking at archetypal psychology b/c of the way it is set up. even tho this book isn't precisely a tarot book, it's one of my favorites for pathworking and exploring tarot. it's one book i won't willingly part w/ b/c it's so versatile. i used some of the exercises in a class i taught. i find the book tickles my dormant creativity urges.

if you paid only 50 cents for it then you got a REAL bargain b/c it's such an excellent book. i think it's actually better than tarot for yourself in pathworking but that's just one woman's opinion. ;)
 

Cerulean

Great book.
If you ever wanted to color in your own tarot or study both Rider Waite and Marseilles patterns trump by trump, this is a great resource.
If you continue tarot and historical studies, this actually is a good way to have archetypes sink in a way that I never thought possible. I mean when I take my classes in art history or study portraiture, many of the 'classic' artists and model poses strike me in a different way since that book.
You might want to do a week at a time with each trump and compare it to your favorite historical decks.
Best wishes,
Mari H.
 

SherryZoned

Thanks for the input Truthsayer..I might just do that Mari...Did you write in the book..or in a different notebook?
just curiosity..I am thinking of a different notebook that way when I read it again it is like starting fresh..
 

Cerulean

I regret writing in the book. I actually painted/white taped over the text. The coloring and borders that I did doesn't irk me, but my writing from years back does. I never return to old journals and usually prefer to write on a blank page---whatever bits and pieces of past writings that I remember can always be retrieved or reformulated into a newer, fresher view.

Just me, though.

Mari H.
 

SherryZoned

That is what i think..I will not have a fresh perspective if I can see my writing in the book...I can always look back..That seals it Mari I will definately have a different notebook to write in...