10 Books that covers different aspects of Tarot

If the goal is to cover as many different topics as possible then I would recommend following books:

1. The Complete Tarot Reader: Everything You Need to Know from Start to Finish - Teresa Michelsen (with practical exercises and a lot of theory. It helps to see the system behind the Minors and the Court. Plus: different layers of the Majors (psychology, archetypes and more) and advices how to read for yourself and others)
2. A Guide to Tarot Card Meanings - Mark McElroy (it's in public domain, so you can download it for free: http://www.tarottools.com/a-guide-to-tarot-card-meanings/ There's a lot of information: Keywords, Range of Meaning, Correspondences, Advice, Symbols and Insights, Questions to Ask)
3. The Tarot Handbook - Hajo Banzhaf (general meanings of the cards and their meanings in positions of the Path Spread so you get clues for how to interpret cards in different layers - somehow very close to Body-Mind-Spirit)
4. What's In the Cards for You?: Test the Tarot - Mark McElroy (it's just a lot of fun to read! And by the way it introduces many ways of using the cards. I almost forgot! It's not plain theory but daily experiments. So the whole practical course takes 30 days. In the end you understand how you prefer to use the cards)
5. Tarot Journaling: Using the Celtic Cross to Unveil Your Hidden Story - Corrine Kenner (everything you need to know about Tarot Journaling)
6. Tarot Tips - Ruth Ann Amberstone and Wald Amberstone (a lot of useful information on different topics)
7. Tarot Spreads: Layouts & Techniques to Empower Your Readings - Barbara Moore OR Designing Your Own Tarot Spreads - Teresa Michelsen (both books are about designing your own spreads but the first one has more author's spreads)
8. The Complete Book of Tarot Reversals - Mary K. Greer
9. Understanding the Tarot Court - Mary K. Greer and Tom Little
10. Tarot Wisdom: Spiritual Teachings and Deeper Meanings - Rachel Pollack

As for history of Tarot there's a lot of information online (try http://tarot-heritage.com/ or http://forum.tarothistory.com/). So if you're "on a limited budget" this kind of books can wait for some time. The same goes for 365 Tarot Spreads by Sasha Graham. I love that book but i don't think it's a "must-have" one.

1. Tarot 101: Many of the other books recommended by others (and included in my list) are classics, but personally, I always recommend this book first to readers who are just beginning to cut their teeth with serious study.
2. The Pictorial Key to the Tarot: Waite revolutionized divinatory Tarot, and while I personally don't love his writing style, this book is a good starting point for learning the meanings of RWS-style cards. Plus, it's public domain, so you can read it online it for free.
3. 21 Ways to Read a Tarot Card: This book doesn't occupy the same special place in my heart as it does for a lot of readers, because I didn't read it until I was well into my Tarot studies and had already formed allegiances elsewhere. However, the information presented in it is all solid and extremely helpful for familiarizing yourself with Tarot cards. For a beginner reader, this book is a life-saver.
4. 78 Degrees of Wisdom: The same as with 21 Ways to Read a Tarot Card
5. Holistic Tarot: This is a beautiful, recently released tome that compiles a lot of knowledge. Wen learned Tarot by studying the old-school occultists like Paul Foster Case and Eden Gray, so you'll get a good perspective from this book that others like Mary Greer and Rachel Pollack don't really touch. She also combines Tarot with Eastern mysticism in an interesting and innovative way. However, she sometimes breaks from Tarot tradition without making it clear that she's doing so; I would recommend that you start with another book and then wade into this one once you're a little more comfortable.
6. Understanding the Tarot Court: The Court cards are generally acknowledged as the hardest ones to learn in Tarot, and Greer does a good job of helping provide a detailed, nuanced understanding of them.
7. The Complete Book of Tarot Reversals: Some readers love reading with reversals, whereas for others it's anathema. I belong to the former camp, and I would say that at the very least you should read this book before deciding not to use reversals.

Honestly, I don't know that you need a full ten books (certainly not to start). There are other books that are more specialized depending on the interests you develop, but any other beginner's books are going to start to overlap. My recommendation would be to start with five books, max, and study them in depth. Once you know them cover-to-cover, you can always buy more books based on your interest.

This thread may be helpful: Top 10 Books for a Well-Rounded Tarot Library: http://tarotforum.net/showthread.php?t=200913

I haven't read all the posts yet, since I'm going to bed soon, but here are my "can't do without it" books.

Tarot Wisdom by Rachel Pollack
Tarot, Your Everyday Guide by Janina Renee
Tarot a New Generation by Janina Renee as well
Cirlot's Dictionary of Symbols
It's All in the Cards by John Mangiapane
The 2 Hour Tarot Tutor by Wilma Carroll

That's only six, but I'll try to remember to come back tomorrow with four more.

Great Recommendations

Wow, looks like there's a lot of recommendations on books from Mary K. Greer and Rachel Pollack. I'll definitely check those out. Hope to see more people comment on the thread.

Cheers~

SarahJoy said:

This thread may be helpful: Top 10 Books for a Well-Rounded Tarot Library: http://tarotforum.net/showthread.php?t=200913

Click to expand...

Taking a cue from LRichard's reply in the previous thread, the tarot books that never find their way back onto the bookshelf (they always stay within reach on my desk) are:

The Book of Thoth, Aleister Crowley
The Pictorial Key to the Tarot, A.E. Waite
The Tarot, A Key to the Wisdom of the Ages, Paul Foster Case (Major Arcana only)
The Tarot Revealed, Eden Gray
Mastering the Tarot, Eden Gray
Tarot Divination, Aleister Crowley (basically the Golden Dawn's Liber T)
The Magickal Tarot, Tony Willis (companion book to the deck)
Keywords for the Crowley Tarot, Hajo Banzhaf & Brigitte Theler
The Tarot, Joseph Maxwell (for the deep numerological content)
Kabbalistic Aphorisms, James Sturzaker (Major Arcana only)

This isn't a "generalist's" list (except for Eden Gray and to some extent the PKT), most of it is focused on a Golden Dawn approach with specific emphasis on the Thoth deck.