Best Tarot books you've come across?

Thank you for all these recommendations, just ordered Forest of Souls it sounds really interesting

*Tarot Symbolism ... Bob O'Neill, is arguably the best tarot book ever.
*Forest of Souls, already mentioned was a wonder.
*Cynthia Giles, The Tarot: History, Mystery & Lore is a special favoutire of mine.
*Kaplan's Encyclopedia's
*Richard Cavendish's The Tarot was the first to show me what a tarot book could be like.
*Wang's Qabalistic Tarot.
*Art Rosengarten's Tarot and Psychology, if you are that way inclined.
*Add to that Wheel of Tarot, A Tarot Anthology Eds. James Wanless and Angeles Arrien. The introductions to each of the papers presented are woeful, but the papers themselves are fascinating.
*And not Tarot, but essential reading (imho) Psychology and Alchemy by Jung.

*Just have to add Mary Greer's Women of the Golden Dawn ... it was superb.

mythos

I just got "Power Tarot" and find it's really good. There are a ton of spreads in it, and also lots of other info and definitions.

Tarot Plain and Simple is a great book, marred only by the use of the Robin Woods deck for illustrations, which I dislike beyond words (although I've mustered a few of them to use elsewhere in reviewing the thing).

Learning The Tarot by Bunning is a wonderful introduction and one that still has some of the best examinations of individual cards.

Tarot Outside the Box by Valerie Sim hasn't been mentioned, but it remains one of my favorites because of the excellent introduction to elemental dignifiers. It changed my way of doing readings forever, but, again, that's just me.

Dr. Mojo

(dodging from Robin Woods lovers everywhere)

Leeloo said:

I just got "Power Tarot" and find it's really good. There are a ton of spreads in it, and also lots of other info and definitions.

Click to expand...

I found the definitions in this book to be really accurate, so it's one of my faves along with Tarot Plain and Simple.

What's in the Cards For You?

I just wanted to add one to the list:

What's In the Cards For You by Mark McElroy

Has anyone read this yet??? I should probably do a search LOL....

But wanted to add it as one of the best tarot books I have read so far. It is a highly original, "hands-on" approach to tarot, and Mr. McElroy offers thirty different exercises to give the reader several ways of working with the cards outside of divination. He suggests using the cards to enhance one's intuitive and creative abilities, to develop empathy toward others and as a useful problem-solving tool. And those are just a few of the ways this book can be used, there are many others.

I would highly recommend this book to anyone who wants to work more with the cards outside of doing readings....and I am anxious to read his other books, which are also designed with a hands-on approach to tarot.

Luna

Best books

So far, the Crowley Thoth deck is my favorite for readings, and two books that are of my favorite books (that get right to the point, unlike The Book of Thoth) are:

The Crowley Tarot: The Handbook to the Cards by Hajo Banzhaf

Keywords for the Crowley Tarot by Hajo Banzhaf and Brigitte Theler

I started as many did with the basics, and books such as Tarot, plain and Simple, by Anthony Louis and other introductory books to Tarot, and these were great; But one has got to move on and I have found the following books tremendously insightful and helpful in this regard, although I admit that initially I had a few reservations regarding some of them but once I got into reading them I couldn't put them down . They are that good . . . !

My method of reading ( particularly the last three books on the list ) does not follow the usual cover to cover style, but I read as I find fit at any particular time choosing chapters from within a book, and would do the exercises and/or spreads suggested as best I could.

These are:

• The Forest of Souls - Pollack, Rachel
  
• Designing Your own Tarot Spreads - Michelsen, Teresa
  
• Past Life and Karmic Tarot - McCoy, Edain
  
• Tarot for Self Discovery- Braden, Nina Lee
  

I had also re-ordered the following book, as my first copy was lost in the mail

• The Complete Tarot Reader, Everything You Need to Know from Start to Finish - Michelsen, Teresa

Rachel, et. al.

I vote for 78 Degrees, and Forest of Souls at the top of the list. Also the book Spiritual Tarot 78 Paths is also quite good. I have also learned much from Joan Bunning's course and from the book accompanying the Fey Tarot. BB, Michael

Ones I have that I love:
- Tarot by Jane Lyle (worth it for the illustration alone!)
- The Tarot by Robert M. Place
- Understanding the Tarot Court by Mary K Greer and Tom (Tadfor) Little
- Tarot Reversals by Mary K Greer
- companion book to the Tarot of Prague

Ones I've been dying to read and get my hands on in any way, shape or form:
- A Wicked Pack of Cards
- The Visconti Tarot Cards Painted by Bonifacio Bembo (not sure of exact wording; the one by Gertrude Moakley)
- Encyclopedia of Tarot (all 3 volumes but esp. volume III, for the biography of Pamela Colman Smith if nothing else!)

QueenofP.