Beginner's TdM Guidelines

Barleywine

Does Jean Michael David have any plans on releasing an e version? The book is a little pricey at $86


The Meditations on The Tarot borrows from many wisdom traditions and is not only for Christians

The Lulu e-version of JMD's course material was a little over $14 US when I bought it.
 

rakusribut

For over twenty years I have done a monastic practice called lectio divina with the major arcana. Here is a link to my teachers explanation of lectio divina http://www.valyermo.com/ld-art.html



The first step, with respect to keeping a zen mind, contains the guideline: Just look at the images. Although I was trained to teach critical thinking (i.e. beginning logic), I am also trained as a visual artist. Over the years, I have come to believe there is a way of knowing through the arts. For example , as a playwright I work on solving real life problems through creating characters and dialogue. Further, I was trained as a critical art therapist back in the 1990s. This involves deeply looking and seeing different interpretations. Note, I never finished the art therapy program and so I only speak from memory. But, above all, I believe looking at the card contains all the information I need to know. The only problem is I have spent more than 20 years sporadically doing lectio with the major arcana. This means I have an active meaning alive in my heart. The book I used was this one, Here is a link to a free copy. You may purchase a hard copy on Amazon too.

http://tarothermeneutics.com/tarotliterature/MOTT/Meditations-on-the-Tarot.pdf

I have done my second spread ever this weekend and it is eye opening

wow, this is amazing, i have had this book for over 20 years now and i love it! the guy who wrote it (Valentin Tomberg) is really interesting, as you can read here
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Valentin_Tomberg
and he was also very controversial, certainly not your typical (converted) christian as you can read here
http://www.ignatiusinsight.com/features2007/scaldecott_hubtarot_apr07.asp
i keep studying his book, using it as a reference as well, and still much of what he writes eludes me, but i don't mind, because over the years a lot of his wisdom has started to make sense, and once understood it stays with me forever.
so now whenever i see the moon card i immediately associate it with the principle of retrograde movement, temperance with integrated duality, and so on.
this book is a real treasure trove of esoteric, spiritual, philosophical and alchemical knowledge, every arcanum is interpreted using a broad spectrum of doctrines and belief systems.
if i could take only one tarot book to a desert island (or to a far away planet lol) it would be this one.