Non-Tarot books that help with Tarot

[Pretzel]

22 hours ago, katrinka said:

Emblem books predate RWS, and though the images won't be identical to Tarot, you can find some commonalities. There's a lot of stuff free online. Some of them push the Church, others don't. They can give you a window into how people thought when the early decks were being designed. Lots of links here:

https://www.tarotforum.net/showthread.php?t=75008&page=2

 

Thank you! Yes that's what I was thinking too... reading stuff from when early decks were designed in order to get a deeper view. Thanks for the link!

Edited December 5, 2021 by Pretzel

[Wyrdkiss]

I've found books about relationships, psychology, books on practicing presence such as Eckhart Tolle, and CG Jung especially helpful.

[Pretzel]

Thanks @wyrdkiss. Yes I read similar books - all that extra knowledge is helpful.

[and_it_spoke]

An "Amen" to Jung and Campbell.

 

I would also throw in the Tao Te Ching, as well as 'The Tao of Pooh' by Benjamin Hoff as a simple way to get familiar with the concepts of Taoism.

 

For me, a lot of Tarot reading involves detaching yourself from the situation (at least at first) and becoming open to the symbols and the messages in the cards. If you force a meaning onto a spread or card, you end up in a false, disastrous place that gives no insight or meaning. But if you can step back and go with the flow of the cards you can see a clear reading take shape. You can then apply that knowledge to clarify instead of trying to aggressively wring meaning out of the cards.

 

Taoism and its concepts provide a way of surrendering to the reading that can be helpful and clarifying.

[Pretzel]

On 12/7/2021 at 2:02 AM, and_it_spoke said:

An "Amen" to Jung and Campbell.

 

I would also throw in the Tao Te Ching, as well as 'The Tao of Pooh' by Benjamin Hoff as a simple way to get familiar with the concepts of Taoism.

 

For me, a lot of Tarot reading involves detaching yourself from the situation (at least at first) and becoming open to the symbols and the messages in the cards. If you force a meaning onto a spread or card, you end up in a false, disastrous place that gives no insight or meaning. But if you can step back and go with the flow of the cards you can see a clear reading take shape. You can then apply that knowledge to clarify instead of trying to aggressively wring meaning out of the cards.

 

Taoism and its concepts provide a way of surrendering to the reading that can be helpful and clarifying.

Totally understand. I often find the reading 'taking shape' as you say (that's a good way of describing it). The books for me is just adding layers to my knowledge so that my subconscious can access it if needed. 

Thanks for the recommendations! I did read a book by Wayne Dyer on Tao many many years ago. I might need to revisit that also.

[Pretzel]

Thanks @Wildcard I'l take a look at that one too

[katrinka]

It's good to broaden your knowledge base in general, but the devil in that can be trying to cram too much into the card meanings. That's how one loses precision and accuracy.
I'm not aware that anybody talked with Balthazar about essence reading, but he's arrived at the idea independently.
 

 

[Pretzel]

18 hours ago, katrinka said:

It's good to broaden your knowledge base in general, but the devil in that can be trying to cram too much into the card meanings. That's how one loses precision and accuracy.
I'm not aware that anybody talked with Balthazar about essence reading, but he's arrived at the idea independently.
 

 

Very interesting.  I feel I already do this for predictive readings. It just makes sense not to suddenly switch the 10 of swords into something positive as he said. I agree cramming isn't a good thing with predictive readings - I have one example in mind where I heard someone do this and it sounds both confusing and like they were taking a stab in the dark to see which scenario was going to hit the mark.

I'm not 100% sold though on the "don't try to avoid the bad things you see in the tarot". I mean, what's the point in a predictive reading that says (for example) "this business partnership will be a disaster" and then still going ahead with it? I understand he's saying it's a learning experience, but the very fact we ask the question means we're not sure and would be open to a different option, such as maybe finding a different business partner or going it alone. 

[devin]

A while back I got it into my head that reading Ovid's Metamorphoses would somehow throw light on working with image rhymes / repeating elements in the TdM.

 

It didn't. (This could be down to a lack of imagination on my part.)

 

On the plus side, I now have a nice prose version of said book.

 

Conversely, reading C.S. Lewis's The Discarded Image and Johan Huizinga's Autumn of the Middle Ages (both works outlining the medieval worldview) provided a lot of ideas for working with and interpreting the Tarot of Marseilles.

Edited December 11, 2021 by devin

[katrinka]

2 hours ago, Pretzel said:

I'm not 100% sold though on the "don't try to avoid the bad things you see in the tarot". I mean, what's the point in a predictive reading that says (for example) "this business partnership will be a disaster" and then still going ahead with it? I understand he's saying it's a learning experience, but the very fact we ask the question means we're not sure and would be open to a different option, such as maybe finding a different business partner or going it alone. 

 

I can see what he's talking about, but yes, warnings should certainly be heeded.
But being all set to start a business and then not doing it because the cards say it will go badly is just hiding from life. It calls for further investigation: Why will it go badly? Is it because of the partner, and why? The timing? Something else? Will it start badly but pick up at some point? When? Etc. If you really want to do it, you look for a way that has a better chance of success.

[Pretzel]

15 hours ago, katrinka said:

 

I can see what he's talking about, but yes, warnings should certainly be heeded.
But being all set to start a business and then not doing it because the cards say it will go badly is just hiding from life. It calls for further investigation: Why will it go badly? Is it because of the partner, and why? The timing? Something else? Will it start badly but pick up at some point? When? Etc. If you really want to do it, you look for a way that has a better chance of success.

Yep - depends on the question. Here's two that I've read for myself before:
One was a business question regarding creating a certain product - and it didn't bode well. However I delved deeper and realized it was something I could tweak into something a little different and it would be fine.

The second reading was was for a business that was proposed by a good friend. There wasn't one card there that gave me hope in the reading - it just looked like a disaster at every turn, with uneven effort between us, tug-of-war, etc. I would have been nuts to go ahead. 
 

[Ix Chel]

@RunningWild can you recommend a title of a book of Joseph Campbell? Thanks.

[RunningWild]

53 minutes ago, Ix Chel said:

@RunningWild can you recommend a title of a book of Joseph Campbell? Thanks.

 

One that I have:

 

The Power of Myth

 

One that I thought I had but might buy in the future (I might have it here somewhere and just haven't rediscovered it yet lol):

 

The Hero with a Thousand Faces

 

Both links take you to Amazon.

 

[katrinka]

Transformations of Myth Through Time is a quick read and there's a lot of good stuff in it.

 

The Power of Myth is a transcription of a series of interviews that Bill Moyers did with Campbell back in the 80's for PBS. You can watch them here. The videos are misnumbered: 02 is actually the first installment, 03 is the second, etc. But it's all there. Click "Watch on YouTube."
 

 

Edited December 15, 2021 by katrinka

[RunningWild]

The Power of Myth is also available on Audible if that's more your style (I have the written transcription and the Audible version).  Just in case there's no time to sit and watch videos.

[Miss-9-of-pentacles]

Quote

Re: animal totems. Maybe totem wasn't the best word to use. For example, the other day I was doing a reading for myself and my eye was magnetized to a yellow bird on the card. My intuition told me to look it up and I was amazed at the added information that brought to the reading. It was really perfect.

 

I've always been drawn to the nine of pentacles, even before I knew what the card meant. ( You probably know this already ) but the little yellow bird is a hooded falcon which was used as both a status symbol and a sport amongst the nobles of medieval Europe and the Mongolian empire. An ancient sport that involves trapping or breeding a bird of prey and then training them to catch various animals for you. Although the sport is rare, it's still practised in certain parts of the world including the UK and USA. Hoods are used on the birds for training purposes or to keep the bird relaxed before a hunt. I like to think that the women and her pet falcon are not too bothered about hunting for more success due to the abundance they already have. Call me a philistine but I get my info from Wikipedia when it comes to animal symbolism.