Best Tarot Books for Beginners

[FindYourSovereignty]

3 hours ago, alethian said:

My first Tarot book was "Around the Tarot in 78 Days" by Marcus Katz & Tali Goodwin.

I ended up selling the book because I wasn't getting along very well with the book at the time.

But I bought the same book again recently, because I couldn't recall the content of the book very well, and I  missed the book after almost 10 years.

Now I feel I can understand it better, and  it is a good book to study.

 

 

 

Interesting how this happens, isn't it? Different stages, I suppose. Katz and Goodwin keep showing up for me which always makes me consider if there is something here for me to pay attention to.

[FindYourSovereignty]

Magic Channel Tarot Reading  and Tarot Circles and Cycles by Jason D McKean  aka The Tarot Wizard,  are easy and simple beginner books for the new reader. 

[Nemia]

My first book was Spiritual Tarot, and I still think it's a good book. It's illustrated with three decks: RWS, Aquarian and Morgan-Greer, and interprets the cards with attention to colours, light and atmosphere. Each card in its turn talks to us and tells us its story. This is an old book but I'm so happy I found it. It made getting into tarot reading easy. I also like the spreads at the end of the book and used them back then. 

 

There are newer and more up-to-date books but I still have a soft spot for the affirmative, kind tone of this book. 

 

I always recommend Tarot for Your Self by Mary K. Greer. Working through this book will really help you see the cards as parts of yourself. I like Greer's approach and can recommend all her books, especially this one. 

 

The two grand dames of the tarot from my first Internet years, Greer and Pollack, are both very important and I have all their books. However, Greer's approach has had a much stronger influence on me than Pollack, I don't know why. 

 

Joan Bunning's website and books are no-nonsense and give you the basics. I prefer her approach to the many newer books where the authors tell endless stories about themselves, to be brutally honest. Bunning's books are ego-free and practical, and if you want to have a solid grounding in RWS, work with her book. You can always add layers later. 

 

For Thothies (like me), get Milo DuQuette and one of M.M. Meleen's books, and read, read, read with the cards. They're not as accessible as RWS but very rewarding indeed. 

 

For Marseille lovers, Yoav Ben Dov is probably a safe bet. I find Marseille a bit difficult but YBD makes it easy. His methods of making a card talk are useful also for other systems. 

 

Once you're a bit more advanced, Deborah Lipp, Liz Hazel and Benebell Wen wait for you. Each of them will add tools to your toolbox. Also very good: Anthony Louis. He connects astrology and tarot in a way that makes a lot of sense. 

 

No book will teach you as well as the cards themselves will. Keep them with you and write down every reading, every thought and association. Your own tarot journal can become your most important tarot book. 

[katrinka]

My first book was Eden Gray's Mastering The Tarot. That's what was available to me, so that's what I used. And I consider myself fortunate! I can't imagine trying to navigate the constant flood of new books - some good, some meh, and some really, really bad - that new readers are subjected to nowadays.

It wasn't perfect, but it was basically solid. And having just the one book for the first year or two meant that I had to work through it (more than once!) instead of skipping from one thing to the next and never getting anywhere. I think the lack of distractions helped.

I can't recommend a "best" book, but I can recommend getting a good book and sticking with it for a good while.

Edited December 22, 2024 by katrinka

[alethian]

1 hour ago, Nemia said:

For Thothies (like me), get Milo DuQuette

 

I forgot about this book.  I had it for 10 years.   I took it out again after someone recommended the book in my thread for asking good books for Thoth deck practical reading studies.

In my 2nd time reading, it reads much better, and I am enjoying reading the book.   

[alethian]

9 minutes ago, katrinka said:

I can't recommend a "best" book, but I can recommend getting a good book and sticking with it for a good while.

 

Agree.  There are many books which are  good in different ways, hence just 1 or 2 best books are not enough.

 

[Misterei]

3 hours ago, katrinka said:

My first book was Eden Gray's Mastering The Tarot. That's what was available to me, so that's what I used. And I consider myself fortunate! I can't imagine trying to navigate the constant flood of new books - some good, some meh, and some really, really bad - that new readers are subjected to nowadays.

LOL My first book was Gray's Tarot Revealed. copyright 1960. And it was my ONLY book for years.

I still recommend Tarot Revealed to beginners [for RWS, anyway]. As you mention, there is so much out there now! But Gray is ground zero for modern Tarot. Everything that came later seems to be rehashing Gray or building upon her card meanings. Or departing so far from Gray that it becomes nonsense.

People getting started with TdM would likely do better with Ben Dov. And DuQuette for Thoth.

 

20 hours ago, geoxena said:

My first book was Tarot: A New Handbook For The Apprentice By Eileen Connolly (1979). 

I remember being so excited when I found this at a book shop. I had only Eden Gray's book at first and then this one appeared! Today, I still recommend Gray to beginners, but have mostly forgotten about Connolly. Even at the time I don't know how much I liked it--but it was something different so I studied it until it fell to pieces.

 

Now-a-days I would still say to get Gray if you can only have one book.

As a second book? Maybe Connolly, but there's more choice now. I don't know that this one holds its own in the modern proliferation of titles.

 

Edited December 22, 2024 by Misterei

[FindYourSovereignty]

34 minutes ago, katrinka said:

It wasn't perfect, but it was basically solid. And having just the one book for the first year or two meant that I had to work through it (more than once!) instead of skipping from one thing to the next and never getting anywhere. I think the lack of distractions helped.

 

Excellent point here. The many, many books (and decks) have definite,been a distraction to me. I imagine working we with just the one opens one up to establishing more personal insight. Your recommendation of John Ballantrae's YouTube and his books are just as great. Definitely beginner friendly.

[katrinka]

1 hour ago, Misterei said:

People getting started with TdM would likely do better with Ben Dov.

Or, for a cartomantic approach to the pips, any good playing card resource. Pre-occult Tarot just is a deck of playing cards.

 

39 minutes ago, FindYourSovereignty said:

Your recommendation of John Ballantrae's YouTube and his books are just as great. Definitely beginner friendly.

I'm not sure who recommended Ballantrae, but it wasn't me. I'm not familiar with his work.
I did google and hop over to his website to see what he's about, and I'd recommend a grain of salt or two. The first thing to catch my eye was where he says to begin a reading "with all cards face-down so we don’t start off thinking we know what the answer is and then make the mistake of reading what we want to see." That's a preference, not a rule. Some readers like to fan the cards out face down and pick their cards from the fan. But I've never heard any of them say they do it to keep from reading what they want to see, or advise new readers to do it that way. The rest of us just draw off the top. I'm definitely in the latter category!

[FindYourSovereignty]

5 hours ago, katrinka said:

I'm not sure who recommended Ballantrae, but it wasn't me. I'm not familiar with his work.
I did google and hop over to his website to see what he's about, and I'd recommend a grain of salt or two. The first thing to catch my eye was where he says to begin a reading "with all cards face-down so we don’t start off thinking we know what the answer is and then make the mistake of reading what we want to see." That's a preference, not a rule. Some readers like to fan the cards out face down and pick their cards from the fan. But I've never heard any of them say they do it to keep from reading what they want to see, or advise new readers to do it that way. The rest of us just draw off the top. I'm definitely in the latter category!

 

Thank you for the correction. For some reason I thought that was from a post of yours. I don't take that type of instruction to heart as you stated, it's personal choice. I do think there are beginners who would though and it is good to note those things. I am off to further investigate where I heard of him.

 

I also like Eden Gray's Tarot Revealed and Mastering the Tarot.