Here are 96 books that Guided Tarot fans have personally recommended if you like
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I started studying the tarot ten years ago with no thought that I would ever write about it. I took an introductory class in the back of a local metaphysical shop and went down a rabbit hole of books and teachings. I also enjoy readings myself - from quick fifteen minute reads at sidewalk fairs, to hour long readings in person with renowned readers, from an hour on Zoom with a famous reader, to a reading in a shop in Salem, Massachusetts during the chaos that is October in that town - Iâve benefited from them all. It has been a delight to include this interest in my latest novel.
Rachel Pollackâs classic guide to the tarot is a well-loved reference for me and for many.
While itâs a great next step to add depth of insight into the cards for the less experienced, it also continually serves up new insights to someone with more familiarity with the cards as well. She wrote it in the early eighties while living in Amsterdam and teaching tarot at the Kosmos Meditation Center.
The bestselling tarot classic in a new edition with a new preface by the author.
âWhenever I have a question about tarot, I reach for 78 Degrees of Wisdom. It is the most in-depth exploration of tarot and my most trusted resource. If you want to learn tarot, youâll want 78 Degrees on your bookshelf too. Itâs the gold standard in tarot.â âTheresa Reed, author of Tarot No Questions Asked
"What is your favorite tarot book? The answer is always 78 Degrees of Wisdom."âMelissa Cynova, author of Kitchen Table Tarot
âEssential reading for the beginner and a classic that tarotâŚ
It is April 1st, 2038. Day 60 of China's blockade of the rebel island of Taiwan.
The US government has agreed to provide Taiwan with a weapons system so advanced that it can disrupt the balance of power in the region. But what pilot would be crazy enough to runâŚ
I began reading Tarot in high school â or at least, trying to. Like most people, I was pretty intimidated starting out. It took several teachers, a stack of books, and a lot of years before I understood that Tarot cards are simply repositories for symbols of the human experience. Thatâs how they continue to be so popular: they speak to something deep within us all. It was only natural that my art endeavors and my passion for the ancient Minoans would eventually dovetail with my love of Tarot. The end result was The Minoan Tarot, which Iâm delighted to share with you along with these excellent Tarot books.
If youâve ever thought about using the Tarot for personal development instead of just divination, but didnât know where to start, Holistic Tarot is the resource for you. Tarot cards are no substitute for a good therapist, but in this book, Benebell Wen shows you how to use the cards to better understand your emotions and desires and to help you remove blockages to your creativity and satisfaction with life. This is a structured and methodical approach that will give you practical results.
Designed for beginning as well as experienced tarot readers, Holistic Tarot offers a fresh and easy-to-follow approach to the use of the tarot deck for tapping into subconscious knowledge and creativity. The tarot deck has been used as a divination tool for more than two centuries; while the tarot is still most commonly thought of as "fortune telling," the true power of the tarot lies in its ability to channel a clear path for our deep intuition to shine through. Consulting the tarot can help clear creativity blockages, clarify ambitions, work through complex decisions, and make sense of emotions andâŚ
Iâve been studying and reading tarot for more than 50 yearsâstarting when I was a teenager. I feel called to do this workâI think of it as holy work, because every reading is an inner journey for my client, I merely serve as a guide for them to discover the insights and wisdom that already exists hidden within them. Over the years Iâve studied with some of todayâs top tarot teachers, Iâve studied Kabbalah with respected rabbis. Iâve studied psychological principles with leading therapists. And Iâve studied storytelling with world-famous performers. Tarot brings all these disciplines together in a way that makes every reading an encounter with the Divine that lives within each of us.
This was the first book that ever taught people not only how to read for themselves, but also how to use the cards to attain personal insight. It will teach you how to develop a deep relationship with the cards, and it shows you how to use the cards for greater self-knowledge. Every book on this subject since has Mary K. Greer to thank. When I first came across it, it changed the way I read forever. And it gave me new tools to use the cards for my own.
The tarot classic that first promoted the practice of reading the cards not just for others but for one's own personal insight and self-transformation
âTarot for Your Self was ground-breaking when this book was first published and is still radically significant today.â âBenebell Wen, author of Holistic Tarot
âDeciding to work with the Tarot is like embarking on a long, inward journey.ââMary K. Greer
This tarot classic by Mary K. Greer was the first book to promote reading the cards for your own insight, revolutionizing tarot through a combined emphasis on self-teaching techniques and personal growth. Tarot for Your SelfâŚ
A Duke with rigid opinions, a Lady whose beliefs conflict with his, a long disputed parcel of land, a conniving neighbour, a desperate collaboration, a failure of trust, a love found despite it all.
Alexander Cavendish, Duke of Ravensworth, returned from war to find that his father and brother hadâŚ
I began reading Tarot in high school â or at least, trying to. Like most people, I was pretty intimidated starting out. It took several teachers, a stack of books, and a lot of years before I understood that Tarot cards are simply repositories for symbols of the human experience. Thatâs how they continue to be so popular: they speak to something deep within us all. It was only natural that my art endeavors and my passion for the ancient Minoans would eventually dovetail with my love of Tarot. The end result was The Minoan Tarot, which Iâm delighted to share with you along with these excellent Tarot books.
This is a Tarot how-to book with a difference: It organizes the cards by theme, making it way easier to understand and remember their meanings compared to the usual memorize-them-one-at-a-time approach. The book is really a Tarot course in 22 lessons (itâs no coincidence that there are 22 Major Arcana cards in a Tarot deck!). Tarot 101 is an excellent resource for demystifying the Tarot and breaking it down into manageable chunks that make sense and that you can remember and use for the long term.
Are you eager to learn the Tarot in a way that's both effective and fun? This complete course in Tarot demystifies the art of card reading by drawing on your intuition and imagination. "Tarot 101" will turn anyone into a professional card reader in just twenty-two practical lessons. Each lesson introduces an essential concept broken down into four topics, with exercises, tips, and key terms, plus optional tasks designed to enhance your learning experience. Unlike other Tarot guides, "Tarot 101" groups the cards according to theme - a simpler, more intuitive way to learn - and is compatible with anyâŚ
I've always been interested in fortune telling, and how the mysteries of life are revealed. I was especially interested in ancient Greece and the oracle of Delphi. When I was 17, a neighbor in Chicago read my tarot cards. Everything the cards indicated came true! So I got a tarot deck and started playing around with the cards. When I moved to California 10 years later, people asked me to read their cards. I obliged, it was fun, and my tarot business was born. When asked to teach tarot, I started classes. The class notes became my book Introduction to Tarot.
If you journal or want to write, I highly recommend this book.
For journal keepers and writers, this is your next step in learning tarot after reading my Introduction to Tarot. Especially powerful is writing down your first impression of the cards, what Mary calls "Entering A Card" on pages 23 - 25. Fun and revealing about your inner values is "The Court Card Party" on pages 77 - 80. Most powerful for me was the "Turning Points" worksheet on page 128 to see the big picture of your life.
Plus, it contains many different types of tarot spread that can inspire you to create your own tarot magic. Bring your tarot understanding and awareness to the next level with Tarot for Yourself.
Originally published in 1984, this is a classic in its field. Not only is it the first book to promote reading the cards for your own insight, but it also shows you exactly how to do so. It revolutionizes learning Tarot through a combined emphasis on self-teaching techniques and personal insight.
Never before has a Tarot book so comprehensively linked the many areas of New Age thought. You will find journal writing, mythology, psychology, self-help, relationships, prosperity and right livelihood, crystals, channeling, astrology, numerology, poetry, art, and occult metaphysics--all explored and integrated with the Tarot.
I often tell people that I did not choose to become involved in the Tarot; actually, it chose me. In the summer of 1982, I had a dream that was not like any other that I had before. In the middle of that dream, a dream phone rang, interrupting the storyline. When I answered the phone, I was connected to a dream law firm. I was told that I had an inheritance coming from an ancestor in England, and it is called âthe Key,â The inheritance turned out to be the Tarot. Since then, I have designed over 20 Tarot and oracle decks and authored several books on the Tarot.
Ronald Decker coauthored with Michael Dummett and Thuerry Depaulis A Wicked Pack of Cards: The Origins of the Occult Tarot.
Although A Wicked Pack of Cards is an important factual history, I feel that Dummett dominated the other authors of this book with his preconception that the Tarot is only a card game that the occultists seized on as a vehicle for their fantasies. He showed little interest in its symbolism. In The Esoteric Tarot, Decker was on his own, and this allowed him to focus on the symbolism and meanings of the cards, rooted in Western mysticism. Â
That the Tarot originated in ancient Egypt as a divinatory tool is a romantic misconception. Ron Decker's meticulous scholarship will surprise practitioners and academics alike, revealing the Tarot's true evolution and meanings as its inventor(s) understood it.
The Tarot consists of the Minor Arcana, four suits of cards similar to our modern deck, and the Major Arcana, twenty-two allegorical or "trump" cards. Decker says the four-suit deck was invented in Asia Minor before AD 1000; Italian courtiers added the trumps in the 1400s. But Tarot was first used as a game. Tarot divination was only created in the 1700s byâŚ
The Duke's Christmas Redemption
by
Arietta Richmond,
A Duke who has rejected love, a Lady who dreams of a love match, an arranged marriage, a house full of secrets, a most unneighborly neighbor, a plot to destroy reputations, an unexpected love that redeems it all.
Lady Charlotte Wyndham, given in an arranged marriage to a man sheâŚ
I have been a tarot devotee since my early teens and have offered both training and divinatory sessions using the tarot. My book on the fifteenth-century tarot deck known as the Sola-Busca, The Game of Saturn, was nominated The Best Esoteric Book of the Year and was reviewed in two of the worldâs leading academic journals. My non-fiction is published by Inner Traditions and Scarlet Imprint; literary prose and poetry by Corbel Stone Press and Paralibrum. My essays on energy healing appear in the peer-reviewed Paranthropology Journal and the Journal of Exceptional Experiences and Psychology as well as on my academia.edu page.
The famed filmmaker and esotericist, Alejandro Jodorowsky, has poured decades of profound spiritual and divinatory understanding into this text to create one of the most significant systems for using the cards as a divinatory tool. Based on the Tarot dâMarseilles - arguably the stylistic form that constitutes the tarotâs most fundamental iconography - the text includes a comprehensive training system that can be used to provide a foundation for professional divinatory work.
Alejandro Jodorowsky's profound study of the Tarot, which began in the early 1950s, reveals it to be far more than a simple divination device. The Tarot is first and foremost a powerful instrument of self-knowledge and a representation of the structure of the soul. The Way of Tarotshows that the entire deck is structured like a temple, or a mandala, which is both an image of the world and a representation of the divine. The authors use the sacred art of the original Marseille Tarot--created during a time of religious tolerance in the 11th century--to reconnect with the roots ofâŚ
I've always been interested in fortune telling, and how the mysteries of life are revealed. I was especially interested in ancient Greece and the oracle of Delphi. When I was 17, a neighbor in Chicago read my tarot cards. Everything the cards indicated came true! So I got a tarot deck and started playing around with the cards. When I moved to California 10 years later, people asked me to read their cards. I obliged, it was fun, and my tarot business was born. When asked to teach tarot, I started classes. The class notes became my book Introduction to Tarot.
If you want to create a sacred space with specific scents and love aromatherapy with organic essential oils, this book is for you! Mary correlated each of the 78 tarot cards with a scent. Some you will understand immediately, such as rose, vanilla, and ylang-ylang for The Empress card.
But what of the Hanged Man and The Tower? They, too, have a fragrance. A fun and fascinating read that is highly recommended for a different perspective on tarot.
Empower Your Tarot Readings with the Use of Sacred Fragrances  The ancient art of perfumery and fragrance have long been a component of magical and spiritual rituals.  In Essence of Tarot, tarot master Mary K. Greer demonstrates how this primordial art can be used to enhance modern tarot practices, whether for divination, meditation, or affirmations. Learn how to create a more magical life through the union of tarot and aromatherapy. Greer, among the worldâs foremost authorities on the topic, demonstrates how essential oils can enrich the tarot experience, as well as empower tarot readers.  No previous experience with essential oilsâŚ
When I joined the Peace Corps in the early nineties, I wasnât allowed to take much luggage. I decided to bring a Tarot deck, figuring Iâd finally have time to learn it while parked in an Estonian forest. That Tarot deck opened up a world of Renaissance mysticism and magic, and Iâve been hooked ever since. Tarot cards and readings feature prominently in many of my cozy mystery novels, not the least of which are the Tea and Tarot mysteries. Now my imaginary Tarot reader from that series, Hyperion Night, has recently written his own Tarot guidebook,The Mysteries of Tarot.
When I was first learning to read Tarot, one of my big challenges was understanding how the cards worked together.
I eventually came up with my own method. But if Iâd had this book when I was starting out, I would have figured things out much more quickly.Â
Diane Wing goes into all the basics of Tarot reading, including some of the more metaphysical elements. But this bookâs strength is the extensive Tarot combinations section.
If understanding how the cards fit together is something youâre struggling with, this is your book.
Learn the Tarot to Bring Divine Guidance to Your Daily Life
Tarot empowers those who connect with its wisdom. As a tool of enlightenment, it guides, reveals hidden insights, and reflects the hopes, fears, and energies of the practitioner and seeker. Based in Universal Law, the cards form a book of metaphysics. Their interpretations change with your level of understanding to help you navigate your life path and generate alternatives. It is a boundless tool that allows you to tap into ancient wisdom that promotes deep transformation of the self and the way in which you experience interactions with theâŚ
This book follows the journey of a writer in search of wisdom as he narrates encounters with 12 distinguished American men over 80, including Paul Volcker, the former head of the Federal Reserve, and Denton Cooley, the worldâs most famous heart surgeon.
In these and other intimate conversations, the bookâŚ
I've always been interested in fortune telling, and how the mysteries of life are revealed. I was especially interested in ancient Greece and the oracle of Delphi. When I was 17, a neighbor in Chicago read my tarot cards. Everything the cards indicated came true! So I got a tarot deck and started playing around with the cards. When I moved to California 10 years later, people asked me to read their cards. I obliged, it was fun, and my tarot business was born. When asked to teach tarot, I started classes. The class notes became my book Introduction to Tarot.
This was the first tarot book that I read at age 17 from the Occult Bookstore in Chicago. I remember reading it cover to cover that first night. I understood it because of my childhood interest in fairy tales, mythology, Egyptian archeology, and my hobby (bordering an obsession) with foreign languages.
I attended Hebrew school as a child and studied Latin in high school. I was reading Ezra Pound's translations of the Confucian Analects at the time, but Crowley resonated more than Pound, for he used symbols in a practical manner. Aleister Crowley (1875- 1947) was a British occultist who was far ahead of his Victorian times. By any standards, this book is unique and perhaps a bit crazy. Still, I recommend it.
The occult classic study of the tarot and as a key to all Western mystery traditions.
Used for many years by students of the occult for study of the tarot and as a key to all Western mystery traditions, The Book of Thoth is on the short list of must-have textbooks for modern students of the tarot and esoteric studies.
âThe Tarot is a pictorial representation of the Forces of Nature as conceived by the Ancients according to a conventional symbolism. At first sight one would suppose this arrangement to be arbitrary, but it is not. It is necessitatedâŚ
