100 Books Like Magick and the Tarot

This book has a high-spirited, sprightly energy to it, and it is interesting how the author treats tarot cards and characters as entities that you can identify with and engage with. This is an especially good book for beginners because it’s an easy read and often seems to have been written in a spirit of fun. The first part of the book provides some basics, plus a section relating tarot to magical numerology as part of “the self-discovery process,” while the second half is devoted to tarot spells.

These spells are quite simple, though some call for accessories like candles, herbs, and gemstones. The main part of the spells are rhyming incantations, which Morrison often infuses with a bit of whimsy,--though that does not detract from their psychological efficacy!

I define a “spell” as a multi-media affirmation, and as there is no limit to the number of positive affirmations you can recite, there is also no limit to the number of spells you could perform if so inclined. As this book offers a spell for each day of the year, you can use it to add dimension to daily life.

Although these spells can help you work toward important goals, they also guide you to interact with the tarot’s archetypal personalities by imaginatively entering their picture space and moving around in the environments that they inhabit. I also appreciate that Graham provides “connection” rites for each of the 78 cards, as the Minor Arcana are often overlooked, even though they address the sort of daily life issues that dominate our attention. 

Because Donald Michael Kraig sees magic as everyone’s birthright, he is enthusiastic about showing us how to program our subconscious minds to form templates on the astral plane that effect changes on the physical plane—with these generating additional positive changes, not just for yourself, but also for humanity, (as they influence our shared energy fields).  

Each chapter presents different approaches, with Kraig explaining not just how to use tarot spells and talismans but also how to practice astral projection, how to use both the Major and Minor Arcana cards as doorways to the astral plane and navigate the Kabalistic Tree of Life, how to dance the tarot, and even how to mix tarot with sex magic. Of special interest: he also brings in chaos science, using the cards as “strange attractors.” 

As a designer of systems, I find this book intriguing because the author has created his own rather idiosyncratic system of sorcery. (The emphasis being on “sorcery,” written from a practicing sorcerer’s point of view.)  In addition to outlining his theories on rules of magic and providing new perspectives on magical tools, Emerson provides a section of tarot spells with rhyming incantations, unusual layouts, and diverse aims, including concealing a secret, conjuring an omen, seeing from afar, sequestering beyond time, drawing wayward souls, brewing a tempest, and more.

The spell layouts also have fanciful titles like “The Knight’s Vigil,” “The Queen’s Mirror,” “The Prison of Shadows,” and “The Shroud of Unseeing.” One warning, though: this book is not for people who are easily offended by any hint of manipulative magic.

This pick is for the history nerds like me. This book provides, in a single volume over ten selections from foundational tarot books from the last two hundred years. This book is definitely for the enthusiast who wants to go back to the study texts that are out of print or to go back to the beginning of occult Tarot. This book includes ‘old school’ fortunetelling techniques not seen in a long time. I love some old fashion fortunetelling techniques. This is also a recently published book, so you can show off a fresh hot big book on Instagram to make the followers go “ooooo.” 

There are sooooooo many things to love about this book.

Personally, I love communicating with my ancestors via divination, and Nancy’s book is filled with magical ideas! Her suggestions on how to keep track of and journal the discoveries I’ve made were so helpful because I didn’t know how to organize what I was learning on my journey.

Finally, and most importantly, this book was a big validation that what I’m doing is real because others are doing the same work and having similar experiences. In other words, I’m not making it up.

Every Tarot library needs a few good books on spreads. Spreads are the backbone of a reading. Liz Dean’s The Ultimate Guide to Tarot Spreads is approachable as it is not overwhelming with an excessive number of spreads, Liz provides numerous quality spreads that do not disappoint. Whether it is love, romance, health, wealth, self-development, rare, or occult – Liz has you covered with all the spread you will need. 

The Tarot is littered with symbols and occult references. You do not have to go deep into esoteric corresponds if you do not want to, but if you do I recommend Tarot Deciphered. This book gets down and dirty into all the symbology of the Rider-Waite Smith Tarot, the Thoth Tarot, and other decks which share its symbols. This book is probably not for beginners unless of course, you want to dive deep into Tarot and occult symbology fast. 

Court de Gebelin and the comte de Mellet writing in Monde Primitif, in 1781, were the first modern authors to delve into the origins of the Tarot. Their belief that the Tarot originated in ancient Egypt became the spark that led to numerous unfounded occult ascensions. I feel that because of this, these two authors have been maligned and misunderstood.

They were actually conducting a serious investigation at a time when there was no one who could read Egyptian texts and very little known history to go on. The fact that until now their work was badly translated did not help. Vine, an expert on 18th-century French, came to the rescue and provided the first accurate translation of their essays. 

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 d’Marseilles - arguably the stylistic form that constitutes the tarot’s most fundamental iconography - the text includes a comprehensive training system that can be used to provide a foundation for professional divinatory work.