Appendix C:
Recommended Reading
The following are books I recommend for students wishing to further their studies. It’s not a long or exhaustive list, and it’s not “the best” list. It’s just a list of books I’m fond of, that have helped me or piqued my interest, and that I think you’ll like as well. An alphabetical list with full details can be found in the bibliography.
Books That Aren’t About Tarot
In chapter 1, I strongly urged you to take up a meditation practice. I have a favorite book on the subject, one I recommend above all others:
Meditation: The Complete Guide by Patricia Monaghan and Eleanor G. Viereck
This outstanding book presents many different schools and styles—Eastern and Western—of meditation. Most books simply teach the technique in which the author has expertise, be it loving-kindness or zazen. This book gives you the world tour. If you’ve struggled with meditation, this may open your eyes to a different way.
In chapter 2, we discussed a variety of other esoteric disciplines, and I offered exercises connected to pathworking. If this is something you’d like to explore, I recommend these two books:
Magical Pathworking: Techniques of Active Imagination by Nick Farrell
The Initiate’s Book of Pathworkings: A Bridge of Dreams by Dolores Ashcroft-Nowicki
Ashcroft-Nowicki, in particular, is a renowned expert on the topic.
General Books on the Tarot
Mastering the Tarot by Eden Gray
You must have anticipated that I’d recommend this one! If I had started my tarot studies with Arthur Edward Waite’s The Pictorial Key to the Tarot (which is in the public domain and can be downloaded to your mobile device for free), I might have given up. It’s dense and esoteric, and the turn-of-the-century writing style would have been off-putting when I was twenty-one. (It has grown on me.)
Eden Gray’s book has deep esoteric knowledge, but it reads as if it doesn’t. You can flip through it for quick-and-dirty card meanings, and if that’s all you want, you’ll be very satisfied indeed. Underneath, though, there’s a quiet wisdom. This book has been my companion for thirty years.
Dictionary of the Tarot by Bill Butler
Tarot Dictionary and Compendium by Jana Riley
Bill Butler’s book is one of the first I owned on the subject, and I adore it, but it can be hard to find. Riley’s is similar and in print as of this writing.
These books compile interpretations from multiple experts on the tarot, and offer views of multiple card decks. Riley adds things like correspondences to gems, colors, and astrology. The idea is to broaden your view. There’s something profound and freeing about reading experts who contradict one another, and experiencing the great variety that tarot has to offer.
Seventy-Eight Degrees of Wisdom: A Book of Tarot by Rachel Pollack
The New Tarot Handbook: Master the Meanings of the Cards by Rachel Pollack
The lazy way to write this recommended reading section would be to tell you, “Just buy stuff by Rachel Pollack.” She’s written quite a lot on the subject and it’s all excellent. Seventy-Eight Degrees of Wisdom is considered by many to be the book on the subject, providing perhaps the deepest card-by-card analysis of the Waite-Smith deck available. It’s a book that taught me whole new ways of being observant. The New Tarot Handbook is Pollack’s version of Eden Gray’s classic (by her own admission!). It’s a shorter, more direct and accessible book (although you should still get Seventy-Eight Degrees).
Robin Wood Tarot: The Book by Robin Wood
Most companion books (books written to accompany tarot decks) are pretty lightweight. Card meanings are often no more than a few words, and are often derivative of other works. Sometimes they explain the specific or unusual illustration of the deck they accompany, but don’t have any universal applicability.
Robin Wood is different. First, it’s one of my favorite decks, one I use quite often, as you’ve noticed in these pages. But the book would be a wonderful addition to the library of someone reading with a different deck entirely. Wood’s straightforward, direct, and humorous style is easy to read, but doesn’t diminish her depth of understanding. In fact, I think the personality conveyed in this book goes a long way toward explaining why I love the deck, which is equally straightforward and deep. The book explores symbols, offers keywords, and really lets the reader in on the experience of creating a tarot deck as well as using it often.
Specialized Books on the Tarot
I’m a big fan of tarot author Mary K. Greer. She’s serious about the subject, has a great depth of knowledge, and has been writing on the topic for a very long time. She’s written two books on specialized subjects that cause confusion to many readers, and I recommend them both:
The Complete Book of Tarot Reversals by Mary K. Greer
Understanding the Tarot Court by Mary K. Greer and Tom Little
Chapter 4 covered tarot layouts, including creating your own layout. Since that’s a pretty complex subject and we only covered it briefly, I recommend a couple of books for those of you who wish to explore layout creation in depth:
Tarot Spreads: Layouts & Techniques to Empower Your Readings by Barbara Moore
Tarot: Get the Whole Story: Use, Create & Interpret Tarot Spreads by James Ricklef
In chapter 7, we talked about reading professionally—whether and how much to charge, and whether professional reading is right for you. If this is a topic you wish to explore, I recommend this book:
Professional Tarot: The Business of Reading, Consulting, and Teaching by Christine Jette
Multi-Disciplinary Books
In chapter 2, I talked about how you might blend other esoteric disciplines with the tarot. So the following three books, which do just that, are of particular interest. They combine tarot with astrology, with Kabbalah, and with Jungian psychology. This is just a sampling of multidisciplinary reading. Jung himself was fascinated by the tarot, so the Jungian work can support a really deep dive. Many Kabbalists work with tarot, as do astrologers (in chapter 5, I even talked about my tarot client who is an astrologer).
Blending Astrology, Numerology, and the Tarot by Doris Chase Doane
The Fool’s Pilgrimage: Kabbalistic Meditations on the Tarot by Stephan A. Hoeller
Jung and Tarot: An Archetypal Journey by Sallie Nichols