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Reviews: Tarot & Cartomancy
Tarot & Cartomancy Reviews
by Bonnie Cehovet
Tarot Master
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Tarot Tips
Author: Ruth Ann Amberstone & Wald Amberstone
forward: Mary Greer
Llewellyn Publications
2003
ISBN # 0-7387-0216-1
I have been waiting to read this book since the news leaked out that it was in progress! Part of my reasoning was along the same line that Mary Greer took in her forward to the book: that the Amberstones represent a marvelous attribute to the Tarot community - as readers, teachers and innovators.
Their mission is to empower through the Tarot. They are respectful of themselves, their business, their students and their clients. I have taken teleconference classes from the Tarot School, and one of the things that stand out for me is their treatment of their students. While you are there, you are there to learn, and to have some fun along the way. The class time is a time to put your best foot forward, and to become part of the process - take notes, follow the thoughts being presented, ask questions, share reactions. Students are encouraged to share - if they feel comfortable doing so.
At the teleconferences that I attended there was a large amount of information presented in a short time. The pace was fast, but time was taken to make sure that everyone was absorbing the material. And the study was in depth - so that often you were touching shadow sides of your own psyche. Respect, courtesy, and a willingness to help - all trademarks of this wonderful couple!
Tarot Tips is culled from the e-newsletter of the same name that the Amberstones have been writing through the Tarot SChool for several years. The answers Ruth Ann and Wald give are in depth, to the point, and respectful of all viewpoints. Their aim is to empower you to find your own creative self, to experiment on your own, and to enable your own wisdom. Tarot Tips is a wonderful "storybook", as each question and answer form their own story. But it goes beyond that - in each answer is a "way" of getting to where you want to go, a technique that will empower you, if you choose to use it.
Tarot Tips is presented by grouping questions and responses together by topic. The topics covered are: Decks, Cards & Card Handling; Interpretation & Meaning; Reading Techniques; Spreads; Other Things You Can Do With Tarot; Ethics - and a personal afterward.
Decks, Cards & Card Handling:
The questions that someone new to Tarot might have are addressed here. Things like: "Does my first Tarot Deck have to be gifted to me?", and "How do I choose a deck - what is the right deck for me?" Websites that review Tarot decks and books, as well as publishers websites, are listed here. What a gift to someone new to the field - or to someone who simply has not had access to this information! Then we get into the cool stuff - cards that fall out of a deck when shuffling, damaged cards ... and the newest innovation, the blank card. (You have to read the book to hear what they have to say about each of these things!)
Interpretation & Meaning:
Nope - this is not a section filled with definitions for each of the 78 cards. It is a section devoted to showing the student how to determine their own meanings for the cards! With the caveat that nothing is written in stone. :) The first issue addressed here is the use of the Universal Waite deck - whether it needs to be the first deck for a new Tarot student, and how it can be used in learning in conjunction with a deck that the student is more drawn to. Card meanings, how to look at the symbols in a given deck, card interpretations that may seem to be contradictory for the same card from different decks, card combinations, difficult cards ... and the lovely but shadowy court cards are addressed. There is more to this section - including suits and strategic capability, reversed cards. creativity and the suits, astrological and Qabalistic attributions - t hey all have a place here. Want to know about secret paths? Read this chapter!
Reading Techniques:
Working with questions - how to form them, how to clarify them, and what ten of the most practical questions are is covered in this chapter. Clarity and intent - the very basics for reading Tarot! Dealing with clients that do not want to interact with you, following your gut instinct with an interpretation, using numerology, working with questions of timing - all well covered here. There is a very nice question and answer on astrology and Tarot that everyone should see. It is a wonderful starting point for study.
Spreads:
This is a topic near and dear to my heart! I love to find new spreads, and I love to create spreads. Such a feeling of accomplishment when it all works out! One card readings (a good place to start learning!), different ways to do Yes/No readings, reading without assigned positions (I had to do a lot of readings before I was comfortable with this when I first started out as a reader), the ubiquitous relationship spread and more - it is all here for the student to work with. There is a listing of websites where Tarot spreads can be found, as well as a short listing of relevant books.
Other Things You Can Do With Tarot:
This heading certainly opens things up a bit! Here we look at methods of meditation, using the Tarot for creative writing, story circles - and my all time favorite - birth cards (plural - they act as the gateway into and out of each lifetime - well worth reading!).
Ethics:
The ethics of Tarot is a huge subject - one that the Amberstones handle well. They cover how to deal with "bad news" in a reading, how to deal with the Death card, asking third party questions (people do this all the time - but it is usually not that hard to show them where the lines are drawn, and why), reading for children, reading for the question of life spans, questions about going pro as a reader (and determining your own Code of Ethics) - all of this and more is found here.
There is an appendix that lists books and sites that will help the Tarot reader - beginning or otherwise, and a nicely done index so that you can look up the area that you want/need information on. Also, throughout the book if one "Tarot Tip" leads to another tip elsewhere in the book, the section and page for that tip is listed with the first tip.
This is a book that I highly recommend - it is a wonderful reference, and covers areas that are applicable to all levels of Tarot student/reader. I want to send my thanks to Ruth Ann and Wald for taking the time to see this book through to it's "birth"!
You can find the Amberstone's "Tarot School" site here. The site lists information about The Reader's Studio 2004, about their correspondence courses, their in person classes, their teleclasses and their tapes. There is also a link to sign up for their "Tarot Tips" e-newsletter.
You may reach them by e-mail at: tarot@tarotschool.com.
Robin Wood Tarot
Author: Robin Wood
illustrator: Robin Wood
text: Robin Wood & Michael Short
Llewellyn Publications
1991
Suits: Wands, Cups, Pentacles, Swords
Court cards: King, Queen, Knight, Page
Robin Wood Tarot is one of those decks that I have wanted to work with for a long time, but never got around to doing. As with other decks and books that I finally worked with in the past year that I had been "yearning for" over a long time period, it did not disappoint me! I felt like I had been reading with it for years - it felt so comfortable and so "real". The colors are sharp, crisp and real to life. While the elemental attributes for this deck remain traditional (Wands = Fire, Swords = Air), the imagery is a combination of traditional (i.e. Rider-Waite) Tarot, modern and Pagan oriented.
As I went through the deck, the first thing that drew me was the style of drawing, then the colors, then the symbols and the attention to detail. If I were teaching a class on Tarot and symbols, this is one deck that I would certainly use as reference. For the same reason, this would be an excellent deck to use when doing comparative readings.
Most of the majors follow traditional imagery, with a few exceptions. The Magician is one of those exceptions. Here he is portrayed as the Horned God, with his left hand out of site and his right hand raised in front of him, chest high, palm up with the Lemniscate hovering over it. In the background we see one black candle (to his right) and one white candle (to his left), both lit and acting as gateways between the mundane and spiritual worlds.
The High Priestess is shown as a relatively young woman, with her hair flowing behind her, one open book in one hand and a crystal ball in the other, with a full moon rising behind here. Two trees on either side of her in the background seem to act as gateways.
The Hierophant gives me chills - or maybe it would be more correct to say that what he represents, organized religion, gives me chills. We see him formally seated, scepter in his left hand and his right hand raised, with two fingers held to the heavens. In front of him we see two children, and on either side of him are two pillars. The predominate colors are red and gold,
The Chariot shows the traditional black and white steeds. Directly in front of the charioteer, on the chariot, we see a set of wings, under which is the yin/yang symbol. The charioteer is playing a harp (look Ma - no hands!), and has a look if peace on his face. Behind him we see a veil of blue with white stars on it.
The Queen of Cups is another absolutely lovely card, She sits by the shore, in a blue and green gown in an upright, outsized seashell. In her left hand we see a covered cup emanating light, and in the background we see white birds in the air.
The Ace of Pentacles would be an all time favorite card of mine. The predominant colors are green and gold - on a background of green trees we see a gold circle with a white pentagram superimposed over it, with a vine bearing green leave entwined in it. In the foreground we see two fields of white flowers, with a path running through them ending in a tower.
The cards are 2 3/4" by 4 1/2", heavy, glossy card stock. The are suitable for smaller hands, and will stand up under heavy use. The back of the cards are done in a white, green and black Celtic knot motif with a 1/4" white border. The faces of the cards contain the same 1/4" white border. The majors have a lovely banner across the bottom of the card, with the card number in either corner and the title in the middle. The court cards show the title and suit across the bottom of the card in black lettering, and the pips (numbered cards) show the number in the middle of the bottom as black numbering in a white circle.
I feel very much at home with this deck, and would present it as an option to my clients for reading. Please note: there is some nudity in this deck, including the Lovers card, so you may want to be judicious in who you offer this deck to as a reader. There is an innovation with this deck that could be used advantageously - or it could simply be removed from the deck and not used, and that is the addition of a Blank card. A reader can use this card as they will - and I believe that I would use it in a method similar to that of the blank Rune, or the blank cards in the Medicine Card oracle (Jamie Sams) - as an indication that the answer you seek is within you.
One last word - buy the book and deck together. I did not, and so now have to go get the book! One can read without it, but my feeling is - if there is a book that acts as a companion to the deck - it probably does add something to the process!
Putting The Tarot To Work
review by Bonnie Cehovet, TM
Author: Mark McElroy
llewellyn Publications
due out February 2004
ISBN #0-7387-0444-X
Putting The Tarot To Work is exactly what this book is all about - using Tarot creatively in the work place. The target audience is business people, not the Tarot community. (This would not be the first book of this type - another outstanding example would be Strategic Intuition For The 21st Century, (Merrill-West Publishing, 1996) by James Wanless.) There is a "back door" opportunity, however, for the Tarot professional: consider business consulting, or offering business seminars. Putting The Tarot To Work is cram packed with wonderfully workable ideas, for the business world and the Tarot world.
Before I begin my review, I have a major rant to get out of the way -and that would be the cover of this book! Lime green, orange and purple, mixed with '50ish characterization, is not highly palatable! The background of the cover is lime green, the text light orange, with a fifties-style male executive-type in a three piece purple suit, with a cigar in one hand, and the other hooked in his vest. Surrounding him are piles of folding money, with a few coins thrown in for show. To his left we see a yellow circle with the intent of the book: creative problem solving, effective decision making, and personal career planning. As a female, were I to see this in a store, I would pass right on by. I have no reason to want to return to a fifties, male dominated corporate structure. If I were on a board that was considering using this book, I would not be inclined to look at it favorably, just looking at the cover. If the material were to be used, I might even request that the cover be changed. To say the least - it is not amusing!
The other minor flaw - although it occurs consistently throughout the book, is the amount of typos's! However, the copy that I am reviewing is not the final copy, so one can hope that this will be corrected. Major typo's on pages 19-20 on a chart listing the major arcana, and on page 21, the second paragraph reads: "In her book Tarot Mirrors, Mary K. Greer.; positions ...". There are other typo's throughout the book that are not so blatant.
The book itself is done in excellent form and style, a wonderful reflection of its author. I met Mark McElroy at the 2003 Reader's Studio (sponsored by the Tarot School and Llewellyn Publications) - he is well spoken, and every bit the gentleman that he appears on Tarot e-lists. I remember when Mary Greer was asking for participation for her Tarot Emotions project. Mark placed her information in a set of tables on the internet that made it very accessible, easy to work, and submit. That was beyond common curtesy, and speaks well for who he is as a person.
Having worked in the corporate world myself - albeit the medical corporate world, I found this book to be more than true to life! And the presentation is flawless: tell them what you are going to tell them, tell them, tell them what you told them. It doesn't get better than this!
Tell them what you are going to tell them:
At the beginning of each chapter is a list of "talking points" that describe what will be found in that chapter. From the book:
Chapter 5: Making Sense of the Message
Preview: What to Expect in Chapter Five
This chapter explores:
* How to prepare for a brainstorming session.
* How to phrase questions for effective brainstorming sessions.
* How to select a layout, or spread, for the cards.
* How to shuffle, cut and deal the cards.
* How to pull messages, meanings and ideas from the images on the cards. 1
Tell them:
From the book:
Chapter One: Top Ten Reasons To Buy This Book
Chapter Two: Playing For Keeps
Chapter Three: The Least You Should Know About Tarot
Chapter Four: All Hands On Deck!
Chapter Five: Making Sense Of The Message
Chapter Six: Basic Brainstorming With The Tarot
Chapter Seven: Seventy-Eight Steps To A More Satisfying Career
Chapter Eight: Reviews Worth Raving Over
Chapter Nine: Building Better Business Relationships
Chapter Ten: Planning Perfect Presentations
Chapter Eleven: Seeing The Future
Appendix A: Sample Meanings And Associations For Each Card
Appendix B: Decks Recommended For Personal And Corporate Use 2
Tell Them What You Told Them:
At the end of each chapter is a chapter summary. From the book:
Summary: Chapter Five in a Nutshell
Reading the cards, essentially extracting the information from the images you draw from the deck is the first step in effective brainstorming.
Before using the cards as part of a creativity session or problem-solving exercise, prepare yourself and the space around you by limiting distractions. Choose your questions carefully, being as specific as possible. Select a spread or layout for the cards that connects to your question in some way. Then, after shuffling and cutting the deck, deal t he cards into the spread and interpret their meaning by exploring the content of each card and linking your associations together.
This simple method facilitates the process of connecting your question with the cards in front of you. 3
Putting The Tarot To Work is written in a clear cut, concise manner. Mark makes best use of a wonderful sense of humor, and an inborn sense of courtesy. He makes wonderful use of the story mode, and gives true to life examples of the techniques that he is talking about throughout the book. (He even tells stories about himself - a wonderful way for all of us to see how we can learn a lot about ourselves when we choose to see our issues and situations from a slightly different perspective. I could have used this book when I was in the corporate world!)
The book starts out in an interesting manner - discussing a technique that is similar to, but light years away from, using the Tarot for creative work. Mark discusses using magazine cutouts for brainstorming sessions (I have used the same technique in putting together story boards and mandala's), carefully pointing out the problems that are inherent with them. There are two major issues: they are bulky to carry around, and it is hard to find pictures that connect to each other, and to the business issue(s) at hand. (I can attest to the last part!)
In part of his support for "Why" the Tarot works better, he says:
4. Structural Support
Images pulled from magazines lack any connection to each other. As a result, each image stands alone, and all images command equal weight.
By contrast, Tarot cards possess an underlying structure. Some cards are trumps, commanding more authority and attention. The four suits of a Tarot deck remind us to approach solutions from a variety of perspectives. The numbers on each card suggest ways ideas can be ranked, put in order, or evaluated. Court cards (Kings, Queens, Knights and Pages) remind us of people we know or approaches we've tried. This built-in structure allows the Tarot to support associations and connections in ways that random images never will. 4
Mark also takes into account the environment in which the brainstorming process will be used. He recommends that each person that will be part of the brainstorming team be asked if they agree to the use of the Tarot for their project. If one person has a problem using the Tarot, he suggests that the Tarot not be used at all. Mark also suggests that if the Tarot titles are a problem, that the titles can be trimmed off of the card, so that the symbols within the card can be used. In Appendix B, Mark lists Tarot decks that would be good to use for both personal and corporate use. (Because of the nature of the environment they are being used in, nudity in a deck would not be acceptable. I feel that Mark has drawn up a good list of decks for reference - as well as a listing of Tarot books for further study.)
Moving on to the symbols: Mark gives many examples of how the symbols from the cards can be used to connect with issues/people in everyday life. This is an important connection - a la the dialogue technique used by Mary Greer and others. It allows those using the Tarot to see how the symbols in the cards are reflective of their personal situations, rather than trying to see the traditional symbolism of the Tarot, and fitting themselves into that concept. Putting The Tarot To Work encourages the corporate world to relate to the images in the cards for what they are, but Mark does also include an appendix with a "short version" of each card. From the book:
1 Magician (Empowerment and Creativity)
The drive to innovate. The need to make something new or valuable. Getting things done. Taking action - any action! - now. Drive. Ambition. Taking raw materials and assembling something new or unexpected. Being given authority. Directing a meeting, group, or organization. Brainstorming. Refusing to be satisfied with a single answer, approach or strategy. 5
I recommend this book for business/corporate use, as well as for use by Tarot professionals, whether in their own business, or if they choose to act in a consulting capacity in the business/corporate world.
Excerpts from this book, as well as information about Mark's upcoming books, can be seen here: www.tarottools.com.
Footnotes:
1. ibid. page 43.
2. ibid. Contents.
3. ibid. page 65.
4. ibid. page 7.
5. ibid. page 226.
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Bonnie Cehovet ,
Tarot Master, and Reiki Master/Teacher.
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Bonnie Cehovet is a Tarot Master, professional Tarot reader and Reiki Master/Teacher.
Bonnie has been reading the Tarot professionally for over ten years. She has served in various capacities with the American Tarot Association, including Secretary and Web Assistant For Links. She is currently Certification Director and Secretary for the American Board For Tarot Certification. Bonnie is also a founding member of the World Tarot Network.
Bonnie has had her work published in the ATA newsletter, in Geraldine Amaral's "Celebrating The Tarot" print newsletter, on the World Tarot Network and other internet sites. She is editor for her own monthly newsletter "Gateway To Tarot" (Yahoo Groups).
www.tarot.
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