Status
Available
Call number
Collection
Publication
New York : Schocken, 1975.
Description
Takes each card of the Tarot one by one, compares the various decks currently available and in use, and the readings given by standard authorities.
User reviews
LibraryThing member LisaMaria_C
Tarot cards have intrigued me every since I've seen a deck. They're so pretty and mysterious and so different, yet so closely related in look to our familiar playing cards, and so many of the decks are rich in symbolism. I started collecting decks, and even reading them for friends for fun, even
So I collected Tarot books and not just decks, and if I could only keep one, it would be Butler's Dictionary of the Tarot. First, it presents a pretty solid history of the cards--none of that Ancient Egypt or Gypsies nonsense. For each entry on the Major and Minor Arcana, it describes several of the leading designs (Marseille, Swiss, Italian, Bembo, Wirth, Waite, Aquarian, Crowley, New) and around a dozen of leading interpretations (Case, Christian, Crowley, Douglas, Golden Dawn, Gray, Grimauld, Huson, Kahn, Kaplan, Knight, Lind, Mathers, Papus, Thierens, Waite) as well as a suggested interpretation by Butler. There are six spreads presented, not just the usual Celtic Cross, but 21 Card Gypsy Spread, Magregor Mathers Third Method, Planetary Method, Crowley Method and the Churchyard Spread. That all makes this a very comprehensive guide.
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though I'm a thorough-going rationalist and don't believe they can be tools of divination. This was my first tarot book and the one that taught me to do readings (which I did during lunch in my Catholic School until one of the nuns told me not to do that again since tarot cards are "tools of Satan.")So I collected Tarot books and not just decks, and if I could only keep one, it would be Butler's Dictionary of the Tarot. First, it presents a pretty solid history of the cards--none of that Ancient Egypt or Gypsies nonsense. For each entry on the Major and Minor Arcana, it describes several of the leading designs (Marseille, Swiss, Italian, Bembo, Wirth, Waite, Aquarian, Crowley, New) and around a dozen of leading interpretations (Case, Christian, Crowley, Douglas, Golden Dawn, Gray, Grimauld, Huson, Kahn, Kaplan, Knight, Lind, Mathers, Papus, Thierens, Waite) as well as a suggested interpretation by Butler. There are six spreads presented, not just the usual Celtic Cross, but 21 Card Gypsy Spread, Magregor Mathers Third Method, Planetary Method, Crowley Method and the Churchyard Spread. That all makes this a very comprehensive guide.
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Subjects
Language
Original language
English
Original publication date
1975
ISBN
0805205594 / 9780805205596
Local notes
MFT - Estate of Sarah Ripley
Other editions
Dictionary of the tarot by Bill Butler (Paperback)
Dictionary of the Tarot by Bill Butler (Hardcover)
Dictionary of the tarot by Bill Butler (Paper Book)
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