The Tarot: History, Symbolism, and Divination

This is an excellent and scholarly book but it may not be to everyone's taste. I have long been interested in the history of divination but have found that many authors, even those prominent in the field, present misinformation in this regard. Robert Place is an exception. He has done his homework and carefully researched tarot history. He clearly labels his opinions and speculations as such rather than presenting them as gospel truth.The hard part of this book for some readers will be that to understand the development of the tarot it is necessary to discuss ideas from ancient Greek philosophy which may be unfamiliar in our modern world. These ideas were very popular during the Renaissance when the tarot was created and influenced its development. Place makes clear such influences, but the reader has to review a fair about of abstruse philosophy to get there. In many ways it's like taking a course in ancient philosophy, a topic that I enjoy but that is not everyone's cup of tea. I notice that one reviewer here called the book "pedantic." That's one way to look at it, but Place was merely trying to set the record straight with historical research to back up his opinions. He is to be admired for this approach because some tarot authors just spew their opinion, which as patent nonsense presented as truth.The section on the individual Waite-Smith cards is rather sketchy, as some reviewers have pointed out. It gives the impression that some editor told the author he needed to include such a section to boost sales of the book.His description of his 3-card spread methods is quite good and thought-provoking. It gives us a glimpse into the workings of a master of the art. Place uses only upright cards, which is a position I'm personally more and more drawn to as I understand more of the history and philosophy behind the cards. Of course, there is a long tradition of using reversals dating back at least to the 18th century, but my own experience has been that reversals merely give a different slant to the essential meaning of the card.Overall, this is one of the best books about the tarot that I have read in many years. It is not an easy read because it presents so much information in a concise and thoughtful way. It covers topics ranging from Hermetic philosophy to neo-Platonism and explains how they underlie the meaning of the tarot. It debunks a lot on nonsense that is still passed around by tarot enthusiasts who are unfamiliar with the historical record that Place so carefully lays out. This book could easily be used as a college-level text for Tarot 101.

If you buy one book on the Tarot, let it be this one. The first 175 pages are a little more dense than most popular books on Tarot, but that is because Place presents a history of the Tarot based on his wonderful ability to synthesize a wide variety of reputable sources on the Tarot. He has the mark of an intelligent, reliable writer: He tells the reader when there seems to be solid scholarly evidence for his assertions and ALSO has no hesitation in letting us know when, and how much, he is speculating in making other assertions. He dispels many rumors about the Tarot (as fun as some of these mysterious rumors may be!), but in the end, the real history is more fascinating than the rumors. His history in the first 175 pages touches on all decks up to the Rider-Waite-Smith deck. THEN he turns to the Rider-Waite-Smith deck. First he gives short bios of Waite and Smith, including explanations for how much each of them was responsible for certain aspects of creating the deck. And finally, he walks us through the cards of this influential deck, suggesting potential meanings and ways to read each card. You could jump to this section, but you will benefit from it most if you work your way through the impressive history. I'm actually blown away by how much Place covered in only 175 pages. After reading this book and looking at the keywords and associations in my popular books on Tarot, I can see how little credibility most of them have. It's as if most of the authors of popular books on Tarot just read a bunch of other popular books on Tarot and synthesized popular, unfounded impressionistic beliefs about the cards. You can do an impressionistic reading for yourself!For the most part, I don't write many reviews on Amazon even though I do read them. I just feel very strongly about this book. So you know where I'm coming from and why I have a scholarly bias (which is a bias, I know): I've been an English professor for 20 years. Though I love Jane Austen and 19th century novels and poetry, I also teach courses on Crime Fiction and Comic Books/Graphic Novels. I have read about 100 books a year since 1988, and this book is one of my three favorite books of 2013.Final note: I bought this book for my Kindle. I read the entire thing and then ordered a physical copy. I want to be able to flip through it quickly, find passages easily, and mark it for quick reference. You might consider just getting the physical copy if you plan to use it for reference. If you want to just read it for a fascinating history, a digital copy is fine. I would suggest ordering a copy of the Rider-Waite-Smith deck AND the Marseilles deck since those are the two most referenced. If you are really into it, from what I can tell, the best version of the oldest deck to which he also makes reference is Pierpont-Morgan Begamo version of the Visconti-Sforza deck.I hope this review is useful.

I want to give this book 4 ⭐️’s due to the cheap paper. This has that book-stand, paperback-paper, but it’s even thinner than that; I can see the text through the paper.I love how much information is in this book, so I’ve chosen to give it 5 stars officially, bc I don’t want to drag the product rating down- but the publisher and author should really do better with the paper.The cover corners also arrived bent & rolling back, but that’s due to Amazon’s bad packing. I use a corner rounder paper-punch tool for the edges all around; this helps prevent any more rolled or bent edges.Are the binding and paper cheaper and thinner than they should be? Yes. Is it worth getting for the information alone? Yes.

Many people here in the review sections have claimed that it's boring or it's like a textbook, but I think that's the point it really gives you the knowledge you need to be informed of where your cards came from and the history behind them. I suggest this book to every tarot user know where your cards came from and your connection will deepen. As for the book itself it's a slow read at times but I really like that he comes back to things from the previous chapters so I don't forget things that I had just learned.

muy facil e ingeniosa la propuesta historica.

Estou impressionada pelo tanto que aprendi com este livro (que é o meu oitavo livro do assunto). Mas cuidado: não é um material que ofereça interpretações profundas dos arcanos ou qualquer outro tipo de informação pasteurizada: o autor parece querer apenas fornecer conteúdo para que o leitor desenvolva seu próprio código. O que ele oferece é muito conhecimento, história, análises e reflexões. Prepare-se para fazer uma viagem no tempo! Nela, tudo se encaixa e você fica conhecendo a trajetória das cartas do tarô de uma forma que vai te ajudar a desenvolver suas interpretações. O livro traz o por quê das coisas e faz o leitor pensar muito. Na parte final, o autor apresenta um sistema de leitura diferente do que vi em todas as outras obras, explicado de forma sucinta e clara. É como se ele estivesse dizendo: "Aprofunde-se nos estudos; conheça a história, as filosofias envolvidas, os enredos, os detalhes... mas na hora de ler, simplifique. Você não precisa de um monte de tiragens e centenas de palavras-chaves". Terminei a leitura com um livro cheio de adesivos marcadores. E certamente vou atrás de outras obras e autores mencionados. Livro para guardar e reler. Precioso!

article bien reçu.

A dense and meaningful journey into what the title promises

Love the history section!