The only book you'll ever need on Tarot

Like many other younger generation Tarot (and other card) readers, I'm a self-study. Not because I think studying by myself is cool, but more because my entire environment strongly believes that Tarot Is Humbug. Magic is Humbug. And especially Crystals. I don't even want to know what my analytical, academic parents think about me. That I finally cracked and turned crazy, probably. And yes, I did try to explain but fell on tone-deaf ears. This must be what the Mormon missionaries feel like when they try to convince you Jesus can save you but it's not enough to be Christian you have to be a Mormon like them. And you're like yeah okay you believe that but I think you're crazy. Sorry.

So that's why I mostly keep quiet about my deviant hobby. It's bad enough that I collect manga (japanese comic books), so everyone already thinks I'm eccentric. So that's why I self-study instead of being taught by my own personal Dumbledore of Tarot and Lenormand. It's sad, really, because I'd like a guide through the darkness. Or through the learning by heart.

Anyway, here is the book to save you all: Holistic Tarot by Benebell Wen. Benebell Wen is awesome and has a great blog that you can check out here.

picture credit: Benebell Wen

 

Holistic Tarot is the mammoth book that forms the greatest (IMHO) achievement in analytical reflection on Tarot for beginners AND advanced readers alike. It's a beginner's lesson and a comprehensive encyclopedia all in one. There's card meanings, history and astrology. The steps are so clear and precise you never stop marvelling at how this is exactly what you wanted and needed to know at that point.

Holistic Tarot is a giant of a book. It has nearly 900 pages, and Wen has study guides on her website on how to use this like a school book for beginners, intermediate and advanced readers. Which must be great for those who are intimidated by the sheer length of this book. I read the book cover to cover. That took a while, but it was worth it. Once I have time, I will read this book again (possibly with the intermediate study guide at hand, but I haven't decided yet).

Why do you need this book instead of books by Crowley or Waite or some obscure person who is famous in Tarot (f.e. Rachel Pollack)? Because all of the above are hard to get. Crowley and Waite might be geniuses (who knows, really?) but I don't have the time or the interest to rip apart their wordy works. Pollack is too psychic for me. Many other books (with titles like "Master the Tarot in 20 minutes" or " Tarot 101" etc.) are just way too superficial and don't yield more information than the internet would if you bothered to look up each card meaning.

Holistic Tarot is more than just a repition of card meanings. It's more than Wen's personal journey. It's more than the history of Tarot. It's more than the astrological connections it lists. It is a truly comprehensive work on Tarot and will actually teach you how to use Tarot as a tool. Best of all, there is no mystic or obscure feeling to the text. Wen never relies on external forces or gods to illustrate her meaning. Instead, she blasts through her subject like it's any other field of academic study. In a thorough, critical, reflected way. I loved that.

Wen, you might not know, is a lawyer in real life. There are not many Tarot professionals who are also lawyers, and it sounds unfitting at first, but it fits quite well. Her profession as a lawyer makes Wen the perfect person to relay Tarot to the novice and advanced reader alike. There is no nonsense. No strange voodoo madness. Just how you read the Tarot and Why, for 900 pages.

Reading this book once obviously won't cut it. Letting all this knowledge seep in is hard work, and I will have to read this book many times as I try to achieve to at least know a fraction of what is written and alluded to in this mammoth book. Rather than a Compendium, this book is a Treasury. Read it. Treasure it. You won't need a second book on Tarot.