I’ve had a distant interest in the Tarot for a long time, but that interest really awakened after reading Stephan Hoeller’s ‘The Fool’s Pilgrimage, Kabbalistic Meditations On the Tarot.’ That book looked at the 22 Major Arcana in relation to the Tree of Life of the Kabbalah. So I wanted to learn more about the basic workings of the Tarot -how to do spreads, readings, more about the Minor Arcana, etc. I had been happy with other books in the Idiots series, such as ‘The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Window’s 95′ and ‘The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Chess’. But going from Hoeller’s thoughtful work to this book was like going from a philosophy class into a daycare centre, or, from a literary point of view, like putting down your Nabokov or Conrad novel and picking up a Hardy Boys adventure. Gosh, Frank! Do you suppose this Tarot stuff really works?!

‘Take the 22 Major Arcana cards out of your Tarot deck and examine their names. As you’ll notice, these names alone -like the Emperor, the Empress, the Chariot, the Hermit, and the Tower -suggest ancient mysteries and myths. What do they have to do with you? Everything! These “mysteries” are as relevant today as they ever were!’ (p. 86)

Yes, there are a lot of exclamations points in this book. The authors’ relentless saccharine enthusiasm quickly becomes nauseating. You almost expect them to recommend a Carebears’ Tarot deck or a Mary Poppins’ deck or a Pyjama Party deck. The Tarot is corrupted throughout by irrelevant, brainless references to contemporary culture, including The Lord of the Rings, Wonder Woman, Peanuts, Spiderman, Star Wars, and the Wizard of Oz, especially the Wizard of Oz. Is it not possible to write a comprehensive book for Tarot novices without making it puerile, vapid, silly and, ultimately, cloying?

Judging from this book, it must be extremely tedious to be a Tarot card reader, with 75% of your clientele being young, marginally educated women desperate to find out about their ‘guy’, 20% being greedy males wanting to make more money, and the other 5% elderly women desperate to find where they’ve misplaced their teeth. I found the authors’ readings to be generally wishy-washy nonsense, with clients leaving with a vague, positive expectation of some sort, no matter what cards had turned up. It all sounds like some kind of correspondence social work. The reading for ‘The United States’ Present Mission and Purpose’ and ‘The Future Mission and Purpose of The United States’ (p. 317, 318) was actually quite interesting, though, and is worth quoting at length:

‘Remember the Chinese saying, “May you live in interesting times”? [Actually it was a curse, although its Chinese origin is questioned.] This row tells us that rather than give up, we should start anew. The last card in this row, the 10 of Swords reversed, indicates that we will create a steady improvement in both our economy and our overall health, and that any losses we have incurred will be overcome using a whole new approach to societal reform. Every established institution will go through a major overhaul or reorganization, and that will be better for us, not worse.

Any traumas we suffer in the present will truly become our past in the next year or so. We will come out with a fresh approach, start clean, and renew our lives. These cards assure us that a healing will take place in our country. A karmic cycle will conclude, releasing us from a long and difficult struggle. Remember, we asked this question for today [December 2002] through 2005, so we are in the middle of the past-present-future cycle right now, just like the middle row of cards. We are halfway to getting back on top of the mountain!’

Wow. They got it all wrong. They missed the invasion of Iraq, a nightmare that continues to this day. They failed to warn the American public not to vote for George W. Bush, whose re-election resulted in catastrophic consequences to the American economy, the environment, and civil liberties, not to mention the reputation of the United States in the rest of the world. Based on this reading you could be forgiven for thinking that either the Tarot is a bunch of total balderdash, or that these Pollyanna-ish airhead authors haven’t a clue about what they are doing. Maybe both. One thing is clear, this is not a serious book about the Tarot. I am still looking for a good basic book about the Tarot, but have since read Robert M. Place’s ‘The Tarot -History, Symbolism, and Divination’, which I highly recommend.

There are some positives to this book. Production values are good, as they are in all the Idiot’s series -lay out, graphics, cover, general presentation. But what the book actually tells you of value about the Tarot could have been condensed to around 50 pages instead of the 350+ bloated pages the book boasts. Now if you are the type who collects unicorn ornaments and posters, cures ailments with crystals and ear candling, and won’t go to the supermarket without first phoning a psychic or checking your horoscope, perhaps this is the Tarot book for you.

Rating: 2 / 5

The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Tarot (Complete Idiot’s Guide To…)
by Arlene Tognetti, Lisa Lenard

This book is a wonderful compostion of the author’s love of tarot and astrology and her passionate desire to share her understanding of this art and discipline with the rest of the world. It’s pages are reflective and encourage enlightenment. This is a wonderful text for the New Age mind.
Rating: 5 / 5