Easy Tarot Handbook by Josephine Ellershaw

Author: Josephine Ellershaw
ISBN: 978-7387-1150-8
Genre: Mind, Body, Spirit/tarot
Pages: 223
Format: Paperback
Publisher: Lewellyn Worldwide

"You don't need a special 'gift' to read tarot," insists
Josephine Ellershaw. And to prove it, she has boiled down thirty years of
experience into a straightforward, easy-to-use tarot guide for beginners.
More than just a manual, Easy Tarot is a boxed kit that also includes The
Gilded Tarot--a stunningly beautiful and popular deck by the well known
Ciro Marchetti.

Ellershaw gently guides novices to become proficient, sensitive, and
responsible readers. Suit by suit, she introduces the distinct
characteristics of the minor arcana, court cards, and major arcana. You
will learn how the cards link to one another and produce insightful
relationships as their unique energies merge in the Cross of Truth, the
Celtic Cross, and other spreads. There is even a list of card combinations
that commonly indicate specific events-such as pregnancy, a wedding, a new
job, and more."

I bought this box set of the Gilded Tarot cards with this book, as I am interested in the tarot, and have struggled to read my Thoth deck for years. So I decided to buy a self help book on the tarot and a new deck. The cards are beautiful, but most importantly the book is fantastic! It has helped me so much, and finally I have learned the basis of each card and now feel relaxed using them.

Josephine teaches you to work through each card slowly starting with the Minor cards, then the Court and lastly the Major. She then takes you onto the spreads. One thing that really helped me to learn the cards, is when you draw a card she asks you to write down a situation that you remember happened in your life, it's something what each card reminds you of and it helps when drawing the card. It was really good and really does help.

The book feels like good quality, the pictures are black and white, and it would have been nice to see them in colour. But the information in this book made up for it.
If you're a beginner to tarot, this box set will be invaluable to you. It is so worth it and I highly recommend it. To top it off, the cards are stunning and are worth having in your Tarot collection.

The Thoth Companion by Michael Osiris Snuffin.

Author: Michael Osiris Snuffin
ISBN: 978-0-7387-1192-8
Genre: Mind, Body, Spirit/tarot
Pages: 216
Format: Paperback
Publisher: Lewellyn Worldwide

"Aleister Crowley's Thoth Tarot - one of the most popular and enigmatic tarot decks - offers rich rewards for those who can penetrate its complex symbolism. Written by a ceremonial magician and tarot expert, "The Thoth Companion" is a comprehensive guide to understanding and using this fundamental deck. All seventy-eight cards are examined through the lens of Thelema, Qabala, and ceremonial magic - the spiritual foundations upon which it was built. These detailed interpretations reveal valuable insights, significant correspondences, and Crowley's encoded secrets. Once you've mastered the meaning behind this legendary deck, this user-friendly guide can help you use it for divination, developing intuition, meditation, and pathworking.Ceremonial magician and professional tarot reader Michael Osiris Snuffin has been studying the Thoth tarot for over a decade. He joined the OTO (Ordo Templi Orientis) in 1996. Seven years later he founded the Temple of Light and Darkness, a group dedicated to performing Golden Dawn initiations in accordance with the Law of Thelema."


I got this book as I was trying to work with the Thoth tarot more, being a novice at tarot, I wanted a book which would have a good explanation of the Thoth tarot. I've had the Thoth tarot for years, but have never felt connected with it.

This will be a great book for experienced readers of the Thoth deck, and those who are progressing with learning it. But if you're a beginner struggling to learn the Thoth tarot, then I think you'll struggle with this book. The reason is, you need to have some background of the tarot, astrology and kabbalah first.

However I do think it's a really good book, and I have put it away until the time I feel ready to pick it up again, when I am more advanced in tarot, and ready to learn the Thoth deck. This book has lots of charts in it, in the Appendix section at the end of the book, to help you with identifying the planets, elements, colors, chakras, symbols and god/goddess etc in relation to each card.

So for a beginner in the Thoth tarot, you're better off finding a book which is more simple and easier to understand. For experienced readers, it will be great. It is a nice large paperback, the paper feels like good quality. The only down side, it would have been nice to have the pictures of the cards in color, and not black and white.