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Tarot Dynamics: Learn to read any spread
If you ever wanted to learn the magic of the tarot but were put off by having to learn from a deck that you either don’t have or don’t like, then this easy guide is for you. The logical and systematic presentation includes both encouraging and challenging aspects of each card and easy keywords are given to help you remember the essential meaning of every card. With these tools at your disposal you will be well on your way to understanding and interpreting the wonderful magic of the tarot.
- GenresTarotDivination
226 pages, Paperback
First published July 30, 2009
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
February 21, 2012
Tarot Dynamics
Anna Burroughs Cook
ISBN 978-0-9814278-1-2
Kima Global Publishers, South Africa, 2009
$18.00
Review by John S. Marani, Jr., Certified Tarot Consultant (CTC)
The idea of learning the tarot by learning only a few keywords definitely fascinated me as I started reading this book. Looking back at my 21 years of study, I had to wonder if I could have made it here a little faster with the help of a book like Anna Burroughs Cook’s Tarot Dynamics.
While I can’t know the answer to the question above, I can say that I have no doubt that the system Cook proposes—the reader memorizes one keyword for each suit, card, and number (for the pips)—will assist many beginning tarotists learn the cards and do readings. To have a potential reader learn what amounts to three or four keywords per card makes the process (sound) a lot more palatable. I especially liked that Aces mean “Crisis or Reward”, which was a succinct way of defining them.
Cook’s excellent idea, however, struggles in its execution, starting with the “identity” of the book. The cover states that the learner will use the book to “learn to read any spread”. Little else is said about spreads until a few are presented at the back of the book. If they changed the front to read “Learn to read with any 78-card tarot deck,” I think that would be more in keeping with the message they were trying to convey.
In addition, the point that is made on the back of the book is that the reader will use “five basic keywords” to learn the tarot. That promise is not fulfilled: The reader will have to learn more than five keywords to read the cards. The five that the book is describing is those for the suits, but that doesn’t include the individual card keywords and others.
Many readers may not be concerned with the overall presentation, but I found that I was continually distracted by its overall lack of consistent formatting and expression. A few examples include: words that are capitalized on one page are not capitalized on the next; sentences with identical constructions separated by a few pages that have different punctuation; and words that have no spaces between them. I’m always prepared to overlook the occasional typo—some even the best editors miss things—but I have to wonder how much editorial support Cook received on this project.
Beginning tarotists will get a lot out of this book, and the keywords definitely help a lot in producing the basic meanings. One gem is the inclusion of different categories in the card meanings that begin with more general phrases such as “The more encouraging / challenging the situation or other cards in the spread…” This is something I’ve never seen in another book, and it fosters an ability to look at the whole picture and not just the card that the reader is looking at. More advanced practitioners may take some time understanding the message, as it is presented in a different way that many other tarot books, but there will be the occasional nugget for them as well.
Once a revised version of this book comes out, I would recommend this book to beginning tarotists who have difficulty focusing on huge lists of keywords to learn the cards, or to those who have struggled reading without a tarot book in the past.
Anna Burroughs Cook
ISBN 978-0-9814278-1-2
Kima Global Publishers, South Africa, 2009
$18.00
Review by John S. Marani, Jr., Certified Tarot Consultant (CTC)
The idea of learning the tarot by learning only a few keywords definitely fascinated me as I started reading this book. Looking back at my 21 years of study, I had to wonder if I could have made it here a little faster with the help of a book like Anna Burroughs Cook’s Tarot Dynamics.
While I can’t know the answer to the question above, I can say that I have no doubt that the system Cook proposes—the reader memorizes one keyword for each suit, card, and number (for the pips)—will assist many beginning tarotists learn the cards and do readings. To have a potential reader learn what amounts to three or four keywords per card makes the process (sound) a lot more palatable. I especially liked that Aces mean “Crisis or Reward”, which was a succinct way of defining them.
Cook’s excellent idea, however, struggles in its execution, starting with the “identity” of the book. The cover states that the learner will use the book to “learn to read any spread”. Little else is said about spreads until a few are presented at the back of the book. If they changed the front to read “Learn to read with any 78-card tarot deck,” I think that would be more in keeping with the message they were trying to convey.
In addition, the point that is made on the back of the book is that the reader will use “five basic keywords” to learn the tarot. That promise is not fulfilled: The reader will have to learn more than five keywords to read the cards. The five that the book is describing is those for the suits, but that doesn’t include the individual card keywords and others.
Many readers may not be concerned with the overall presentation, but I found that I was continually distracted by its overall lack of consistent formatting and expression. A few examples include: words that are capitalized on one page are not capitalized on the next; sentences with identical constructions separated by a few pages that have different punctuation; and words that have no spaces between them. I’m always prepared to overlook the occasional typo—some even the best editors miss things—but I have to wonder how much editorial support Cook received on this project.
Beginning tarotists will get a lot out of this book, and the keywords definitely help a lot in producing the basic meanings. One gem is the inclusion of different categories in the card meanings that begin with more general phrases such as “The more encouraging / challenging the situation or other cards in the spread…” This is something I’ve never seen in another book, and it fosters an ability to look at the whole picture and not just the card that the reader is looking at. More advanced practitioners may take some time understanding the message, as it is presented in a different way that many other tarot books, but there will be the occasional nugget for them as well.
Once a revised version of this book comes out, I would recommend this book to beginning tarotists who have difficulty focusing on huge lists of keywords to learn the cards, or to those who have struggled reading without a tarot book in the past.
January 1, 2011
~ALWAYS BY MY SIDE~
I have read and flipped through MANY Tarot Books, and I own close to 100 of them. In fact, I never miss a Tarot book unattended: but how many of them really STAY with me, for day-to-day use, helping me to uncover the sometimes hidden message of the cards? TAROT DYNAMICS is one of the two books I use every day, several times a day.
The book has a unique system combining numerology and Tarot, which assigns a number 1-78 to each of the cards. it takes a bit of time to remember but it is way easier than I thought it would be! Another wonderful and highly practical feature of the book is KEYWORDS for each 1-10 number, suit and each court line (i.e. a keyword for the Suit + a keyword for Queens in general: Emotional/Charisma =Queen of Cups; Challenging/Conflict=5 of Swords, etc.) The descriptions of cards are so complete that you can read any spread, and indeed, use ANY deck of your choice: the book aids you to find the core meanings of the basic elements and built your Tarot knowledge and experience on this solid foundation.
Tarot Dynamics gives you a practical and no-nonsense way to interpret your cards in appliance to the daily, mundane life. It is especially important for a Tarot practitioner who does not have inclinations to deal purely with metaphysical and esoteric explorations but wishes to aid herself in daily choices, see what is happening in her private and social life and have a glimpse of the future, as for herself so for those she is interested in.
The book has sections on Good versus GREAT reading; Reading for Yourself and for Others, Interpreting Cards Combinations and a very useful section on spreads.
The author Anna B. Cook is a very passionate Tarot Professional and Teacher with 30+ years of international experience under her belt. Visit her website in progress at www tarotdynamics dot com to get a taste of the book: she generously shares A LOT of practical information there and new sections are in progress!
Tarot Dynamics book is always by my side when I am doing readings for myself and for others. I could not recommend it highly enough for both, professionals and beginners.
PS I was so much in love with this book that I started correspondence with Anna Cook and later she appeared several times on the show that I run with my friend, a very famous numerologist Ed Peterson (www.edvictoria.wordpress.com) I cannot tell you what a lovely lady she is. I highly recommend her as a friend and professional: there are not many people like her in this world, really.
I have read and flipped through MANY Tarot Books, and I own close to 100 of them. In fact, I never miss a Tarot book unattended: but how many of them really STAY with me, for day-to-day use, helping me to uncover the sometimes hidden message of the cards? TAROT DYNAMICS is one of the two books I use every day, several times a day.
The book has a unique system combining numerology and Tarot, which assigns a number 1-78 to each of the cards. it takes a bit of time to remember but it is way easier than I thought it would be! Another wonderful and highly practical feature of the book is KEYWORDS for each 1-10 number, suit and each court line (i.e. a keyword for the Suit + a keyword for Queens in general: Emotional/Charisma =Queen of Cups; Challenging/Conflict=5 of Swords, etc.) The descriptions of cards are so complete that you can read any spread, and indeed, use ANY deck of your choice: the book aids you to find the core meanings of the basic elements and built your Tarot knowledge and experience on this solid foundation.
Tarot Dynamics gives you a practical and no-nonsense way to interpret your cards in appliance to the daily, mundane life. It is especially important for a Tarot practitioner who does not have inclinations to deal purely with metaphysical and esoteric explorations but wishes to aid herself in daily choices, see what is happening in her private and social life and have a glimpse of the future, as for herself so for those she is interested in.
The book has sections on Good versus GREAT reading; Reading for Yourself and for Others, Interpreting Cards Combinations and a very useful section on spreads.
The author Anna B. Cook is a very passionate Tarot Professional and Teacher with 30+ years of international experience under her belt. Visit her website in progress at www tarotdynamics dot com to get a taste of the book: she generously shares A LOT of practical information there and new sections are in progress!
Tarot Dynamics book is always by my side when I am doing readings for myself and for others. I could not recommend it highly enough for both, professionals and beginners.
PS I was so much in love with this book that I started correspondence with Anna Cook and later she appeared several times on the show that I run with my friend, a very famous numerologist Ed Peterson (www.edvictoria.wordpress.com) I cannot tell you what a lovely lady she is. I highly recommend her as a friend and professional: there are not many people like her in this world, really.
March 1, 2012
The beauty of it is that it can by substituting your own card absolutely any deck can be used although an image from the Universal Tarot has been used on the cover and for the illustrations in the text.
Tarot Dynamics, caught my attention by claiming that it could help you "learn to conduct an accurate reading even from Tarot Decks that contain more symbols than pictures". Since that was one statement I'd never heard before, I decided to buy this book and see how the author planned to support that claim. My first surprise came when I discovered that the book was not only easy to read, but far more honest and informative than I expected.
I found the information I was seeking in Chapter 2 where Ms. Cook presents her method for breaking down the Court and Subject Cards. I quickly realized that her explanations actually could enable readers who are unfamiliar with reading plain pips (cards 2-10) to relate to them more easily and quickly--in a manner that would encourage their intuitive development. The entire book was a refreshing (and often eye-opening) read that actually does support it's claim to be of interest to the beginner, intermediate or adept reader. Good Job Ms. Cook! I loved it ! !
Tarot Dynamics, caught my attention by claiming that it could help you "learn to conduct an accurate reading even from Tarot Decks that contain more symbols than pictures". Since that was one statement I'd never heard before, I decided to buy this book and see how the author planned to support that claim. My first surprise came when I discovered that the book was not only easy to read, but far more honest and informative than I expected.
I found the information I was seeking in Chapter 2 where Ms. Cook presents her method for breaking down the Court and Subject Cards. I quickly realized that her explanations actually could enable readers who are unfamiliar with reading plain pips (cards 2-10) to relate to them more easily and quickly--in a manner that would encourage their intuitive development. The entire book was a refreshing (and often eye-opening) read that actually does support it's claim to be of interest to the beginner, intermediate or adept reader. Good Job Ms. Cook! I loved it ! !
March 2, 2010
An excellent book from first time author, Anna Burroughs Cook. The book is clear, concise, and fun to read. It is interesting enough to captivate those experienced with Tarot, yet uniquely placed to introduce the novice to Tarot, card layouts, the meaning of cards, and readings.
The book works with any Tarot deck, something most books on the subject cannot say. It has been well received in the field, and is an excellent addition in its category.
I highly recommend it.
The book works with any Tarot deck, something most books on the subject cannot say. It has been well received in the field, and is an excellent addition in its category.
I highly recommend it.
March 13, 2015
Turns out I don't really like keyword memorization.....
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews