Absolute Beginner's Guide to Tarot

by Mark McElroy

Is there a Queen of Pentacles or a Fool in your future? What does the Empress card have to say about your career, your relationship, or your weekend plans? Discover the answer to these questions and many more in the Absolute Beginner's Guide to Tarot -- a fun and fascinating guide to the deck Trends Journal calls "America's most popular form of do-it-yourself therapy" [The Trends Journal, 8/00]. Mark McElroy, a nationally-known Tarot author and teacher, provides you with everything you need to read the cards with confidence. His book honors both practical and mystical approaches to the cards, allowing the reader to choose the path he or she prefers. Its engaging text goes beyond "cookbook-style" divinatory meanings and teaches you how to draw your own insights from any card. While illustrated with four popular, contemporary decks (the Universal Tarot, the Bright Idea Deck, the Gilded Tarot, and the classic Tarot de Marseilles), this book offers applications and insights that will work with any deck. In addition to learning to read the cards for yourself, you'll discover a broad range of Tarot applications, including divination, fortune-telling, meditation, brainstorming, and even creative writing. Unlike other beginner-level books, the Absolute Beginner's Guide to Tarot gives you specific advice on choosing a personal deck from the more than 2000 now on the market. You'll also learn insider secrets that will help you distinguish qualified Tarot readers from con artists and scammers. Finally, the book also provides a comprehensive guide to Tarot books, courses, websites, and Internet groups, giving you a strong foundation for continuing your work with cards.

Genres: Tarot, Divination

376 pages, Paperback

First published April 1, 2006

About the author

After escaping his home town of Anniston, Alabama, in a rainbow-hued balloon, Mark McElroy was kidnapped by post-modern minimalists at the prestigious Center for Writers (University of Southern Mississippi), where he earned an MA in creative writing. During that time, he designed and taught in the nation’s first computer-aided collaborative writing classroom, earned his first writer’s paycheck with a wince-worthy comic book script, and began coming to terms with the fact that, despite having been groomed as a fundamentalist minister, he was definitely gay.

Since then, he’s authored more than a dozen non-fiction books on subjects from Apple Computers (101 Reasons to Switch to the Mac, from Que Books) to lucid dreaming (Lucid Dreaming for Beginners, for Llewellyn Publications). He’s also designed and scripted more than a dozen Tarot decks for publishers in the US (Llewellyn) and Italy (Lo Scarabeo). His books have been translated into more than a dozen languages.

Unlike his characters, Mark lives a quiet and happy life with Clyde (his husband for thirty-one years) and their two rescue dogs, Sunny Day and Windy Day. Parallel Lines is his first novel.

Reviews

[Ahnnie · Rating 5 out of 5]

The best book I have ever come across on tarot cards. It is accurate to the point that others want to steal my book inorder to read their horoscopes on a daily basis. The book gives information that covers many basics such as Relationships, Work, Spirituality, Personal growth and fortune telling. It also tells you the light and shadow of each card. This book is the best you can ask for when beginning with tarot cards.

Good luck and have fun!

[Cherie · Rating 2 out of 5]

While I enjoyed many elements of the book (the mulitple interpretations of all the cards, the easy-to-read-format), I hate how it seems so corporate…and I hate the "Bright Idea" deck.