The Marseille Tarot Revealed: A Complete Guide to Symbolism, Meanings & Methods

If you have too many tarot decks and too many tarot books (which is likely true if you are reading this) do not hesitate. I haven't read a word. But the high quality pictures, and the absolute respect and love of Tarot that this book shows just opening and thumbing through it. I am so grateful I ordered it! Books give off a vibe (and if you read Tarot you know this) I wondered when ordering how it could be as nice as another review said. Just beautiful.

This book is ok, I am not sure why the publisher went for glossy paper stock and not a longer book with less quality paper.This is a well written book from a traditional perspective , the symbolic depth, and the history rehash have been done before but this is still a good rehash.Mostly traditional Christian/Jewish reference , with Waite, Crowley, reference as the outlier usual suspects .Spreads and shuffling are concise and practical and the depth of symbolic interpretation is good to a point, the reference for color is not contiguous through all card explanations, it varies, in some details color is not carried through as well as it is in the overview on symbolic color.This book is worth the money and it is very well written...in fact some of the best tarot text , very clear and to the point.The book is framed by the context from the historic age when it is was written, therefore the great feature is it supports that historic world and society viewpoint and the is what makes it excellent, it does not try to smother and update the text to the stereotypical "New Age" fluff or turn of the century Romantic view of the occult.The author has a laser focus on practical interpretation and there are the usual Jungian type of references but he does not beat them to death.The references to Jewish influence and tables from the Golden Dawn are simply that , casual references for information, the author does not try to rehash all of that, only what is needed for the immediate context of the history being portrayed.This book has it all, history, application, symbolism, fantastic sharp text, again more within the context of practical application as the end objective, in other words, this book is not a tarot as" internal meditation guidebook", it covers the usual applications of money, fame, romance, relationships, conflict, and the usual boring stuff like that is found in every other tarot book, if you are looking for more of a mental exercise interpretation for the symbolism like that found in a book about TIbetan Buddhism, this book is not that kind of symbolic depth. The wealth of symbolism and symbolism history is great, but it is an applied context, and somewhat stereotypical context.The major thrust of the book is still written from a kind of card reading for a client perspective within the boundaries of what would be a Renaissance and Christian viewpoint in the archetypes, male , female, passive , aggressive, social order ( great writings on social order symbolism), and very good lessons on card symbolism continuity and card scenario integration.The book has a few Asian or India reference, but that is not within the major scope of the book.The book is not a relational table book, there are only a few and only as a comparative reference.I think the writing is so well done and clear, I think another 200 pages on normal paper instead of high gloss and snappy colors, would have been preferred, the illustrations are nice but easily overshadowed by the writing style.It really does not matter whether you are a beginner , pro, etc. , this book is a great read about the history and specific symbolism of this unique deck, tarot scholars might debate some of the authors points on some of the details.The only downside for me was , it still is bogged down on the day to day mundane application for the stereotypical use of day to day tarot to ease the suffering of people trying to understand their lives .The author references the "magic" of the tarot, however in general he stays centered on matters of the earth, thankfully the continuing focus on the specific history of the deck, justifies this approach. The author emphasizes the magic as more of a channeling method rather than formulas for invocations , there are no spells, or pages of esoteric rituals for preparation, just one simple little prereading exercise.Per the usual, there are more pages on the major arcana per topic than the minors , and that seems to be a tradition, only because I think the minors got so connected to the day to day game or regular card playing games, they lost some of their depth, I raise this point because if you were expecting the more in depth image analysis of Pamela Coleman Smith or Frieda Harris in the areas of the minors, this deck does not have that. The interpretations are specific to the simplistic symbolism of the minors in this deck, but at least they are covered.Why this is a wonderful book, is not because of tarot, but rather because it is a biography of one long lived tarot deck that has evolved and mutated over time, and the author does a great job of trying to stay on the track of the original intentions.To read the interpretation of Presidents and their meaning in general in US history is different than reading of the biography of one president in depth, this book is about the tarot and this deck first, and about the tarot in general second.I have a lot of tarot books, and from a writing perspective this is one of the clearest, succinct, in depth, interesting about one specific deck publisher and style, even if it consolidates and is a summary of many other books on general tarot.......it is a good read, and the book format and quality are top notch.You would not regret buying it, the writing is so pervasive an pinpoint , it is just a great read even if you did not agree with all of the symbolic interpretations. I think this is a posthumous book and that is sad, I would have looked forward to other books by this author.

I have this fantasy... that I see someone reading a book or looking at a web page about Tarot, and I ask if they read Tarot, and they say no, but they're thinking about it... and then I get to share my thoughts.They ask about the different systems, and that lets me give my spiel about how we shouldn't say "systems," because there is only one system... we call it Tarot. There are different /styles/ or /lineages/, but only one system.And then they ask me what deck they should start with. And... I don't know. I can only give them a choice between two options.1) The yellow-box RWS. It's an obvious starting point. It's kind of like when you're learning to play the harmonica: the first song you learn is "Oh Susanna". It's a thing. It's a rite of passage. And rites are good. And an RWS deck has a lower learning curve: every card gives you a hint. (Which is good and bad.)2) Or I could say, "Knowing what I know now, if I could only have one deck, it would be the CBD Tarot de Marseilles deck." And I would say you're going to need a book. And if I could only have only have one book, it would be Dr. Ben Dove's... published as both /Tarot: The Open Reading/ and /The Marseille Tarot Revealed./Option 2 obviosly has a slightly steeper learning curve. But still. There is something magical about having one deck that will take you all the way. It's like the Marines say: "This is my rifle. There are many like it, but this one is mine."If I could only have one deck, it would be the CBD Tarot de Marseille. If I could only have one book, it would be Dr. Ben Dove's (either version).I have /The Open Reading/ on Kindle, but I wanted a "desk book." For that, I guess the most important thing is, "Does it lie flat?" I should have asked that before I bought a hard copy. Maybe /The Open Reading/ is better in this respect. I don't know. But after a little work, this one is lying open fairly well, and I think will get better. (I am systematically bending it gently.)Quality construction, pretty presentation.Everyone has a different approach to Tarot, and there's plenty of validity to throw around... But again, if I could only have one book about Tarot, it would be this one.(I only got the physical book today, but I have spent a lot of time with its contents, on my Kindle. And it only takes a day to get an idea about the physical phactors of a book.)EDIT: The glossy color version of Dr. Ben Dove’s book does lie open nicely (with a bit of work), and I’ve found a new good thing I like about. Studying the cards is important. It’s actually easier to study the cards with the book than with the deck. The pictures are bigger, brighter, clearer; you can flip to the page you need; and the pictures in the book are exactly the same as on the cards.