The Tarot Companion: An Essential Reference Guide (Paperback)

Tracy Porter's Tarot Companion is a concise comparison of the Tarot to a wide variety of spiritual and divinatory systems. If you are new to the Tarot this book will answer many of the questions you had about the cards. But whether you are just beginning to take an interest in the Tarot or have studied its mysteries for years, you are going to refer to this book often! It begins with traditional meanings of each of the seventy-eight cards of the Tarot. Being able to quickly refer to this will be a boon to any Tarot reader. Next the book describes the meanings of the people in the Tarot. Here you will learn about both the court cards in the suits and the characters of the Major Arcana. Porter then discusses a frequently ignored but highly important aspect of giving a Tarot reading: combinations. What does it mean if only one card from a suit shows up in a reading? How about five cards from the same suit? What about several threes or queens or cards from the Major Arcana? The meanings are fully explained here. One of the most difficult problems with the Tarot is determining times: when something will happen. "If card numbers two, three, seven, or nine appear immediately before or after a card from the Major Arcana, a conjunction occurs," Porter writes. These conjunctions indicate when something will happen. If the card is a Two of Wands, it will be two days. If it is the Thee of Cups, the time frame is three weeks. You'll learn all of the timing techniques in these pages. Many Tarot readers begin with the traditional meanings and then modify them based on the symbols of the cards. But what do those symbols mean? You'll find the answer in the symbolism dictionary that clearly identifies almost 100 of the most important symbols. A banner represents freedom from the material realms. The devil represents materialistic urges. A scroll represents divine law and the hidden mysteries. Not only will you learn the meaning of the symbols, but you will also see on which cards they appear. The book goes on to show how ideas from other spiritual systems and divinatory techniques can improve your knowledge and understanding of the Tarot as well as enhance your reading abilities. This includes: numerology; the elements (as used in astrology) and how they can enhance your understanding of the Tarot; astrology and the Tarot; I Ching; runes; colors; cabala; and chakras. The amount of practical, usable information in this book in enormous. In fact, this may be the only book you need in order to learn to read Tarot cards. With the information above, plus information on the way you spread the cards to read them, you have an entire Tarot system. That's why this book also explains how to work with spreads and includes over twenty of them that you can use. If you want to work with the Tarot, this book is a must.