Product Description

Secret Language of Tarot sets itself apart from other tarot books by teaching readers how to translate the pictorial symbolism from one deck to another, strengthening the reader's ability to recognize specific icons in any deck and in the world around them.

The Secret Language of Tarot can be used as both a reference book and as a series of guided meditations on the individual symbols. Each of the seven chapters contain a set of symbols that share a common theme. Extensive research provides readers with the lore and mythological meanings of the symbols to help foster intuitive powers. The explanation of imagery is both insightful and eclectic.

When read from beginning to end, The Secret Language of Tarot reveals a hidden current of understanding and connection between the individual cards of the deck. Each chapter ends with an Integration Lesson and a special Symbol Spread to deepen the understanding of the cards.

The Secret Language of Tarot brings imagery and intuition into a course of study of the tarot. It is a must-have for any serious tarot reader that is written in accessible language for the novice as well.

“This book is about exploring these symbols found in the RWS tarot deck. Paths and mountains; moon and stars - these all have meanings which can apply to everyday situations...The authors also include meditations to better explore each tarot card, as well as a number of unique spreads that are quite innovative...This book is a lovely resource which I will be working with for some time to come.” -Diane Saarinen, New Age Journal

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #170964 in Books
• Published on: 2008-04-01
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 304 pages

Customer Reviews

I loved this book!
As a tarot professional and author myself, I have many book cases filled with tarot books and believe I own almost all of the books in print on the subject of tarot. I must admit I haven't read them all because some are either boring, hard to plow through or just plain uninteresting to me.
So it was to my great delight to delve into the Secret Language of Tarot and to enjoy every word of it!
After 30+ years of reading the cards, when I have access to new information, or a new way of looking at the cards, I am just thrilled. I have been recommending this book to everyone.
It is truly a wonderful read and contains many thought provoking ideas!

An absorbing analysis useful on more than one level
The symbols universal in Tarot decks are reviewed in "The Secret Language of Tarot", a book which acts as either a reference to these images or as a series of guided meditations on each Tarot symbol. Each chapter offers a set of symbols that share a common theme, with plenty of background information surveying myths, realities and research. New age libraries strong in Tarot studies will find "The Secret Language of Tarot" an absorbing analysis useful on more than one level.

Not quite as...compendious as I'd hoped.
I had pretty high hopes for this book--apparently too high. The Amberstones are the ones who want to separate you and roughly $800 of your cash to learn tarot, and I figured this book would be a taste of what I'd get should I decide to take their course. Apparently not too stupid a decision, since this book seems to be one of their courses merely in book format (chapters begin with some sort of 'welcome to our class on....' formula). While there is good stuff in here and I definitely like the across-the-deck approach of symbols, on the depth of information, I honestly wasn't blown away. Good stuff, yes, but not exactly mind blowing. And every chapter I ended up *filling* with marginal notes like "what about this?" "And this?" For example--they talk about the five-petaled rose as a symbol in class, erm, chapter one. While they're spot on in what they do have, they don't touch on some pretty obvious numerology--five in the Middle Ages represents *humankind*--the five senses, the four limbs & the head, five fingers, etc. It's also more closely tied to the Virgin Mary than they say--anyone saying the rosary knows of the *five* sorrows and joys of the Virgin. As for white versus red roses--any Englishman (such as Waite) would almost automatically have considered roses, red and white, with Lancaster and York. So while they're not *wrong*...they're just not as *right* as I wanted them to be. And for the columns, they completely skip over the notion of the Hebrew names possibly being further representation of gender polarity--Boaz "in him is strength" masculine, Jachin "God prepares"--hello? The Virgin Mary again? Medieval notions of the female as the fertile bed upon which the masculine seed is acted?

If I sound frustrated it's because I bought this book expecting *experts*, (on their website they boast of more than 80 years of tarot experience) not just a few neat titbits. The only way I can reconcile myself to this book is to say that I must in contrast be a Tarot Super Genius, which I most certainly am NOT!

I gave it a four because I do like the notion of analyzing SYMBOLS rather than cards, and because what they do have is good stuff--just not as much as I would have liked. It's a good book for an intermediate tarot reader, but advanced readers might not find enough (like me) to justify shelling out the money. It's definitely a 'look before you leap' book. I'd recommend either of Mary Greer's big Tarot books before, and possibly instead of, this one.

But god bless 'em for having one of the very *few* good titles to come out in Tarot in the last few years!