This was the first book that I bought, or read, to help me interpret the tarot. As the years have passed I have come to realise that it is also the best. There are too many mundane, cookie cutter, tarot references out there. This book truly explains the deep meanings behind the hermetic symbolism of the Waite-Rider deck. With the systems and symbolism section it becomes a comprehensive text on metaphysical thought- a true book of Thoth, or Hermes. My only complaint is that there is no deluxe copy with leather binding and vellum pages. I would gladly pay extra for it, for this is the kind of book you will refer to again and again over a lifetime. Of course, if the tarot is no more than a new-age parlor game to you, you might want to look elsewhere. If you are prepared to meditate on the meaning of deeper things, then you have found your guide.

This book is one of the best introductory books to tarot reading (another excellent book is Joan Bunning's Learning the Tarot).

The book contains a short section about the history of the tarot (mediocre - for a good intro check 'Tarot - History, Mystery, and Lore), an excellent chapter about the Major arcana, a good chapter about the minor arcana, a very good section on reading the cards with three spreads (the classical Celtic Cross, a cabalistic Tree of Life spread, and an astrological zodiacal spread), three goof sections about the connection of tarot to Numerology, Astrology, and Cabala, a section about the Fool's journey, and a short glossary of symbolic terms.

I warmly recommend this book to anyone who starts studying the tarot with the Rider-Waite-Smith deck, as the book gives all the basics and puts the reader on the right track to continue from there.

I like this book. Its well worth the cheap price. It starts out with an introduction. Then, there are two pages for every card in the deck. On page that describes the card and its meaning, an a picture of the card on the opposite page. That is for the bigs ones. Then it has a page for every other card. There is stuff of how to read. There is stuff on horoscope signs and numerology. There is a glossary of symbolic terms. The tarot defined, History of the tarot, The major & minor Arcanas How to read the cards, The tarot and meditation Systems of occult though that illuminate the tarot: the tarot and numerology, the tarot and the kabalah, the tarot and astrology Its about 250 pages, semi-small print. I use this book all the time. And it is light so you can bring it with you places.

This handy little book covers just about everything you need to know about marbling on fabric, including help with problems. Contains lots of color pictures and excellent diagrams of techniques. Instructions on several crafts projects are included, as well as a bibliography and a list of sources and suppliers.

This book has a very short description of each card's divinitory meaning and an even shorter description of the card reversed. This brevity is appealing to a person who wants to begin reading cards immediately, however it has the drawback of giving limited interpretations which can lead to inaccuracy in some circumstances. It also makes memorizing the meanings very difficult, since it does not tie the meaning in with the pictoral representation of the card. In its favor, at least it does mention the reversed cards, which not all references do. It also has a short glossery of the symbolism used in cards. All in all, though, for any beginner who really wants to learn the tarot, I'd say Joan Bunning's book is 10 times better than this.

I've bought this book having heard good recommendations on Eden Gray's books and having read the cards (using the Rider deck) for over a year.

Each minor arcana cards is explained in two pages-one with the card's picture, and another containing mainly white space, half a dozen lines that describe the card and shed a *bit* of light on it's meaning, and six lines to explain it's meaning upright & reversed usually with a few keywords.

This will pass for someone who just wants to start quickly, but is shallow. The extensive fillers (why give a whole page for each card's picture ? the reader is supposed to have the deck at hand and a verbal explanation is included. They could at least put the picture and text on the same page, as in 'Mastering the Tarot').

In contrast, the major arcana are well explained, and the glossary of terms is a small gem. I think those two sections do an excellent job of getting a newcomer on track quickly.

The two spreads explained - each with an example - are as good as the major arcana section, though I think that the Tree of Life spread could be replaced with a spread more appropriate for newcomers.

All in all I think this book is good for people with no knowledge of the tarot who want to *start* reading with a deck quickly and painlessly.

But I think that for anyone who wants to go beyond the very basics should start with a better book, e.g. Joan Bunning's Learning the Tarot, rather than this book.

I've only been studying the tarot for a few months, but Eden Gray's book gave me a remarkable amount of insight in a very short time. When I went to a local metaphysical bookstore a few months ago to purchase my tarot deck, I asked the owner of the store which tarot book she recommended. She bypassed all the elaborate-looking and more expensive books she had for sale, and calmly handed Eden Gray's book to me. (I double checked after she walked away -- she had picked out the least expensive book) I think the bookstore owner's endorsement says it all. I have since read three other books, but for my readings I keep coming back to the interpretations I learned in Eden Gray's book (plus, of course, my own intuition).

I'm new to tarot and have the Universal Waite deck and bought this book to help me learn about using them. I found it not as helpful as I had hoped. I have since purchased "Learning the Tarot" by Joan Bunning and this is a whole lot better, for me. It gives much more indepth explainations for each card. In this book, Mastering the tarot, it's not a bad book by any means but it's a small paperback and therefore doesn't leave much room for explainations. It's a good book for beginner's but I prefer one that has more to offer.

I've read half a dozen tarot beginner's book or so in the past two years or so, and this is definitely the best I've seen.

The material is broken into 18 lessons, of which 7 cover the card meanings themselves (three for the minor arcana, one for the court cards, and three for the major arcana), and 6 cover spreading & reading the cards with examples.

The text is concise, and for each card there's a section explaining it's symbolism and meanings when straight and reversed. The explanations are solid - Eden Gray knows the material well, and draws on Waite's Pictorial Key to the Tarot and the Golden Dawn's Book T (an improvement over many authors who just babble whatever comes to their minds).

The book covers basic numerology and astrology, which gives a larger view and explains the explanations.

I highly recommend this book as a first study guide to anyone who learns to read with the Rider-Waite deck.

This book was recommended to me years ago. It is absolutely the best book for self-teaching Tarot and I have used it in all the classes I've taught. Gray does not just present card meanings, but the basis for the Tarot's symbolism. The book is set up in small, logical lessons. Starter reading patterns and sample readings are also included. Finally, it's also a great reference. For use with any standard Rider-Waite deck.