Best books for RWS meanings

[Mercedes]

Who else uses  RWD? Also what books do you use to look up the meeting of the cards.

 

Does anyone use the  Irene Gad  and Jana Riley books

 

Thank you!

[DanielJUK]

Welcome to the community @Mercedes

if you would like to introduce yourself, you are welcome to start a thread in our introductions section here 🙂 

 

You started two of the same threads on this in this section, so I removed one of them. We tend to refer to RWS decks in this community as RWS and this is the right section for your discussion. I changed the subject of your thread to show what we are discussing here, the topic at hand 🙂 .

 

We have some threads about the best books for tarot (generally) in this section, pinned near the top -

https://www.thetarotforum.com/forums/forum/53-tarot-in-media/

 

Also this is a great thread with learning resources online, many are for RWS -

[Misterei]

19 hours ago, Mercedes said:

Who else uses  RWD? Also what books do you use to look up the meeting of the cards.

Do you mean RWS?

For that I go to Eden Gray's original 1960 Tarot Revealed. She's the Mother of Modern Tarot and everyone who came after pretty much built on her work.

It's dated ... take with a grain of salt ... but it's not trendy and has withstood the test of time.

Power Tarot is really good more modern book.

[Mercedes]

1 hour ago, Misterei said:

Do you mean RWS?

For that I go to Eden Gray's original 1960 Tarot Revealed. She's the Mother of Modern Tarot and everyone who came after pretty much built on her work.

It's dated ... take with a grain of salt ... but it's not trendy and has withstood the test of time.

Power Tarot is really good more modern book.

Ok! Yes and thank you! That will be next book.I took a class @Jungian they recommend them. Thanks again,  Mercedes 

[Oniichi336]

One of my favorite books for rws is Tarot for a New Generation. It has an overall meaning for each card and a meaning for different topics. Example, money, career, spirituality, love, health, etc. Along with little snippets for reversed meanings as well.

[Barleywine]

On 2/6/2024 at 5:56 PM, Misterei said:

Do you mean RWS?

For that I go to Eden Gray's original 1960 Tarot Revealed. She's the Mother of Modern Tarot and everyone who came after pretty much built on her work.

It's dated ... take with a grain of salt ... but it's not trendy and has withstood the test of time.

Power Tarot is really good more modern book.

I fully endorse this recommendation. It was my first-ever tarot book back in 1972, and I think of it as "PKT Lite" since it turned the guidance in A.E. Waite's "Pictorial Key to the Tarot" (the other divination bible) into more user-friendly, updated (for that time) content. I used it with the Thoth deck for a while until I got the proper companion book, and it worked well enough.

[Raggydoll]

When I started with the RWS, I found 78 degrees of Wisdom to be very helpful. I think Rachel learned a lot from Eden Grays book, so both of them would be good options. Though at some point, if you truly want to understand what Waite intended for his cards, you’ll want to look at the Pictorial Key to tarot. Its available for free online, so no need to buy a copy. 

[Barleywine]

20 hours ago, Raggydoll said:

When I started with the RWS, I found 78 degrees of Wisdom to be very helpful. I think Rachel learned a lot from Eden Grays book, so both of them would be good options. Though at some point, if you truly want to understand what Waite intended for his cards, you’ll want to look at the Pictorial Key to tarot. Its available for free online, so no need to buy a copy. 

Rachel certainly appreciated Eden Gray. There is a picture somewhere of Rachel, Mary Greer and Eden together at what looks like a tarot conference in the 1970s. I think 78 Degrees of Wisdom warrants a second reading; about the only thing I can recall from my first run-through many years ago is that it was the first place I saw the 7x3 layout that is used in the so-called "Romany spread." Same for the PKT; I had to read it twice to get any value out of it. Some things take time and effort to sink in.

[BrunellGrian]

Rachel Pollack’s 78 Degrees of Wisdom is easily my favorite book for RWS card meanings.

[Chariot]

My favourite book, which deals more with practical readings than history/etc, is Theresa Reed's Tarot: No Questions Asked.  She not only gives supremely practical insight into the meaning of each upright card, but does the same for reversals as well. Then she also offers an additional aspect to each card's use that is worth thinking about.  If I were to recommend only one book for beginners, this is it!  It's simple, written in accessible language; the insights into each card are deeply meaningful AND useful.

Edited August 19 by Chariot