Sasha Graham

This is the concluding volume to Lo Scarabeo's Tarot Encyclopedia. It's intended for immediate and advanced students, especially the latter. Most of what's included can be used to add depth to a reading or give you something to study and contemplate, but isn't necessary for doing a good reading.

The book starts with a section on "esoteric disciplines" that stand on their own but can be used with tarot: Kabbalah, alchemy, astrology, and numerology. Of these, the one I know best is astrology. I'd say nothing in the astrology section was incorrect, but there was an emphasis on a pretty presentation (full-page illustrations from Lo Scarabeo's Astrological Oracle, for instance), details were included that a tarot reader new to astrology probably doesn't need (like the metals associated with each zodiac sign), and it seemed like it could be confusing to someone who wasn't familiar with astrology.

Every volume of the Tarot Encyclopedia includes a guide to the individual cards. In this volume, the focus is on each card's esoteric associations, and there's not much space devoted to the basic meanings—just enough to remind you what the theme of the card is. The following section goes into some detail on two ways to look at the structure of a tarot deck: Wirth's analysis of the Major Arcana and a modern-day correlation of the Court Cards to the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator. I thought Wirth's system was intriguing and plan to look into it further, but the section on the MBTI failed to convince me this was going to work.

Next was a section on assorted ways to use the tarot beyond basic readings: shadow work, free association, elemental dignities, and tarot magic. If you are interested in becoming a professional tarot reader, this volume has a section on the business end of things. And, like the earlier volumes in the series, there's another collection of tarot spreads. (Yay: more spreads!) Because this project did well on Kickstarter, there are some bonus sections that came from that. I enjoyed Kim Huggins' chapter on tarot outside the box, even though I'm likely to stay in the box most of the time myself. I'm not inclined to become a tarot teacher, but Theresa Reed's chapter on that was interesting. Unfortunately, I could not summon up much interest in Nei Naiff's chapter on sacred geometry.

Some of my opinions on this book carry over from its predecessors. An index would've been nice (although there is a glossary). I'm sure all the decks pictured are from Lo Scarabeo, but many of them aren't identified, which might be frustrating if you want to get one of them. 656 pages of glossy paper makes for a book that's not easy to haul around with you. It's a lovely book overall, though, as Lo Scarabeo didn't skimp on the production values (and a ribbon bookmark is always a good thing). Read this book if you'd like a sampling of many different ways to use and look at the tarot, but you'll probably need other sources if you want to learn any of these techniques in depth.… (mais)