Tarot for Your Self, by Mary K. Greer, is one of the first books about tarot that I picked up. It’s out in a 25th anniversary edition and I highly recommend it in any edition. Its suggestions can be interpreted equally well from a more spiritual/mystical/intuitive lens or a more psychological lens, and the book has practical tools to help you use the cards for yourself and for others.

I looked back through my old workbook today and realized that photocopied pages from this book form the majority of my notes in my mini-book-of-shadows ( a 3 by 5 size cobbled-together book of notes that I carry around with me). That’s because the pages are so clear and so concise and yet detailed. In addition to card meanings and correspondences, there are meditative exercises to help one form a personal connection to tarot, and practical exercises to help one with tough decisions or issues. If you are interested in things like astrology and crystals, the book has guidance for you, but a more skeptical practitioner might want to focus on exercises like meditations and suggested art exercises.

It’s fascinating to return to this and redo some of the exercises I did fifteen years ago. I’m still the hermit. Not a surprise. That first time around, I didn’t fill out the data for my Hidden Factor/Shadow/Teacher card, and now I’m ready to do so. Time to return to the exercises I didn’t get to before!