MYTHIC TAROT

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Summary: The Mythic Tarot Workbook
Review: I found this book provides us with a interesting, fun and simple way to learn Tarot. It teaches you to apply your own thoughts, feelings and intuition when interpreting cards as oppose to memorising the 'typical' card meanings from a book! Its great!

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Summary: She understands the connections between things
Review: I picked this one up along with the deck randomly at a yard sale, and tried learning the Tarot with it. It was actually a great deck to learn with. I've since read other books explaining the meaning of the Tarot. I think this author has a deep understanding both of human psychology and of Greek mythology, not to mention the Tarot itself. She seems to have been through these various life situations and seems to speak out of them from personal experience -- how true Strength is immunity from the 'Thou shalt', how true love is made manifest only after one has experienced betrayal, etc.. She doesn't simply say, "The ten of Wands means oppression and this and that." She explains HOW the process of pursuing the high adventure results in the final card being oppression. She explains WHAT is common to the 10's in all the suits, etc.. She also does quite a good job of explaining the difference between similar cards that are easy to confuse. The High Priestess and the Moon are both sort of feminine and otherworldy in nature. What's the essential difference? One has the sense she has thought it through and solidified it in her mind. And now when I go out and read other versions, I have a good basis from which to understand what I read.

This book is not really about how to read various spreads, though she does offer a couple examples. I understand she has written a workbook for that purpose.

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Summary: If you're serious about tarot, it's a must have!
Review: I'd like to address some of the primary complaints I've heard about this deck before I get to why I use this deck all of the time.

Personally, the only issues I've had with anything breaking for falling apart was with the front cover of the book - that was my fault; in a fit of rage I'd cut the cover of the book off. I found that it was a very sturdy material myself.

Possibly, it's because I handle the cards more gently than the other people do. I've had them for years, and they're still in great shape.

As for anyone feeling limited by the spread printed on the cloth, if it's that big of an issue, don't use it. Or, even better, do what I do - flip the cloth over. It's one sided print.

The interpretations are sometimes very vague in this book, which would not make it the ideal deck for a beginner. However, I felt the reason the book was lacking in interpretation detail as opposed to the backstory, symbolism, and descriptions was because these things, along with your inutition, is what should be used to find the meaning of the card, rather then relying on the book as a crutch.

That's possibly one of my favourite things about this deck. It pushes you from being a beginner to something more advanced, by using your own inuition to truly read these cards.

The beautiful images open up a story, revealing what the card means, if you pay attention to the symbolism found in the book. The book itself is not one of those paper booklets inserted into a normal deck, it is a full fledged book in its own right. Definitely not something that one may easily lose, as opposed to other products.

I wouldn't call this deck "dark". Some cards (ie: Three of Swords) just don't mean "happy" things, and that's simply the way it is. Ultimately though, even what one may perceive as dark can begin a period of something better.

If you're serious about tarot, I'd suggest this deck for you. If you're more into parlor games, perhaps you'd be more interested in another product.

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Summary: A Must For The Greek Myth Lover.
Review: The Mythic Tarot was the second deck I purchased(I now have four).I was pleasantly suprised when reading the text that comes with the set that it also helps to instruct you in Greek Mythology, along with tarot basics. The author of this set really hit on a great tarot learning tool-pair these ancient divining cards with the gods and heros of myth. After continued use of the cards and consulting the book for meaning, I really can find no fault with this set other than the card illustrations maybe could have been rendered a little more realisticaly(the figures are in outline form, giving them a slight comic book look). But overlooking this the set is excellent, both for beginers and advanced readers. They have the uncanny ability to hit home with each reading-I use this deck the most even though some of the other decks I have are more elegant/artistic. If one has an open mind to the tarot, this deck is the one to start with.

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Summary: Better if you have the deck
Review: The Mythic Tarot Workbook, a companion workbook and study guide to the Mythic Tarot Cards and the Mythic Tarot book, is a great way to begin exploration of an unfamiliar deck. This book is a good reference for students of Tarot, especially those that use this deck.

This workbook is keyed to a specific deck of cards, the Mythic Tarot deck. Unfortunately, the Mythic Tarot deck itself seems to be out of print, but students still able to find a copy of that deck will find this workbook a great aid to learning these cards and their meanings. The Mythic Tarot is keyed to the Greek Gods and uses fairly simple imagery, but with all the symbolism that Tarot students have come to expect from a modern deck.

The unusual way presented here to get to know the Major Arcana is a great tool for students that want to try their hand at creating their own decks, but unsure of how to start. The Major Arcana are illustrated in black and white line drawings, and the workbook encourages you to color them in any manner you see fit. This is a great way to give your own interpretations to the cards, and a good way to study the cards for self realization. The workbook also gives you space to write your own observations about the cards. Immediately after the section on Major Arcana is an exercise which gives students a chance to get to know their key cards for themselves. Although only two pages, the chance to review what you have learned and utilize it is a nice touch.

When studying the Minor Arcana, it can be harder to find something to link to which allows for deeper study. The Mythic Tarot presents a link between Astrology and the Court Cards that is an interesting one, and the detailed notes you will take while reading this workbook and interpreting these cards will give you your own insight into what these cards mean to you. This is important later on, when you decide to start giving readings. There is also a chance to review with an exercise to allow you to get to know the Court cards better.

The discovery sections for the other Minor Arcana are just as interesting. Only a small illustration of each card is given (the one reason you may want to try to find a deck of Mythic Tarot cards in order to use this book). The space for the notes which ask you to "recall an experience of your own which fits this card's essence" and to "find your own key word or phrase for this card" give students of Tarot a unique way to experience the cards for yourself. This section concludes with a short exercise designed to allow you to use what you have learned about the Minor Arcana without the accompanying Court cards.

Finally, there's the usual section for using the cards in readings. It starts with a short summary of three layouts - a twenty-one card spread, a fifteen card spread, and a "Gypsy" spread. There's also longer sections on a "Horoscope" spread, a "Horseshoe" spread, and a "Triangle" spread. No Celtic Cross spread to be found anywhere. I found this to be a refreshing change. Each of the larger sections includes a sample reading.

The only thing that kept this workbook form getting a perfect five stars from me was the fact that it was keyed to a specific deck of cards. Without the Mythic Tarot deck in your hands, this workbook is of less value, but still useful.

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Summary: A Must For The Greek Myth Lover.
Review: This is an okay book for beginners. It had very detailed descriptions of the cards' meanings but it only shows one type of spread.

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Summary: It connects to your heart, brain, intuition and subconscious
Review: This is really a good book for deeper understanding to Tarot. The book describe the cards not only on the divination level. Each card is accompanied with a Greek story. The Major Arcana assembles the story of human life cycle. The 4 suits of Minor Acrana tell the stories of Wand (fire), Pentacle (earth), Sword (air) and Cup (water), and the characteristic of the 12 zodiac signs. Each card augurs the situation at the moment. The stories help me a lot understanding and remember the deeper meaning behind the cards.

The most interesting is that the author did not read the card in reversal. He said that each card has its positive and negative face, it depends how you interpret your own situation. If you could understand the deeper meaning of the card, you would appreciate the author. For example, most people would think the "Dead" a bad card. But if you do not let go the old thing, you are not opened to accept new things. Also, the "Tower". You may had some painful experience that hurt your heart. Gradually you will build a "Emotional Wall" (tower) around your heart and protect you from pain. But actually the old pain is trapped inside the wall and still torturing you. Break down the tower will release the pain and is much more painful. But if you could face the pain, it will get cured.

The wisdom in Tarot is very useful for personal developement, even you do not use it for divination. And this book help me a lot.

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Summary: Very easy to use, but didn't appeal to me personally
Review: This missed out on 4 stars only because I wasn't too fond of the artistic style. The art is very nice, I just prefer something a little more dramatic, fickle as I am. The card would be useable by a complete beginner, but I can imagine a more advanced reader would gain a lot from these cards, particularly if they had an interest in Greek mythology. The accompanying book is wonderful, and doubles as a collection of tales and legends from Ancient Greece. If you're new to tarot, and like simple, pastel art, this would be ideal.

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Summary: One of my most sacred objects
Review: This was my second deck, and at the time, I'd been struggling for a number of years with Cat People, a very beautiful deck with no stories of its own. Mythic took my very basic knowledge of Greek mythology and taught me that it is not necessary to study keywords in the instruction booklet of a card deck to understand what is happening. Many decks later, I can now better interpret cards based on their location and individual imagery, but the Mythic deck is the one that completely demystified the process for me; I learned that each suit (and the Major Arcana) has a progression and a story to tell, even though it does not need to be read literally in line with the myth that the imagery is based on. I highly recommend this deck to anyone with an interest in Greek mythology.

The cons: the cards are very thin, large enough to make shuffling difficult, and the glue binding of the book stinks. Gotta love the cloth that it comes with, though. Why haven't more decks thought of that?

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Summary: any layperson could comprehend the methods
Review: Though this workbook is designed to go hand in hand with the Mythic tarot deck, I find this book to be wonderful for my students in tarot. Each card is assigned it's own page and assignments on learning it.

Learning the meanings of each card and commiting them to memory is not a simple process and the manner in which Juliet walks readers through, makes it so easy.

There are guided lessons and meditations for each card to help you learn how to picture the meaning of the card. For instance, The Fool card lesson asks the reader to picture themselves inside of a cave, emerging into the sun light and onto a path. There the reader is asked to imagine they have met the Fool and held a conversation with the fool. You are encouraged to write in the book and record your thoughts and conversation which this card. When you break a lesson on each card down into this fashion like Juliet does, it certainly makes it easier to recall the cards' meaning later in a deal.

She also offers a step by step guide through a few of the basic spreads and I really feel makes it simple enough that any layperson could comprehend the methods.