Tarot cards have intrigued me every since I've seen a deck. They're so pretty and mysterious and so different, yet so closely related in look to our familiar playing cards, and so many of the decks are rich in symbolism. I started collecting decks, and even reading them for friends for fun, even though I'm a thorough-going rationalist and don't believe they can be tools of divination. This was my first tarot book and the one that taught me to do readings (which I did during lunch in my Catholic School until one of the nuns told me not to do that again since tarot cards are "tools of Satan.")
So I collected Tarot books and not just decks, and if I could only keep one, it would be Butler's Dictionary of the Tarot. First, it presents a pretty solid history of the cards--none of that Ancient Egypt or Gypsies nonsense. For each entry on the Major and Minor Arcana, it describes several of the leading designs (Marseille, Swiss, Italian, Bembo, Wirth, Waite, Aquarian, Crowley, New) and around a dozen of leading interpretations (Case, Christian, Crowley, Douglas, Golden Dawn, Gray, Grimauld, Huson, Kahn, Kaplan, Knight, Lind, Mathers, Papus, Thierens, Waite) as well as a suggested interpretation by Butler. There are six spreads presented, not just the usual Celtic Cross, but 21 Card Gypsy Spread, Magregor Mathers Third Method, Planetary Method, Crowley Method and the Churchyard Spread. That all makes this a very comprehensive guide.
