Tarot Beyond the Basics by Anthony Louis   We humans have been known, at times, to take ourselves just a little seriously. We can take our tarot seriously, too. Which we should, of course. But tarot is about balance and there are times when tarot gives us something we don't expect. Please enjoy this excerpt from Louis' Tarot Beyond the Basics. Tarot Sarcasm Not only can tarot cards potentially represent the opposite of their accepted meanings, but at times the tarot even seems to employ sarcasm. For example, one day my wife phoned to say that a restaurant near her office was offering for take-out one of my favorite dishes, stuffed peppers. Because this establishment

Anthony Louis’ Tarot Beyond the Basics is filled with really fascinating ideas, techniques, and practices. His application of drive theory to the four suits was particularly intriguing. Here’s what he says: Psychologists love to invent theories about what motivates people. For Empedocles, the two basic drives existence are Love and Strife, which in astrology are embodied by the planets Venus and Mars respectively. Freud expressed a similar idea when he reduced human motivation to the two basic urges: libido (sex) and thanatos (the death instinct). Jung became fascinated with the four humors, based on the four elements, and came up with four fundamental personality types. Each

One of the many things I love about Anthony Louis’ Beyond the Basics is his overview of the historic evolution of so many of the facets of tarot. This really helps modern card interpretations make more sense. For example, in his chapter Number Symbolism and the Tarot, his explanation of how the Golden Dawn numerology is based on the Sephirot made more than any I’d ever read. Usually books just give the Sephirot meanings without making it clear how these associations developed to a numerological symbolic system. Tony provides the list that we are probably all familiar with: 1. Kether: Supreme crown 2. Chokhmah: Wisdom Etc. But then he explains that the Golden Dawn