Understanding the Tarot Court Mary K. Greer and Tom Little a review by Errol McLendon, CTM, CTI

For students and teachers of Tarot, the Court cards have always offered a challenge. Books have been written approaching the Court cards from a variety of perspectives. With "Understanding the Tarot Court" we are provided with all of these perspectives, including some original innovative ones, all under one roof. This is a master class in the Court cards. A student taking this book and working through the exercises from page 1 to page 171 would gain a complete and comprehensive knowledge of the Court cards.

The beauty of this book is that it utilizes all types of approaches to getting to know the personalities of the Court cards, from readings to fun exercises to visualizations - a true "something for everyone" approach. The card interpretations at the end of the book include so many ways of looking at the cards, that this section alone is worth the price of the book just as a reference asset.

From the first paragraph, I knew the material was going to be presented in a measured and easy to understand format. Mary K. Greer and Tom Little have a real gift of putting themselves in the shoes of the person reading the book. Their explanations are clear and easy to understand. They immediately identify the four suits as four royal couples and start challenging the reader/student to begin distinguishing among them. Very early on we attend a visualized beach party with these sixteen people to determine who we like and who we dislike. Subsequent chapters take these sixteen individuals and examine them in the realms of society, relationships, internal influences and the cosmos and the big picture.

As a teacher, I have fallen into the trap of putting off the study of Court cards until later in the class. After reading this book, I realized that the Court cards have so much depth and dimension, that they demand attention from the beginning of a class. I honestly believe that one of the reasons Court cards are so daunting is that teachers and students do tend to leave them until last. As a result of this discovery, my new students now deal with the Court cards from the first class.

I particularly like the fact that in the section where individual card interpretations are offered, the authors have chosen illustrations from four very diverse decks - the Robin Wood, the Pythagorean, Marseilles and the World Spirit Tarot. This choice gives the student a great deal of variety of faces and body languages from which to draw. I applaud the choice not to use the Rider-Waite which, in my opinion, offers very little distinction among the faces of the royal families.

The appendices include an excellent Court card comparison chart, a
Myers-Briggs Court card comparison chart and a glossary followed by a very complete bibliography. There is also an illustrated appendix devoted entirely to the unique interpretations of the Golden Dawn.

Once again, in Understanding the Tarot Court (ISBN 0-7387-0286-2), Mary Greer and Tom Little have produced the ultimate Court card training material. Whether you are a novice reader getting to know these sixteen individuals for the first time, or a seasoned reader looking for deeper and clearer connections with the Courts, this book is a must.