Tarot And Magic Donald Kraig, Three and a half stars for this too-light book Options

Donald Kraig brought us Modern Magick, a best seller -- unusual in occult books. Where Modern Magick grew to hundreds of pages, Tarot & Magic starts with a strong theme -- and a passion of mine -- and then whittles it down to a mere 160 or so pages. Now, I agree with nearly everything he wrote, but it's just thin, thin, thin. The theory is fine, the practical examples are barely developed.

Never-the-less, there are few enough books that reveal the Tarot as the most powerful tool in a magickian's arsenal, and Kraig deserves cudos for that. Tyson did it as well in Portable Magic (separate review), on a different theme (cards as microcosmic temple, you might say), while Kraig simply uses the cards as a ritual tool (and meditative tool, etc). Of course if you're not so much into western tradition (I go both ways -- magickally speaking) then this book won't be too interesting. Still, it's a nice, light introduction to an area of magick that will grow in importance in our busy and crowded worlds. I practice entirely empty handed or with only Tarot most of the time, and it's very powerful. I just would like to see a "meatier " treatment of this important topic. To Kraig's credit, he's an excellent "teacher."

Hey Redhand,

I like the SuperTarot site (Paul Hughes-Barlow, the author of Tarot and the Magus http://www.supertarot.co.uk/), but never was able to get a copy of his book used. I've heard it was very good. I guess I'll have to try Alibris (used books).