As a follow-up to a previous post, What else can you do with a deck of Tarot cards?, here are a few of the books that deal with various uses for Tarot cards. None of these require prior knowledge of Tarot. You also do not have to believe that the cards have some supernatural power; the symbols will speak for themselves (and if they don't -- the authors include card meanings that you can use as a starting point).
You will need a deck of cards, however, preferably one that has scenes on every card (some decks only have picture scenes on the 22 Major Arcana cards and on the 16 court cards of the Minor Arcana. The 40 remaining cards resemble ordinary playing cards that simply repeat the symbol for the particular suit of the card (for example, 3 heart symbols for the 3 of hearts). The Rider Waite Tarot deck is often recommended for beginners, as most beginner books (and many "advanced" books) use this deck, or one of its "clones". One of my favourite decks is the Universal-Waite deck, which is a re-colouring of the original Rider-Waite deck.
First up: Mark McElroy has written some excellent and very readable books on using Tarot cards for (almost) anything but fortune-telling. Putting the Tarot to work: Creative problem solving, effective decision making & personal career planning deals with the world of work, but the techniques can be used anywhere. Taking the Tarot to heart: Fun & creative ways to improve your love life shows you how to use Tarot cards to find love, improve your relationship, and even cope with break-ups. You also get to draw up your personal romantic profile.
What's in the cards for you? Test the Tarot is the third in this series and my personal favourite. Mark takes you through 30 days and 30 techniques ranging from making your own meaning for a card, to using the cards for self-improvement, interpret your dreams, solve problems, make decisions, set goals, and write a story. You can also have fun exploring past lives and making predictions with the cards. You rate every activity on how effective it was and how likely it is that you will be using it again, and at the end of the 30 days there is a chart you can use to find out which type(s) of technique worked best for you. Each activity falls into one or more of these categories: psychological, educational, magickal, creative, planning or predictive.
Nina Lee Braden's Tarot for self discovery (Special Topics in Tarot) has around 50 exercises with Tarot cards ranging from easier (Happy Feet, My Tarot Neighborhood, Synchronicity) to the more in-depth (Life Purpose, I Gotta Be Me, Grief, A Spirituality of My Own, Lost in the Wasteland). There are also exercises for special occasions and situations - holidays, weddings, relationships, healing, help for the bone/soul weary, and one on procrastination.
In Tarot shadow work: Using the dark symbols to heal, Christine Jette teaches you how to use the 22 Major Arcana cards of Tarot to bring your shadow to light--your inner conflicts, unacknowledged emotions, secret wishes, and creative urges that can have such a destructive effect on your life if they remain unacknowledged.
In Tarot journaling: Using the Celtic Cross to unveil your hidden story, Corrine Kenner demonstrates how to use the cards for journalling, starting with the basics (choosing a journal) to various ways of using the cards in your journal and techniques "for getting out of your own way" to transform negative energy into a positive brainstorming tool.