Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

So, the first thing I noticed about this book is that it is written by a *writer*. A real, honest to god person who *knows* how to write, and should absolutely be writing professionally. This is something that cannot be said about some other tarot books. With the self-publishing option out there, there are tarot books out there that span everything from 'We write a blog and we put all our blog posts together' (blog posts do not a book make) to one like this, clearly written and edited by professionals. It was a pleasure to read. Now, for the pros and cons. Pros: -- The first half of the book: This is where you will find the 'hows' and 'whys' of the tarot, with some positions that are not found in every ... other ... tarot book on the market. -- Her belief system: I love her position on what the tarot is. It aligns with my own beliefs. The tarot is there to *assist* others in helping themselves, it is not there to 'predict' the future. This is absolutely my favorite part of this book, one of the few books I can think of that clearly spells out this important concept. -- Topics: She does a nice job of giving a little bit of history, (just enough without going overboard), how to select and use a deck, preparing space and caring for your deck, how to state questions, tarot symbolism, a word about different modes of divination, spreads and the structure of the deck. She also gives sample readings, which may be helpful for some to see how she, at least, looks at the cards during a reading. Cons: -- I the first half she talks about she gives ALL options on things like how to store and cleanse your cards. All of her suggestions are absolutely what I have learned all my life, but I do wish she would have made it clear, and this is my personal opinion, that not everyone has to do all of these things the same way. Some people feel the need to cleanse their cards regularly and store them in silk, others not so much. It's important to know the concepts, but it's also important not to get dragged down in the dogma. I also wish she would have spent just a little more time on symbolism. It also stresses reversed meanings and again, it would be nice if she made it clear that some people don't read reversed, it's a personal decision. -- The second half of the book: Now, don't get me wrong, this is written and laid out beautifully. The second half is what most tarot books have, a description of each card and it's meaning. This one actually does do a pretty good job in that it gives a little symbolism, and what they call 'mystic meanings' bringing in numerology and such, but it falls flat for me a little bit in that it doesn't feel as fleshed out as it could be on some of the more important topics. There is one section called 'Supporting and Opposing Cards'. I like it in theory, but placing as somewhat of a sidebar, without context, I feel might be a little confusing, especially for beginners. All readings are different, where the cards fall in a spread make a huge difference in the meaning. So while all the information is legitimate, it feels like it's a little lacking in depth, and fit for format as much as content. -- Another section is "Posing a Question." Again, in theory, I like it. It's not something that is done in a lot of tarot books, but again, it just feels like it needs to be a little more fleshed out, or better yet, described more with the symbolism and *how* to read the card, rather than just a meaning explanation. This may indeed help some people, it's just my personal opinion to teach *how* to read the cards, rather than have people memorize meanings. Bottom Line: I liked this book. I liked this book particularly with regard to some things in the first half that are not seen in many tarot books. It's describing tarot from a different perspective than is often found. I think for beginners, the second half will be as useful as other tarot books that gives descriptions of the cards to memorize, and this one does do it in a way, again, that you don't see in every other tarot book, but the first half is what I think is the most valuable about the book in it's content and understanding of the tarot. (About me: I have been reading the tarot for over 40 years, I teach tarot classes, as well as I am a psychic/medium, shaman, and animal communicator. Tarot was my first love and has helped me in all other fields with regard to understanding symbolism and how to interpret and apply those interpretations to your life.)