Genre: nonfiction
Subgenre: Tarot, divination, cartomancy, reference
Format: trade paperback
Source: I own this. Bought copy second hand at Half Price Books.
If you need a basic, simple, and straightforward textbook to check up Tarot meanings and/or expand
your meanings knowledge, this is a good book. If you want a book to start learning, this one is OK, but there are better learning books out there.
The book is organized as follows:
- Preface.
- Six chapters. First three chapters provide an overview of Tarot, how to spread and interpret cards, and "putting it all together." The remaining three chapters are the card meanings.
- Two appendices. Appendix A is "Astrology and the Tarot." This features tables of astrological associations. Appendix B is "Numerology and Tarot." This has some basics including how to calculate your personal year number and significance for master numbers.
- Each card entry includes: card name, keywords, upright meaning, keywords and phrases, situation and advice, people, and reversed elements.
- Card illustrations are black and white images from the Robin Wood Tarot deck.
I like the book, but overall this is pretty dry reading. The author takes "plain and simple" quite literally. On the positive, it does provide "basic, easily understandable definitions of the cards" (vii). In addition, the card definitions do "serve as a rapid and reliable guide to Tarot interpretation, both for novices and for those with prior experience" (vii). If you need a book to find reliable, basic definitions for the cards, this is a good volume for that. If you get a blank moment, this is a good book for quick pick up.
For other learning, there may be better options out there. Exercises in this book are very few. Louis provides some Celtic Cross reading examples, which I did not find terribly interesting or that useful (your mileage may vary); by the way, the Perot election run reading feels very dated by now.
Overall, this is a solid, basically reliable reference book on Tarot. Rather than reading it cover to cover (which I did for this review), this is a book to consult as needed. I like having it on my shelf to look up things here and there. If you are looking for a "how to" book to start your learning, you may prefer one with more exercises, writing prompts, so on. The bottom line is I liked it, but mostly as a reference book.
3 out of 5 stars.
Book qualifies for these 2020 Reading Challenges:
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