- It's all about you.
- It's all about Tarot.
- Reversals, significators, and clarifiers.
- How to do a reading.
- The Minor Arcana.
- The Court Cards.
- The Major Arcana.
- Spreads and extras.
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| Six of Pentacles card |
Moore's book provides some theory combined with skill building activities throughout the text, especially in the first half of the book before getting to the card meanings. She gets readers to jump in and do a first reading right away in the first chapter. She also provides a good amount of questions and prompts to reflect on Tarot, how it works, and questions to ask in a reading. In this first chapter, Moore also emphasizes building up your foundational beliefs and card reading ethics. Sure, do learn from others but start with your own work first. As she writes,
"It is always helpful to learn how other people do things, but unless you start from a foundation of understanding your own beliefs, you can get swept away on sheer quantity of opinions and practices" (19).
First four chapters provide foundational elements and practical exercises to get learners started. The rest of the book has the usual card meanings deck companion books offer. Though the book's subtitle is "learn to read with any deck," the book is keyed to the Llewellyn Classic Tarot deck. Having said that, if you use an RWS deck or a similar clone, this book will work for you.
The book features black and white illustrations from the Llewellyn Classic Tarot for each card meaning.
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| Three of Cups card |
Meanings for Minor Arcana cards are fairly minimal, one paragraph at most; meanings here are not too deep, just enough to get you started. You get a bit more substance with the Major Arcana cards. Meanings here include the illustration, keywords, and about a page of content per card. Text includes a bit of card description along with the interpretation.
The last book chapter features two spreads to try out and some extra content on difficult cards, recording your readings, and practicing your reading skills.
Overall, this is a pretty good book for beginners, especially folks who are new to Tarot. For advanced readers, the book may be too basic. For an intermediate reader like me, the exercises and reflective prompts are the best part, and they offer some new things to try out. It is a nice, basic, lightweight book. It does work nicely as a companion to the deck.
The cards' art by Eugene Smith has a nice comic book style. Cards are bright and colorful. In addition, cards are borderless with a simple blue banner with the card's name. Card images are basic RWS imagery, but images here are more colorful and bright. This deck is a reliable deck for readings. Art here is straightforward. It works for intuitive readers. It certainly works for readers used to the RWS system. It's an easy to read deck that can work for personal readings as well as readings for other people. This is a deck I would definitely use to read for others, especially for folks curious about Tarot or getting a first reading. Also, if you are like me, not a big fan of original RWS art, this deck can be a good alternative. Cards measure about 4 1/2 inches by 2 3/4 inches give or take. Kit includes deck and book, and it comes in a solid box with magnetic enclosure.
Overall, I really like this set. It is definitely a good set for beginners. I'd consider it optional for advanced readers. For me, it's a nice, basic, and reliable deck for casual and daily use. Book is pretty good for beginners as well.
4 out of 5 stars.
This kit qualifies for the following 2021 Reading Challenges:
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