Book Review: Talking with the Tarot

Samantha Rose Hicks, Talking with the Tarot:  conversations with your 78 new best friends. Woodbury, MN: Llewellyn, 2025. ISBN:  9780738778433. 

Genre: Tarot

Subgenre: dialogue, learning

Format: e-book galley

Source: Edelweiss Plus  

 

In my cartomancy and magical path I have read quite a few books including Tarot books. I know there are still many more books to read and study, but that is a thought for another time. One detail I have observed over time is that Tarot books often present a method or technique. It seems that for many Tarot books the authors offer a way, their way. Whether this method is fearless, through magic, with rituals, or pathworking, authors often have a method or way. The ones I have read so far are good books overall, but I can also see these techniques as their way to distinguish themselves from another book of card meanings. Sure, many of these books do offer card meanings, so as I read I look for a different perspective, technique, spin on the cards. With that context I have read Talking with the Tarot. 

The approach for this book is to have a conversation with your cards, a very casual conversation. The idea is to know your deck in a casual, informal, and friendly way. 

The book features a foreword by Elliot Adam. After the preface and introduction, the book offers 11 chapters. 

• Chapter 1 goes over Tarot structure. 
• Chapter 2 looks at the Major Arcana. 
• Chapters 3 to 6 look at the Minor Arcana by suits.
• Rest of the chapters expand on technique, spreads, and even a bit about professional practice. 
• Book ends with a conclusion and a small bibliography.

The strength of the book is in the conversational style and method presented. Esoteric elements are kept to a minimum, which makes the work very accessible. The text is also easy to read. I read it cover to cover so I could write this review, but this is a book to read a bit at a time. 

Each card entry features an opening interpretation, talking to the card in conversation, creating a personal connection, and reversal prompt questions. Within these subheadings, the author shows how to have a dialogue with the cards. The author tells us what each card offers, what advice they bring, and what life experiences they represent. The Major Arcana entries have a bit more substance but otherwise the content for all cards is about the same. 

Note that the author offers a statement on reversals and how to read them, if you so choose, early in the book. In entries,  you get some prompt questions to explore reversals, but otherwise there is no pressure to read reversals. 

This is definitely a very beginner-friendly book. It is easy to read, very straightforward. It is not complicated, and as you read it feels very conversational, like people just hanging out in the porch. Still, it does offer substance, symbols, etc., but it does so without pretensions nor formality. Though the book is geared to the traditional Rider Waite Smith (RWS) system, as long as you have a deck that falls within RWS you can make it work.

Overall, I enjoyed reading the book, and I am glad I did. It is a nice alternative to more popular but very formal Tarot books out there. Even mid-journey cartomancers like me can get value from the book and learn some new things. I highly recommend the book for libraries that collect pagan and esoterica materials. It is a very good text to recommend for beginners. 

5 out of 5 stars. 

 

Additional reading notes:  

Elliot Adams describing this book in the foreword: 

"This lovely little book can help you interact with the cards, not as a pile of definitions to memorize, but as a gathering of old friends just waiting to get reacquainted. Samantha's unique method surpasses the act of absently reciting another person's card interpretations. Instead, she encourages you to listen-- to truly listen-- to what each tarot archetype is recalling in your own life experience" (xiii). 

 

Describing the Tarot: 

"The tarot has become a universal language, using its archetypes and symbols to speak to us. It holds up a mirror to our experiences of loss, love, growth, and spiritual transcendence. It doesn't care where you were born or what language you speak. The tarot steps forward as a tool for universal connection. We see our reflections within the cards every time we call upon them for clarity, perspective, and direction" (5). 

 

Questions you can ask the cards to find deeper meanings: 

"What are the colors of the backgrounds?

What do you see going on in those backgrounds?

What are the nonhuman elements shown?

What are the humans doing in each card?" (11).

 

Defining an intuitive reader: 

"An intuitive reader is a reader who relies on their inner knowing or connection to Spirit to interpret the tarot's meanings. They don't necessarily always give the defined meanings of the cards and instead allow their intuition to flow, providing the messages to the clients. 

Is everyone an intuitive reader? Absolutely not, and that's okay. Can anyone be an intuitive reader? One hundred percent!" (214).

 I am intuitive, but I also do use meanings from traditional and not so traditional works. My intuitive gift is certainly a work in progress, and it is part of my own Great Work. 

 

 

 

 

This book qualifies for the following 2025 Reading Challenge: