Tarot for Beginners: A Holistic Guide to Using the Tarot for Personal Growth and Self Development Kindle Edition

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.)

Alright, so I bet you're thinking "there are tons of reviews, but no verified purchases" that was my thought too. So I bit the bullet and bought the book. I'm totally new to Tarot, and this book seems like a decent one, easy to read, easy to understand. I feel like it'll take time to learn regardless, so this book will be a great start / reference book. It's cheap enough and the quality is nice that it should last for years. Lots of pictures, organized chapters.

I absolutely love this book. As a true beginner to tarot, and someone who has a passion for writing, this book is amazing. Equally thorough and informational, there isn’t an imbalance of information. Each step to the tarot is said plainly with easy how-tos. Another thing I love is how LGBT+ friendly it is. In the examples, it’s not just a man or a woman. There are LGBT couples, Larry who has they/them pronouns, and it’s just so heartwarming to read someone put such dedication and care of LGBT people into something that isn’t trying to make a statement. This is just an ordinary book on the tarot, and yet there is so much in this that gives you an insight into the author. This is trustworthy and majorly helpful. Highly recommend.

Very insightful and great layout spread of explaining. Happy with my purchase. Great quality 👍👌 Using the book for personal growth and learning to be better.

I'm still in the process of reading this book, but I already have questions. First of all, the section "Tarot Mechanics" goes into preparing your deck, which is then further split into purifying, attuning and regular cleansing. Things such as "Fan the deck out in your hand, blow softly on the edges, return the deck to a stack in your hand, and knock once on top of the deck" and wrapping the deck in "a silk cloth or cloth of any dark color" are mentioned, but no reason as to why, what the background of it all is, is given. None. I mean... if I do something like that I would like to know where it originates from.Then when looking at the card meanings, I wish, since it doesn't mention that many correspondences, it would at least mention yes/no/maybe qualities of a card. The correspondences are really lacking. The majors get an also known as ..., element, astrology and numerology correspondence that is it. The minors only have an astrology correspondence.This book leaves me feeling like I need to either buy another book or do a lot of research and write it into mine to give it more of a complete feeling. It feels like I got half of a book and have to write the other half myself.If you are looking into this book thinking it is all you will ever need, it definitely isn't. Be prepared to buy another book and do a lot of extra research.Adding to this review. Clearly the author is overly politically correct and her standpoint is made very clear right off the bat in the spreads/sample readings section. All the use of nondescript pronouns makes the sample readings impossible to read and adds unnecessary confusion to something that is already new to the reader and not always easy to follow. It's one thing to have a standpoint, but when it makes your work, your writings so unreadable and unenjoyable because it's a confusing mess, then maybe reconsider and put that energy elsewhere. It turned this book into rambly gibberish.I'll definitely be replacing this book with something more understandable and that has more information and doesn't feel like I just paid to read someone's opinions rather than getting actual general information.This book was a total waste of money and I'll make sure to stay away from this author from now on, if she can't put her social standpoints aside to create, what you would call an instructional book, that makes any sense.I definitely agree with the other reviewer that said she is on a soapbox, she is, and obviously cares more about that, than creating a readable/coherent book.I got so SO much more information out of the book that comes with the druidcraft tarot. So, if you are serious about wanting to learn tarot and understand the mechanics and the meanings on a deep (or in this case any level), I highly suggest that you rather invest the same amount into the druidcraft tarot, where you will get a beautiful deck, created by a group of fantastic people who did heaps of research and put blood, sweat and tears into their work and also get a fantastic book that you will reference for years to come because it isn't just specific to their deck. It will teach you so much.I know I'm tossing this one and will spend my time more wisely reading other books that actually take tarot serious and teach you what you need to know.

Takes the mysticism out of tarot for us newbies and the book just feels like such a welcoming environment to learn more about it. The author is wise and positive without being artificial and that really came through. Glad I purchased.A must for anyone new to tarot !

Love this book - geared towards creative individual - since I’m an artist it really resonates with me. Simple to understand and well written - nice quality paperback.

Very good for beginners

Really informative,easy to understand. Quick delivery. Happy with product.

Lovey book. Easy reference for tarot beginners and lots of information for each subject card. I use it a lot as it’s an easy to read reference for learning card meanings and tarot spreads.

Great

Great for some information but I find the little books that come with the tarot cards better depending on the tarot deck. I’ve bought some decks with books that don’t fully explain anything. I’m a beginner and tarot is so complicated. Arrived on time and in good condition