Category: Tarot

Tarot by the Moon

Wow! This book was a very pleasant surprise for me. I wasn’t quite sure what to expect from the title, but Tarot By the Moon surpassed my expectations, and it’s one I am surely adding to my library in print form.

My best description is that it’s a hybrid of Farmer’s Almanac, a tarot technique book, divinatory technique, shadow work, and lunar occult ritual book. The official stance of the book is that it’s targeted towards readers who want to make meaningful change, so it’s an active, rather than a passive read. I find that because of this, it’s well-suited to shadow work, because that’s generally the area where readers want to create tangible change. It’s really much more than a moon phases or basic tarot book.

Tarot Deciphered: Decoding Esoteric Symbolism in Modern Tarot

I’m giving this book 5 stars, even though I didn’t enjoy reading it, here’s how that works: it’s an extremely well-written, knowledgeable resource. I just didn’t enjoy it because I discovered that the esotericism of the tarot isn’t what interests me about tarot. I don’t read with the two main decks created out of the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, Thoth and RWS, I like decks based off the RWS system to the deck itself and Thoth has never been my thing. So, unsurprisingly, this book wasn’t really for me.

Tarot: Connect With Yourself, Develop Your Intuition, Live Mindfully

This is a great addition to any tarot bookshelf, and it is especially great for a tarot newbie. I know that I say that about a lot of intro to tarot books, but I wouldn’t say that if it weren’t a truly good intro to tarot book. In fact, this is the kind of book I’d have loved to have access to when I was new to it. However, I am also a firm believer that the cards and their meanings are ever-evolving to adapt to the modern word — so you’re never too advanced to take a refresher.

Fearless Tarot

This is a great addition to any tarot student’s collection. It’s good for tarot readers of any experience level, but will be of particular use to new tarot readers and tarot readers looking to make the transition to reading professionally.

Kitchen Table Tarot

Wow. I read a lot of tarot books (and consequently, a lot of tarot books geared toward novices) and all I can say is that it’s exhilarating to see tarot readers of my generation (Gen Xish) coming into the field of tarot writers. Like Michelle Tea’s Modern Tarot, this is, I believe, an instant classic in terms of learning and teaching tarot.

Tarot Elements: Five Readings to Reset Your Life

What a great book! This book is the intersection of a tarot technique/craft book, a self-help book, and a life coaching book. The book is organized into five sections, each of which corresponds to an elemental theme, includes an introduction to the element and the theme, a tarot spread/program, case studies of the spread in action, and an exercise or “homework” to use with this spread to transform a tarot reading into a tool to implement real, tangible, sustainable change in the life of the person being read for (or for using yourself.)

Modern Tarot

I wish that I’d had this book when I started reading tarot in the 90s, but as I realized from the anecdotes included throughout the book, that’s because Michelle Tea is in my age range and was learning all the stuff that’s in this book. So, I guess the takeaway is that this book exists NOW, and what a lucky thing for all the new readers getting started who get to use this book as one of their primary