Tag Archives: Tarot

Wild Card

by Stephen | Leave a comment

Jen Cownie and Fiona Lensvelt, Pan Macmillan, (368p) ISBN: 9781529082104. Tarot, read 22/01/25, Paperback ★★★★☆

Wild Card

Wild Card

I was so pleased to receive a proof copy of this book from Pan Macmillan for a couple of reasons; the first was that I was revisiting tarot and needed a good book to help me with that, and the second was that I just loved the cover!

From the beginning I was drawn in by the warmth and conversational tone of the writing, this made it a much easier read than a traditional ‘How to’ book which I had been looking at before. Jen and Fiona made this a book that you want to revisit and hold your own conversation with.

I read a card or two before going to sleep as these are nice and short sections, this really worked for me and I gradually read the whole book start to finish and it did really helped get the memory working again about card reading and how I used to read for people.

I liked how the emphasis was on the more practical side of card reading over a way of predicting the future, involving the person you’re reading for throughout and not just going off on your own mystical journey.

Each suit, card, number, position, major arcana, gets well explored and explained in a way that demystifies and explains in equal measure, and the end section on card spreads is really helpful especially for beginners.

Throughout Jen and Fiona make it clear that the tarot is nothing to fear, that with practice and commitment you can approach reading confidently and with an attitude of positivity.

The clear explanations and tone make this a great book for both beginners and practitioners and was so good I’ve now bought the hard back to stay on the shelf.

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Tarot: Library of Esoterica

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ed. Jessica Hundley. Taschen. (520p) ISBN: 9783836579872
Tarot: Library of Esoterica

Tarot: Library of Esoterica

I was looking in the window of Watkins Books in Cecil Court when I first saw the Library of Esoterica books and just couldn’t carry them home.

So as soon as I got the chance I just had to have them, especially the Tarot book as it is an area of my life that I’m re-exploring at the moment.

From the start I was going to use these books as something to dip in and out of and take my time with them, that didn’t happen.

As soon as I started this book I just knew that I had to read it from start to finish straight away, thankfully I was on holiday and it was raining.

I spent most of a couple of days all wrapped up in blankets with a hot drink wrapped up in this book, fascinated by the different cards from so many different decks through the ages.

All of which has tickled my collecting bug and it took all my willpower not to buy a good twenty new tarot decks over these last couple of days.

The writing that supported the art is a collection of good essays about the history and cultural significance of tarot and a rather pared down look at the meanings of the cards and suits.

All well laid out and easily understood as a good survey should be and letting the cards and their symbology tell the story.Fascinating and inspiring, left me wanting more (though I was a wee bit disappointed that my favourite deck wasn’t in there 😉 ).

Looking forward to reading the last two from the series; Astrology and Plant Magic.

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The Tarot Spellbook

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Sam Magdaleno. Fair Winds Press. (192p) ISBN: 9780760377086
The Tarot Spellbook

The Tarot Spellbook

I got this from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

As I’ve said before I’m just starting out once more reading tarot cards on a daily basis and writing my readings publicly rather than doing what I used to do for the last 20 years and draw an occasional card and give it a half-hearted reading.

So any books that can help me regain the deeper understanding of tarot that I used to have are always welcome.

Though I’ve not worked through this workbook totally I’ve read it from front to back to see if it would fit my practice, and I will be buying it for myself once it’s published in the next week or so as I could see much that chimes with how I work.

Each card is accompanied by a description, a spell, and a journalling task making the interaction with the cards deeper than just reading a book of explanations.

It’s also a great fun read as it’s so colourful!

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The Tarot of Leonora Carrington

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Susan Aberth, Tere Arcq. RM Verlag SL . (168p) ISBN: 9788417975999 ★★★★★

The Tarot of Leonora Carrington

The Tarot of Leonora Carrington

I was forwarded the Guardian article about this by a friend and immediately went down a rabbit hole, trying to find out everything I could about Leonora Carrington who I had never heard of previously.

After all that digging around I just had to get the book as soon as it came out and brilliantly enough the release coincided closely enough with Christmas for it to be one of my presents!

From the cover to the end this book is so opulent, glistening in gold, shining in silver, and all on excellent quality paper making it an object of desire within itself.

Once you start reading and finding all about the occult life of Leonora Carrington though you are transported to another time, a brilliant introduction, touching opening essay from her son, then onto the meat of the book, her work.

This initially explores her work and the influences from the occult learnings of various groups in the 19th and 20th century, including The Golden Dawn, mesoamerican myths and culture, Celtic gods and goddesses, feminism, Jungian theory, and explored this amalgam through examples of Leonora’s works.

It also talks about her relationship with other artists who used the subconscious and the occult as part of their practice and shows her influence on them, placing her firmly within the canon of surrealism and at the same time making you wonder how she was so firmly hidden for so long.

We then move on to the cards of the Major Arcana themselves and look at each one in turn. Each cards symbolism is explored in relation to traditional forms and how this was adapted to be significant to Leonora’s idea of divination from the card.

Some diverged greatly, with different colours and icons used whilst others stayed mainly the same though with important changes to fit into the mythology of the cards that were being developed.

A stunning book from start to finish, an object to lust after, and a stepping off point for me to discover more about Leonora Carrington.

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