Corrine Kenner is one of my favorite folks in the Tarot community; she's also a tech-savvy blogger with one of the most attractive Tarot websites out there [link].
Her prose is light, clear, and friendly, making her the perfect person to write beginner-level books ... so I was glad to hear that the folks at Llewellyn had tapped Corrine to write Simple Fortunetelling with Tarot Cards, a fresh, breezy guide to reading Tarot.
The result is a crisp, well-organized book packed with exactly the sort of useful information beginners crave. Wanna know more? Here's the scoop:
Fortunetelling ... or Tarot Reading?
Over the last few years, the term "fortunetelling" has gotten a bad rap.
Many Tarot enthusiasts avoid the term entirely; rather than "tell fortunes," they "read cards" or "perform divinations." As one young woman recently told me: "Tarot readers explore options; fortunetellers use the cards to reveal your set fate. Tarot readers empower you; fortunetellers make their clients into victims."
I'm happy to report that, despite the presence of "fortunetelling" in the title, the focus in this book is strictly on what most of us would call card reading -- though with perhaps just a bit more emphasis on predictive readings than you'll find in most beginner's books. As Kenner notes:
"While tarot cards often show a probable future -- or a possible one -- the future is never set in stone. Every person is in charge of his or her own destiny ... The tarot can help you see your most likely future -- and give you the chance to change that future, if you choose."
What's Inside?
Simple Fortunetelling is organized exactly as you would expect a beginner's book to be: frequently asked questions, followed by an overview of deck structure and symbolism, followed by tips on phrasing questions, followed by a library of spreads.
On page fifty, Kenner provides a step-by-step guide to fortunetelling with an emphasis on the metaphysical approach: clearing space, grounding the reader, lighting candles, soliciting divine guidance, etc. The section concludes with a rich mother-lode of tips on how to read and interpret the cards, followed by clear, useful tables outlining zodiacal and astrological correspondences for the cards.
The Divinatory Guide
The bulk of the book -- fully three-fourths of the text, in fact -- is taken up by the card-by-card divinatory dictionary.
Individual card entries begin with three card images, taken from three different decks, including the Lo Scarabeo Universal Tarot (a Waite-Smith deck often used by writers and publishers -- including me -- who didn't want to pay Stuart Kaplin's unreasonable fees for the Waite-Smith images) and the Lo Scarabeo Tarot of Stars Eternal (a Thoth-y deck that can be used without the permission of OTO or U.S. Games).
The Third Deck
The third deck featured is the Llewellyn Tarot -- which brings me to the only real issue I have with Simple Fortunetelling.
Though Corrine gamely attempts to justify the deck's inclusion ("By comparing and contrasting the Llewellyn deck with the Waite cards, you can discover how easy it is to expand your view of the cards and read any Rider-Waite-Smith derivative"), this explanation rings a bit hollow, especially since the Universal Tarot, also featured in the book, is, in fact, a "Rider-Waite-Smith derivative."
Frankly? I can't think of a single reason -- other than Llewellyn's own desire to promote its flagship deck -- to feature the Llewellyn Tarot in a beginner's book. The deck simply isn't that well-known or widely-used ... and, more often than not, its illustrations are virtually identical in content and composition to the Waite-Smith images.
Including the Llewellyn Tarot strikes me as a choice made with the publisher's -- but not the reader's -- best interests at heart. (A far better "third deck" would have been some version of the Tarot de Marseilles ... a choice that would have exposed beginners to the three most influential Tarot traditions.)
Other Features
Moving on: for each card, you'll find a discussion of the images on each of the three sample cards, keywords, reversed meanings, mythic connections, numerological associations, and astrological associations.
This information has been pretty broadly covered in any number of other beginner's guides. The unique feature here, though, is the space Corrine dedicates to a section called "What Does Your Future Hold?" In it, she covers reactions to the cards, different ways of reading the card, symbolic specifics, and events the card might predict. The material's offered as a bulleted list, which makes for easy free-form browsing.
Deja-Vu
Having written the Absolute Beginner's Guide to Tarot (and having read virtually every other beginner's guide on the market), I confess I did find myself feeling a bit of deja-vu while reading Corrine's book. In the end, I suppose, there's not much way around -- or reason to depart from -- the fairly straightforward presentation of the Tarot basics we all know and love.
So: if I have a complaint to air, it's a very small complaint indeed: to me, the book felt very, very familiar. But, of course, I'm not a part of the target market for this book ... and that's not an impression a beginner will have, is it?
Simple Fortunetelling is due out in November, and can be pre-ordered now at Amazon.com.
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