The author uses plain English, but over simplifies the occultic tool used to divine fortunes and provide answers and goes as far af to say "one thing the tarot does not do is predict, or tell, the future. Rather, the tarot offers confirmation of your intuition, which then empowers you to move forward in life in a way that speaks to your truth and aligns you with your purpose."
This is misleading and completely overshadows the real utilization of the cards and completely negates the arcane laws of tarot in that you should never preform readings for yourself. Something most new age authors neglect to place into their books because sergeant teachings and laws of true actual witchcraft and divination don't sell books. The author also states that you need to "trust your intuition and feelings" which is a small part of it but you also need to know the literal meanings of the imagery and the story each of the cards tell.
Being human and especially a teen just starting out your instincts are not honed enough to trust "intuition" as your developing character and emotions are all over the place, and because the reader of this book looking to use it as a way to help them navigate through their own lives can influence and interpret the cards to mean whatever they want or to read into them something that isn't there is the base of the law for not reading your own cards. The author then goes on to talk about "gender conformity... using he/she pronouns... it doesn't reflect the modern fluidity of individual gender identity..." this is poppycock that plays no role within the tarot as masculine and feminine energies are both seen as divine and commingled in many cases with the divine feminine as supreme.
This terminology has no place within a book such as this as the readers identification doesn't matter. For example I did a reading for an expecting couple who had just had an ultrasound done where the sex was revealed that the child was female. My reading came back with a lot of masculine undertones that I told the parents about who scoffed at me and said I was a sham and told me about their ultrasound and left. 3 weeks later they came back with their new born son, apologized and returned their money plus a $60 tip. So looking at masculine vs feminine aspects within the cards far outweighs the "fluidity of individual gender". Where the author does get it right is "... Sometimes they will represent a specific person, an aspect of yourself, or energy surrounding the situation."
However this only really applies for reading others as love I said before er can interpret our own cards to mean whatever we find the need for them to have at that moment. The brief history given about the cards is inaccurate as they've been around longer than 600yrs as the author writes and gives a watered down "white washed, new age, Barnes and Noble" account of them. Again in the "Choosing your deck" section of the book the author uses hot topic keywords and "woke language" that's not needed and is only fodder for book sales in "I recognize that it is not an inclusive deck [the Rider-Waite Smith deck] as it features illustrations of only white-presenting, cisgender characters..." the are spin off decks that have a multitude of characters from all walks of life, fantasy, and mythology, and did not need to be pointed out as the cards being illustrated as "cisgenderd" or not means nothing as only the meaning of the card holds the power and the key to the reading/ story being told. All that needs to be known about choosing a deck is that you should go with what calls to you. And goes on to say that buying your own deck is bad luck and calls it superstitious, it is supposed to be gifted by an elder. This again is tarot law and has only been excluded by people wanting to make money off a growing market and developing demographic, perverting tradition and rules to make a dime.
The cleansing of your deck started good but quickly went down hill by suggesting "ethically sourced incense" as a traditional practitioner of over 35yrs I can tell you it doesn't matter how you Source your herbal incense and is more unneeded garbage pandering to a "Wholefoods / Hot Topic/ Trader Joe's/ I'm a witch/healer/profit/shaman/etc. because my Hot Yoga guru Sunbeam Star Twinkle said I was, while we were drinking crystal infused tea" mentality.
Once you get into the meat and potatoes of the book (HOW TO INTERPRET THE CARDS) the author offers a fairly decent how-to but can be a bit confusing with the methodology of reading reversals but with some imagination can muddle through it.
Overall the book could be an ok tool if none other were provided to a young reader. It does cover some of the topics and ideas of tarot in a rudimentary way all in all I would give the book of three out of 10 as a professional tarot reader and practitioner. It's good for what it is but in my humble and honest opinion I would look for something more traditional and with less "woke language" and something that is more scholarly and precise and gets the point across and allows for the new reader to understand rather than be fooled with unneeded content. Also the author should have stuck to just the tarot and not suggested at rituals that boarder on witchcraft when cleaning their decks. Simply placing the cards in moonlight, passing them through any type of smoke be it sage, incense or a cigarette, will "clean" them. And in my personal practice I find that not "cleaning" actually lends to them being more accurate and "powerful" tools. But that is my own opinion.
I have studied earth based religions in college and minored in religion, practice this faith, and read cards professionally, and am a member of the LGBTQ Community and a Rights Activist, before anyone reads this review and thinks it's coming from a place of hate or ignorance.
I give this book a 3 out of 10. Stars
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