Book Review: Llewellyn's Witches' Datebook 2017

This will be the first year I will be using Llewellyn's Witches' Datebook (2017). I have a few planners that I will be working with in 2017, but this one will be kept separate and sacred, for my magical plans. But if you only want to use one planner, this could absolutely be used as an all-purpose datebook as well.

The datebook (cover and inside pages) measures 5 1/4" x 8" without measuring in the spiral coil binding. The binding adds approximately another 1/2" to the width. When I received mine, a great majority of the pages were stuck together. I was able to carefully pull all the pages apart individually, without any damage to the paper. This was inconvenient, but thankfully not damaging to the book.

The book starts out with a "How to Use" page. And right away, I found something wonderful in it for me: "This datebook was designed especially for Witches, Pagans and magical people." I grabbed a pencil and underlined "magical people" on my page, because it was such a refreshing acknowledgment! I have long classified myself as "spiritual but not religious", and now this description just hit the nail on the head. I am a "magical person" and need no further classification.

This section tells you about how to read the symbols on the calendar pages, from the moon signs, planetary movement, planting and harvesting days and color of the day. Love the color of the day! I'm curious how they arrive at the color for each day, but I'm blindly trusting on that account.

All the times and dates in the calendar are based on US Eastern time, so if you live in a different time zone, you'll need to adjust accordingly. For example, living in Mountain time, I will need to subtract two hours from the times listed for accuracy.

* Before I received my copy, I read someone's review on Amazon who said that the dates in the book for the New Moons were inaccurate. I was initially disappointed to hear this, but when I received mine, I checked, and was happy to find that they were all accurate. I don't know what information that reviewer was working with.

The next section features a series of five magical articles:

• The Smile Inside by Robin Ivy Payton
• Simple Amulet Pouches by Charlie Rainbow Wolf
• The Hag Knows Best by Suzanne Ress
• The Magic of Language by Elizabeth Barrette
• Mending Energetic Fences by Ellen Dugan

Next is the bulk of the datebook... the actual calendar days. A week is spread out on two pages, Monday through Friday on the left, and Saturday/Sunday on the right. Also on the right side of every page is a passage. The passages alternate between subjects such as crystal properties, holiday/seasonal ideas, drawings (by Kathleen Edwards) and recipes.

There are also little magical tidbits sprinkled on random dates... little bits of magical advice, spells and information. I really love this. It's like a little unexpected gift when you get to certain days. Here are a few random examples:

February 4: Fill a jar with nails and broken glass; bury it under the porch to protect a house from malicious spirits.

May 26: England repealed the last of its anti-Witchcraft laws in 1951.

August 29: Draupathi is an Indian fire goddess who walks over hot coals.

December 18: Jasmine is intensely feminine, corresponding to water and the Moon. This oil activates the goddess in you.

The last few pages of the book include bios on the authors, an appendix and three blank lined pages for notes. The appendix covers:

• Daily Magical Influences
• Daily Color Correspondences
• Lunar Phases
• The Moon Signs
• 2017 Eclipses
• 2017 Full Moons 
• 2017 Planetary Retrogrades
• 2017 Moon Void-Of-Course Data chart

My one complaint about this datebook is that none of the recipes are vegan-friendly. Not a single one! Every recipe includes either meat, dairy, or eggs, or a combination thereof. This was disappointing. Surely I'm not the only vegan magical person out there. I can veganize most recipes if necessary, but it's not really worth it when the recipe relies so heavily on many eggs and heavy cream. In future editions of this datebook, I would love to see some cruelty-free options included.

The pages themselves are matte with a slightly yellowish off-white color. (They appear whiter in my photos.) It gives the feeling of recycled pages, without the actual benefit of them being recycled. (At least, I don't see it marked anywhere in the book that the pages are recycled.) I would have preferred white pages, as it would have felt cleaner to me. But it's not a big deal.

The book is bound in plastic spiral, which allows you to conveniently lay the book flat.

I did a test to see what pens were safe to use with this planner and which ones would bleed through. My colored Ultra Fine Point Sharpies bled through. But the rest of the pens I tried worked just fine, with no bleed through to the other side of the pages. Obviously your run of the mill ballpoint pens would work just fine. But I also tested the following pens with success:

• Sharpie Pen - Fine Point - Black and Colors
• Paper Mate Flair - Felt Tip Pens - Medium Point - Colors
• Staedtler Triplus Fineliner - Porous Point Pens - 0.3 mm - Colors
• Sharpie Highlighters
• Gel Highlighters

The image to the left shows a close-up examples of the symbols and information on a given day... again, the symbols all being explained in the beginning of the book if you are unfamiliar with many of them (as I am).

Strangely, on the day of a New, Full or Quarter Moon, the date is not listed, instead showing an image of the moon. For example, the image to the left is July 23. Where the number 23 would be on any other day (to the left of "Sunday"), instead there is the symbol for the New Moon. So to know the date, you would need to look at the previous or next day as reference.

I obviously haven't had a chance to break the book in yet, so I can't tell you how the pages and binding will hold up over a year's use. But I am very pleased with it and look forward to planning my magical year ahead with this datebook. I'd definitely recommend it for witchy and magical minded people!

One last note: The price for this datebook is amazing for the value, retailed at $11.99, but currently at just over $8 on Amazon: Llewellyn's Witches' Datebook 2017!

Book Review: The Girl Before

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The Girl Before: A Novel by JP Delaney

This psychological thriller follows the narrative of two women, living parallel lives, in the same house in different points of time, each trying to rebuild their lives after traumatic events.  The narrative alternates each chapter between Then: Emma and Now: Jane. The minimalist, tech-savvy house takes on a character all its own and comes with a long set of strict rules that the landlord (very Christian Grey-esque) insists upon being followed.

I finished this book within one day, simply because I could not put it down. The chapters are brief enough that you sail right through them, thinking, just one more...

There are unexpected twists and turns in the story, and it's always refreshing to read a story that isn't predictable. Within the story line, I found hints of Gone Girl and elements of 50 Shades of Grey.

Although it was probably intended to do the opposite, the book had me continually contemplating the benefits of severely minimizing one's possessions in life. However, I would never be able to abide by the "no books" rule. That's just insanity.

The story kept me on my toes and held my interest the entire way through. You'll find that even the title leaves you with a surprise. I definitely recommend it if you enjoy psychological thrillers. I look forward to seeing what they do with the movie (to be directed by Ron Howard).

Side note: There were no quotation marks in the type, so sometimes it took a moment to differentiate between narration and dialogue. Yet there were a few pages in the entire book that did  have quotation marks, which was weird. I received an advance review copy, which was marked as an "uncorrected proof" so I can't be sure if the punctuation format will remain in the final printing.

My book rating for this would be R, due to graphic sexual situations.

Following is the description of the book which ensnared me into requesting a copy to review:

• • •

Please make a list of every possession you consider essential to your life. 

The request seems odd, even intrusive—and for the two women who answer, the consequences are devastating.

EMMA 
Reeling from a traumatic break-in, Emma wants a new place to live. But none of the apartments she sees are affordable or feel safe. Until One Folgate Street. The house is an architectural masterpiece: a minimalist design of pale stone, plate glass, and soaring ceilings. But there are rules. The enigmatic architect who designed the house retains full control: no books, no throw pillows, no photos or clutter or personal effects of any kind. The space is intended to transform its occupant—and it does.

JANE 
After a personal tragedy, Jane needs a fresh start. When she finds One Folgate Street she is instantly drawn to the space—and to its aloof but seductive creator. Moving in, Jane soon learns about the untimely death of the home's previous tenant, a woman similar to Jane in age and appearance. As Jane tries to untangle truth from lies, she unwittingly follows the same patterns, makes the same choices, crosses paths with the same people, and experiences the same terror, as the girl before.

The Girl Before is available for pre-order, and will be released January 2017.

Published by Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine Books

Book Review: Rogue Oracle (Delphic Oracle: Book 2)

Rogue Oracle (Delphic Oracle, Book 2)
by Alayna Williams (Pocket-Juno Books)

(Also available on Kindle)

"Tara Sheridan is the best criminal profiler around - and the most unconventional.  Trained as a forensic psychologist, Tara also specializes in Tarot card reading. But she doesn't need her divination skills to realize that the new assignment from her friend and sometime lover, Agent Harry Li, is a dangerous proposition in every way.

Former Cold War operatives, all linked to a top-secret operation tracking the disposal of nuclear weapons in Russia, are disappearing.  There are no bodies, and no clues to their whereabouts.  Harry suspects a conspiracy to sell arms to the highest bidder.  The cards - and Tara's increasingly ominous dreams - suggest something darker.  Even as Tara sorts through her feelings for Harry and her fractured relationship with the mysterious order known as Delphi's Daughters, a killer is growing more ruthless by the day.  And a nightmare that  began decades ago in Chernobyl will reach a terrifying endgame that not even Tara could have foreseen..."

Rogue Oracle is the sequel to Dark Oracle, which I reviewed here. Tara is back! And this sequel is even more engaging than the first! The killer in this book murders his prey in a way that completely shocked and fascinated me. You will have to read it for yourself to find out just how he does it, because I dare not spoil that surprise for you. (It's revealed right from the get-go, in the prologue, so you won't have long to wait, once the book is in your hands.  And what a way to start a book!)

I'm going to keep this review brief, because the beauty of reading a novel is uncovering all of its secrets for yourself, one page at a time. There's nothing worse than reading spoilers before reading the book for yourself. So I'll just give you the basics, and hope that you trust my glowing recommendation.

I thoroughly enjoyed reuniting with the cast of characters I met in the first book.  Tara returns, and her tentative relationship with Harry (her Knight of Pentacles) is finding its legs while they work together to find a mysterious murderer whose goal is to facilitate worldwide horror and tragedy in a most unprecedented manner.

Cassie and the Pythia are also back in this sequel with a storyline of their own, which eventually merges with Tara and Harry's quest.  There are also a few new characters who keep things entertaining.

The story centers around Chernobyl and the aftermath of the devastation that happened there.  A few days after I finished reading this book, the explosions began at Japan's nuclear power plant. The synchronicity was uncanny.

The Use of Tarot in the Book
As in the first book, Tara uses her tarot cards (which she hides in a cigarette box in her purse) throughout the book, and we get to experience each reading.

She also has several tarot related dreams, where figures from certain tarot cards come to life and guide her, giving her clues as to what the future has in store.

Following are the spreads and readings you will find in the book. Each reading is detailed with the card drawn, the position it falls under, and the interpretations. Tara also frequently connects the cards to the cards drawn in previous readings throughout the book.

Chapter 1: 3-card (Heart/Mind/Spirit)
Chapter 2: Celtic Cross
Chapter 4: A couple of impromptu 3-card draws; 1-card draw
Chapter 7: 1-card draw
Chapter 8: 3-card (Body/Mind/Spirit); 1-card Advice
Chapter 10: 2 "jumper" cards; 4-card directional reading (N/S/E/W)
Chapter 13: 1-card draw; 9-card relationship reading
Chapter 15: 4-card draw; 1-card draw
Chapter 7: 5-card (Distant Past/ Recent Past/ Present/Near Future/Distant Future)
Chapter 19: 1-card draw; 3-card draw

(I think I got 'em all!)

There are some mistakes I noticed, with my tarot reader's eye.  In one reading, the main character drew the Devil followed by Temperance. And the text follows: "She was reminded that Temperance always followed the Devil in the sequence of the Major Arcana, suggesting evolution." In fact, Temperance precedes the Devil in the tarot, so if following a linear timeline, the subject of her reading would be moving backward, rather than forward.  So, for the sake of consistency, we just have to assume Temperance follows the Devil in Tara's world. ;)

There was also a typo when the character pulled four cards and used the card numbers to make a single combined number (Ace of Cups, 8 of Cups, 6 of Swords & The Fool = 1860). The number was spelled out: "One, three, six, zero" (italics for emphasis is mine). But later referred to correctly as "1860". It's a trivial typo, just something I guess I'm trained to notice, being so used to correlating the numbers to the tarot cards. :)

This engaging paperback is 360 pages, with 21 chapters. I'm assuming the number of chapters is a wink and a nod to the numbered Major Arcana cards, as I believe Dark Oracle also has 21 chapters.

Rogue Oracle definitely deserves a place on your bookshelf.  But be sure to start out with Dark Oracle, if you haven't read it yet, so you will be familiar with the characters and their back stories.

The Fate of Tara's Future?

I asked Alayna if there would be additional books in the series, and she says she was only contracted for the first two Oracle books. She has an outline waiting for the third book, if she gets the green light from Juno Books. I'll be crossing my fingers, because I really, really want to explore more of Tara's adventures!

This book review was originally posted on my previous blog (Tarot Dame) on 4/11/11.

Book Review: Dark Oracle (Delphic Oracle: Book 1)

Dark Oracle
by Alayna Williams (Pocket-Juno Books)
(Also available on Kindle)

"As a criminal profiler, Tara used science and her intuitive skill at Tarot card divination to track down the dangerous and depraved, including the serial killer who left her scarred from head to toe. Since that savage attack, Tara has been a recluse. But now an ancient secret society known as Delphi's Daughters has asked for her help in locating missing scientist Lowell Magnusson. And Tara, armed with her Tarot deck, her .38, and a stack of misgivings, agrees to try."

Dark Oracle is a mystery novel by new author Alayna Williams. When I received the book from Alayna, I was excited to dive into a story whose main character was a tarot reader, even if in the back of my mind, I expected the storyline to pale in comparison to the tarot bits I was looking forward to. I was delighted to find that the entire story captured my attention and held it. It kept me on my toes, turning pages, wanting to find out what happened next. I thoroughly enjoyed this book, start to finish. It contained action, mystery, mysticism, drama, romance and Tarot (as well as other divination methods).

The Plot
Tara was a criminal profiler, using her intuitive tarot skills to help her track suspects and solve cases. She abandoned her career after a near-fatal experience with a serial killer she tracked down. She is urged out of hiding by Delphi's Daughters, a secret society her mother was a member of. They request her help with the case of a missing scientist who has harnessed the power of dark energy, which in the wrong hands, could prove disastrous for humankind.

Tara's unlikely partner is left-brained Agent Harry Li. Their attraction to one another develops throughout the story, hindered along the way by Tara's secret intuitive side which she keeps hidden from him, along with her self-consciousness from being physically and emotionally scarred.

While Tara and Harry are on the trail of the missing scientist, they are being tracked themselves by a wayward and dangerous member of Delphi's Daughters and corrupt government officials who want Tara dead.

The Use of Tarot in the Book
As the story progresses, Tara pulls out her tarot deck every once in awhile to guide her in the next direction. We are privy to her readings, as she uses several spreads.

Following are the spreads and readings you will find in the book. Each reading is detailed with the card drawn, the position it falls under, and the interpretations. Tara also frequently connects the cards to the cards drawn in previous readings throughout the book.

Chapter 1: Celtic Cross
Chapter 5: Impromptu 3-Card Spread
Chapter 8: A 9-Card Past-Present-Future Spread
Chapter 15: Two 1-Card Readings & a 7-Card Ouroboros Spread
Chapter 16: Impromptu 2-Card Spread
Chapter 20: A 9-Card Tree of Life Spread (This is the only reading she does for another person.)

In addition to tarot cards, there are also other methods of divination used by the members of Delphi's Daughters including geomancy, runes, scrying and pyromancy. I loved this fascinating additional layer to the story.

The experience Tara goes through, in hiding her tarot cards from Agent Li is something I think a great many tarot readers will relate to, as hiding this aspect of one's life from certain people is an unfortunate reality I believe many tarot readers have had to deal with at one time or another.

Behind the Story
I was interested in learning more about how tarot played a role in Williams' writing. She told me that she has been reading tarot since she was a teenager, though not professionally, reading mostly for herself and occasionally for friends. The deck she learned to read with was the Hanson-Roberts.

Although the deck featured in Dark Oracle is fictional, Alayna did use a variety of decks to help her with the storyline and character backgrounds, usually grabbing whichever deck was handy at the time. These included the Hanson-Roberts, Quantum Physics Tarot, Dragon Tarot, Thoth, Rider-Waite, and Mystic Dreamer (the latter being her current fave.).

Says Williams, "Whenever I got stuck on plot or needed information on a character's motivations, I started drawing cards. It's really a fun way to write. The Tarot makes great visual story prompts."

When I finished the book, I wanted more. I wanted to know what was next for the characters. So I was very happy to hear Alayna's answer to my question of whether there would be sequels: "DARK ORACLE is intended to be the first in a series. The sequel, ROGUE ORACLE, is coming out in March 2011. In that story, Tara and Harry are pursuing a Chernobyl survivor who's selling nuclear secrets to the highest bidder. I wrote it the same way, with cards at hand." 

UPDATE: Read my review of the sequel, Rogue Oracle.

About the Author of Dark Oracle
Alayna Williams has an MA in sociology-criminology (research interests: fear of crime and victimology) and a BA in criminology. She has worked in and around criminal justice since 1997. Although she does read Tarot cards, she's never used them in criminal profiling or to locate lost scientists. She recently took up astronomy, but for the most part her primary role in studying constellations and dark matter is to follow her amateur astronomer-husband around central Ohio toting the telescope tripod and various lenses. Like the Pythia in Dark Oracle, she's been known to belly dance. Unlike the Pythia she'd never consider herself a professional.

This book review was originally published on my previous blog (Tarot Dame) on 8/31/10.

Book Review: The Back in Time Tarot Book

The Back in Time Tarot Book by Janet Boyer (Hampton Roads Publishing)

The Back in Time Tarot Book (BIT for short) offers a new approach to making the tarot cards more familiar and personal.

Boyer's BIT method encourages the reader to connect with the cards by recreating a memory or experience from the past. Deliberately selecting cards which, when viewed together, serve as a "snapshot" of the memory will make the cards more meaningful and relevant. When creating a BIT snapshot, you select cards that capture the essence of the experience as you experienced it. After having done so, you will then have a personal reference when each of those cards come up in future readings.

Using a very obvious example, if I were to create a BIT snapshot of giving my cat meds, I would undoubtedly use Strength as one of my cards, as it illustrates a woman opening the mouth of a feline. What's interesting about this method is that the cards you choose for each experience will vary depending on what deck you are using, as the artwork and interpretations are different in each deck. As the selection of the cards is so personal, even two people who had experienced the same situation together would probably not select the same exact cards, even if using the same deck.

The method is simple, and its explanation takes up only a small portion of the book's pages. The bulk and beauty of the book consists of examples of BIT snapshots, contributed not only by the author, but also from other seasoned tarot professionals, many of whom will be familiar to readers, as they are tarot deck and book authors, artists and editors.

Boyer also uses the BIT method to capture scenes from books, TV, movies, historical events, famous personalities, states, songs and holidays. She shares many detailed and interesting examples of all of the above. In short, if you can experience it in some manner, you can apply the BIT method to it.

In addition to the many examples given, the book is also sprinkled with a plethora of exercise prompts, encouraging you to use the BIT method for yourself in various ways.

I can definitely see the advantage of doing these snapshots, whether you are a beginner or experienced reader. Making emotional connections with the cards and experiencing their essences first hand can only be beneficial to a reader. And with the inspiration in this book, you will have no shortage of material to practice with!

I really enjoyed seeing how the different tarot readers arranged their individual BIT snaphots. If you enjoy peeking into the inner workings of other tarot readers' applications of the cards, and are interested in seeing the BIT method in action, The Back in Time Tarot Book is an entertaining and thought-provoking read that will have you looking at situations in your life through a new tarot lens. 

This book review was originally published on my previous blog (Tarot Dame) on 11/6/10.

Book Review: The Vitruvian Square

The Vitruvian Square - A Handbook Of Divination Discoveries
by Scott Grossberg (Leaping Lizards Publishing)

The Vitruvian Square is a book containing a plethora of reading methods, all of which revolove around a central template which is the Vitruvian Square (VS).

This is a difficult book to review because there is so much dense and detailed information packed into the 170 pages. I've read through it once, but haven't even begun to absorb all the information contained within it. There is so much to consider, and such enormous potential for paths upon paths of possibility with this square template.

The Vitruvian Square is divided into nine equally sized inner squares, with an additional 10th square added at the top. It is inspired in part by the ancient Chinese Lo Shu Square. The VS has modified the original number placement into a more sensical arrangement.

Each inner square of the VS is assigned its own meaning, using an incredibly wide and varied amount of possibilities.

Each square has its own:

• Meaning
• Number
• Alphabetical letters
• Color
• Astrological signs
• Alchemical assigment and stage
• "Hero's Journey" landmark
• Sacred geometry association
• Tarot card assignments
• Subconscious oracle
• Sepharial's "Of Things Lost" assignments

Basically, anything that you can classify can be arranged in this square.

When you are doing a reading using the square, you not only use the inner squares themselves, but there is also specific meaning in each vertical, horizontal and diagonal line of squares, the lines between the squares,  and the intersections of the lines.

So how does one use this square?  The possibilities are endless. The book explains many options in detail.  You can do a reading on a name, noting which squares the letters fall in. You can do a reading on a birth date, noting where the numbers fall in the VS.  You can use the VS to add incredible dimension to your card readings. After doing your intial reading as you normally would, you can now greatly expand on it by placing your tarot/oracle/playing cards on the Square, arranging them either according to the numbers on the cards, or whatever other method you wish to invent.  It's also a great utility for throwing stones or runes, or any other method of casting lots.

And again, you are reading not only the inner squares themselves, but placement as a whole.  Emphasis is given where there is a majority of activity in one part of the Vitruvian Square. And the voids are also significant. Connections are made in the lines of squares, and sometimes what is missing is just as important to notice as what is there.

The book illustrates the VS placement on the palm of a hand, for added insight into palm reading.  There are also options detailing the utilization of the square by delving into platonic solids using Role Playing Game (RPG) dice, sacred geometry, mythic legend association, working with the medicine wheel, and even allowingintuition to select three random numbers using the threefold number method.  You can also use the VS to find lost items, withSepharial's "Of Things Lost" square assignments.  All of this, and a great deal more, is covered in the book.

One of the most exciting aspects of this method of reading is that once you are familiar with the basic areas of the VS, you can do readings in your head, even without any tools or physical square available. I spent hours upon hours the other day physically laboring at something. When I finally laid down for a bit of a rest with my eyes closed, I intutively thought of three numbers in my head. Using the threefold number method, I mentally placed my numbers on the square in my head, and it gave me an accurate assessment of how I was feeling about the day.

Not only can the Vitruvian Square be used for reading, but it also has other potential, as addressed in the book, such as sigil work and manifestation intention.

The only thing lacking is a Table of Contents, which would have been useful for easier reference.

This book really is incredible, and this review doesn't even begin to do it justice.  Scott Grossberg has a gift for taking an idea and expanding its reach as far as possible. He did this with his Deck of Shadows, giving us an oracle that includes titles, subtext, images, symbols and playing card associations; somehow accomplishing this without the cards feeling cluttered. And now, with the The Vitruvian Square, he takes a simple concept and expands it into worlds of possibility in the art of divination.

The Vitruvian Square has the potential to add as much dimension to your readings as is limited only by your imagination. One of the things I love about the world of tarot/oracle reading is that there is always room for learning more, no matter how long you have been reading and how much you have studied.  This never-ending learning process is one of the things that keeps the art so exciting to me, year after year. This book is a testament to (and celebration of) that reality.

Note: The above image of the Vitruvian Square isn't the complete version. A more detailed version of the chart is featured in the book, including the color associations, sacred geometry symbols and alchemical assignments.

Scott also offers an exclusive Vitruvian Square Casting Cloth on his website. I don't have one, but it looks gorgeous! Definitely something for the wish list.

Book: The Vitruvian Square - A Handbook of Divination Discoveries (by Scott Grossberg)

(Scott Grossberg is also the mastermind behind the book: The Masks of Tarot (see my review here) and the oracle cards: Deck of Shadows (my review here) He also has an amazing blog you should totally visit.)

This book review was originally published on my previous blog (Tarot Dame) on 7/18/11.

Book Review: The Masks of Tarot

The Masks Of Tarot
by Scott Grossberg (Leaping Lizards Publishing)

This is a book of secrets. Or, more correctly, a book on how to obtain secrets. It is a synthesis of ideas made to center on one useable theme; that, by allowing our Querents (those who seek our insights) their masks, they reveal to us their truths. Our work, as Readers, Tellers and See-ers thus becomes more "telling".

This is the intriguing first paragraph of The Masks of Tarot, a book revealing a unique, interactive reading method utilizing only the 22 Major Arcana cards of the tarot.

The querent (not the reader) is guided to look through the Major Arcana and select their favorite card, which becomes the foundation for the rest of the initial reading. The chosen card represents the client's Mask, and is applied to a template referred to as the Hiding Places System which will magically unveil not only details on the mask the querent wears, but also his or her personal Beast, Light and Shadow. (After making this initial assessment, you can then move onto the more detailed spread included in the book, which utilizes additional cards.)

Following are the main attributes of each archetype you will uncover about your querent after the selection of the initial card:

The Mask
• What I take for granted in myself
• What makes me who I am
• How I view myself
• What I am attracted to

The Beast
• What I resort to under stress
• What I excuse in myself
• How others view me
• My deepest urge

The Light
• What I desire to accomplish
• What I look at with wonder
• What others think I need
• What I need for balance

The Shadow
• What I think I have left behind
• What I become when all else fails
• What I still must learn to control
• The thing I have no wish to be

The book generously provides a sample Hiding Places analysis for each of the 22 Major Arcana "masks". While the template stands as a necessary foundation for the process, you are encouraged to use your intuitive skills to provide your own assessments when doing a reading.

The next part of the book offers an additional layer of reading, where we get to see every card read in each archetypal position (Mask, Beast, Light, Shadow).

The Hiding Places template can also be used with different systems (not just tarot). The author shows us how it works with The Alchemy of Human Needs, the Myers-Briggs Type Indicators, Enneagram/Personality Types, and Hand Types for use with palmistry.

Once the initial reading is done, you can then move onto the related Hiding Places Spread, a 5-6 card spread which utilizes, then expands on, the Hiding Places System. The spread is interactive as well, as the cards are deliberately chosen by the querent. There are four sample readings included.

At the end of the book, there are several worksheets for practice, along with a 6-page list of keywords (emotions and personality types) for sparking your imagination when using the Hiding Places System.

I won't go into the details of how the ingenious system works (you'll need to buy the book for that), but I can tell you that I applied the Hiding Places System to my own favorite tarot card (my own personal mask) and the assessment made a lot of sense. I actually laughed, because it hit pretty darned close to home!

The Masks of Tarot provides a fascinating new way of looking at the Major Arcana cards and how they relate to one another. A detailed study of the concepts in this book will not only offer a new way of reading the cards, but will also greatly expand one's understanding of the cards themselves, thereby enriching any reading performed, with or without this system.

Book: The Masks of Tarot (by Scott Grossberg)

(Scott Grossberg is also the mastermind behind the book: The Vitruvian Square (see my review here), and the oracle cards: Deck of Shadows (my review here). He also has an amazing blog you should totally visit.)

Book review originally published on my previous blog (Tarot Dame) on 7/19/11.