3.7 Stars

Tarot cards have myriad interpretations. It can be overwhelming for new readers to understand the meanings, interpretations, and symbolism of each of the 78 cards in the deck. This book explains the history/ story behind each card to help readers understand and connect better with the deck and the art. 

The book is a little different from other works and presents the story behind the cards rather than the meanings. The symbolism and meanings are interwoven into the stories, and this makes things easier if you have an idea about how the cards look (Raider Waithe Smith deck). 

There isn’t anything deep or intricate in this one. It works well for beginners and intermediary readers learning to connect the cards and tell a story (reading individual cards is easier, but combining them and seeing the patterns takes practice). 

The Major Arcana has Fool’s journey, and the Minor Arcana have individual stories for each suit (cups, pentacles, swords, and wands). I like the Pentacles story the best, though the others are decent, too (nothing wow). 

These are pretty much surface-level versions. You need to dig deeper to learn and look beyond the standard Christian/ Western interpretations, especially with cards like Hierophant. The book should work as one of the many stepping stones to familiarize oneself with tarot cards. 

To summarize, The Tales Behind Tarot is a good book to gain some insights about tarot cards and understand how we can connect the cards to tell a story. The book doesn’t deal with reversals. 

Thank you, NetGalley and Quarto Publishing Group –Leaping Hare, for the eARC. This review is voluntary and contains my honest opinion about the book. 

#NetGalley #TheTalesBehindTarot 

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