For many tarot readers, the court cards are the most challenging cards to work with. But once you become familiar with how these enigmatic cards work, you can turn them into friends and allies that provide powerful insights and advice. Featuring stories, explanations, and simple exercises, this book explores the many facets of pages, knights, kings, and queens to enhance your journey through the tarot.

Author Leeza Robertson approaches the court cards from a variety of angles, exploring the symbols, legends, personalities, messages, and spiritual influences of each card. Providing unique tips, reading techniques, and spread ideas, this book will help you welcome the court cards into your tarot practice.

One of the things I have been trying to learn – on and off – for years, is the how to read tarot cards. I have a couple of sets which I take out regularly, along with a range of books on what the cards mean.  I find them fascinating and am always rather chuffed when I can read a spread without having to refer to these books too much (if at all).

Still, though I have a lot to learn and would class myself as a beginner.  So, having seen Tarot Court Cards for Beginners on Netgalley and seeing that Leeza Robertson’s books get good reviews on Goodreads, I thought this would be a good one to add to my collection.

As the title suggests, this book focuses on the Court cards – King, Queen, Knight and Page or princess, depending on the deck you are using.  Princess cards aren’t something I have come across before and I thought they sounded interesting so I will be looking out for them in my next deck.  The idea behind the book is that understanding the court cards can really add to your readings as they are so influential in the deck.

As the title also says, this book is for beginners and so starts with a brief history of the tarot before moving onto specific language used when reading tarot cards. It then talks about the different suits (there are four) and what they mean before moving onto the cards themselves.  Throughout there are pictures to help you understand what you are seeing and reading.  Starting with the lowliest of the cards, the Page and moving up to the King, Robertson breaks down the cards into four sections: as a person; as an archetypal influence; as a spiritual influence; and as a messenger (she also explains what each of these is so you don’t need to worry there).  Each section is easy to follow and, I found, understand.  I had lightbulb moments, which was nice, and found her interpretation of the cards to be really positive (some I have found to be rather doom and gloom).

After going through the cards, there are a series of exercises and readings you can complete to test your knowledge.  They start small, with a three card spread, and plenty of explanations as to what the cards you have laid out mean.  Because this was an advance copy, I struggled a bit here as the layout of the book was off but imagine there would be no problems in the final copies.

Finally, once you’ve been through the exercises, there are resources for people interested in finding out more which I thought was really helpful.

For me, this book was great and just what I was looking for.  It added to my limited knowledge, was easy to follow and to read, and helped my learning through the exercises.  Leeza Robertson has a nice style of writing – very personable and approachable – and doesn’t rely on jargon or try and blind you with science.  For those starting out on their tarot journey I think this is a great read and I would recommend it.

Emma

Source: Netgalley
Publisher: Llewellyn Publications
Publication Date: 8th May, 2017
Format: ebook
Genre: non-fiction,
Find on: Amazon UK / Amazon US