The Power of Tarot: To Know Tarot, Read Tarot, and Live Tarot by Liz Worth is an intermediate guide that facilitates mastery of the cards. If you’ve been studying the cards and you know your card meanings, can work with a spread or two, but have hit a plateau both in terms of your readings and your personal spirituality, then this book is for you.
Worth is the author of Going Beyond the Little White Book: A Contemporary Guide to Tarot, which I’ve reviewed before here, though The Power of Tarot is her seventh book publication. Not only is she a prolific author, but she’s also a poet and performance artist. The tarot is an integral part of her life’s work, alongside astrology, and she’s been a long-time professional tarot reader and astrologer. The Power of Tarot distills her many years of experience, insight, and learned wisdom.
The text is subdivided into three parts. The first is about belief– To Know Tarot. How does the tarot work? Is it all fate or free will? What exactly is psychic ability anyway? Is there such a thing as collective karma? What does it mean when intuition is “wrong”?
The second part of the book– To Read Tarot– gets into the logistics of working with cards. Superstitions are addressed, how to choose the “right” tarot deck for you, distinctions between reading Major Arcana cards and Minor Arcana as they appear in spreads, and an overview of the four elements.
What if you feel pulled to consult the cards but you don’t have a specific question in mind? A list of questions for just such a situation is offered. What is the significance of shuffling and cutting the cards? What if you don’t like the cards you get? Is there anything you can do if you don’t like your tarot reading? Worth also explores the art of interpreting card meanings.
The final part– To Live Tarot— is about the tarot as an integrated part of your personal spirituality, but more than that, your life. How do you use the tarot to fine-tune your life? Here, Worth gets into how to read the cards competently for yourself, without letting personal bias taint your reading. She suggests keeping a tarot journal. “Do you believe we are meant to know everything?” That’s one of the heavy questions addressed in this book. How about when the tarot predicts disasters? How do we consult the cards for insights on navigating our work life, and love life?
The Power of Tarot: To Know Tarot, Read Tarot, and Live Tarot is structured in a question-and-answer format. A question is presented in bold-face, such as “What should I think about when I’m interpreting earth energy in a reading?” or “How will I know what to say? What if I get it wrong?” when reading the cards for others, or “How long should I wait to see if a reading comes true?” and also, statements of presumption that she address, such as, “I heard that to understand tarot, you have to understand astrology.” Other section headings are words of advice that she then expounds upon.
The avid tarot reader is going to brew a pot of coffee or tea, then curl up with Liz Worth’s The Power of Tarot on a rainy Saturday morning, and read it cover to cover. There will be many moments when you look up, set the book down on your lap, and close your eyes to ponder further about the points that Worth explores. She nudges you to think deeper and more clearly about the what, how, and why.
This is a book for the creative-feeling-intuitives who don’t work well with structure, or rules, who don’t want a syllabus, or homework, and who don’t want to approach the tarot with rote memorization. This is for the spiritualists who want to understand.
The Power of Tarot is a rich, easy-to-read exploratory text for any tarot reader who wants to:
- Develop the most important skills that a tarot reader needs;
- Understand instinct and intuition, and how to discern between the two in readings; and
- How to curate the clearest and most useful readings possible for querents.
Beyond the impactful content that this text is filled with, I’m impressed with how well-edited this self-published book is. The cover, the interior pages, the formatting– all of it is very well designed. In fact, it’s better designed than a lot of the traditionally published tarot books I’ve been seeing as of late. So kudos to Worth!
The text is written in first person and reads like a conversation, a letter from a friend recounting her many experiences as a tarot reader and sharing with you everything she can about what she has learned. There is a natural poetic rhythm to Worth’s writing and that talent is evident on every page.
The Power of Tarot captures a modern Millennial perspective and approach to the tarot. It strives to make the tarot more accessible, more user-friendly, and more fluid. This is not about initiating yourself into a pre-configured tradition, but rather, this is about self-empowerment and commanding the cards to work for you, not the other way around.
Wonderfully done, Ms. Worth!
Order the Book Today:
FTC Disclosure: In accordance with Title 16 of the U.S. Code of Federal Regulations Part 255, “Guides Concerning Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising,” I received The Power of Tarot from the author for prospective review. Everything I’ve said here is sincere and accurately reflects my opinion of the book.
benebell wen 
Thanks for doing book reviews. Especially this one I haven’t heard of it.
LikeLike
Contrary to my usual response to book reviews – even really positive ones – I am going immediately to buy this book. Like right this minute! Thanks, Benebell.
LikeLike