Review: Tarot Tour Guide
Review: Tarot Tour Guide: Tarot, The Four Elements, and Your Spiritual Journey, by Christiana Gaudet
Grab your tarot deck and meet tour guide, Grand Tarot Master, Christiana Gaudet. You are about to embark on a magickal journey. Christiana’s book, Tarot Tour Guide, launches this week. Along your journey, you will be introduced to the local townspeople (the major arcana), as well as the reigning town officials (the court cards). You will encounter trials and tribulations along the way (the minor arcana), and will learn how to grow from each encounter. There will be many ports of call in the form of exercises to further the learning experience of the culture of the land of Tarot. These ports of call are in two stages—for first time travelers, and for those more familiar with the land.
The introduction to the tour gives a detailed list of what is found in each chapter. This may seem a bit lengthy, but it allows the reader to immediately focus on any particular chapter. If you are new, it would benefit you to study the entire book from cover to cover. If you are experienced, you may skip around the journey at your leisure, choosing chapters that you may want to visit in no particular order, as needed.
As with most tours, this one begins with an explanation of the journey ahead. The next stop on the tour will introduce you to the key players along the route—descriptions of the major arcana cards.
The next phase is an introduction to the people and problems you may encounter along the path to Tarot.
An introduction to the town officials (the court cards), follows. As with the previous chapters, there are exercises to give you deeper insight into the journey and the archetypes of tarot.
Next stop, you will learn how this journey relates to your own readings. Mind, body, and spirit readings and importance of these attributes, as well as reversals, and different styles of readings are explained.
An added bonus of the trip are several landmarks you will visit—better known as tarot spreads. Some of the most popular are shown and explained, and you will also learn how to design your own personalized spread.
Of course, as with any journey, you must be aware of how the weather (elements) can affect your trip. You will learn how to see the spiritual nature of the elements of fire, air, water, and earth. Sample readings and exercises abound to aid you in your use and knowledge of the importance of these elements in a reading.
At the conclusion of your journey, Christiana advises you to allow your journey with tarot to unfold naturally. “Use tarot in the way that you enjoy it. Let it be a tour guide on your life’s journey, as it brings you knowledge, fellowship, creativity, and a sense of connection to spirit.”
Take the tour, enjoy the trip—you have everything to gain on your journey through life.