Tarot: Your Everyday Guide: Practical Problem Solving and Everyday Advice

What makes this book so unique is that it is designed as an advisory manual. Rather than reading the same descriptions of the tarot that are in every book, you can use Tarot Your Everyday Guide to ask specific questions about how to proceed in a given situation. Most books give you a general interpretation of each card, but do not tell you how to use it as a course of action. This is significant because some cards are problematic when you approach them as a card of advice. For example, the Seven of Swords and the Devil traditionally have very negative connotations, but when looked at from the perspective of an action that you SHOULD take, they can take on a positive message. Renee has great descriptions which can help you in situations like these so that you can expand your vision of "positive" and "negative" cards and see them from a more universal perspective. If you are a beginner, you can benefit from this book because it is designed so that you can pull a card each day. So you can slowly build your knowledge of the tarot day-by-day rather than trying to absorb all 78 cards at once. Most descriptions in this guide are 1-2 pages long and each page is similar to an 8 x 11", so you get more information on each card than can be found in most tarot books. Many guides I have seen (especially those that come with the deck) have only a couple of paragraphs about each card, so the beginner is left confused because they don't know how to interpret the card in multiple situations. While this takes practice, you can definately gain a better understanding through reading this book.

Janina Renee holds degrees in Anthropology and Cultural Studies. She has taught and lectured on a variety of subjects, appeared in films and on radio. She says her "life calling is to explore means by which to translate the magic and mystery of the old ways into practices that are meaningful for modern people." Tarot: Your Everyday Guide is her third book, and in it, she shows readers how to use tarot cards for advice, rather than for prediction. She uses a practical, problem-oriented approach, explaining "how the cards can suggest courses of action, attitudes to take, and other things we can do to help with some of the common questions that come up in our lives." She first describes the kinds of questions that might be asked, saying that if you don't have a specific problem, you can always ask for advice on how to improve your life. She offers general instructions on how to lay out and interpret the cards. The bulk of the book is devoted to describing the individual cards and their potential meanings and interpretations. Renee provides enough information that readers can understand the advice the cards are offering, regardless of their individual situations. She explains, however, that nothing bad will happen if a person doesn't take the cards' advice. She says the cards "are entirely neutral and have no good or bad, positive or negative associations, since they merely suggest things you can do, and not things that are going to happen to you." Many factors go into making decisions and sometimes we need help in sorting the relevant date from the non-relevant. Tarot: Your Everyday Guide teaches readers how to use "the wisdom of the Tarot to define our issues and frame our outlook [to] help the course of daily life run much more smoothly."

Ever done a Tarot reading to make sense of a difficult situation, examined all the cards, and still had no idea how to solve your predicament? Renee has written an excellent book that gets down to practical neamings of each card. She is coming from the perspective of "advice" readings, where you consult the cards in order to tackle a particular problem. Each card, including the often-neglected Minor Arcana, is examined in detail, and treated as advice you could take in a situation. You drew the 4 of Pentacles? Time to hold on to your resources and focus on security. The 6 of Pentacles? Now is the time to be generous. None of the cards are treated as "bad" cards, because--to use a cliche--to everything there is a season. This isn't an arcane, solemn tome about the Journey of the Fool and the mythical archetypes he runs into along the way; it's about your journey through your own life, and your own life situations both mundane and spiritual. Great for beginners and experienced readers alike.

First of all, a word of warning: This is not a "card-a-day" book (in the sense it isn't divided in 365 chapters as you could expect from the title. Or at least that's what I expected). This book is one of the most complete works I've found on tarot understood not as a means to divination but as a way to find guidance. I really enjoyed the fact the cards came from several different decks. This is a rather unusual book, and it feels like a real treat to those who do a daily reading to focus in in the morning.The approach is simpler than Mary K. Greer's "Tarot for your self", which might be slightly daunting for absolute beginners (much as I love the book). Janina Renee is also the author of "Tarot spells", another book which goes beyond the repetition of material many works offer these days.

The beauty of this book is that it can be used by both beginning and advanced students of the Tarot because of it's practical approach to the messages in the cards. Each card is discussed in light of what advise it offers in a variety of life situations. Janina Renee also uses illustrations from a variety of tarot decks, a refreshing change to many volume which choose one deck. I found this very helpful in finding the common elements among the decks and the accompanying text illuminated this beautifully. I simple down-to-earth approach to the "facts of life" as interpreted by the Tarot