I was offered a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. This review may contain spoilers.
I adore Tarot cards. I love how beautiful some sets can be, and I love how introspective a session with them can be. Despite my love of them, I have very little experience actually reading the cards, and most websites and included leaflets are very vague and piecemeal. That’s where Maria DeBlassie comes in.
Having previously read Weep, Woman, Weep and loved it, I knew I could trust DeBlassie’s interpretation of the cards. Not only did Conversations with the Tarot help me learn more about the cards themselves, but it also helped me with learning to embrace a slow life (one of my goals for this year), and feeding my creativity. I’ve been dipping in and out of the book since I got it, and it’s a brilliant start to the morning with a nice cup of tea and a crumpet.
The book is a series of microfiction entries based on a card drawn totally at random followed by an ‘insight’ into what DeBlassie interpreted and felt when she saw the card. Each story is exactly 78 words and reads very much like poetry as well as simply microfiction. There is so much imagery and life lessons packed into these tiny stories and a lot of them are pretty powerful to read. The insights are little windows into DeBlassie’s life, and are full of ways to interpret the cards, both reversed and upright.
I’ve learnt a lot about writing and creativity from both the stories and the insights, and I’m thinking about adopting the weekly card draw and meditation practice for myself. I highly recommend this book for anyone who wants to learn more about themselves or how to get more out of the creative process, or is just interested in Tarot cards as a whole.
Check out Conversations with the Tarot on Amazon and Goodreads.
About the book
Bewitching tarot meditations by bruja and award-winning writer Maria DeBlassie.
One part prose poetry, one part witchy insights, and one part study in learning the tarot, this book explores this mundane divination form for beginners and experts alike.
This cartomancy book was birthed from DeBlassie’s creative tarot studies in which she wrote 78-word prose poems for each of the 78 cards in the deck, using synchronicity, everyday magic, and her budding understanding of tarot symbolism and meanings to craft her tales.
It’s not your basic how-to-read tarot book, but more a how-to begin a conversation with this divination tool. As any tarot reader can tell you, dealing the deck is more than interpreting cards. It’s about building a relationship with this mystic tool and learning how you and the tarot can work together to discover numinous revelations.
This book is a series of proverbial spells. A series of stories. A series of synchronous messages and mystic musings. A journey into learning the tarot. Are you ready to start your adventure?
About the author
Maria DeBlassie, Ph.D. is a native New Mexican mestiza blogger, award-winning writer, and award-winning educator living in the Land of Enchantment. Her first book, Everyday Enchantments: Musings on Ordinary Magic & Daily Conjurings (Moon Books 2018), and her ongoing blog, Enchantment Learning & Living are about everyday magic, ordinary gothic, and the life of a kitchen witch. When she is not practicing her own brand of brujeria, she’s reading, teaching, and writing about bodice rippers and things that go bump in the night. She is forever looking for magic in her life and somehow always finding more than she thought was there.
Writing Werewolf 