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| Home > Books & Reviews > Pagan > Designing Your Own Tarot Spreads | Search |
Designing Your Own Tarot Spreads |
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Teresa Michelsen's Designing Your Own Tarot Spreads is the fourth thin volume in Llewellyn's Special Topics in Tarot, a series of books on advanced or specialized Tarot techniques. When most people learn the Tarot, they spend a great deal of time learning the various Tarot cards and their possible meanings, but generally confine themselves to the standard layouts given in most Tarot books. You probably know the main three by heart as almost every Tarot book published talks about the Celtic Cross spread, the Tree of Life spread, and the Astrological (or Horoscope) spread. Some books give a handful of others, often based on the theme of a particular deck. A few books, like Power Tarot, are devoted to specialized layouts. Teresa's new book is the first book I've seen that talks about how to design your own Tarot Spreads in any detail. The book is divided into two sections. The first section discusses the theory of tarot layout design. That is, it talks about the many considerations which go into designing a custom tarot layout. The basic elements that go into a layout probably seem obvious. However, it turns out that there are a number of not always obvious considerations that go into determining something looks like it should be fairly simple, such as the number of cards to use. This first half of the book has chapters discussing the type of question the layout is for, the size of the layout, the definitions of each card in the layout, the physical position of the cards, special cards like a significator, and how the cards are placed and read. There is much more to consider than I expected, but the author covers the options quickly but carefully. Examples abound in the first half of the book, although they are often not explained in any detail. The second half is devoted to inspirational examples. While there is more explanation here, the author really never takes you step by step through a design. While I thought this would be a major lack when I first scanned through the book, it turned out not to be one in practice. The clear explanation of the first half of the book coupled with the ideas and inspiration for various types of layout designs in the second half of the book left me quite confident in my ability to design a useful layout. The exercises throughout the book helped build that confidence as well. Designing Your Own Tarot Spreads is one of the most useful Tarot books I've read in a long time. Of course, I've always been fascinated by tarot layouts. I've wondered why my attempts to design tarot layouts seldom worked as well in actual use as they did in my imagination. This book answered that question. I simply was not considering many of the little things that go into making a useful Tarot layout. Don't get me wrong, designing a good new spread is still a matter of trial and error. But after studying this book, one can avoid most of the common problems. Michaelsen has written a book that fills a long-existing void in Tarot material. I highly recommend this small book to any Tarot reader interested in understanding and/or designing Tarot layouts. Reviewed by Randall |
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