The Only Tarot Book You'll Ever Need: Gain insight and truth to help explain the past, present, and future.

by Skye Alexander

This lovely, full-color guide to tarot provides everything you need to know to read tarot—whether it’s a traditional reading, or a reading for self-reflection or self-discovery.

Not long ago, getting your cards read would have conjured images of a mystic shrouded in scarves with a crystal ball, waving her hands over a spread of cards. Today, a tarot reading is as common as going to yoga or texting a friend. It’s the new way to seek guidance—whether that’s relationship advice or what outfit to wear today.

With the help of this beautifully illustrated guide, you’ll be able to harness this skill to read your own future in tarot cards. Filled with custom card images and easy-to-understand descriptions of each card and many different reading layouts, The Only Tarot Book You’ll Ever Need will help you to master the tarot, whether your aim is to perform traditional readings, consult the cards as part of a daily self-care ritual, use them for interactive self-reflection, or rely on them as a tool for thinking through particular challenges or questions.

Genres: Tarot, Nonfiction, Witchcraft, Reference, Divination, Occult, Spirituality

195 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 2008

Reviews

[Mary Ann Spier]

The title doesn't lie- this book does a good job of summarizing what every card means, what they mean together and how to perform a variety of readings. What I liked best is the author's perspective on how to think about tarot readings and to use them as a way to organize your thoughts and look for insight rather than think of it as mystical fortunetelling or something hokey.

[Yolanda]

Tarot cards are basically, in my view, symbolic meditation devices or ways of focusing your mind / cutting through the fuzz to see the root of a problem. They use symbolism, and Alexander is quick to explain the Jungian reasons why this works. There's no magic or dark art in it imo, aside from that if you read tarot cards professionally, you need to be bloody good at understanding people. This is a good book for explaining what meanings the cards traditionally have. It's also quite dated in terms of the fact that it's hugely heteronormative. "If the querent is a man, the Queen of Cups may symbolise the woman in his life..." What if he's gay? And presumably if the querent is a lesbian or bisexual woman, the Queen also means that, yes? Also, giving examples of connotations to do with babies, motherhood or pregnancy literally every time a mature woman or females generally are represented is a massive turnoff for me. I'm not planning on having children, and mature and powerful women should have an identity beyond "mother of the blah blah blah person." Otherwise the implied message is that I am being unnatural and also somehow un-female. And that's not a very nice thing to say.

It's also pretty odd to read stuff about it being futile to fight off the advance of age just as Madonna turns 60 and fails to dodder around the place in a Marks and Sparks cardigan - I'm pretty sure nobody is trying to achieve eternal life by looking and acting young; they probably just want to appear as young as they feel for as long as they feel young, and everyone knows even plastic surgery has its limits. Again, that comment was definitely aimed at women, though men using dodgy hair dye etc is so common that it's almost a joke. This is definitely the point at which New Age ideas start reinforcing what seem to be some pretty 1950s stereotypes.

The final point I would make is that this book sells itself as the only tarot book anyone would ever need, but makes reference vaguely to ways of reading the cards that are not fully explained. Since most of us do not live in a hippie commune of fortune tellers where such things are a normal subject of discussion - though frankly, esoteric ways of interpreting symbols would be better office chat than any more about *!+":@?| diets - we might expect an authoritative text to give us a summary. Otherwise it's not authoritative!

In summary: 4 stars for content
2 stars for the unwanted cultural baggage which erases LGBTQ culture and child free women

[Loran (Inked with Curiosity)]

This is a fabulous book! It gives very accurate interpretations for all the cards in a tarot deck, both upright and reversed and it's not partial to a particular deck so anybody can use this book with whatever deck they have. It gives a lot of insight into symbols used in many decks, some history behind tarot and the major arcana cards, and the interpretations behind all of the cards were spot on. There was an abundance of information to work with and for being such a small book I was impressed. Is it actually the only book of tarot I will ever need? Doubtful. But it's a great resource and a good book for beginners!

[J]

This is my FAVOURITE tarot book ever! It is an amazing book for tarot beginner. The interpretation of each card in the deck is precise and insightful; it does help me with my everyday reading and some particular problems that I encountered in my life.

[Eila]

No conozco mucho de este tema, es más, hasta este día nunca me han hecho una lectura, pero la pandemia fue una etapa muy rara y a mediados del 2020, el tarot me empezó a llamar, me dieron ganas de conocerlo, no tanto de que me lo leyeran sino de usarlo como herramienta para mi. Le di vueltas y vueltas y finalmente me compré un mazo que me encantó y este libro. Me gustó y lo recomiendo, no sé (y no creo) que sea realmente el único libro que necesitarás, pero sí me dio mucha idea de lo que estaba buscando. Me parecía complejísimo entender el significado individual del 78 cartas y está explicado tan fácilmente que desde el principio (menos del 20% del libro) ya tenía mucha noción de lo que representaba cada cosa y pude empezar a practicar lecturas sencillas. Lo recomiendo para alguien que esté iniciando en esto. La edición impresa trae imágenes muy chulas que ayudan a aprender aunque no tengas mazo.

[Emily]

If you struggle finding the meanings to tarot cards and the guide that comes with your cards isn't helping much, then pick this up.

Breakdowns included for each card, along with handy tips for how to read them without these black/white meanings of each card.

Really is the only tarot book you'll ever need.

[Lesley Halliday]

Superb and very informative book on the tarot, although I have read it from cover to cover I still refer back to it frequently. It’s well written and packed full of information although I have other tarot books this one is my favourite.

[Elizabeth]

Exactly what I needed to refresh my knowledge of tarot. This book is also a quick reference guide. I've more complex books on tarot for deeper development. This book is great for the novice or for rebuffing knowledge that has been forgotten after years of absence.

[Rachel]

Simple, to the point, and already aligned with my own interpretations. This is a great companion book for beginning tarot readers.

[Emma Berry]

Succinct and interesting, this is such a handy book for quick references - whether you are a beginner or a seasoned tarot reader!

[Ashley]

Pretty good, got some great info to start learning to read tarot. Glad it was from the library cause I don't see myself grabbing it again but I'm grateful for the introductory information.

[Chani]

The perfect, straight to the point, quick-check, reference book for tarot. Keep it handy when using the tarot and you will quickly learn and memorise the card meanings. Some of the reverse meanings are different than mine but that is tarot- we all have our own slightly different takes on the cards and what they mean to us and in the context of our experience and intuition- so I would recommend that you read the meaning and then go with what resonates at the time- that will be the correct meaning. I would definitely recommend this book as a beginners book for tarot. It’s also handy when you need a fresh insight into a card that has become familiar to you. But why stop there- as you deep dive into tarot you may need a more insightful book which explains the ‘how’ of tarot - this would be a life long journey, though and I’m sure there’s many books out there that would bring much more to your understanding.

[Susan]

I'm particularly attached to my copy of The Tarot Revealed by Eden Gray, which my grandmother gave me, but though I don't have the same sentimental attachment to this, I found it a really a pretty solid primer, especially for someone just getting started with doing readings. Though Alexander delves a bit into the history, I think the author is wise for touching lightly upon the (oft-debated) lore and therefore making this accessible for the witchiest among us as well as those who see the cards more as a journaling/refocusing tool than anything mystical. The major focus is getting to brass tacks on the cards themselves, and the descriptions of attributed meanings, symbolism, and position in readings is relatively straightforward and easy to follow. I felt like this gave me a better grasp on some of the more slippery cards and made interpretation feel less daunting.

[Gemini]

Out of all the tarot books I have read, this one really resonated w/ me. Super insightful. I thought it was really well done in how they explain tarot & the different minor & major arcana. It was pretty detailed but also understandable which makes a difference since that's an important part of tarot. They way they tie everything together on what each suite signifies & how it relates to astrology & the four elements. Throughout the book there are these 'Tricks of Tarot" which I found to be pretty useful & clever. So definitely check this out, I am going to add this to my bookshelf for good reference.

[Brigitte]

It was ok and I felt that I got quite a lot out of it. I borrowed the ebook from amazon and it would definitely be more useful as the paperback to have a copy to refer back to. It really does have some great insights.

[Chelsea Moffatt]

A great reference for quick info, dry to read & heavily Leans in a Christian direction & is meant for the rider Waite or universal golden tarot imagery .

Helpful for beginners looking for a quick read & even quicker reference during readings.

[Gemma]

Great introduction to Tarot. The images used are of the Rider Waite deck which is what I use so that was also very well appreciated and made learning to understand and use the Tarot much swifter

[Sheila Kanja]

Good for beginners. :)

[Melissa Baynard]

Definitely helpful. I love how in depth it is

[Pamela]

Extremely informative. I'm going to have to read it a few times in order to remember everything I need to know about the cards. I'm excited to begin!

[Erin]

Best tarot book I've ever read

[Amanda]

It was really intristing, if slightly confusing

[Giang Vũ]

Good

[Daniela Mercedes Guerrero]

Un libro súper completo y acertado para entender desde cero , no se lee de un día a otro es una guía diaria y s establece como el libro de consulta de la mesa de noche.

[Michael]

This book gives you a quick understanding of the tarot foundation and is the perfect starting point to begin practicing with a deck.

[Avril Haughey]

I bought this as I am a lifelong tarot reader. Was given 2 beautiful new packs for last Xmas.

[Candice Grizer]

A clear and concise guide. Explains Tarot in a thoughtful and easy to understand fashion.

[Gruiere Locke]

Easy to navigate, read, understand, learn and take notes from, I love this very much as my first tarot book. I will definitely be delving into Skye Alexander's other works.

[Elena]

A very interesting book about Tarot cards, not too little, not too much of history and interpretations.
The given spreads are also very useful.

[Grey]

I reference back to this book often. It breaks down the cards very well especially if you have the Walter's deck. I also really appreciate that it includes the reversed card meanings as well because a lot of the books books that I've come across don't use or touch on reversed meanings. I have a hard time reversing the meaning by myself sometimes so it is nice to have something to reference to.

I've had this book for a few years now and the title is honestly very accurate for me. It works well for my practice and helps me practice with my intuition almost like a mini 'flashcard' or 'fact check' even though I don't believe cards have a strict meaning assigned to them. It is a good reference for the broad meanings that are placed upon the cards.