The Tarot Book of the Dead: A Chthonic Journey of Death, Mediumship, and the Art of Guiding Souls

by Jenna Matlin

The Tarot Book of the Dead fills a major gap, as there is currently no comprehensive guide to tarot mediumship, grief work, and psychopomp practice, despite the growing interest in these areas. Matlin offers readers not just techniques but also a transformational experience that reclaims tarot’s deep historical and mythological relationship with death. Tarot can provide comfort and meaning for the grieving, help us center our own truth regarding mortality, and honor the spirit about to cross over. This book shows tarot readers that mediumship is absolutely within their birthright.

The Tarot Book of the Dead is structured as a chthonic journey, a descent into the Underworld, a trial within the depths, an ascent with wisdom, and a return to the living world forever changed. The structure honors the transformational paths in myths of descent, from Persephone’s underworld journey to Orpheus’s search for Eurydice. The book is divided into four parts. Each part has a collection of chapters that are headlined by a Major Arcana card that acts as a gatekeeper. That Major Arcana card offers an invitation, followed by a lesson to be learned, a challenge (activity) to do, and, finally, permission by that Major Arcana card to go on to the next gatekeeper. Through this mythic journey, readers will confront their own relationship to death, learn tarot mediumship, engage in grief work, and explore psychopomp practices.

The Tarot Book of the Dead focuses on several main themes: the dying, the dead, and the grieving. A reader could use this book just for their own personal work, but the book also has guidance for people in fields that touch on death, such as death midwives and doulas, grief workers, hospice carers, and mediums. The Tarot Book of the Dead is, at its heart, an initiatory process that functions as a hands-on how-to manual in which the reader will deepen their practice with tarot and death. Like its namesakes The Egyptian Book of the Dead and The Tibetan Book of the Dead, it guides readers on a journey to death and the afterlife.

272 pages, Paperback

Published October 5, 2026

About the author

Jenna Matlin holds an M.S. in Organizational Psychology and B.A. in Anthropology, with end-of-life doula training through INELDA and completed training in psychedelic integration support. Named Philadelphia Magazine's Spiritual Guru of 2019, her book, Will You Give Me a Reading? received the 2023 COVR Silver Visionary Award. Since 2012, she has maintained a full-time tarot practice, known for highly intuitive and innovative techniques. Her revolutionary approach to tarot mediumship specifically helps clients navigate grief, death, and communication with the dead. Based in Chapel Hill, NC, she teaches internationally and speaks at conferences. Learn more at www.jennamatlin.com

Reviews

[Tracye Quinlan · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is for anyone who loves tarot, not just those wanting to use it for mediumship.

Years ago, Jenna's class on tarot for mediumship set me on the path to becoming a medium. This book feels like the compilation of everything she's ever taught me — except now it's bound and I can hold it.

It's not a guidebook. It's a journey, and you're the protagonist. Each chapter — called an Aeon — drops you into conversation with the god, saint, or force behind the card: the cold dark at the base of a volcano, a deserted city of the dead. I did the Death's Challenge meditation and literally cried. Didn't see that coming.

If you love tarot — whether mediumship is your path or not — this will change your relationship with your deck. It's like knowing a friend for years, then finally hearing their origin story.