The Modern Witchcraft Book of Tarot: Your Complete Guide to Understanding the Tarot

by Skye Alexander

Learn how tarot cards can unlock the secrets of the past, present, and future in the latest book of the Modern Witchcraft series.

For centuries, witches have used the tarot to seek insights into the past, present, and future. Today, a new generation is discovering the wonder of divining through the cards. Expert tarot reader Skye Alexander shares the many meanings of the cards within the Major and Minor Arcana.

Featuring twelve of the most popular spreads and easy-to-follow explanations of how tarot readings can be interpreted, The Modern Witchcraft Book of Tarot is the essential guide for successful, insightful tarot readings.

Genres: Witchcraft, Tarot, Nonfiction, Spirituality, Magic, Occult, Wicca

288 pages, Hardcover

Published May 9, 2017

Reviews

[Carrie (The Butterfly Reader) · Rating 5 out of 5]

Love this! I will be using it often. One of my favorite books on Tarot yet!

[Missi · Rating 3 out of 5]

3-3.5 A cute book for someone with witchy leanings just beginning tarot. Includes a large section of standard card interpretations with traditional Rider-Waite depictions for reference, as well as a section of spreads. A bit of the material is repeated throughout, and it certainly never gets too deep into anything. It's also, as you'd expect by the title, a Wicca-centric approach to tarot, with a fun little chapter on spells that incorporate the cards.

[Elise · Rating 4 out of 5]

Modern Witchcraft Book of Tarot by Skye Alexander

**I received the book in a giveaway on Goodreads**

I'm very interested and intrigued with learning everything about tarot this book isn't only beautiful but packed full of useful information.
Perfect for a beginner, very detailed and easy to understand.

I highly recommend this book to anyone that wants to learn about reading tarot cards.

Probably my favorite book I've ever received. Thank you to the author, publisher and everyone involved in the creation of the book.

Elise-Capricorn Book Reviews 🐐♑📚

[Bianca · Rating 2 out of 5]

a little preachy and really spends a lot of time for a short book plugging her other books.

Touched on cultural topics without going into enough detail or offering pronunciation assistance.

Would explain things but leave out important details like the why and the how.

Probably best for people who have done their own research prior to studying. I spent a lot of time searching terms and pronunciations through other sources to better understand references.

[Naava · Rating 2 out of 5]

So very cishetnormative, so very binaristic (is that a word? it is now). We're not all binary cishets.

Some card meanings introduced made my eyebrows shoot high up on my (admittedly high) forehead, but that's not necessarily a bad thing. We all interpret things differently. Some meanings shed light to cards that I had had difficulties with.

[taylor · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is definitely a book to consider as a guide to beginning your Tarot journey! Immersive but also simplified, you can learn the practice in a very easy, digestible manner. Everything from the meanings of colors and numbers, the breakdown of the story of the Major Arcana, and even the meanings of reversed cards.

[Anastasiia Shafran · Rating 4 out of 5]

A nice introduction for a complete novice, which I am. I like that the book offers a lot of side-mentions of other possible meanings of cards, other interpretations and so on. Of course, the book is written with a big accent on what the author herself believes, but it's nice to see the acknowledgment and advice to seek more.
There were some repetitions throughout the chapters, such as how to prepare yourself before the reading. But they weren't really disturbing.
Includes a very handy guide to standard card interpretations and a list of possible spells that include the cards.

[Rosemary · Rating 2 out of 5]

Edit 1/1/2021:

I recently discovered most of the content of this book is seemingly a nearly direct copy of one of her other books "The Only Tarot Book You'll Ever Need". This comes across as super lazy, and I was really hoping that two books on the same general subject would at least be written differently enough that I might glean additional information. I have decreased my rating of this book as a result of this discovery. Luckily the book this one borrows heavily from was gifted to me so I didn't spend my money on two nearly identical books.

Original Review 10/2020:

This book has a wealth of information that is highly accessible. I definitely enjoyed going through it with my cards and reading the different descriptions carefully to work on solidifying associations. However, I feel like the book sometimes falls super flat- whether not touching on super obvious imagery in some cards, randomly bringing up a ton about feng shui at the end, or the entire "spells" section, which frankly should have been omitted in my opinion, it's kind of a mixed bag overall.

To elaborate on the spells part, the intro section of each of the spell categories is mostly copied and pasted from the first one, and is constantly plugging the author's other books which just comes across as pretty tacky. A fair number of them also call for destroying cards- it does say to use a deck you don't use for readings, but this is very wasteful both materially and financially.

I'd say I am definitely going to keep this around to consult as the information is concise, it's a well organized book, and I learned a lot from it, but I can't help but feel a bit deflated upon the end of my journey reading it for the first time. It could have offered more and not veered so strangely at the end.

[cami 's library. · Rating 4 out of 5]

3,5

[Alex]

‘… your self-image probably isn’t something you created yourself. It’s a patchwork affair made up of bits and pieces you’ve collected from lots of other people and influences.’

[Thalia · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very well organized introduction to the standard 78 Tarot deck; the illustrations follow that of the well known and used "Rider-Waite" deck. This book encourages intuitive interpretation of the cards based on standard illustration as well as the intended use by Arthur Edward Waite. I suggest using this book as a reference rather than a read from A to Z on tarot. There is also nice sections on tarot spreads (common 3 card, celtic cross etc) as well as tarot usage in magick.

I recommend this to beginner tarot interpreters like myself.

Disclaimer; Tarot reading is not inherently evil as common misconception; it is a mere collection of various imagery based on experiences/ dreams/ events that can help the user peer into the intuition. As for its use in prediction of the future, that remains uncertain. However, I believe that it is a great tool to communicate with the higher self, if not just for entertainment purposes

[C.L. · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book relies far too heavily on outdated ideals and the wiccan mindset of appropriating and co-opting other cultures. Not for me, though the things that Alexander quoted were interesting.

[Selva · Rating 1 out of 5]

Racist author.

[Conina · Rating 3 out of 5]

Книгата ни показва, че "модерните вещици" се интересуват от три неща - пари, работа и любов. Това деление на значенията на картите доста ме подразни, тъй като в повечето нормална литература по тази тема три-делението върви мисли-чувства-действия или разум-емоция-физика или пък божествено-астрално-профанско... Обаче тук имаме пари и работа :) Сами се сещате, че тези две значения се почти припокриват. А като говорим за пентаклите, можеше всичките значения на 14-те карти авторката да ги напише на едно място... То беше или "Ау, идват пари!" или "Ау, не идват пари!". Наясно съм, че това е за начинаещи, но такъв старт за мен е подвеждащ и неправилен.

Anyway.
Самата книга е на три раздела - общ бъртвеж, значения на картите, магии и подредби. Всичко това яко гарнирано с цитати на мъдреци, кичесто разхвърляни тук-таме.
Подредбите са няколко на брой. Тъй като авторката препоръчва да се ровим в нета. За мен това е странно, не купувам книга, за да я отворя и да прочета Влезте на сайта ми, там има много по темата... Но това съм аз и явно съм поизостанала от модерните книги :)
Магиите събудиха любопитството ми, макар да смятам, че е хубаво човек да прочете повече от една-две книги преди да се зареди със свещи, тамян, билки и хъс :)

Какво ми хареса:
* Индекс на цветовете и цифрите. Да, с по три думи е, но е ясно и прегледно и много ми допадна.
* Оформление. Ей тук е голямата гъзария <3 То е една чудесна хартия, тя е някак подстригана и рошава и ти шепне за стария тефтер на баба, пълен с тайни. Твърди жестоки корици в много пастелен цвят.

[Lenno Vranken · Rating 4 out of 5]

An amazing read that brought me closer to my Wiccan and Tarot path! This book featured everything form the meaning of every single card in the major and minor Arcana, to easy and effective guides for spellwork. Until now, I never worked with a book like this, but I'm glad I managed to finally do so. This volume was more of a guide with wich you, as a practicing witch or tarot reader in general, could sit down and work with. I really enjoyed this, because it felt like I was being teached while working with my cards. Like I already stated, this book would be amazing for witches, Wiccans and overall tarot readers alike! However, I had the feeling this book was easy to work with for me, because I already knew alot about the tarot. For the true beginner, this book might be a little bit daunting. Also, I really felt the need to read more about the author's personal thoughts and feelings about this subject, rather than just reading general information that is the same for everybody practicing the art of tarot reading. But it could be that Skye Alexander incorperated her personal thoutghs and feelings in her other witchcraft books, wich I have not yet read, but am planning to do!

[Markéta Effenbergerová · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really nicely written book that I will surely keep close in the future. Even though I don't use the Raider-Waite deck, this book taught me a lot. Like many other things in this field, tarot is very intuitive and subjective and I like to get information from different sources, but this book has become a very good base for me. I believe it can be quite useful even for non-beginners.
The last part about spells that incorporate tarot cards wasn't really for me, as I don't think I would be able to bring myself to getting a tarot deck just for spells and destroying some of the cards, but it was interesting to glimpse through nevertheless.
I was hoping that the book would go a bit more into the symbolism of each card and go into greater detail in general. I have the same problem as I had in the case of The Modern Guide to Witchcraft and that's that the author doesn't offer any further sources of information. Maybe I'm just too spoiled by academic works, but in a field like this, I would like some tips and pointers.

[Felicity · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a great introduction to the concept of tarot, I mostly bought it for the individual card meanings but the history and spells were interesting to read through. I wish there was a bit more to the history section since that's really my favorite part of the book. Also it's a big pet peeve of mine to see "magic" spelt "magick" for some reason but apparently they are two different things...

[Emily · Rating 5 out of 5]

More like a 4.5

Very good for beginner tarot readers. I would recommend this for anyone interested in divination, even if they are not interested in Wicca or witchcraft
I think my only complaint is that it does focus on Wiccan beliefs (I believe the author is Wiccan so understandable) and she plugs her other books about 3-4 times in the text

[Christine Woods · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very accessible reference for learning major and minor arcana. Not personally interested in the last 15% about spells, but the first bit is quite good.

[Luna · Rating 4 out of 5]

Slay

[ᯓ ⁺₊ lau ♱ .ᐟ · Rating 2 out of 5]

2,5
it was alright, did what it had to do. it felt a little repetitive at times and i wish it would have explained in more depth certain areas, though i understand it's directed to beginners.

[Blutrippe · Rating 4 out of 5]

It's a really good and well research book about the topic.
It helped me a lot coming back into tarot readings and also gave a lot new insights!

[Sosanna Olson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Over all a very clear and concise book. The author begins with a history and then delves into each of the suits and major arcana. I like the addition of the quotes in various sections however I did not like the look and feel of the book itself. My copy had the pages put together in a strange way which made them stick out as though the book was assembled incorrectly. I found that distracting when I was holding the book. The content however was accessible by novice and pro alike. I feel that adding the suggestion to reach out to current readers a great additional that I think is missed by other authors. We have a great deal to learn from those who came before us. A wealth of knowledge lies there and I was glad to see someone finally point that out in one of these books.

[Plateresca · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really liked this book, partly because of its elegant design, of course, but also because I had known practically nothing about Tarot before I started reading it, and in a couple of months I feel quite at ease with my deck. Not to say that having read this book means you never have to study anything else on the subject, but I do believe that this information is more than enough to get you started and going. I like it that, although the author gives profound explanations for each card, she also encourages the readers to think and interpret on their own. So, I definitely would recommend this book to any Tarot beginner.

[Raven Wells · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a great resource to begin learning about the tarot. It doesn’t get too boring or overly fluffed with analysis. She gets to the point and brings a breath of fresh air to the tarot. Highly recommend to anyone interested in diving into the tarot.

[Mae Bee · Rating 4 out of 5]

I put no “finished on” date because I will always return to this book, and thus will never be finished reading it. This is one of my go-to Tarot handbooks. I like the unusual tone and take on a classic subject. I generally appreciate Tarot books that offer new *but still credible* explanations of the cards, rather than retreading the same old ground with interpretations you could get in any beginner Tarot how-to book. I also respect that it doesn’t go so far out on a limb with such a departure from any known tradition that it becomes completely alien and unrelatable. I have no problem with major departures from tradition IF you have a specific deck to go with it - in that case, depart as far as you want. But if you are presenting your book as a handbook for practical readings using any deck, then say something that adds to the discussion without retreads or something so far out there that it teaches bad habits to new students. OK, so bringing it back to the book... Skye Alexander adds to the discussion in a big way. I have added this book to my core collection of reliable Tarot tomes. I’m a reader in the Rider-Waite tradition, and this book is enlightening and useful, no matter which of my traditional decks I’m using. It offers a perspective that has sprung out of the tradition of witch craft, and it has something new and interesting to say. It has relevance and value even for readers who aren’t interested in becoming witchcraft-based readers themselves.

[Kyle Meek · Rating 3 out of 5]

A bit disorganized and a bit boring

While I feel the meaning of the cards as interpreted by the author were well done and well written the rest of the book felt disorganized and also like the material was just a tad slapdash. Like the author just copy and pasted sections into material. It felt repetitive and quite boring. I also feel certain sections were also done a bit long with no real informative value that couldn't be found in a simple and basic Google search. Though the spells were interesting the section was riddled with those sections of slapdash copy/paste inserts that really took away from the spells presented. I feel the author could've done a lot better at refining the final work of this book. It doesn't feel like a finished book but rather a hurried draft that needs some mindful editing and better value added to the material. I really wouldn't recommend the book at all except maybe to study the spell section as there are some unique tarot based spells provided and the tarot card meanings section is also worth a gander if you are a beginner. The rest of the book could be skipped through at no loss to the reader in my opinion.

[saturn daughter ☾ · Rating 3 out of 5]

I really liked the book as a tarot beginner. I had almost no idea about what which card meant, so this introductory book was quite useful for me. Nevertheless, it is far of being a complete guide to understanding tarot. I really hate those missleading titles, they are completely unecessary!

I didn't enjoy the spell part so much. Some spells recommended writing on the tarot card, which is nonsense to me since I wouldn't be able to use the cards once they have something written on them with pen or whatever.

The book is very beautiful and nicely structed, containing upright and reversal meanings. I noticed that the author couldn't explain certain cards and instead, she would just describe what is printed on the card. I don't want to know what the card is showing to me, I want to know its meanings. But it didn't happen with most of the cards luckily.

It is a nice book for beginners, gave me a good overview and some spells were cool, but not all.

[CallahansBooks · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the first installment of the “Modern Witchcraft” series I’ve read and my biggest takeaway perhaps is author Skye Alexander’s impressive handle on her bailiwick. One doesn’t have to believe in the efficacy of tarot — peering into the past and divining the future — to enjoy a basic reading (punderdome!) on the subject. If one fancies the topic and wants a Tarot 101 on the cards, what they mean, etc., look no further. It’s an excellent guide.

Although I am someone who respectfully says “eh” to the nuts and bolts of card readings, I loved the chapters on tarot history. Because its origins are shrouded behind a haze of millennia, it is a practice belonging exclusively to no one culture or country. That alone is remarkable. Being a guidebook, “Modern Witchcraft” is very flippable. Cover-to-cover or pick-and-choose, there’s so much neat stuff in those pages that you can’t go wrong.

[Amanda · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is one of the better books on tarot that I have read. That it includes multiple spreads and quite a few spells at the back of the book is just a bonus. The information provided for each card is very thorough without using flowery words or going overboard in esoteric symbolism. I enjoyed it and see myself reaching for it on a regular basis. This is a perfect book for an introduction to tarot if you are a witch. Although, even if you don't identify as a witch, you will still get a lot of of this book. If you're a tarot enthusiast who has flirted with the thought of exploring witchcraft, I would highly recommend this book as a starting point.