Tarot Spreads for Love, Career and More by Ian Eshey
Self published, 2013
Rating: 3 decks
Tarot Spreads for Love, Career and More attempts to demystify spreads and show the reader how to harness the power of a good spread. Eshey uses the introduction to frame the rest of the book. He explains his philosophy and how a reader can get the most out of the book. The rest of the chapters break down various spreads by theme. He starts out with many of the most common spreads readers use, and then delves into spreads used for love, money and other topics.
This book is a great beginner’s guide to spreads. Eshey takes the time to delve into some popular spreads that can often confuse new readers. He shares the layout of what that spread looks like, then he breaks each position down into what it asks and gives you a example from his real life. There is a wide variety of spreads and examples from Eshey’s own life in this book.
What I didn’t like about Tarot Spreads for Love, Career and More is that sometimes the stories Eshey uses doesn’t add up and really seem to answer the question that the querent gave at the beginning of the “session.” Many of the stories, don’t give a specific card and how that card relates back to the position of the spread. I also found that in Chapter 2, his image for the “Card of the Day” spread doesn’t seem to align with the description. This threw me off a bit.
Other than the stories being a bit too fitting and not using actual cards, I liked the book. The introduction was were I got my biggest bang for my buck with how Eshey describes his take on the purpose of spreads and how to get the most out of them. He includes many key tips for getting the most out of a spread and I was impressed how he distilled the purpose of the Major, Minor, and Court cards with ease.
Bottom Line: If you are new to Tarot and want to understand spreads and see how they can work for you, then you’ll like Tarot Spreads for Love, Career and More. Eshey’s philosophy of “people like to play,” so “make an experience interesting, you get more and more immersed in it. It really is as simple as that.” I think that beginners and advanced Tarot enthusiasts alike can find insights from this book.
