Book Review: Karmic Tarot

Once you're comfortable doing readings for yourself and others, if you want to take a longer-term approach, you may want to look into Karmic Tarot: A Profound System for Finding and Following Your Life's Path by William C. Lammey. I emphasize experience with readings because this book is definitely not for beginners. Also, this book gives a different approach which is not compatible with the traditional Celtic Cross spread.

The spread used in the book has 22 positions, one for each of the Major Arcana cards. The positions are arranged on a grid of seven columns and four rows. The seven columns represent seven stages of life, from birth to the future. The four columns represent the physical, emotional, mental and spiritual planes. Some of the positions will overlap two life stages. The interpretation of each card in the spread starts with a more traditional interpretation, but is modified by the Major Arcana card governing the position in the spread.

Another interesting thing about the book is that the Minor Arcana cards are interpreted using a combination of suit and number, as opposed to the more common method of extrapolating from the pictures on the cards. The author says he likes to use decks with simple arrangements of the suit symbols instead of descriptive pictures because that allows more flexibility of interpretation. That's an idea that merits further study, and I'll post more on that later.

I plan on giving this system a try some time in the future. I'll post again when I do.