Unlike many beginning books on the Tarot (including other books by this author), this one doesn't tell you what the cards mean. In the first part of this guide, Moore focuses on teaching readers a set of five techniques for beginners to learn card meanings for the first time and for more experienced readers to become acquainted with a new deck or review what they know about their current decks. Moore summarizes her techniques, then leads the reader through them. In the second part of the book, Moore helps readers make the transition to doing tarot readings. She doesn't demonstrate any particular spread, but guides readers through the process of setting up a reading and then scanning the spread for general themes. Reading the individual cards, often the focus of other tarot guides, is barely mentioned.

Moore has done a fine job of boiling an intricate topic down to a manageable amount of information. Of course, one reason this guide is so short (my Kindle app is having trouble coming up with a page count, but I'm guessing this is about 30 pages long) is because the reader will be doing all the "work": coming up with their own meanings for the cards instead of reading them from the book, teaching themselves what a spread is saying—but that's hardly a bad thing! Because the author is teaching a technique rather than listing definitions, this book isn't tied to just Rider-Waite-Smith decks; it could easily be used with Thoth-type decks, and possibly even with some non-tarot oracle decks. Moore doesn't mention reversals until the part about doing readings. Beginners following her suggestions will probably have read other authors' takes on reversals by then, but it seems an odd omission for an introductory guide to the Tarot. I agree with Moore that scanning readings for themes isn't as emphasized as it should be, and I think she's done a good job of outlining an approach that Tarot readers can use for any reading. This is a good, simple guide to learning the Tarot. ( )