Red Feather/Schiffer Publishing, September 2024
Description: 176-page paperback book
Book Size: 6 x 9
"One single card is not a complete reading because each card you lay down tells more of the story."
"Decode Tarot takes you from reading upright only along with traditional meanings into specific combinations, crosses, and reversals that have proved accurate by testing them over thousands of readings and client feedback."
Master the Minors, Master the Courts, and Master the Majors.
After a short introduction, Part One: Mastering the Minors begins with a brief look at the Tarot cards as a whole, separating them into sections, and a glance at the different suits.
The Suits And Their Personalities is very revealing, although I would have liked to have a little more on this topic. The Celtic cross is covered briefly, along with reversals, combinations, and timing.
Timing: "I never waiver from a one-month format and assign 30 days to each card."
As you begin the journey through the Minors, you'll see the number/element, main keyword(s), an image from the Rider-Waite Deck, information about the card, combinations and reversals. This is not the typical list of combinations. The author explains the reasoning for the combinations and gives examples.
There are reading examples throughout, but also full readings. Within the Master the Minors, there are two full readings. One is
"I Just Lost My Job!". The author explains what she sees within the cards and then explains how she presents the reading to the client. She also gives a gem of information about the last card of the Celtic Cross.
"If the last card is not a Major Arcana, I keep laying down cards, each representing 30 days, to see how long this phase will last."
Part Two: Master the Courts starts with a
Traditional Overview Of The Court Cards, followed by
Here Are My Exceptions to These Rules That Have Served Me Well.
"Pages are dependent people, whether they are under 18 of age or an adult, with limited capacity to support themselves."
Each Court is presented with images, a brief overview, a list of people and characters who fit within the family, and a deeper dive into the family, with combinations and reversals. There is another full reading in this section, along with other gems of knowledge.
"Generally, I read Kings and Queens as people first and energy second."
Mastering the Majors begins with an introduction to the
Divine Councils: Guardians, Teachers and Mentors, Guides, and Angels.
The Journey of the Fool opens the door to the Major Arcana. After each card's name and an image, the text walks you through a summary of the card, including meanings, reversals and combinations.
"The World completes the road from the young novice with the heroic Fool's heart to a well-rounded and wise conclusion described by the World."
"If this life's journey was expressed in a straight line, it would look like this:" Debra Zachau shares her thoughts on the Fool's Journey through each of the Major cards.
A short conclusion page wraps up the guide.
I did a few personal readings, using the Decode Tarot. The overall readings did not change, but I felt they went a little deeper because of the added knowledge of the cards.
There was only one thing in this whole book I found a little off-putting. The author does not believe one should read for themselves; therefore, the text refers to the client as a reference point.
I, personally, have never had trouble reading for myself. I've reached out to others on occasion to confirm to myself I wasn't mis-reading because of my closeness to the situation. They've always come back with very similar readings. I believe you can determine whether reading for yourself results in good readings.
I highly recommend Decode Tarot by Debra Zachau to anyone, and everyone, interesting in learning or diving deeper into the Tarot.
Grab your copy at Red Feather/Schiffer Publishing.
(Review Product supplied by Schiffer Publishing)
