All lovers of Danielle Noel’s ethereal artwork anxiously awaited the release of her book, The Book of Tarot: A Guide For Modern Mystics. If you love the Starchild Tarot and Moonchild Tarot, this one may be worth looking at…or is it? Keep reading to find out what I think of this book!
I was very excited for the release of this title. I purchased my copy via Amazon Prime for $11.55 USD (prior to taxes). As always, I am impressed with Danielle Noel’s ability to draw you in with her beautiful illustrations/collage art, color schemes and gold foil details. This book is designed similarly in the style of her tarot deck in terms of art, colors, and title fonts.
This book covers a brief overview of how the artist came to the path of tarot reading, a snippet about the tarot’s history and a description of how you can use the tarot for self reflection and spiritual guidance. This guide then opens up into the explanation and keywords associate with both the Major Arcana and Minor Arcana of the tarot. Lastly, this title wraps up with a few tarot spreads to get you on your way of self discovery and spiritual growth. I have a few pros and cons:
Pros
+ Beautifully written! Danielle Noel has a very poetic way of writing that makes you feel calm and reflective. There is no doubt that you are reading a book that is to help you with a spiritual journey. A few words may require a dictionary if you’re new to the language of Noel, but overall one easy, non-complicated read.
+ Organized and concise. Her ideas are clearly labeled and headed appropriately, which make for great referencing later when you want to return back to a topic.
+ Quality book design and clear imagery. The pages are relatively thick and great for note taking (if you’re that type of reader). All images of tarot cards inside are clear and vibrant!
+ Each card comes with a short list of “Questions To Ask”, which make great journaling prompts for tarot study.
+ This book focuses on The Starchild Tarot. If you do not have this tarot deck or you’re on the fence about purchasing it, this book is a great way to test the cards to see if you will connect to them as well as learning information about them.
Cons
+ Although it is beautifully written, I really and truly wish there were MORE information about some of the topics she mentioned, like the history of tarot, or even an account of her own spiritual practice and how you can develop your own. I know it’s labeled as The Book of Tarot but…
+ IT IS ALMOST EXACTLY LIKE THE GUIDEBOOK THAT COMES WITH THE CARDS! What about the “guide to modern mystics” part? I own both the 2nd Edition Akashic versions of The Starchild Tarot (one with borders and one without) and I have read the guidebook backward and forwards in my study of the cards for the last month, consistently. I have actually put this book and the deck’s guidebook side-by-side when reading to see the difference. There are slight differences here and there; the wording is different, but basically the concepts and keywords are the same as the guidebook.
+ Unlike the guidebook, there is no added information about chakras..which I was really looking forward to as my knowledge about it is only limited to what is published in The Starchild Tarot’s card deck guide.
Overall, I am not disappointed with my purchase as I am a huge fan of Danielle Noel’s works and anyone else who is, will enjoy this no matter what. However, from a non-biased perspective, unless you are completely new to Danielle Noel and her tarot decks, you aren’t going to get much more information from this title than what you already have with the tarot card’s guidebook. I highly recommend this book to those who are new to The Starchild Tarot and have NOT acquired the tarot deck yet. This is a great tool to have to see if you’d like the actual tarot deck.
