Book Review: Your Tarot Guide: Quick and Easy Card Readings
- Author: Kirsten and S. Roe Buchholzer and Beate Staack
- Publisher: Llewellyn Your Tarot Guide | Llewellyn Worldwide, Ltd.
- Date of Publication: May 2026
- RRP: US $19.99 / GB £17.99
- Reviewer: Cadence (IG: @temperanceandtruth)
When I was asked to review Your Tarot Guide, my first thought was oh my gosh, how many beginner tarot guides do we possibly need?? While I don’t know the answer to that question, certainly the many different styles and suggestions in beginner texts will work for some and not so much for others. I believe Your Tarot Guide will appeal to many beginners due to its unique format and abbreviated entries.
The book is structured like so many others, beginning with a primer on tarot history and origins. After, there is a fantastic section of FAQs such as ‘how to find the right deck for me?’ and ‘what questions should I avoid?’ and ‘what do I do with jumpers?’. This inviting approach is great, as these are the types of questions that new readers may feel uncomfortable or shy about asking. The next section includes a few spreads as well as suggestions for how to use the guide.
The meat of the book, the card interpretations, employs a bare-bones method in list format that will give overwhelmed beginners a solid and approachable means to start reading. All Major Arcana cards and the Courts are given a two-page spread, one side noting the upright meanings and correspondences and the opposite side providing the shadow/reversal meaning. The Minors follow a similar format but are given one page each.
Let’s look at a few examples. In the Hanged Man, the Light (aka, Upright) side of the page provides the following:
Affirmation: “It takes as long as it takes”
Archetype: The victim
Numerology: 12: Completion, things are coming together (1+2=3; connection to the Empress)
Element: Water
Astrology: Neptune
Basics: Passivity, lockdown, surrender, sacrifice, letting go, change of perspective
Feelings: Relaxed, observant, held on, peaceful, free of responsibility
Recommendation for Action: Accept this situation and give in.
On the Shadow/Reversal side, we have:
Challenges: + “I try to speed things up.”; – “I fall into pessimism!”
Basics: Urge to act, loss of control, senseless activity, getting worked up about something, stagnation
Feelings: Powerless, unable to act, at the mercy of others, overwhelmed
Suggestion for Improvement: Relax and allow what is happening!
This is a truly great concise list of information to provide a beginner. It’s not overwhelming. It’s simple to look up. And, most importantly, it is easy to understand. I particularly like the Recommendation for Action and Suggestion for Improvement sections. Those could serve as easy-to-remember key phrases for the beginner reader.
In the Ace of Swords, we have a similar setup, though, again, the Minor Arcana are only given one page. While it’s generally a point of contention that Minors are afforded less emphasis than the Majors, for the purposes of this book, I’m unbothered by this. I appreciate the inclusion of the Tarot Numerology, an essential aspect of card reading that is often-overlooked, especially in beginner manuals.
The use of the dark text boxes for the Shadow side creates an easy way to flip through the book and find what you’re looking for; whether that was intentional or not, I’m unsure, but it really works well. This is a US-based publisher, and the primary deck first used by beginning tarot readers in the US is the Rider Waite Smith, so it makes sense that this book uses the RWS imagery for each card. The card images are in color, another nice touch.
The book concludes with a helpful glossary followed by a list of Recommended Reading for further knowledge…all Llewellyn-published texts (which makes sense, why wouldn’t they promote their own great work? I’ve read nearly all of the books listed, and they are all written by tarot luminaries such as Mary K. Greer, Rachel Pollack, and Ethony Dawn).
All in all, this beginner guide exceeded my expectations. It reminds me a little of my first tarot book, which I used until it was falling apart. The bullet list format and short but mighty descriptions will be a great asset to new readers. I am passing this copy along to my teenage daughter, a budding reader who will undoubtedly appreciate the smart format and welcoming tone of the authors.
Authors bios:
Kirsten Buchholzer is a German author and teacher blending traditional tarot with psychological insights in her books, workshops, and engagements with others. Find about more about Kirsten at www.diemantiker.de; www.tarotwissen.de; Instagram: @tarotwissen; and YouTube: @GeheimnisakademieTarot.
S. ROE Buchholzer is the Chairman of Tarot e.V. and is well-known in the tarot world for use of his psychic abilities, training, and speaking events. He has co-authored several books with his wife, Kirsten Buchholzer. Find out more about S. ROE at tarotverband.de; on Instagram: @roe.der.mantiker; and YouTube: @GeheimnisakademieTarot.
Beate Staack, known as Bea, is a spiritual coach and tarot mentor consulting the next generation of readers on their path via her online courses. In addition to her work in Tarot, Bea is trained in the Human Design System, which she uses in her Tarot practice. Find out more about Bea at Instagram.com/tarot_official and www.tarot-academy.de.
