Tarot for Grownups ~ that's what it means, it's not for kids

 

I have authored three tarot books, and these three tarot books are very different, each one uniquely focused on an aspect of the tarot that sets it apart from the other books.  One of these books is apparently somewhat controversial:  Tarot for Grownups.  I remember offering a copy of this book to a woman who is in the new-age magazine publishing business, anxious to get her opinion on it, and when she finally messaged me back, the email was one sentence that said:  "I don't get it."

That was disappointing, as well as a little confusing, as my intentions for this book were quite clear.

I had read an astrology book titled "The Dark Side of the Zodiac", and wow, was it ever.  I loved it!  We all know that Libra isn't always about beauty and love, sometimes she's a whore; and Aquarius isn't all new-agey and quirky and unique, sometimes she's a cold bitch.  It's true, with all twelve signs, there is another side we were ignoring.  I loved reading this book, it took reality and threw it all over the pages so it spilled out in recognizable personalities -- the good, the bad, and especially the ugly.  It was refreshing!  

So I decided to do the same thing with tarot, and I must say, I thought I was actually pretty gentle about it, because I could've been way more blunt -- way more. Yes, really.

Now, the negative side of the tarot is not usually a subject for focus, it's actually discouraged.  It's mostly glossed over and ignored in the fluffy bunny white-light feel-good tarot community, but the tarot has a dark side, and so do we.  I was tired of all the hoopla and attention being put on always being positive and upbeat and avoiding anything even remotely negative connected to the querent or the cards.  Well, this attitude doesn't begin to approach real life, and this isn't doing your querent any good.  Sometimes people need to hear the truth, even if it's nitty-gritty, kind of like a napkin with coffee stains on it.  At least they can clearly see where the issues are and what needs attention to straighten out their energy and their lives.

People don't come to have a reading when their life is all hunky dory and their world is coming up roses.  They come for a reading when they are in trouble, threatened, confused, vulnerable and sometimes hurting.  They come for a reading when they need help, and they need some honest advice.  They want answers, they don't want shiny new-age euphemisms.  

So, voila... Tarot for Grownups.

I can always tell when someone has written a book review without thoroughly reading the book, especially when they get all high-horse and blunder the review.  Case in point:

There was a ranting review left at Amazon complaining about the book being "all dark".  The reviewer stated:  "...it's all very well selling this book as a no nonsense, cut-and-dried kind of book but I felt that the author had a very negative approach with no positive traits in her descriptions of people."

Excuse me, Sarah.  You didn't read the book, did you?  Come on, you can tell me, you glossed through it, didn't you?

• On page 95, paragraph two:  

"In the section of this book identifying the court cards, my intention was to concentrate on the dark side, because it's this side that we so often need more insight into and it's this side that causes all the problems; but for the purpose of choosing a significator, we also have to recognize the positive aspects of our own personality, and I'm going to give you a brief description here of the lighter side, the softer edge, to the court cards."

And then I do just that.