Tarot 101 by Kim Huggens

Tarot 101 provides a “complete course in Tarot” that aims to demystify “the art of card reading in an exciting new way”. Just like Mary K Greer’s approach in 21 Ways to Read a Tarot Card, Kim Huggens has also broken her book into 22 lessons. But that is where the similarity ends. Huggens has taken a theme-based approach to learning the cards. For example, in chapter 4 she groups The High Priestess, The Empress and The Star as the Major Arcanas Feminine Archetypes.

Huggens shares her wealth of knowledge and encourages her readers to develop their own. Each chapter includes valuable information that both links to the topic and builds on what has gone before, exercises that get you delving into your own tarot deck, and a further reading section that I consider a fantastic addition. By including the further reading suggestions and/or websites within each chapter, the list isn’t overwhelming and each recommendation aligns with the topic at hand. If you want to go deeper, Huggens has kindly provided some starting points.

Many chapters also offer a spread that intimately connects to the material being covered. And, as someone who finds it highly beneficial to explore what I think in writing, I love that in many of the chapters one of the exercises includes questions for journaling. Tarot 101 is definitely not a book to be read passively. It’s all about doing.

For example, for each of the Major Arcana cards there is a breakdown of common symbols used on each of the cards and what they typically represent, there’s keywords as well as what the card may represent in terms of a particular person and something I really like is how she finds examples from both literature and film that reflects the card.

The benefit for me in writing these reviews is that I am actively revisiting my tarot books and in so doing I’m rediscovering how wonderful they are.

About the Author

Kim Huggens began her exploration of tarot as a child. She has co-created four tarot decks, two with Erik C Dunne (Tarot Apokalypsis and Tarot Illuminati) and two with Nic Phillips (Pistis Sophia: The Goddess Tarot and Sol Invictus: The God Tarot). She has an undergraduate degree in Philosophy and an MA in Religion in Late Antiquity and has edited anthologies linked with her studies (Memento Mori (2012), Vs.: A Collection of Essays on Duality and Conflict in Magick, Mythology and Paganism (2010), From a Drop of Water: A Collection of Magickal Reflections on the Nature, Creatures, Uses and Symbolism of Water (2009)) as well as contributing to many others (Horns of Power: Manifestations of the Horned God; Priestesses, Pythonesses & Sibyls: The Sacred Voices of Women who Speak with and for the Gods; Conjure Codex: A Compendium of Invocation, Evocation and Conjuration).

Tarot 101 Contents

This book balances a lot of information with a plethora of activities to create a fantastic resource perfect for those interested in tarot. Its title may suggest it is only for beginners but, even as someone who has been working with tarot cards for over twenty years, I found her approach made for interesting reading.

Publishing details

Published by:

Llewellyn Publications

Pictured Version:

First Edition, 10th printing, 2018

Pages:

336 pp.