New this year is Llewellyn's offering of the Tarot Reader. It is a collection of articles, a daily calendar, reviews of decks and a section of some basic spreads for reading tarot.

At first I thought this was yet another 'Almanac' put out by Llewellyn, and it does, in fact, contain a daily Almanac with moon signs and phases, and major holidays, but as I began to look through the book, I found that, again, the articles are what make this a valuable tool. The 'Almanac' section can also be used as a tool for daily tarot readings, as it provides a little space for notes, or it can be used as a calendar for important dates or notations.

But back to the articles. The authors biographies, which are usually in the back of Llewellyn's almanacs, are right up front. And an impressive list of authors this is. Ruth Ann and Wald Amberstone are founders of the 'Tarot School, and authors of 'The Tarot school Correspondence Course' and 'Tarot Tips'. and put on the annual national conference 'Readers Studio' for tarot professionals. Nina Lee Braden is author of 'Tarot for Self Discovery'. Bonnie Cheovet is a tarot master, co-founder of the World Tarot Network and Director of Certification for the American Board for Tarot Certification to name just a little of her credentials. Mary K. Greer is founder and director of T.A.R.O.T. - Tools and Rites of Transformation, a learning center for the study of divination, as well as an author of many books on tarot. Elizabeth Hazel is author of 'The Tarot Decoded'. And the list goes on. All totaled, there are 18 authors, all of them providing articles or reviews on tarot decks.

The articles, which comprise the bulk of this book, are informative, well written and provide a good overview of the medium. The book is divided into chapters, focusing on the different aspects of tarot - tools, applications, further study and deck reviews. Disbursed between these articles is 'A Closer Look', which is a one page brief description of various Llewellyn decks, with some black and white line drawings of some of the cards, and a bulleted highlights of each deck.

Most memorable of the articles 'Those Darned Court Cards' by Thalassa, which provides us with a practical explanation of what many other writers seem to skim over in favor of the Major Arcana, the court cards. Thalassa explains in plain language with a humorous edge, the origins, aspects and meanings of the court cards. Mary K. Greer's article 'A New View: Reversals' examines how to read reversals and the recent trend to not read cards as reversed. Bonnie Cehovet examines 'Value-Added Tarot', or how to add extras to our tarot business to make the client feel they have gotten their monies worth.

In the 'Further Study' section, there is a 'Mabon Tarot Ritual' by Nina Lee Braden which incorporates ritual with the tarot cards and is very interesting and worth looking at.

The deck reviews were all well written and covered the deck 'in depth', as opposed to the 'Closer View'. And the spreads are basically explained, and provide some new perspectives for card readings.

The book has many fine line drawings both in the articles, reviews and the 'closer look' areas of the decks described and give a good idea of what the cards will look like. If you see something that you think you might like, however, it would be worth your efforts to find the deck on line and give the deck a closer look. The Tarot Reader does not allow for color and this can make a big difference. Some decks are much more beautiful in color, and you can lose that in the black and white drawings.. Others can be darker than the images in the book, again, because of color.

A good resource for those who are beginning to read tarot, who are thinking about a tarot deck, or the experienced reader looking for material that will augment their readings. boudica