Tom Benjamin’s Your Tarot Toolkit does something that few tarot books manage to do: it functions as an intermediate to advanced level tarot book without bringing in too many extraneous topics. Often, finding a non-beginner tarot book means finding a book about tarot and something else – tarot and astrology, tarot and numerology, tarot and social justice, tarot and creative writing – with the ‘something else’ really being the only point of new information for experienced tarot readers. Here, Tom Benjamin has written a book that is wholly tarot-focused that specifically caters to a readership already familiar with the usual beginner book fare – major/minor arcana structure of a deck, what a spread is, etc. – but looking to build their skills. This is a book that will be of particular interest to those giving, as the subtitle suggests, ‘clear, precise, confident readings’ – the author’s approach is very much geared toward reading to discern specific answers to specific questions so that querents leave the table (or the zoom call, or the email) feeling like they’ve gotten what they asked for. The vast majority of the book is focused on reading for others, though I’d argue that the principles – the importance of a clear question, the importance of the spread matching the question, and so on – equally apply to reading for oneself. I appreciate that the example querents are diverse (in terms of names, relationship structures, life circumstances, etc). It’s a book I’d readily recommend to readers looking to expand their skillset who feel like they’re past needing beginner-level books.

I will be posting a more detailed review in video format to YouTube on my channel Aquamarine18 Tarot & Books.