Book Reviews
"Probably one of the best books on the Tarot that I have ever read.
A must for all Tarotists.”
—Anthony Pearson-Moorhouse, The Elvish Taylor and
Owner/Partner of Sacred Earth (Suffolk, United Kingdom)
"Yaccarino's approach to the Tarot is direct and invigorating, with the emphasis on self-reading. As a rule of thumb, I often test the inherent magickal quality of any such tome by opening it at random and letting my eye alight on the first words I see. In this case, the book opened at the King of Cups, which was disturbingly accurate. With the attitude of 'Okay, but what else can you tell me?', it then opened to the Nine of Pentacles. Again, exquisitely apt. In essence, with this clear and lucid book, you can know it works.”
—Alan Richardson, author of numerous books on magick, magicians, and Earth mysteries, including Priestess: The Life and Magic of Dion Fortune and Earth God Risen
"A beautiful book, flowing and inviting, presented with
an openness and clarity in both writing and visuals.”
—Gary Lund, award-winning painter, sculptor, and animation film designer
"It is through the imagery of Tarot that Yaccarino explores each of the arcana. As Heart Vision unfolds, Michael skillfully guides us through the deck, deftly bringing our attention to the hidden, the background imagery and the ‘veiled aspects’ of each card. But it’s not all about the iconography: a comprehensive range of spreads are given, with some very interesting variations. There are also examples of readings that demonstrate how the interpretative process unfolds. Little gems of wisdom are scattered through the pages, culled from Yaccarino’s clearly extensive reading and conversations with contemporary practitioners. This is an excellent introduction to the Tarot, and an enjoyable and illuminating text for the seasoned reader, too.”
—from The Blog of Baphomet by Julian Vayne,
author of Deep Magic Begins Here...: Tales and Techniques of Practical Occultism and
Magick Works: Stories of Occultism in Theory and Practice
"The introduction to this book is penned by the renowned Tarotmancer Rachel Pollack. She describes this book as one of 'distilled simplicity,' designed for the apprentice but which has sufficient maturity and depth for seasoned readers too. It is focused on the solitary reader for self-analysis, offering a unique approach to the visionary dreaming world to nourish heart and soul by awakening the mind. After a brief but concise history of the Tarot, Michael leads the reader into a vivid perspective of mystical imagery as the art of vision within Reality. It serves as a potent tool, drawing the reader to attend the hermetic sciences and its philosophies to fulfil a divine purpose—not as amusement or entertainment. The pursuit of wisdom is ever the key. Emphasising the distinctions of revealed and veiled messages, it explains how these build upon one another to synergise profound insight. Michael provides a break-down of the Arcana into elemental suits, injecting innovative expression into their multi-layered symbolisms. He then introduces several original spreads providing unique formats, including those aptly named ‘The Crossroads’ and ‘The Bridge.’ Ranging from a single spread to six cards, they encompass all needs and situations, guiding the reader always towards decisive understanding and self-awareness as a means of access to their inner dialogue. Intent is captured at source. The reader is made aware of the folly of this tool as a means of prediction, a waste of soul talent that erodes free-will and hope. Instead it instils hope through the engagement of the sacred harmony that can be achieved through self-expression and fulfilment. With lucid equanimity, Michael directs the reader to engage that precious dynamic to manifest the message as a translatable instruction. Using multi-disciplinary techniques, the ‘happening’ Michael refers to becomes a transformative engagement of the mysteries proper through the mirabulous art!"
—by Shani Oates,
author of The Devil's Crown: Key to the Mysteries of Robert Cochrane's Craft and
The Arcane Veil: Ten Discourses on the Craft and the History of Magic
"The Tarot isn’t as easy to read and interpret as most people like to think since it speaks to us on many levels—and each deck has its own distinctive voice. As Rachel Pollack observes in her Foreword: ‘In one of my favourite parts of this book, Michael describes Tarot readings as an ‘art form’. No matter how many interpretations or symbolic systems we learn, it is all theory until the cards come up in a reading. It is just because reading is a kind of art, akin perhaps most of all to story-telling, that new means can appear you us at any moment. Art dies when it becomes repetitious.’ Here, Michael Orlando Yaccarino has taken the classic Rider-Waite Tarot that was first published in 1909; created from some of the esoteric teachings of the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn and made it his own. In beautifully written mini-essays covering both Minor and Major Arcana he takes the reader on a series of short journeys into the heart of the Tarot itself. As he writes: ‘Feats of stunning intuition can impress…Yet they are largely worthless unless received with some form of useful guidance to assist in positive transformation’. And guidance is what Heart Vision: Tarot’s Inner Path is all about. The book focuses on solitary reading and the understanding of the individual ‘voice’ of the Tarot. It explores the meanings and interpretation of the divinatory experience, while preparing the reader for the other levels of the inner path that comes to all serious readers at some time or another. Heart Vision offers us an insight into card-by-card message interpretations; the author’s own step-by-step process of self-reading; and a variety of simple spreads using no more than six cards—all of which are valuable insights for the beginner and the more advanced reader, too. And to return to Rachel Pollack: ‘What is the mark of a good beginner’s book? Simple, that people who are not beginners can learn from it. And this we find again and again in this work of distilled simplicity.'"
—by Mélusine Draco,
author of Traditional Witchcraft for the Woods and Forests:
A Witch's Guide to the Woodland with Guided Meditations and Pathworking and
The Dictionary of Magic & Mystery
"“‘Another Tarot book?’—You might say, and yes, of course, it is another book on the Tarot and as a base, it also uses the well-known Raider-Waite cards. But to me, the book has a very special touch and is not just another book to fill the Tarot section shelves of some esoteric bookstore. It is a genuinely fresh and revealing book that is well worth having, reading and working with. This starts already in the Introduction by the author. In a very clear and straightforward way, Yaccarino presents what this book is all about, what it should be and also what it is not! The book clearly focuses on the spiritual path deeply rooted inside each of us. And it wants to help mostly the solitary worker to develop his or her own path across the Book of Thoth, as the Tarot is also often called. What I really like about this book is that the interpretations of the cards that are given by the author here are on one hand rather new and original, many of them I have not heard in such a way, and the ideas are really interesting and often opened new paths to me. On the other hand, Yaccarino is never dogmatic as many other authors might be. He suggests, he tries to open and provoke your own thoughts about what you see and experience. In my opinion, this is the only way to open the Inner Path anyway, but with this book, you don’t have to overcome an obstacle getting there. One of the reasons why the author is achieving this is that he obtains the wisdom in this book from all kinds of different sources and from a diversity of spiritual traditions—Hinduism, Crowley, but also contemporary thinkers like Shani Oates and Julian Vayne. The book really shows that Tarot is not an old-fashioned tradition, but a living art that lives in our time and really also points towards the future, its own and ours. Also among the spreads that Yaccarino presents towards the end of the book are many that I have never seen being done that way, which strongly suggests that they have been developed genuinely by the author. So this book is truly original and new in a good sense. I also like a lot the big number and detailed footnotes which do not only clearly show the references the author has but gives the interested reader an enormous amount of supplementary information to access if he or she wants to do so. What I deplore is that the images of the Tarot cards are rather small and in black and white. But this is probably a question of cost for the editor and understandable if you want to keep the book at an interesting price. And to be honest, the book is not meant to replace the real Tarot deck in your hands, so this criticism is in fact really minor. Altogether I was very pleasantly surprised to discover this book and can only fully recommend it to all of you. It is not just one other book on the Tarot, but for anyone who wants to get a fresh approach on a subject he thinks he already knows all about just as necessary a read as for the starter who does not want to be blocked by overcome interpretations and Tarot dogmatism.”
—from Thoth-Hermes (website and podcast)
Listen to the review!
"Heart Vision: Tarot's Inner Path is a beautifully written book designed for the beginner but has depth and added layers for seasoned readers, with an emphasis on self-reading. The book begins with a Foreword written by Rachel Pollack then moves onto a very well written history of the Tarot. Early on in the book, I enjoyed reading Michael's theory of ‘revealed’ and ‘veiled’ interpretations. Where the ‘revealed’ meanings are ‘light-filled and positive aspects,’ and the ‘veiled’ interpretations ‘emphasize darker or negative aspects.’ With this theory, stronger interpretations may be able to be made when looking at both the ‘revealed’ and the ‘veiled’ aspects of each card. Later in the book, reading the ‘aspects’ for each card reminded me to not just gloss over my cards but to take my time and go deeper; which is a great reminder for readers who have ‘been around the block.’ The book also provides a step-by-step process from shuffling the cards all the way through preparing for and conducting self-readings. Each card is pictured in in black and white, using the Rider-Waite-Smith deck along with a description and layered interpretations. The author also included some basic, yet profound spreads among others that were new to me, along with sample readings. In my opinion, Heart Vision: Tarot's Inner Path is a must-have for every Tarot reader no matter their skill level and will be one that I will recommend over and over.”
—from Reflections (American Tarot Association) by Terri Clement
"Heart Vision is an excellent book at reading Tarot for oneself. Quite original and thought-provoking in many ways, it offers good advice. As you would expect with a book about Tarot, it offers meanings for all the cards. However, they are not necessarily the traditional interpretations, which I found refreshing. In fact, Michael doesn't even recommend taking his interpretations as gospel. He supports using an intuitive approach when looking at cards drawn each time, but in a dialogue with book learning and previous knowledge. The interpretations in Heart Vision also don't offer upright and reverse meanings. Instead, Michael writes about revealed and veiled aspects. All cards have these and they should be considered depending on the position or, indeed, for each card drawn. At the end of the book there is a selection of spreads, but again these differ from the usual one-card, three-card or Celtic Cross suggestions. Although Michael does offer spreads using single cards, pairs, three or four cards and cross patterns, he emphasises looking for imbalances, trends and flows. Another technique I really like is that of visualising the borders between the cards dissolving, to view the combined images as a full picture. This can offer a wider perspective than just regarding each card in turn. I tried out the techniques suggested, considered the interpretations offered in the book and was very pleased with the results. I have learnt things that will improve my readings for myself—and also for others."
—from A Bad Witch's Blog by Lucy Starza,
author of Every Day Magic: A Pagan Book of Days and Naming the Goddess
"Most divination tools open us up to our own hidden thinking—the unconscious, the shadow, and the motives we’re in denial about. This approach to Tarot makes self-reading the centre of the process and explores it in some interesting ways. Heart Vision includes all the images from the Tarot so it is possible to work contemplatively without having a card set. The section I found most engaging was working through the Major Arcana as the Fool’s journey. It is a surprising narrative, offering the kind of spiralling, circular pattern I like in Taoism—the idea that when you’ve been through it all and mastered everything, you become a novice again and go back to the start, and round you go again. There is no endpoint of perfection, there is only the journey and how it changes you. For each card in the pack—including the Minor Arcana—the author provides ways of thinking about the cards. These focus on things that can be within a person more than just the situations a person can be in—ways of being in the world, ways of acting and thinking, what we carry with us, what we aspire to. Alongside this are the veiled aspects—the self-defeating, destructive cycles; the learned behaviours that don’t serve us. There’s a vast array of human experience here, and a depth of perception about how the same energies can, with only slightly varying how we manifest them, do us harm or good. Every description struck me as relevant, and as I read these, I found myself constantly thinking about the ways I could apply them to my own life. The end of the book offers an array of spreads that are designed for self-reading in the present moment without focusing too strongly on the future. These spreads are excellent tools for contemplation and developing self-awareness. So if you’re looking for ways to reflect and gain insight, and especially if you’re engaged with shadow work or trying to find your authentic self amidst everything that’s been put on you, this will be a good resource to use."
—from Druid Life by Nimue Brown,
author of Spirituality Without Structure and Druidry and Meditation
“Have you ever felt that you can read the tarot incredibly for others, but when it comes to reading yourself, then it’s a bumbling mess? I certainly have. As a long-time tarot reader, I would say one of my greatest challenges is accurately doing my own readings without letting personal bias cloud my judgement. Michael Orlando Yaccarino offers tarot lovers a book exclusively focused on the process of self-reading in Heart Vision: Tarot’s Inner Path. His comprehensive step-by-step guide is a great for those who, like me, want to brush up on the art of self-reading. Heart Vision is divided into four sections, with an additional thoughtful forward by Rachel Pollack, and an afterword by Normandi Ellis. Yaccarino leads the reader through a thorough history of the tarot, from its origins in 9th-century China as game-playing cards to the development of its use as a divinatory tool in 18th-century France. He notes the impact of Arthur
Edward Waite and Pamela Colman Smith, and briefly touches on the esoteric influences in the traditional Rider-Waite-Smith deck, including kabbalah, Freemasonry, Rosicrucianism, alchemy, astrology, and so on. Yaccarino’s approach to the tarot is through what he has named ‘Heart Vision,’ which allows the dimensions of tarot to be explored ‘by both focused contemplation and illuminated intuitive knowing sparked through the art of divination.’ Heart Vision, according to Yaccarino is experienced in ‘those moments when we simply know, with unshakeable conviction, that the right conclusion has been uncovered.’ To achieve this knowing, the focus is on connecting the intellect with the heart to tap into a deeper essence, or inner reality. It is the heart that is most important in doing a self-reading, because it leads the reader down the path towards inner knowing. The journey of reading for oneself in this way becomes a mixture of ‘real practice, life experience, and self-reflection.’ Yaccarino concludes the first section with an extremely helpful list of recommendations of things to consider before working with the cards for contemplation or divination. Points include allowing the message of the cards to evolve, viewing the cards' human figures free from ‘age, gender, race, color, creed, nationality, or sexual orientation so they may represent anyone,’ and knowing that cards can offer simultaneous messages. There are only a few items on his list, yet I found that musing on these suggestions was extremely helpful in my readings. I particularly like viewing the human cards free from the traditional associations with the images on them, because it liberated the energy outside of the physical features of the human images on the card. This allowed me to know the card from the perspective of my heart, rather than my mind. The journey of the Major Arcana and the path through each element of the Minor Arcana comprises the bulk of the second section. For each card in the tarot Yaccarino provides a description, a revealed aspect, and a veiled aspect. The revealed section is a literal description of the imagery of the card; it does not feature a description of symbolism or occult meaning. The revealed aspect describes the more positive aspects of the card. Finally, the veiled aspect focuses on the darker aspects of the cards. The interpretations given are not the standard definitions for the cards, but rather are Yaccarino’s understanding of them reached through contemplation and study. To be honest, I have mixed feelings about this. I hardly had any interest in the description provided for each card, because it states what one would gain from simply looking at it. I would have enjoyed the description more had it focused on the esoteric symbolism hidden in the image. The revealed and veiled aspects, at times, provided a new lens for me to understand them. This is particularly true of the veiled aspects for traditionally very positive cards, such as the 10 of Cups and the Empress. It was interesting to ponder the hidden, darker aspects to the cards, such as ‘the image as the portrait of a family linked by a secret burden,’ for the 10 of Cups. However, each card had only minimal information. I feel it would have been preferable for Yaccarino to include more fulfilling descriptions. I don’t feel this book would be suitable for someone just beginning to learn the cards’ meanings, because his interpretations tend to stray far from those more widely accepted. This method both is interesting and illuminating, and worth pondering for someone who is already familiar with the standard interpretations. Section three is where Heart Vision truly stood out for me. Yaccarino provides the best writing on doing self-readings that I have ever come across. I am particularly grateful for this section, as it is often a topic that is overlooked. I am inspired by the way he compares doing a self-reading to the living art forms of dance, performance, and art. He writes, ‘a transformative reading involves soul-touching—a happening in which a profound communion takes place between yourself and the source of a deep truth through the cards.’ This section offers methods, spreads, and strategies to grow one’s practice of self-reading. He provides spreads that guide the reader through examples and help to strengthen the accuracy of interpretation....This book is the sum of Yaccarino’s journey with the tarot and I very much enjoyed the unique insights offered. Heart Vision: Tarot’s Inner Path helped me feel confident in doing self-readings. It focuses on the tarot as a spiritual path, a fulfilling method to divine the insights hidden in the wisdom of our hearts."
—from Spiral Nature Magazine by Alanna Wright