R E V I E W
365 Tarot Spreads:
Revealing the Magic in Each Day Paperback
_Llewellyn Publications_ (May 8, 2014)
Paperback: 408 pages
ISBN-10: 0738740381 / ISBN-13: 978-0738740386
Product Dimensions: 9 x 7.4 x 1.3 inches
I am familiar with several of these types of “365 books,” and I am truly delighted with what Graham has done to apply this format to Tarot reading. I wish I had thought of this idea! But if it couldn’t be me, I’m glad it was Sasha Graham. The concept is brilliant. The choices of occasions or events for each day are excellent. The information provided for each occasion or event is fascinating. Let’s see… what else? Oh, yes, you get 365 spreads that cover every subject imaginable, from Animals to Cinema to Finance and Legal Matters to Love and Romance to Self-Knowledge and Personal Growth to Work and Career. And the Index in the back gives you a way to look up a topic on which you’d like to do a reading.
This is just a splendid book all around. As a writer myself, it’s easy for me to see how much time, energy, research, and heart went into this work. Well done, Sasha Graham!
A tarot reading is a quest for answers to your greatest questions, deepest desires, and most profound needs. The power of tarot lies in the questions, and now you can discern answers to those questions with fascinating and magical results 365 days a year. Explore a tarot quest on any topic with extensive spread categories, including:
- Love and Romance
- Money and Career
- Health and Well-Being
- Home and Family
- Personal Growth
- Astrology and the Zodiac
- Multicultural Holidays
- Rituals and Occult Studies
- Grief and Moving Forward
- Spirituality
Use 365 Tarot Spreads year after year with spreads you can apply anytime and in any situation. Each spread is based on a significant historical or magical occurrence on that particular day, and each one is accompanied by a detailed explanation and sample questions to focus on while reading. This wondrous guide provides a magnificent journey to achieve enlightenment every day.
 |
| Sasha Graham |
Sasha Graham was born in Saranac Lake, NY, to a free spirited hippie mother. She is the great grandniece of famous Chilean painter Alvaro Guevara and proud to descend from a long line of creative, outrageous women. Settling in Manhattan in the late 80's, Sasha acted in over 15 B-horror films, received a BA in Literature at Hunter College and began working with Tarot. Sasha now organizes tarot events, teaches tarot classes and provides tarot outreach to young people all over NYC. Sasha and her tarot work have been featured on various documentaries and media outlets including; The Wall Street Journal, The Daily News, CBS Early Morning Show, WPIX Channel 11, and recently she was featured on the cover of Crain's New York Business.
SOME OF MY FAVORITE SPREADS FROM THE BOOK
January 2: Speak with Ancestors Spread
(Ancestors’ Day occurs today on the tropical island of Haiti.)
February 16: Pamela Coleman Smith’s Synesthesia Experiment Spread
(Pamela Colman Smith was born this day in 1878. Smith had a high degree of synesthesia, a condition where one sense, like sight, is perceived with an additional sense, like hearing.)
(On this day in 1872, Nebraskans celebrated the first Arbor Day.)
May 1: Beltane Crossing Over Spread
(Beltane marks the second half of the Celtic year. . . Like Samhain, the veil between worlds is at its thinnest right now.)
May 2: The Loch Ness Magical Scotland Spread
(The first sighting of the Loch Ness monster was reported on this day in 1933.)
June 2: Circus Spread
(Legendary huckster P.T. Barnum began touring with his circus on this day in 1871.)
July 7: Houdini’s Transformation Spread
(Harry Houdini first performed a handcuffed escape from a nailed, roped packing crate lowered into the East River in New York City on this day in 1912.)
August 8: Should I Quit This Job Spread
(President Richard Nixon announced that he would resign from office today in 1974.)
September 30: Rumi’s Poetic Life Spread
(Rumi, the Persian Muslim poet, jurist, theologian, and Sufi mystic, was born on this day in 1207.)
December 5: Bermuda Triangle Lost Object Spread
(A training flight of five American torpedo bombers vanished over the Bermuda Triangle on this day in 1945, one of many strange, unexplained disappearances attributed to the Bermuda Triangle.)
December 31: World Card Spread
(Tonight’s yearly culmination is the perfect time to reflect with a spread based on the World card.)
This is a large, high-quality paperback book measuring 9 x 7.4 x 1.3 inches. Contents are printed in black on white stock. Layout is clean, inviting, and logically arranged. Dates are printed in white on a dark gray banner. Discussions of individual cards are printed in black on light gray.
Following seven-page Introduction are 365 pages of spreads. Each page has the calendar date, title of the spread, On This Day, Summation of Spread, and Cast Your Cards, which consists of positional definitions and the spread layout. For each day we also have a sidebar that contains “fun facts” or tidbits of information, along with a black-and-white image of a Tarot card from the Universal Tarot by R. DeAngelis (Lo Scarabeo), with a few words about that card.
The spreads Sasha Graham provides for each day of the week are not just random spreads. Each one relates to a specific event, holiday, or occasion that occurred on the date in question. For example, February 7 is the date when the tale of Pinocchio was released in 1940. The spread presented for that day is called Pinocchio’s Truthfulness Spread. Positional definitions “regard all areas of truthfulness in our lives.” The sidebar lists signs that indicate when a person might be lying, such as nose twitching, mouth covering, fidgeting, and tense lips. The Tarot card is the King of Cups, which is “connected to lying, fabrication, and tall tales.”
Placed throughout the book are spreads designed around Major Arcana Cards. The positional definitions for these spreads are based on various objects shown on that card. For example, the World Card spread has eight positions based on the Dancer, Magic Wands, Wreath, Androgyny, Head, Lion, Ox, and Eagle.
---------------------------
I've got out of the habit of having a year book to work through, to look forward to as a year draws to a close. How big are these spreads?
ReplyDeletethank you for the review.
Hi Sharon! Most of the spreads are between 6 and 10 cards.
DeleteSounds like a fun book! ^_^
ReplyDeleteIt really is fun, Helen!
DeleteI notice the word "plethora" alot so there must be a real good reason to use it.
DeleteI haven't noticed a lot of people using of the word "plethora." It is a fun word to use, though.
DeleteA highly respected chemist used it in a research paper and at the time I thought it to be austentasous. But now I am thinking it has specific connotation. Perhaps, it demotes a "way" or "gate" that has not appeared yet.
DeleteYour colleague's bio said that she went to Hunter College, which is part of CUNY. So maybe "plethora" has mystical academic connotation to it. See through analogy or something like that.
Because my interest in tarot exists because it helps me understand subtle wooing in advertisement, I really urge folks to reconsider "should I quit my job" thoughts. Thee a people with extreme gifts of persuasion that have been passed down since the time the serpent wooed Adam and Eve. Thoughts like "time to move on" could result from slight of hand from one of the master's disciples. As an analogy, consider the NASCAR driver who ran onto the track to pick a fight. Something set him off and caused him to defy all logic and judgment.
ReplyDeletePerhaps, in astrology (3 card readout), there is a card that would hint that the serpent is in the tree above hissing a "quit" spell.