To let you know where I stand: by the second paragraph of page 1, I'd already found the author's point of view to be annoying. I read on anyway. In general, I'm glad I did, since despite our philosophical differences, I think Blair-Hunt has come up with fifteen spreads that cover a variety of situations and which you won't find in the other books on tarot spreads out there. She presents the spreads in increasing order of difficulty, with sections on beginning, intermediate, and advanced spreads. The beginning spreads are geared toward practical questions, the intermediate ones focus on more complicated topics, such as decision-making or relationships, and the advanced spreads are for looking at spiritual and metaphysical issues. Each spread is clearly described and demonstrated through three sample readings.

While the appendices at the back will help inexperienced readers keep the cards straight in their minds, this is not a book for absolute beginners. Blair-Hunt spends no time discussing the meanings of the cards, but gives a short introduction to readings and then goes straight into demonstrating the spreads. She takes her time with her explanations, and generally they're clear and helpful. However, her interpretations are sometimes quite intuitive and differ from the "standard" meanings of the cards. Not necessarily a bad thing, but this could be confusing.

As I've said, I did have some disagreements with the author at points, some more serious than others. For instance, she recommends removing any cards from the deck that might seem negative or upsetting to querents, especially if you're not sure you can explain them in a reassuring manner. While she promises the reader that this will not affect the accuracy of a reading, I'm forced to disagree. How will the meaning of, say, the Tower be represented if the Tower itself, along with all the other scary cards, has been left in the box?

One major difficulty I had with the book was not the author's fault. Each tarot spread that she discusses is illustrated. While the generic diagrams for the spreads are clear enough, the pictures that accompany the sample readings are too tiny to be seen clearly, even enough to simply identify the cards. Without going and recreating each spread with my own decks, I was forced to rely on the author's description of what she saw in the cards, which was frustrating.

Overall, a decent book on tarot spreads. ( )