Books like Tarot & Magic — picked by fans

This is one of the most useful books in my collection, as evidenced by the lines that I’ve color-coded with highlighters and the comments I’ve scribbled in the margins.

The author belongs to a magical order that ascribes different occult associations (i.e. “mysteries”) to all 78 tarot cards, so even the sections for the minor cards can feature extensive magical discussions. For example, Willis explains how the Three of Disks (aka Pentacles) relate to the trade secrets of smithcraft and masonry and then gets into how this relates to using different-shaped altar stones in Earth Magic for crop growth, animal fertility, finding a mate, and monetary gain.

The broad array of both folk magic and ceremonial magic techniques makes this book a magical education in itself.

This book has a high-spirited, sprightly energy to it, and it is interesting how the author treats tarot cards and characters as entities that you can identify with and engage with. This is an especially good book for beginners because it’s an easy read and often seems to have been written in a spirit of fun. The first part of the book provides some basics, plus a section relating tarot to magical numerology as part of “the self-discovery process,” while the second half is devoted to tarot spells.

These spells are quite simple, though some call for accessories like candles, herbs, and gemstones. The main part of the spells are rhyming incantations, which Morrison often infuses with a bit of whimsy,--though that does not detract from their psychological efficacy!

I define a “spell” as a multi-media affirmation, and as there is no limit to the number of positive affirmations you can recite, there is also no limit to the number of spells you could perform if so inclined. As this book offers a spell for each day of the year, you can use it to add dimension to daily life.

Although these spells can help you work toward important goals, they also guide you to interact with the tarot’s archetypal personalities by imaginatively entering their picture space and moving around in the environments that they inhabit. I also appreciate that Graham provides “connection” rites for each of the 78 cards, as the Minor Arcana are often overlooked, even though they address the sort of daily life issues that dominate our attention. 

As a designer of systems, I find this book intriguing because the author has created his own rather idiosyncratic system of sorcery. (The emphasis being on “sorcery,” written from a practicing sorcerer’s point of view.) In addition to outlining his theories on rules of magic and providing new perspectives on magical tools, Emerson provides a section of tarot spells with rhyming incantations, unusual layouts, and diverse aims, including concealing a secret, conjuring an omen, seeing from afar, sequestering beyond time, drawing wayward souls, brewing a tempest, and more.

The spell layouts also have fanciful titles like “The Knight’s Vigil,” “The Queen’s Mirror,” “The Prison of Shadows,” and “The Shroud of Unseeing.” One warning, though: this book is not for people who are easily offended by any hint of manipulative magic.

Why do women feel like we need to invite everyone to every party, throw weddings that are closer to our parents’ style than our own, and show up to networking nights that we know we won’t get anything out of?

I know this book is meant to be about hosting gatherings, but I’ve applied the principles to nearly everything I do in work and hobbies to add more intention, impact, and fulfillment. I’ve changed the way I sit at restaurants to encourage deeper conversations with friends. I’ve started to purposefully not invite certain people to certain parties since I know it would change the dynamic negatively for others. I’ve embraced the idea of “pop-up rules” at every event I host and expect guests to follow them so that the event is transformative and not boring.

Since reading Priya’s incredible framework, I’ve led extremely successful monthly events for my community, started… show more.

This book is solely responsible for hooking me on Stoic philosophy, prompting my deep exploration of practical aspects of life in my own book and, most importantly, the application of them to my daily life. William’s writing is easy to follow, and his advice is very practical. I’d advise you to start reading the book from chapter four; and then when you are done with the book, come back to the first three chapters.

I loved this book because it was so authentic and inspiring. I really like it when an author shares her own experiences and those of her wise friends, as it makes a book so much more relatable. I found myself focusing on the little things that I could do on a daily basis just to calm down and be present.

I reconnected with my own inner calm as a result. I found the book accessible and easy to relate to. The front cover image is calming in itself! A great book to have beside me. 

Reading this book reminded me of my grandmother.

Moss writes about faith not as escape, but as endurance—as strength that can carry us through turbulent seasons. I watched my grandmother, in moments of uncertainty, fall to her knees and call on the Lord—often to pray for others. It was how she steadied herself and our family.

This book captures that kind of faith—not naïve, but rooted and resilient. It honors the spiritual backbone that holds communities together when everything else feels unstable.

I love the stories. Author Robert Greene’s stories about Semmelweis and William Harvey show the nasty consequences of ‘not suffering fools gladly.’

His notion of 10,000 hours to achieve mastery cuts through the challenges I face with each new book: I hate the feeling of not knowing what I’m doing, dislike feeling out of control, and get antsy when something I’m working on doesn’t fall into place easily.

Suck it up because that’s precisely how I feel each time I think about my new book on the early life of King David.

In the pages of The Interrogative Mood, Powell pulls off a seemingly impossible feat: he writes an entire novel structured as a series of questions (no answers!), all asked by the same unnamed and never described narrator. The questions range from “In your view, do children smell good?” to “Could you lie down and a take a rest on the sidewalk?” to “Are your emotions pure?” The questions force the reader to do some serious—and often deeply funny—introspection, mostly about hypothetical situations; and as they accumulate, so too does the psyche—the character, to use the word loosely—from which this riveting, rapid-fire interrogation originates.