This is a beautiful deck with wonderful card explanations. I really enjoyed the diversity shown in the art, and how well the art reflected the message in the meaning. This reimagining is one any tarot reader should explore.

A nice guide to this specific tarot deck. The card design is very engaging. I really like that there was space at the back for journal entries for one card draws. It would have been nice to see some more suggested spreads.

Absolutely stunning colorful artwork that looks like majestic mixed-media collages of Art Nouveau beauties; Arthurian legend heroes and heroines; old Hollywood black and white stills; along with dazzling New Age crystals and wonders adorn Michele Knight-Waite’s new Tarot deck of the same name that is also explained in “The Knight Waite Tarot Guide Book.”

Although Knight-Waite’s (not to be confused with the classic Ryder-Waite-Coleman Tarot Deck) new deck is in many ways visually stunning, for me the cards DO NOT easily lend themselves for easy interpretation. Therefore, that’s why my rating is lower. The art is gorgeous, but not as representative as it should be for immediate explanation for easy Tarot learning especially for inexperienced readers.

For example, Major Arcana Card XXI, The World, does not even have a globe nor any representative image of the Earth on it’s image?! Her card shows a woman playing a guitar surrounded by clouds. It makes no sense to me.

Also, the heavy emphasis on diversity (LGBT) focus is extremely overwhelming. I’m referring to the fact that many of the Major and Minor Arcana Cards are of gay/bi/trans individuals. These pictures are done well and are pretty, but their frequent use—especially when not expected shocked me. Perhaps, let prospective buyers decide if that’s the focus that they want with blurbs on the book back and the deck. I’m sure that there is a huge market for this product and it’s emphasis. However, I’m just suggesting that customer’s know in advance.

TheBookMaven graciously thanks NetGalley, Author Michele Knight-Waite, and Publisher John Murray for this Advanced Reader’s Copy (ARC).

The first thing you are struck by in Michele Knight-Waite’s new book “The Knight-Waite Tarot Guidebook” (John Murray One, October 2023), indeed bowled over by, are the magnificent illustrations. They moderize Tarot for people that might be turned off by older decks.

The second thing that grabs you is the author's warm and inclusive welcome. She pays homage to her heroine and original illustrator of the Rider-Waite-Smith Tarot deck, Paula Colman-Smith. She speaks beautifully of the need to bring older, original Tarot cards into a new, more inclusive age. Tarot has always been very popular in the LGBTQ community, and she does us all a service by making us feel included from the first page.

I have dabbled in Tarot since I was a teenager, and I feel like I have a fairly well developed intuition when it comes to basic readings. As a fan of Carl Jung, I am also attracted to the mythical archetypes that form the basis of so much Tarot work. The great thing about this book is how the author weaves these themes together into one-page descriptions of each card that do a great job of guiding the reader through the potential meanings of the cards.

As a guidebook to tarot, this is the perfect text for the new initiate. The last third of the book provides instruction in how to do readings for yourself and for others, as well as some very helpful guides to journaling and deeper work with the cards. For folks more experienced in Tarot, the book is an easy to use guide to the cards that will feel like an old friend.

In my view, Knight-Waite saves the best part of the book for last, where she provides some brief biographies on the well-known faces that grace many of her cards. People like W. E. B. Du Bois, Oscar Wilde, and Anna May Wong are honored here.

In the Knight-Waite Tarot Guidebook, Michele Knight-Waite has given us a beautifully designed and written masterpiece that will become one of the classic works in Tarot for generations to come.

ARC netgalley review

Such a refreshing take on an old standard tarot deck. With excellent part that includes a workbook style that is such a benefit to the reader, in learning. I absolutely loved the freshening take on the art on every card, a modern more personal take I feel anyone can make a better connection to the cards. Recommend to every one that like tarot.

I reviewed this with 30+ years Tarot experience & tarot journal author myself.