A very well written book that taught me a lot. This is the first book by this author and I hope it is not the last. I am keeping this book to read over and over again.

A well informed, interesting and thorough exploration of the Tarot - and how to use it mindfully. The book is both practical and spiritual, encouraging the reader to use the present moment to its fullest extent in order to gain a more intuitive and accurate reading. As a relative newcomer to Tarot, I appreciated the card by card breakdowns as well as the gentle introduction to mindful practice. I will definitely be returning to this book as I continue to explore my Tarot deck.

Thank you to NetGalley, and to the publisher, who gave me a free ARC copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I loved this. I am a novice when it comes to tarot, although I own two decks. I also practice meditation. The combination of topics was perfect for me. I learned a lot from this book and highly recommend it to people who also share these interests.

Somewhat Surprising; Wanted More Tarot at the Start

I have been studying the tarot since the mid-eighties, but I'm always looking for new books with novel approaches to help inspire and inform my own readings and understanding of this ancient art. In this respect, this book filled the bill. I found this author's approach to each of the tarot cards, as detailed in the later part of the book, differed from most other interpretations I've read. The Major Arcana card section, in particular, helps you build bridges of understanding to the archetypes and relates them to the here and now. All these interpretations alone make the book worth reading if you are a medium-to-advanced tarot practitioner who enjoys seeing another's unique spin on our beloved tarot. After the introduction where the author set up the concept of mindful tarot well, the section before the card interpretations seemed to take a deep swerve away from what the author stated the book and its purpose would be. It seemed much more like the author's personal memoir (and travelogue) than anything that could be universally applicable to readers. Yes, she did share some basic tarot information, but I felt like that was overwhelmed by all the personal stories. In a book like this, some personal sharing is okay and can even be informative to help you understand your own practice better, but it didn't come across like this to me. So I recommend this book with reservations. I do appreciate the mindful approach to tarot and her unique way of looking at the cards, but I just wish the book had focused more on tarot takeaways for the reader.

A great book for tarot beginners! It gives you a new insight on how to use the cards and that is exactly what we sometimes need. I was afraid to use tarot cards because I thought I had to learn the meanings by heart but this book showed me it is not like that

An interesting read: Tishman has different views of tarot from other authors I read, and it made me look twice at how I read and interpret my cards.

I have always wanted to learn more about tarot card reading. This book is a good introduction to this for me. I found it very easy to read and very understandable. This book will be used quite a bit on my journey to learning tarot card reading. Thanks to NetGalley, the author and the publisher for the ARC of this book in return for my honest opinion. Receiving the book in this manner had no bearing on this review.

I requested Mindful Tarot from Net Galley after taking a local mediation class. I believe the content would still have resonated if I hadn’t, but because I did, some of the material was familiar and I was able to slow down and absorb it in chunks rather than burning forward just to consume the book.

As a meditation guide (with the unique angle of using the tarot), it covers so much of the variety of life. And using the tarot facilitates or underscores that variety, since, as an “adult picture book,” it is designed to encompass and portray all of Life.

I saw reviews that criticized the book’s scope, which is, I think a matter of personal taste—as someone who expects variety in a survey of the meaning of tarot, that didn’t jump out at me as any sort of problem. What I found distracting were the recurring references to the Greek island where she wrote the book. The references were not random and they tied in, but I avoid travelogues, as a rule.

My recommendation is to know yourself - what you're getting into - so it's not a surprise. This book felt like a fair introduction to mediation, and I liked how it modeled a method of “relationship building” activities with cards in the deck. I’ve heard other tarot readers wish for more ideas/practices, and as a result I think this book could have a strong and practical role in the growth of dedicated readers.

My thanks to Net Galley and the publisher for the digital copy to review.

This was a mixed bag of a book. It was part memoir, part research, and part card meanings. Overall I found it more memoir with theory woven in than actionable ways to be mindful in/using Tarot. This was a decent book overall, but I was hoping for a little more “how to” than storytelling and theory. I voluntarily reviewed an ARC through Netgalley.

I wanted to like this book, but it did not really work for me. Yes, the author has a doctorate, accolades, and credentials, but this book left a good bit to be desired for me as a reader. And the only reason I mention about the author's credentials is that many other more prominent reviewers brought them up as part of their positive reviews. Credentials are not an automatic proof a book is good or not. This book overall is not bad, but it has issues readers may want to consider.


The idea of integrating mindfulness with Tarot is very appealing. At a time when concepts like mindfulness and wellness are popular, including workplaces touting wellness programs (disclosure note: my own workplace touts a wellness program), a book like this makes good sense. The main issue with Mindful Tarot is a lack of balance. The author at times spends so much time on the mindfulness part that it is easy to forget this book is ostensibly about Tarot. In addition, the author too often spends more time telling stories of personal travels to various places and locations for meditation, retreats, so on that one wonders if we are reading a travelogue or a personal travel journal. There is nothing wrong with either one of those things, but I wanted a book on Tarot. What we do get on Tarot is just not that substantial. Given the promise of the topic, it seems like a lost opportunity. I feel this book could have been more.


Despite its main issue, the book still offers some good things. The vision of the book sounds great. The author writes:


"Mindful Tarot is a complete practice: a practice that is as much about learning to live a more abundant and mindful life, as it is about deepening our connection to that wondrous gallery of 78 archetypes, the Tarot."


The author also asks some good questions, such as:


"What if Tarot, when practiced mindfully, could teach us to live with this much joy and beauty? What if it could help us turn toward the world, even in the midst of confusion and trouble, embracing what is with clarity, with love and with a sense of possibility?"


On a side note, the author adds value to the book in the form of mp3 files available on her website. That material is supplementary, so I did not consider it in reviewing the book.

Another issue to consider is that the author can and does get a bit preachy on progressive values and issues. I am mostly OK with it, but for other readers this may be a consideration.

Additionally on the positive, the book does offer various exercises to try out. Sadly for this review, the galley did not always render the spread layouts properly on the e-reader. Still, the exercises are good things to try out (and I am sure they will look better in the print edition). The author does also provide ways, some of them very simple, to change outlook, to be more mindful of the present instead of too focused on the future. Once the book gets to the card meanings and actual lessons in Tarot, it gets better as a resource. Also note that you can look over the works consulted section for additional sources of study.



For libraries, I would say this is a very optional title. I probably will not acquire it for our collection (we are an academic library). For public libraries, I'd say this is likely optional as well. If you have a good amount of readers interested in wellness and mindfulness, then this book could be added to a collection of similar books. However, if you are looking at it as a Tarot learning book, there may be more accessible options out there.

In the end, I just thought it was OK.


2 out of 5 stars.

Mindful Tarot was provided to me through NetGalley by Llewellyn Worldwide as an ARC for an honest review (thank you!), Although I found it slow to start as a self proclaimed meditation flunkey, I kept going and found a plethora of information in Part 2 where the author addresses the cards. Does she give keywords and phrases for each card ;like 90% of the other books out there? No. Instead, she provides meaningful descriptions to enhance the way the reader may already identify with each card. I like the way she provides examples for some of the cards for reference i.e.: 7 of wands as the Michelle Obama card. She provides history for understanding as well utilizing a great reference list. This book is not designed, in my opinion, for foundational knowledge of tarot with the beginner in mind. Instead it holds a place for those who have some background in tarot and would like to enhance and/or combine their knowledge with a mindfulness practice.

Great book if you are looking to incorporate Mindfulness into your tarot practice. The author gives stories and details on how to do this.
Thank you to NetGalley, the publisher and author for this ARC.

I received a free copy of the book in exchange for an honest review. Here we go!

I went in, looking forward to finding mindfulness exercises and Tarot spreads and a lot of stuff that might help me get my mindfulness on.

What I found was a lot of words about the importance of mindfulness, a lot of personal history, a lot of anecdotes about the author's life on the island she was writing the book on, one Tarot spread (and even that wasn't properly explained in my opinion), and a "mindful" explanation of each card's meaning. About 60 % of the book was just card meanings.

Now, I have found that doing the Tarot spread of the book for about a week now has helped me develop my skills when it comes to storytelling when I read the Tarot, so I'm not saying it was a complete waste of time to begin doing it. I've dedicated a notebook for it; I'll keep doing it at least until the notebook is filled.

The card meanings were from a slightly different point of view than those that are normally found in books and videos and courses (I've taken five Tarot courses since March 2018 and watched a bunch of Tarot videos and even read a few books when I've gotten my hands on one). I found that especially the Court card meanings helped me get a better understanding of the cards. See, despite taking all those courses and giving at least a hundred readings in the past year or so, I still struggle with the Court cards.

The four C's – which I can't even remember now because I didn't take notes, silly me – are something I'll definitely revisit, along with the Court card explanations.

Wouldn't recommend for an absolute beginner, wouldn't recommend for someone who seeks guidance or fortune-telling from the cards, wouldn't recommend for someone who seeks to find otu if the direction they're going is the right one. Would recommend for anyone who wants to incorporate mindfulness and maybe even meditation into their Tarot practice more.

Note: I didn't try the meditations that were linked in the book. I'm going through a dry spell when it comes to meditation, and I'd rather not force myself to do it.

You might guess from the title that this book is about Mindfulness and Tarot. The great pity is that I suspect it will mainly be read only by those who already have an interest in these subjects prior to their coming across Lisa's absolutely charming and well researched volume. I have fifty + years of trying to practise Mindfulness & somewhat less experience in Tarot but I think that those who miss out on reading "Mindful Tarot" may be the ones who need it most. It's fun to read, highly informative and presents a valuable new perspective on it's subject matter. Lisa is very personable and encourages the reader to allow her/his own personality/intuition to shine. From the many historical references and the Bibliography one may find much further reading to pursue. I pulled a card for fun to see who Lisa is. Queen of Cups was a very fitting result. Enjoy.

I volunteered to give an honest review in exchange for a free copy of the book pre-publication. The author focuses on mindfulness in tarot and not predictive or future telling. The book does give an easy to understand description of the cards. However, I personally like the future telling aspect. I expected to learn how to tell the future with tarot based on card placement.

A new way of looking at tarot with a more mindful,l approach. I would recommend this both to beginners and seasoned tarot readers to connect back to the mindfulness that is often forgotten

The preface gives the reader a very specific view into the interpretative style and way in which Dr. Tishman is going to incorporate a Mindful approach to using the 78 Keys as tools of integration and awareness. This is a different ideology than is the norm in treating the cards of the Tarot as tools for accessing predictive information or having a specific spiritual practice in mind that these interpretations may be fused into. Dr. Tishman is, after all, a Zen Buddhist minister, so the underpinnings of this book’s methodology are grounded in a more eastern, vs. Western Hermetic dialogue.

Mindful Tarot is separated into two Parts, the first giving a very thorough set-up for the reader who is more acclimated to the traditional hermetic approach in using the Tarot. Part One: From Mantic to Mindful Tarot begins with the author’s experience as she sat on the meditation cushion during a break in the seven-day silent retreat. The author tells us of the epiphany she had surrounding the simple phrase, ”This is ALL there is”…and the clarity of meaning she derived from that phrase when looking through a different perspective.

Chapter Two: Cartomancy and Mindfulness-gives even more insight to the interweaving of the tried and true Tarot expectations and how these may be used in a more mindful way. She sites the words of Tarot icon, Mary Greer as having been instrumental is pushing her to seek deeper meaning for the individual…

Many people come to tarot in hopes of “fixing” their lives-obtaining information and guidance that will help them make the “right” decisions and no mistakes-guaranteeing perfection. I ask you, as a Tarot reader, how can we help the querent “embrace brokenness”? 1. Tarot for Your Self, 2nd Edition: A Workbook for Personal Transformation by Mary Greer

I especially liked Chapter 7: The Daily Pull– Dr. Tishman using the acronym of PULL for Pausing, Unknowing, Looking, and Leaning In. Many of us are familiar with the concept of pulling a card daily, not only as a way of learning the deck but also as guidance for the day’s energies. The author encourages us to cultivate the (zen) “beginner’s mind” of absolute aliveness and openness to “what’s that”. We then move on to the practice of patience, an excellent reminder that things unfold as they unfold, regardless of the amount of coercion we attempt to place on the desired (immediate) outcome. Each of the steps of PULL have an experiential exercise following the descriptive of how to, which is very helpful In training the individual towards being present and fully engaged in the action.

Part Two: Reading the Cards is separated into the usual format beginning with the Trumps (Major Arcana), the Pips (Minor Arcana), the Court Cards. Each of the cards is given a key word of focus and much like the books contained with a Tarot deck, information is provided regarding that key word and its application to a mindful Tarot practice.

Mindful Tarot is filled with references and quotes that those who have a solid background in Buddhist or mystic practices will easily recognize and be able to make use of, which may leave those who are coming from a hermetic mantic approach may not readily embrace. I think this is an excellent book directed towards an audience that is both versed in the nuances of a “real” Mindfulness practice-not the buzz word version so popular nowadays and has a firm grasp of understanding of the Tarot Keys using the more traditional predictive interpretations. The Works Cited section completing the book, gives validation to Dr. Tishman’s research and exploration used in penning Mindful Tarot. Many of these, again, are not your staple tomes for Tarot studies, which makes it all the more fascinating to read.

Having such a background to draw from, I found Mindful Tarot to be a very interesting read that gave me enough thought-provoking information to easily direct my focus for the Keys use in the way most revealing for what I was hoping to receive.

About Lisa:

Lisa Freinkel Tishman, PhD, began studying the Tarot as a grad student at Berkeley in the late 1980s. She has published extensively on Petrarch, the Renaissance poet sometimes thought to have influenced the tarot trumps. An award-winning teacher, Zen Buddhist minister, and certified mindfulness educator, she is a former humanities professor and dean at the University of Oregon (UO) and founding director of UO’s Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction program. Lisa is now an interfaith chaplain at Sacred Heart Medical Center in Springfield, Oregon, and continues to offer mindfulness classes, trainings, and Tarot readings through her business, Calyx Contemplative Care. She can be found on YouTube and Instagram as “Mindful Tarot.”
by Robin Fennelly of PaganPages.org
http://paganpages.org/content/2019/04/book-review-mindful-tarot-by-lisa-frienkel-tishman-ph-d/

An in depth and useful book for anybody looking to either get into or improve on their knowledge of tarot cards amd performing readings.

As someone well practised in the use of the tarot, I loved this book. I felt like I was visiting an old friend, and having my eyes opened to facets of her that I hadnt previously been aware of. Fascinating story telling, mixed with spiritual and theoretical underpinnings makes this a book I will go back to throughout the years,

I wanted to like this book more than I did, unfortunately. I was looking for more ideas of practical exercises rather than a heavily worded philosophical approach. However, if that is more your style, it is a well thought out and written book. And I do really love the cover design!
Thanks to NetGalley for the review copy. The opinions expressed are my own.