This is another entry in the Kitchen Table series by Melissa Cynova. This book, Kitchen Table Tarot, is an introduction to tarot cards and tarot reading. Cynova breaks the book down into three main parts: an introduction to tarot and tarot reading in general, her interpretation of the cards and how she reads, and a guide on how to do readings for other people.
Overall, I felt that the the first and third parts had enough overlap that having multiple chapters at the start and end felt redundant. The actual reading of the tarot cards gets bogged down in all the other stuff. Not to say that Cynova doesn’t offer solid advice in those parts. She offers advice to those who are starting to read for others and/or for money based on her decades of experience doing the same like knowing your worth and charging appropriately, setting boundaries for who and when you will read, and creating a code of ethics for yourself. It’s good stuff, just repetitive. Cynova also has a wonderful critique of most basic decks as being white and straight with a list of decks that do not center straight, cis, white people on all of the cards.
Cynova’s discussion of the cards was excellent. She has a very personable and easy-going approach to card interpretation compared to many other tarot books that can get somewhat clinical and detached. Her system for understanding and interpreting the court cards was novel to me as well. I do wish that this section were expanded a little bit more, as I very much enjoyed her interpretations. Some of the card interpretations felt slightly truncated. I also would have loved some additional examples of card spreads as well as some examples of spreads with cards to get a more complete sense of Cynova’s approach to reading.
And lastly, as with the other book by Cynova that I reviewed, a heads up: Cynova is fully a believer in the supernatural. I am not. I use tarot cards as a way to dive into introspection and reflection. I do not believe that tarot cards can reveal any secrets about other people nor can they give insights into the future. Cynova does. Those moments can be a little jarring to read if you are not a believer. If you are though, I think you’ll love every part of Cynova’s approach.