Motherpeace Tarot Guideboo Review

Motherpeace Tarot Guidebook by Karen Vogel Review by Michele Jackson

If you would like to purchase this book, click here.

As a fan of the Motherpeace deck, I have eagerly awaited the appearance of this book. When it finally arrived, I quickly glanced through it and was initially disappointed. I guess I was expecting a much more comprehensive book, however after reading it, I am less disappointed than I was initially. This book does not break any new ground as far as the deck goes. The symbolism and mythology underlying the Motherpeace Tarot were given a fairly comprehensive treatment in Vicki Noble’s book Motherpeace: A Way to the Goddess through Myth, Art and Tarot. What Vogel’s book does provide is a small handy reference for interpretations. The book starts with a short introduction describing how Vogel and Noble came to work on the Motherpeace deck. A brief history of the Tarot is next, followed by some background information on Noble and Vogel’s theories of the Goddess. A chapter on using the cards covers the standard advice on card storage, grounding, and using one card spreads to answer specific questions. The next chapter describes the Motherpeace Layout. This is the same layout given in Noble’s book and the spread is a round variation of the Celtic Cross. All the chapters I just described bring us only to page 18, to give you an idea of how brief they are. Finally we get to the interpretations, which are what make this book a keeper. Noble’s book provided upright interpretations for the cards and recommended that cards that tilt to the left be read as energy blocked and cards that tilt to right are energies that are being forced or pushed. Vogel provides four interpretations for each card; upright, reversed, tilted left and tilted right. She does a good job in describing how the energies of the cards are altered by the various tilts. The interpretations are preceded by a brief description of the card. The entire book, including bibliography and “about the author” is 127 pages. The book is small, about the size of a paperback novel, so it can be easily carried around with the deck. If you want a comprehensive description of the Motherpeace deck, stick with Noble’s text. If you want some exercises, try Noble’s workbook. Vogel’s book is best suited as a quick reference for interpretations.

Motherpeace Tarot Guidebook

Author: Karen Vogel

ISBN: 0-88079-747-9

US Games Systems (800)544-2637

If you would like to purchase this book, click here.

Excerpt

Priestess of Wands

The Priestess, with the help of the Lion, just made it rain in order to renew the life and energy of her community.

Upright: She has the ability to direct her creative, healing and sexual energy to bring about transformation. She is direct, passionate and loving in her action. She has a sense of purpose and the ability to go after what she wants.

Left: She is unsure of what she is supposed to do and is not seeing a clear direction.

Right: She is single-minded in focusing on what’s required of her.

Reversed: She finds it difficult to reach her innate power. Her enthusiasm and intuitive knowledge are suppressed, leaving her feeling frustrated or even betrayed. Perhaps fear is getting in her way, making her difficult to be around.