Review: Nothing But A Pack Of Cards

There are many books on the market on the topic of Tarot Magick and many of them regurgitate the same things. Usually they’re focused on Qabalistic pathworking or sort of basic concepts of spells without much deep thought or originality put into it. Refreshingly, this book is not one of those. As someone who teaches workshops on the topic of using tarot in magick, I’m always looking for fresh perspectives. Nothing But A Pack of Cards: A Book Of Cartomancy and Tarot Sorcery by S. Rune Emerson is probably the most unique book I’ve found on the subject. It’s difficult to bring something new to the table on a subject where there’s several other books out there, but he manages to do it in this book. His approach is very different than most others and he has inspired several new ideas of my own. Emerson provides a whole new arcana (no pun intended) of using the cards for sorcerous workings.

Utilizing the popular Rider-Waite-Smith deck, the book covers Emerson’s theory and practice of using the tarot for magick. The book has a grimoire feel to it, being full of rituals and spells. My only complaint is an aesthetic one – the font used for the title headings (also used on the cover) is sometimes unclear and not the easiest on the eyes when reading, but for a book that’s a very small complaint, as the actual content is stellar. Another strength of this book is that it’s not specific to any one path of religion, spirituality, tradition, or magick. The information and workings are written in a way that anyone of any path can benefit from it.

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