Customer Reviews

Past-Life & Karmic Tarot (Special Topics in Tarot Series)

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I thoroughly enjoyed this book. Traditional layouts are given a new slant; and new layouts, while not particularly cutting edge, are presented in a unique and easy to understand manner. I have used several of them -- in particular the Dark Moon Spread and the Rainbow Bridge Spread -- and found them to work very well in the circumstances of the readings. Ms. McCoy knows her subject, and presents it in an easy-to-read manner, not getting so deep that the reader needs a dictionary to understand her topic, yet being deep enough to cover the information thoroughly. The only reason I have not given this book 5 stars is because the individual meanings of the cards of the Tarot are not particularly discussed, which could be off-putting for an inexperienced card reader. However, this was not the purpose of this book; her intention was to provide a series of spreads that can be used for interpreting and balancing karma, and this is done very professionally and skillfully indeed. I highly recommend this book for those who are familiar with the Tarot and its meanings already; for absolute beginners I would say by all means invest in this book, but wait until you have a working knowledge of the traditional meanings of the cards and their symbols first.

I bought this book because I love studying past lives. I've had regressions and I've also explored using the tarot to gain information about past lives. So, when I saw this book in the bookstore, I was very excited and couldn't put the book down.

My issue with the book is that the spreads are complicated and some of them are REALLY long and convoluted (like the Lifetime Convergence Spread). Another example is The Constellation Past-Life Wheel which has a simpler layout, but the positions change based on the client's birthday and it involves astrological interpretations that would be difficult for anyone who is not an astrologer to understand.

From some of the reviews here, it appears that the book is even confusing for advanced users. Ultimately, I've created my own past life spread which is really simple and straightforward to use rather than using the ones in Past Life and Karmic Tarot. I do want to experiment with these spreads a bit more to see if I can get something out of them, but they are complicated and time consuming.

I also wish that they had changed the format of the illustrations of spreads so that you can see what the positions mean next to the numbers. It's annoying to have to flip back and forth (of course this would not work for the above spreads which have more than 10 cards, but it would make other spreads easier to understand).

If you are a beginner, DO NOT BUY THIS BOOK! Buy something straightforward like Power Tarot (which covers lots of spreads that can be adapted to anything) or buy a book on desiging your own spreads. I've also seen some useful spreads on Tarot message boards. This book will frustrate you and you may end up more confused once you lay out the cards than you were before.

Edain did a superb job here. I have used several of her spreads and let me tell you that they are dynamite. I have done them for clients who felt that they had been reborn with her insight and vision. Her Irish Cross, a variation on the Celtic Cross, was so insightful for myself, I kep the spread around for days just dwelling upon it.

She has everything in the book from a simple 4 card spread to a very involved 30-odd card spread. I use the 4 card and the 10 card Irish Cross the most.

Yes the book is rather poorly editted, but you would say that of all of Llewellyn schlock, if you can't get past that then you are missing some true gold that it's in this book. If you did not think that karma exists or affects you, do ONE just ONE spread from this book and discover how breaking free from karma is truly one's goal in life (isn't that what Buddha said) well McCoy gives you the tools to make that happen.

Thank you Ms McCoy, may the Goddess Bless All of Your Days, where ever you are.

I don't have alot to say about this book as I have not completed it as of yet. But I will say that I have done at least one to two spreads that have made the money paid for it wothwhile. The layout allowed me to see directly into karmic cause and effect, which was very helpful to my client. Very, very effective. I have recently started a tarot consulting business, and I am waiting for the right oppertunity to use this book.I am sure it will again prove its usefulness.Recommend to advanced intermediate, to the advanced student. Especially helpful if your strong intuitivly.

There is/was someone in my life who is very dear to me and always will be. Unfortunately, circumstances have parted us. I've always had the feeling that "we were meant to be." I've also always had the feeling that I've been her mother, because I feel so very maternal towards her.

I did the Lifetime Convergence spread and found out: 1. I've been both her mother AND her father. 2. It was Divine Fate that brought us together. 3. The nature of our Karmic Bond is to help each other grow and learn. 4. Also, as I've suspected she and I have never had any romantic bond between us. It's always been a blood bond, except for this lifetime.

This is just a suggestion about a way to get the most out of this book. In my opinion, using a non-traditional Tarot deck works better with these kinds of spreads. I use my Shapeshifters deck or my Arthurian Tarot for the spreads in this book. Those two decks really seem to lend themselves to past-life and karmic explorations.

So if you want to really explore you past lives using Tarot, this is a great book for doing it!

The book was a total deception. Confusing spreads, and not so good interpret of the same spreads. The author complicates, intricate and elaborate too much all the spreads...beginning with something and ending up in something else. If you can answer something with 8 cards, why use 15 cards? Past life's readings were not treated with the seriousness, mystic and reverence the theme requires.

I had designed better past life's spreads than hers. I have been reading and studying the tarot for 10 years, so I`m not a beginner. Sorry for Lewellyn, they should have taken more care in a book for past life's spreads. This is a very rich theme that can be treated in more creative and accesible ways.

The author is not a tarot specialist, she explores with spreads, with awful results. She is not convincing, and the book lets you with a salty taste,as you keep reading trying to find if it gets better at the end...but it fails to meet your expectations.

I bought the book because it was recommended by Mary Greer, but it was a total deception. It seems that Mary Greer writes the forwarding of tarot books to help in their selling's, but it is not a guarantee that the book is good. It is very SAD that this is happening...as I respect and admire Mary Greer, as an author. But from now on, I will not rely on her recomendations...as she recomends almost every tarot book from Lewellyn publications.

I have studied the tarot for nearly 5 years and keep an open mind whenever a new book appears on the market. Edain McCoy, who has written some wonderful New Age material, strikes an off-putting note in this one. The spreads are certainly imaginative and are perhaps insightful to her own method of tarot interpretation, but convey confusing and ambiguous directions to the reader who is trying to understand her card placements. In several of her spreads she conveys that a card's placement at a certain point in the spread "may or may not" mean some karmic element at play. The whole exercise of creating a spread is to pinpoint with a degree of accuracy the situation you wish to define. Therefore, when a card "may or may not" mean something, that interpretation could significantly change on whether you "may or may not" interpret it that way, leaving the interpreter open to rationalizing a card's meaning. Tarot cards are intuitive, not rational, and their meanings can best be intuited when their placement is clearly defined without ambiguity It is difficult to have it both ways and I found working with these spreads difficult. Imagine doing a Celtic Cross reading and the first position "may or may not" be the root of the issue. These spreads speak very clearly to the author, but not so to the reader. I rate it 2 stars for depth and insight into Karma and past lives, but the explanations are too ambiguous.