Tarot cards: the magical way to conquer women?
When I was originally asked to review Mr. David Huxley’s book “How To Get Women With Tarot Cards”, my first thought was that it must be a joke. Surely there must be an easier way to make friends with women at parties. Having read the book, I am now convinced that there is not.
If you’ve ever been to a party where someone is reading Tarot cards, you know the line begins before the reader arrives. For whatever reason, people, especially women, like to have their letters read to them. Huxley attributes this to a desire to share confidences and obtain information about our lives. I think it’s more a matter of colorful cards and a secret belief in magic. In any case, there is no doubt that people, especially those between the ages of 18 and 30, like to have their cards read to them.
But does it really make sense for a man to use this as a way to meet women?
The average reading of a tarot card at a party takes between fifteen minutes and half an hour. During that time, the reader asks someone, usually a woman, to shuffle the cards and discuss quite personal details of her past, present, and future. Those kinds of things are likely to result in instant intimacy. As each card falls, the reader explains the meaning of its meaning and its position, and the person for whom it is being read generally works hard to see how this information can apply to them.
Having attended more parties than my share, I have to say that reading my letters, or seeing others read their letters, is more interesting than having a normal little chat. There are many interesting ways to answer the question of “What do you do? Where do you work? Do you have any hobbies?” Even if you are a romance writer.
It is much more interesting to discuss whether magic is real or not, what the future holds, what the cards mean and how chance can reveal the secrets of the universe.
One thing I really like about David’s book is that he realizes that the goal is to put on an interesting show. It provides a short introduction to personality profiles, hypnosis, and NLP, and reveals how you can use these tricks to create a more interesting and entertaining Tarot reading.
The book is short, only 42 pages, but I think it provides the best introduction to the Tarot that I have ever read. For someone looking for a new way to break the ice at parties, this is probably ideal. Its major arcana overview provides some easy-to-remember definitions, and the minor arcana coverage is adequate. Tarot cards are shipped with comprehensive descriptions of each card.
The only thing I think people will not like about this book is that it is quite clear that Huxley is not sure that Tarot cards are magic. He seems to attribute his “success” to human involvement in shuffling and selecting the cards and having people work together to read them. I think some Tarot card purists would find it irritating.