Tori Hartman (1)

It's quite possibly a little known fact that I used to review a lot more new age, self-help books and products in the past, hence the name 'alternative' in my website address. So when I saw this available for review it reminded me of those days, and I jumped at the chance of reviewing this - "How to Read the Cards for Yourself and Others (Chakra Wisdom Oracle) Tori Hartman". Tori is a professional intuitive following a near-death experience some twenty years ago.

Unfortunate
ly, this whole book is built around a set of Tarot style 49 mystical fable cards, revealed to Tori, which do not come with this book. It also focuses on The Chakra Wisdom Oracle Toolkit, which I also do not own. But there is an iPhone app!

The book itself explains what the cards mean and how to interpret them. You learn about the Great Servant and the 17 Great Spirits of the Council, which all relate to chakra coloured cards, with different aspects and teachings on. It's written in a concise and well laid out format. There are also some handy quick reference tables to help simplify the teachings, plus reading techniques and meditative journaling are also covered.

With 320 pages, it is quite full on, which in my eyes is a good thing. It doesn't skimp on detail. Plus, if you visit Tori's website there are now courses you can take up to train you how to use these cards even further, and more in depth.

I can recommend this book to anyone who is alre
ady a fan of spiritual guides and tarot cards, or if this is something that just appeals to you, (there's a reason for that) just try it out and see. If you're dedicated enough you can learn so much more by repeated use to better your understanding of what these cards are telling you and how to read them fully.

These look like powerful and possible life-changing divination tools that Tori has created through her life-long fascination with colour and its power to transform and heal. For more information visit www.ToriHartman.com… (altro)

This book and card set was given to me for free by a Goodreads Giveaway.

The author based these cards on stories she wrote down as a child. She explains that these stories were dictated to her by angels, after a near-death experience. Each story had a color associated with it. Later she realized these colors seemed to correlate to the colors traditionally associated with the Hindu chakras. In the introduction she describes being unable to understand chakras until she put aside the references about their meaning in Hinduism to experience them for herself in light of the stories and colors that came to her in childhood.

The book starts with an introduction to the cards, then has a chapter for each chakra color, then a chapter of specific spreads to use with the card. Each chakra chapter has information about that chakra and the cards associated with it, then a page for each card. The page includes a thumbnail of the card, the story that inspired it, information about the card's meaning and how to use it, and a short meditation about the card.

The book and card set assume that the reader, like the author, believes that when one focuses on a need or want that is in alignment with the reader's inner truth, that need or want will manifest in their life. She does point out that the focus is only one part of the equation. To quote the book, "Trust in God, but lock your doors." Unsurprisingly, the book attributes failure to manifest to either a lack of belief or misalignment with inner/divine truth. The book also assumes that God, higher self, Goddess, inner truth are pretty much the same, just called by different names as different people understand it.

The artwork has an accessible, illustrative style that nicely reflects the story of each card. It's detailed enough to support visual meditation without getting busy or distracting.

I am not the ideal audience for this set. I find the author's reinterpretation of a part of Hinduism to feel less like creativity than appropriation, which makes it hard for me to relax into the set. The assignments of stories to chakras to concepts feels haphazard to me. Someone whose spirituality aligns with the author's may very well find this to be an appealing, useful took. If I were to use it, I would likely use the cards alone without referencing the book.… (altro)