The book begins with a foreword by Richard Webster. This is followed by an introduction to Saga Tarot, the differences from other Tarot decks and why you should invest in this one.Even if you are not interested in doing Tarot readings, with this deck and thanks to its characteristics you also have a good tool for Magic and Mentalism.
Words are written on the cards that not only tell us the symbolism of each card, but also allow us to do drawings duplications (there are 16 cards with words that are easy to reproduce with drawings: flower, heart, cat, bird, star, etc.).

Here is one example:

We can also do Walk-around Mind Reading and that is perhaps the part that interests me most, as it is the setting where I usually work. You may think, but can't I do that with any other Tarot deck? You can, but the difference is that these cards have their name written on them (as exemplified in the image above) allowing any participant who doesn't know Tarot to know the name of the card and to make associations with the other words written on them. This combined with the simple stack he uses and explains further on opens many doors.


About Me (page 3 to 6)

Here we learn about the journey since 2000 of the man behind Tarot Saga. His search for real magic, his studies of Kenton Knepper's work, his 10 years presenting general magic, his studies in all the books he found on the art of readings and psychic entertainment.His time as a teacher in a Swedish school, a job he left in 2013. By this time he had about 10 years of study in psychology, pseudo psychology, magic, mentalism and psychic readings.

What follows is an interesting story that led him to discover the power of the Tarot and other oracles.

In 2013 he launches his first effects for the magical community and also at that time he personally meets big names like: Richard Webster, Neal Scryer and Jon Stetson.
His interest in fortune telling grows and he starts working in festivals. Turbani the Great is born.

He travels around Sweden and Scandinavia where with long queues in front of his tent and working 7 hours a day he does about 2500 readings per year for all kind of audiences.
He has been giving lectures on psychic readings, his systems and methods, including the Saga Universal Tarot, over the last few years.
When someone with this level of experience in the field speaks on a subject, I pay close attention.

Pages 7 and 8 - a brief summary of the history of Tarot.


The Basics (pages 9 to 24)

A difficult task for most Tarot beginners is to understand the meaning of the 78 cards.

The keywords in the Saga system make this easier especially when we compare them with the images.
The names on the cards aren’t only written on the Major arcana and court cards, but on all the cards.

There are some sentences in this chapter that I have to underline because I think they are important, they are:

“ A psychic reading should be just a reading. If you turn that moment into a magic trick the focus suddenly shifts. A reading should be about the querent, not about you.”

Next he explains a short story with the Major arcana so that we can more easily understand them, rather than having individual pieces of information for each card.
This chapter ends with the basic meanings of Minor arcana and how we can apply numerology to them to understand them better and even get extra scenes to the story we want to tell.

Have you read it?

What's your opinion?

To be continued...

The Saga Reading System

Page 25 to 42

On page 25 begins the explanation of the 4 words written on the cards: Symbolic Meaning, Associations, General Meaning and Alternative Meaning.

He explains with examples how he selected the words in the symbols category and how to relate them to the querent. In this chapter this sentence caught my attention:

“ more often than you could expect the querent has a tattoo or a jewelry that matches some of the symbols in the spread . When that happens the querent will remember the reading as unique as personal.”

Associations

“I have selected the associations I got from thousands of readings and from my studies of the Tarot. The words will make sense to the pictures and open up for multiple associations.”

With an example of a reading for a 25 year old woman he explains how to connect the words to the participant based on 3 aspects:

The querent
The card ( spread)
The key word

General Meaning

He points to the importance of knowing the general meaning of the cards to give plausible readings.

“ …of course, you can make up all the meanings while you are reading but it is like assembling IKEA furniture without the instructions.”

We can change the meaning of the cards to make the reading more adjusted to the querent but first point out the general meaning of the card. He gives an example of a reading.

To be continued

Alternative Meaning

He talks about how we can totally change the meaning of the cards with a bad feeling.
He gives examples with these cards:

- The Devil
- Five of Pentacles
- Eight of Swords
- Nine of Swords
- Ten of Sword

Alternative Magic

Here he talks about the 16 cards that contain easy-to-draw words.

Dual Reality

In the deck comes a World card with words and one without written words, he explains a routine with these cards but also explains how to use Dual Reality well.
It is an asset to any routine with dual reality even if it is not with a Tarot deck.
There is also a white card, he gives ideas on how to use this card, one of those ideas is a Clinton Combs routine that is published at the end of the book.
He finishes this chapter with ideas on how we can use this stack in Walk Around for readings and mind reading.

Page 43 to page 47

An analysis of the ethical aspects of a psychic reading.
Should a mentalist do psychic readings ?
If yes, how should he do it in order to avoid problems?
Gold in these pages, gold.

Page 48 to page 67

He analyses here the different elements that make up a psychic reading: The Oracle, The Reading System, Cold Reading, Narration, Atmosphere, Intuition, Stock Lines and Trickery.
This chapter, like the previous one, should be read several times and will be useful even if Tarot cards do not tell you anything and you prefer other oracles.

Page 68 to page 79

The AWEC-Move

The explanation of a system of getting secret information and erasing the evidence in front of the participant with an envelope.
It might be useful for you in longer readings. It is an interesting method of getting the information and putting it back in the envelope.
At the end of the reading the querent has the envelope with their question and a forecast.
He explains a system that guarantees that for example the prediction of the participant's friends will be different, if they also come for a reading.

Page 80 to page 103

The book ends with an explanation on how to structure the reading. Readings with different spreads (the pyramid spread, the Celtic cross), additional tools for readings, a brief discussion about the different cultural aspects and how a reading changes from one country to another due to these differences. The formula he uses for all his readings and an explanation of each of these topics:

Talk about the cards
Talk about the querent’s persona
Talk about the past
Talk about the present
Talk about the future
Blind the story together

Oh, at the end there's a Clinton Combs routine.
I will leave it to you to discover and see if you like it.

Final Verdict: I see that it is a system that has not been on many people's radar but has a lot of potential.
I'm sure that if it came accompanied by videos with the live readings (although I realize it's not easy, since it's something personal) and explaining the construction and use of the envelope, it would have a lot more interest.
Eventually an interview on the different themes covered and stories experienced throughout these thousands of readings.

I hope you have enjoyed following this review that now comes to an end.

Thanks

Hélder