kalliope
Thanks for the detailed review, Lee! I've received my copy of Caitlín's book, but haven't had much chance to read it yet. I look forward to revisiting your review once I have.
I suspect that there will be pieces that work well for me, and others that don't, as usual! I do really, really like the sort of learning exercises she uses, so I'll probably enjoy the ones included in the book, and will get a lot out of them. As you say, she's great at showing the mechanics of reading and combinations. I find that exercises help me make the most strides these days, because otherwise one just needs to "practice reading." The structure of exercises gives me something useful to do! (It's why I liked Britta's course, incidentally.)
I do know what you mean about her more in depth readings, though. For every reader, there comes a point where we have to make the jump to connect the strict card meanings & combinations with relevant everyday details of our (or our querent's) situation. And in her Enchanted Lenormand book, sometimes I didn't completely follow her jumps. My thought process is different from hers, my mind usually goes to a slightly different place. That may prove true with her new book, too.
But if this is the only sticking point, that's okay with me, really. That jump is where we become the individual reader that we are, and develop our relationship with the cards (as long as we're coming from a solid foundation of basics). I'm at the point where I'm looking for tools & exercises to help me extend my skills and deepen my foundation, and I'm hoping there's plenty of that in the book to make it worth it. I find that I click easily with Rana's ultimate conclusions from layouts of cards, but I wanted more about the process and technique of reading. I'm hoping Caitlín's book will fill in those blanks and will be a great complement.
As an aside, I took a look at the pages on the Rider to see the "witness" meaning, since I was curious. Just thinking out loud here: she lists it in the verb section, so it's "to witness", not a noun as I incorrectly assumed from what you wrote. I'm guessing that maybe it's an extrapolation of "to arrive," a more recognizable meaning of that card. If one arrives, one is present. If one arrives and is present, one can be there to witness something. Yeah? Maybe?
I have less to offer about "layoffs" for Whips. From my quick look, it only seems to appear in Appendix III Quick Reference section, not in Chapter 2 with the main card meanings. In the Quick Reference, she includes the "cleaning up" meaning that was more prominent in her Enchanted Lenormand, which even titled that card Broom, yes? My guess here is that a "layoff" is when a company or business is "cleaning up." So while it's not a common or very traditional meaning (to my non-expert knowledge, anyway), at least maybe I've convinced myself that I can see where she was coming from.
Anyhow, thanks again!
I suspect that there will be pieces that work well for me, and others that don't, as usual! I do really, really like the sort of learning exercises she uses, so I'll probably enjoy the ones included in the book, and will get a lot out of them. As you say, she's great at showing the mechanics of reading and combinations. I find that exercises help me make the most strides these days, because otherwise one just needs to "practice reading." The structure of exercises gives me something useful to do! (It's why I liked Britta's course, incidentally.)
I do know what you mean about her more in depth readings, though. For every reader, there comes a point where we have to make the jump to connect the strict card meanings & combinations with relevant everyday details of our (or our querent's) situation. And in her Enchanted Lenormand book, sometimes I didn't completely follow her jumps. My thought process is different from hers, my mind usually goes to a slightly different place. That may prove true with her new book, too.
But if this is the only sticking point, that's okay with me, really. That jump is where we become the individual reader that we are, and develop our relationship with the cards (as long as we're coming from a solid foundation of basics). I'm at the point where I'm looking for tools & exercises to help me extend my skills and deepen my foundation, and I'm hoping there's plenty of that in the book to make it worth it. I find that I click easily with Rana's ultimate conclusions from layouts of cards, but I wanted more about the process and technique of reading. I'm hoping Caitlín's book will fill in those blanks and will be a great complement.
As an aside, I took a look at the pages on the Rider to see the "witness" meaning, since I was curious. Just thinking out loud here: she lists it in the verb section, so it's "to witness", not a noun as I incorrectly assumed from what you wrote. I'm guessing that maybe it's an extrapolation of "to arrive," a more recognizable meaning of that card. If one arrives, one is present. If one arrives and is present, one can be there to witness something. Yeah? Maybe?
I have less to offer about "layoffs" for Whips. From my quick look, it only seems to appear in Appendix III Quick Reference section, not in Chapter 2 with the main card meanings. In the Quick Reference, she includes the "cleaning up" meaning that was more prominent in her Enchanted Lenormand, which even titled that card Broom, yes? My guess here is that a "layoff" is when a company or business is "cleaning up." So while it's not a common or very traditional meaning (to my non-expert knowledge, anyway), at least maybe I've convinced myself that I can see where she was coming from.
Anyhow, thanks again!