Queen Up: A Review

If you’re a woman  interested in personal growth, empowerment, and tarot, then Queen Up by Angela Kaufman is the book for you. Queen Up  is an interactive workbook that chalk full of lessons within the text to bring about personal change. The focus of this book is to help women empower themselves through connecting with the archetypes of the queens from each suit in the tarot, discovering the characteristics of the queens within themselves. The book is divided into three sections, with the first serving as an introduction, the second section serving as the workbook and guide for getting acquainted with the archetypal energy of the queens of the tarot, and the third section is a guide for a year-long journey delving into the archetypal energy to manifest change in your life.

The first section is arguably the weakest, with a bit of redundancy regarding the metaphysical principle that everything is energy. In the table of contents the first section is titled “Who is Your Inner Queen,” but the writing of this section doesn’t really reflect the exploration of that question. Instead, the author references different eastern and western healing and metaphysical traditions such as Ayurveda, Traditional Chinese Medicine, Astrology, Jungian Psychology, and the Law of Attraction, giving a very brief overview of each and leaving the reader to wonder what it has to do with the book in hand. The author seems to be attempting to communicate the legitimacy of the system she developed by referencing these practices, and she does draw correlations between the four queens of the tarot and these other traditions, but it just comes off as disjointed.

The real goodness comes with the second and third sections. It’s not a very thick book, but the second and third sections are packed with many helpful and insightful practices in working with the queen energy of the tarot for self-knowledge, personal growth, and personal empowerment. Part two focuses on ways to connect with the energy of each queen in the tarot, the way the blocked energy of these archetypes manifests in life and body, and activities for self-reflection. Part three is packed with rituals, meditations, and personal reflection exercises to help you build upon the energy within you reflected by the archetypes of each queen and bring about change in your life.

The only thing that would have made part three better would have been a tarot challenge for each week, where the reader works with the tarot as a whole in conjunction with the energy of the Queen archetypes they are working with for self-reflection and growth. This would help the reader grow their intuitive and divination skills while working with these energies. Honestly though, in embracing your own inner Queen, you could create your own tarot challenge for each week.

Overall, this book packs powerful lessons for women wanting to connect with their own personal power and create balance within that is reflected without. It is definitely useful for self-study, but it would also make a fantastic group study commitment for women who want to support one another in the process of Queening Up.