Rachel Pollack's Tarot Wisdom: Spiritual Teachings and Deeper Meanings

I'm new to reading Tarot. I started with Joan Bunning's Learning the Tarot, and while that book is fantastic for getting your toes wet, and remains a useful resource, it didn't offer enough depth for me.Rachel Pollack's Tarot Wisdom is exactly what I was looking for -- an in-depth look at each card, its history, and its meanings that I will be able to use for years. The thoroughness really helps me get a feel for each of the cards, and the more esoteric info about the Kabbalah, numerology, etc, will be useful as I gain more practice and familiarity with the cards. This is one of those books that you can read and re-read, and get something new with each reading.For each card, several different versions are shown: Visconti, Marseille, Rider, Golden Dawn Ritual, Egyptian, and Shining Tribe. The comparative approach is very useful as an accompaniment to the discussions of symbology, and helps to show how the cards and their meanings have progressed over time. Also useful are the lists of historical interpretations of the Major Arcana cards, and how those have differed from and/or influenced contemporary meanings.I also really enjoy the Wisdom Readings that are included throughout the book. Each of the Major Arcana has a reading, as well as one each for the Court Cards, Wands, Cups, Swords, and Pentacles. The Wisdom Readings help to reinforce the meanings of the cards, and what those cards signify to me personally. For example, a few of the questions from A Fool Reading are:How have I been a Fool in my life?Where in my life do I need to be more Foolish?Where do I find the Fool outside myself?One note: the book includes the author's personal experiences with and interpretations of the cards, as well as the more academic information. The personal anecdotes, while interesting, aren't for everyone. I would also have preferred not to have the inclusion and explanations of the author's Shining Tribe cards. However, these two drawbacks don't lessen the overall usefulness of the book.This book would not be suitable for a beginner who just wants an overview of Tarot, who wants to keep things simple at first and memorize a few keywords for each card. However, for a beginner who wants to immerse themselves in layers of meaning and symbolism for each card, this book is outstanding.

Rachel Pollack has been a fixture in the tarot community for almost thirty years, and ever since her best seller, 78 Degrees of Wisdom, she has been an international tarot authority, and for good reason. Her treatment of the tarot is extensive. I would venture to say she spends around 10 pages per trump. She delves a little into the history and development of the tarot, but only enough to enrich our current understanding of the symbolism. She deals with the historical devleopment of each trump insofar as its symbolism is concerned.She includes about 4-5 examples of each card at th beginning of her treatment and uses the Golden dawn Magickal tarot, her own Shining Tribe Tarot, the Rider-Waite Tarot, the Egyptian Tarot, and the Marseilles tarot.The strength of this book is the development of the IDEAS in the tarot. Rather than simply giving a list of meaning and associations, Mrs. Pollack explains the "why" behind everything and makes you relate your own life experiences to the energy and ideas of the cards in question.Another great aspect of this book is her inclusion of mythology to illustrate the major points in the tarot. Fallen angels, the rise of Zeus, Persephone's Journey into the Underworld and numerous other myths all serve to illustrate the timeless message of the tarot that mythology has echoed throughout the ages.Some meanings for divination are given, but her focus is on using the tarot as a tool to enhance your life and for self-development. It is one of the major armaments in the occultist's bag of tricks that is used to try and rend the veil and experience the oneness of the perennial philosophy.I can safely say that is you can only purchase one tarot book or you are looking to learn the tarot from just one source for now, this has to be the top recommendation. It has everything.

The item itself was in pretty good sjape being a used book. Everything in tacked except for a corner on the front and back page had a crease and folding a little. Inside the book was unmarked and in great shape. As far as the book itself goes this is a 480 page book about the meanings of the 78 tarot cards. Unlikw most books the author discusses the whole deck and not just the major arcana. 251 of the 480 pages of the book are discissing the major arcana. Definitely more depth with the major arcana but that is to be expected since these are bigger life experiences. I've read the whole intro to the book up to the first card meaning and so far the history behind tarot and all her info on it and her personal beliefs are very interesting. Not specific complaints about the reas thus far.

This book was a lot of fun to read. My second book on Tarot, which I am happy I bought and read! The suggested Tarot readings at the end of each chapter are very revealing and I can assure your that your will learn more about your self from these exercises than from encyclopedias of recycled "self-help" books. It feels like a game, but at the same time the knowledge and information you are getting from the cards is so serious that you cannot avoid but respect and grow from its revealing messages. Rachel Pollack is probably one of the best writers on the occult and mystic subjects right now: she is enjoyable, informative, and above all writes in a way that you simply cannot stop reading.This is a book that is not only intended to be read from beginning to end, but it will also be very useful as a reference book. I foresee myself using this book for a long time, even rereading it more than once. A lot of the information, even though clearly explained, I didn't appreciate it on the first read. In other words, it is a deep book and with each reading you'll go deeper and broader into the knowledge and wisdom of the Tarot.I am glad this book introduced me to Rachel Pollack as a writer and to the wisdom and knowledge of the mighty Tarot.

A delightful read as well as a solid reference book.

Se você busca uma visão multicultural e interdisciplinar do tarô, este é o seu livro! Aqui, Rachel Pollack explora as várias histórias, significados e tradições por trás de cada uma das 78 cartas do tarô, comparando os baralhos de Waite, Marselha, Visconti, Egípcio, Golden Dawn e o Shinning Tribe, criado por ela mesma. Para cada carta, Pollack explora referências da mitologia grega e egípcia, contos de fadas, histórias da Bíblia, tradições da Europa medieval, arquétipos psicológicos de Jung, astrologia, numerologia, cabala e taoismo. Você encontra os significados dados à cada carta por estudiosos do tarô famosos dos séculos 18 e 19 e, claro, interpretações práticas para leituras do dia-a-dia. O que eu gosto nesse livro é o equilíbrio entre significados profundos, que nos fazem refletir sobre cada carta, e significados mais "pés no chão", para leituras referentes a amor, trabalho, autoconhecimento, etc. Super recomendado para quem tem um conhecimento inicial de tarô já bem definido e deseja se aprofundar mais. Um bom conhecimento de Inglês é bem necessário.

かなりのボリュームのある本(480頁)ですが、著者Rachel Pollackは作家でもあるので文章は流麗です。著者の以前の著作の"Seventy-Eight Degrees of Wisdom"のUpdate版という感じを受けました。大アルカナ1枚の解説には約8-10頁ほど費やしています。ただ、その解説については冗長な感じをうけました。大アルカナカードについては、Paul Husonの著作からの引用ですが、正位置の意味だけA.E.Waite、Levi、Mathers、黄金の夜明け団などのカード解釈の意味を掲げています。逆位置の意味は各大アルカナカードの説明文書の最後のほうに書かれています。小アルカナのほうですが、小アルカナの数札の解説は1頁、コートカードの解説も実質1頁です。小アルカナには前述のA.E.Waite、Levi、Mathers、黄金の夜明け団などのカード解釈の意味は記されていません。ただし、正位置・逆位置の意味が端的に記されているので、大アルカナよりは理解しやすいと思います。Rachel Pollackの著作の中で、大アルカナカードの1枚1枚を深く知りたいという点では本書は有益だと思いますが、単にタロットを占うという点だけでは鏡リュウジ氏訳の「タロットバイブル（原著名"The New Tarot Handbook" 朝日新聞出版）」の方が、カードを端的に説明しているため良いのではないかと思います。

Após ler 4 livros sobre Tarõ, este se destacou pelo conteúdo referente as Major Arcanas, e outras informações referentes ao tópico. Mas as informações sobre as Minor Arcanas deixou a desejar, e muito em comparação aos outros livros que li.Recomendo este livro se você esta levando a serio o estudo do tarô, e sugiro que adquira mais algumas fontes de informações, para ter um maior entendimento. Pois cada autor apresenta variações consideráveis nas interpretações das cartas.A capa é emborrachada... muito legal. Encontramos imagens de vários tipos de cartas de tarô, e aspectos astrológicos e cabalísticos além das interpretações. É um livro que vale a pena investir.

Capa mole ruim de manusear ,fora isso o conteúdo é maravilhoso como tudo da Rachel Pollack

Livro muito bem escrito, leitura envolvente, te leva a refletir sobre cada arcano maior, faz voce entrar no universo da carta, ainda não li os arcanos menores mas acredito que segue a mesma linha.Porque dei 3 estrelas...achei ele incompleto...senti falta: palavras chaves de cada carta, influencia de uma carta sobre a outra, exemplos de tiragens. Com relação as tiragens, tem alguns exemplos de tiragens mas muito sucinto, pouquíssima coisa mesmo. Se esta interessado em entender melhor os arcanos maiores/menores recomendo, caso contrario não vale apena, tem livros bem mais completos por um preço bem mais acessível e que não fica devendo nada para os livros da Raquel Pollacks. Achei uma pena também não encontrar o livro em Português, se tem a versão em espanhol porque não ter a versão em Português? Não faz sentido mas não considerei esse ponto na minha avaliação. Obs.: adquiri o livro físico pois a diferença entre o livro físico e eBook era muito pequena por isso achei que não valia apena e indico o livro físico por dois motivos: primeiro para rabiscar e fazer anotações, no kindle ate se consegue fazer anotações mas a parte de pesquisa nas anotações eu não acho produtivo, perdesse muito tempo. Segundo, acredito que para se adquirir um livro em eBook, este tem que ser muito mais em conta do que o livro físico senão não vale apena ate porque é outro tipo de relação que se tem com o eBook e nesse caso o preço para o eBook não é atrativo.