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144 reviews for:
De 78 graden der wijsheid: de tarotkaarten van de Grote en Kleine Arcana ontsluierd
Rachel Pollack
4.21 AVERAGE
144 reviews for:
De 78 graden der wijsheid: de tarotkaarten van de Grote en Kleine Arcana ontsluierd
Rachel Pollack
4.21 AVERAGE
I started getting frustrated when I found myself drowning in a miasma of numerology, somewhere in the preface. The connections seemed rather tenuous, and my doubts were raised. I also found that the interpretations of the meanings of the cards didn't speak to me as did other sources, although they did seem to be a little more helpful in the context of doing a multi-card reading, especially for another person. But that's not how I've been using tarot, so it wasn't particularly helpful in that regard. Also, the author has a different take on reversed cards than I was familiar with, so I struggled to get comfortable with that. I guess it could be a problem of me not being ready to digest other sources, or it could be the doubts raised by all the numerology in the beginning; either way, I wasn't compelled to read all the way through or even consult the book all that much.
There are a few neat ideas scattered in this book, and it was useful in opening up my mind a bit about how the cards all relate to each other and how they can be applied to daily life. But my god, this book often feels like an old rambling aunt who is having a hard time getting to the point. Parts of this book are also very outdated, very white, and involve a lot of leaning on crowley which I don't care for.
It's alright but definitely not the "bible of tarot" the way some seem to think it is.
It's alright but definitely not the "bible of tarot" the way some seem to think it is.
informative
reflective
slow-paced
informative
slow-paced
My first book on tarot. Great in-depth descriptions, especially to the major arcana. I love that it goes so much into psychology 😍
informative
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
challenging
informative
inspiring
reflective
slow-paced
This book is perfect for when you've been playing around with tarot for a while and are ready to dive deeper. Rachel Pollack approaches the tarot from the RWS perspective and she also seems to be a bit into the woo-y side of things, but that doesn't make the book any less useful. She provides a broad framework for the card meanings and highlights a lot of the symbolism you might miss, especially if you didn't start out with an RWS deck (like me, I'm still not planning on getting one because the imagery doesn't resonate at all, but it helps to know where the most common interpretations come from ). Pollack does go by every card but they are mostly discussed in the context of the whole deck and less in a 'practical sense', which was exactl what I was looking for, a deeper, richer understanding to guide my own interpretations. The book closes with a reflection on the meaning of divination and several in-depth discussions of tarot card spreads.
Yet there were some uncomfortable parts. The book is surprisingly up to date at times (I read the 2019 edition), for a book written in 1980 it is kind of progressive that the World 'is a hermaphrodite' but there are still only two genders and despite all the anecdotes and exhortations that men can also be Queens, trans identities are never acknowledged. I can't blame Pollack for that, but it does mean that the perspective is limited. The book also totally bypasses everything we know about systemic racism, instead putting the onus at the individual. The examples provided were rather blunt and off-putting for me as a (non Black) person of color.
Additionally, Pollack dances a lot around the problem of free will, ie, if outcomes predicted by the cards are immutable. She provides a lot of woo-y examples in which people including herself 'should have listened to good advice', but on the other hand she hedges that having insight in possible problems might help you change the behaviors that lead to it (but no one ever does, making the outcome inevitable). Eh, right. I would recommend against using tarot to guide actions, rather using it to gain insight in hidden motivations. Pollack would probably deem that superficial, but despite her long ramble about probability (in which my inner scientist starts to chomp at the bit) she does not provide any logical evidence for the tarot being more Real than any other tool used to gain self insight. And yet she does say interesting things in these chapters, why are we so afraid of negativity, a very nice paragraph about how tarot is all about deliberately setting yourself up for synchronicity... These final chapters would make for a very lively group discussion!
Yet there were some uncomfortable parts. The book is surprisingly up to date at times (I read the 2019 edition), for a book written in 1980 it is kind of progressive that the World 'is a hermaphrodite' but there are still only two genders and despite all the anecdotes and exhortations that men can also be Queens, trans identities are never acknowledged. I can't blame Pollack for that, but it does mean that the perspective is limited. The book also totally bypasses everything we know about systemic racism, instead putting the onus at the individual. The examples provided were rather blunt and off-putting for me as a (non Black) person of color.
Additionally, Pollack dances a lot around the problem of free will, ie, if outcomes predicted by the cards are immutable. She provides a lot of woo-y examples in which people including herself 'should have listened to good advice', but on the other hand she hedges that having insight in possible problems might help you change the behaviors that lead to it (but no one ever does, making the outcome inevitable). Eh, right. I would recommend against using tarot to guide actions, rather using it to gain insight in hidden motivations. Pollack would probably deem that superficial, but despite her long ramble about probability (in which my inner scientist starts to chomp at the bit) she does not provide any logical evidence for the tarot being more Real than any other tool used to gain self insight. And yet she does say interesting things in these chapters, why are we so afraid of negativity, a very nice paragraph about how tarot is all about deliberately setting yourself up for synchronicity... These final chapters would make for a very lively group discussion!
informative
reflective
medium-paced
informative
medium-paced
challenging
informative
inspiring
reflective
slow-paced
This book completely changed and greatly improved my tarot practice. The information is invaluable. I did lower my rating because the frequent typos and editing mistakes--probably not the fault of the author herself. Highly recommend. I will keep this as a reference for as long as I read tarot.