Where to start with Rachel Pollack?

Carla

Well, I've actually got both her Haindl books, and had Shining Tribe for a while, but...

which of her books would be the best one to read as representative of her tarot philosophy and writing style? She's appearing at a conference I am attending in Oct and I thought now's a good time to find out what she's all about.
 

Eeviee

I would vote for 78 Degrees. It's one of the most recommended books on Tarot I've seen.

I don't own her newer Tarot Wisdom (yet), but to my understanding, it's a very in-depth review of each of the cards.

Her newest, The New Tarot Handbook, which I own is very short and concise. She even states that it is the reverse of 78 Degrees and Tarot Wisdom; she took the key meanings and information and broke it down. I honestly wouldn't recommend this to anyone but a beginner, but if you aren't looking to spend too much and get a (very) quick idea, this might be what you're looking for.
 

magpie9

I think 78 degrees is the best place to start. It is very complete. tarot Wisdom is kind of thinned out, I don't find it near as deep, or complete, card by card or any other way. It has a lot of info on historical stuff you can get better from Paul Huston. I think it's her best work.
 

Carla

I wish my library had it because I'm not inclined to buy it. I wonder if 78 Degrees is anything like her Haindl books or Shining Tribe. I wasn't overly keen on her writing style in those. Maybe I'll just go to the conference cold and see what she has to say. At least if she rehashes her own work, I won't know it!
 

Shade

I love 78 Degrees as well but once you have read that follow up with her masterpiece Forest of Soils and it's follow up Soul Forest.

78 degrees will introduce her way of working with cards and series of cards but those two books perfectly exemplify her incredie tradition of wisdom readings.
 

Carla

I love 78 Degrees as well but once you have read that follow up with her masterpiece Forest of Soils and it's follow up Soul Forest.

78 degrees will introduce her way of working with cards and series of cards but those two books perfectly exemplify her incredie tradition of wisdom readings.

The wisdom readings sound more interesting to me than the other. Could I go straight to Forest of Souls, you think?
 

Carla

Well, I ordered 78 Degrees of Wisdom. :)
 

Phineas

78 Degrees

78 Degrees is worth a read. I've worked my way through the majors with it and am getting into the minors now. It's VERY Rider-Waite centric, which was interesting for me as I don't have a pure Rider-Waite deck.

I lay out the same card from most of my other decks as I'm reading through to do a bit of a compare and contrast as well as to try and fix the image that I will be using with the words and details that Pollack is using.
It is interesting to see where some of the concepts that have been used in the cards come from and how they have been re-interpreted by the artists.
It's also interesting to see how "down the line" some of the decks are compared to the Rider-Waite.

The book is definitely worth getting and I'll be interested to see what you think of it Carla.