Seventy-Eight Degrees of Wisdom: A Tarot Journey to Self-Awareness (A New Edition of the Tarot Classic)
When it was first published nearly 40-years-ago, Seventy-Eight Degrees of Wisdom was an instant classic and inspired generations of tarot students. Often referred to as the "bible of tarot books" it has now helped to launch the "tarot renaissance" we're seeing today. Drawing on mythology and esoteric traditions and delving deeply into the symbolism and ideas of each card, the book offers a modern psychological interpretation of the tarot archetypes rather than a system of esoteric symbolism.
Rachel Pollack (1945–2023) was an author, tarot scholar, activist, and artist. She authored 41 books, including two award-winning novels: Unquenchable Fire, which won the Arthur C. Clarke Award, and Godmother Night, which received the World Fantasy Award.
Her book 78 Degrees of Wisdom is considered one of the most essential modern works on the Rider-Waite-Smith tradition. In 1985, she wrote for Marvel Comics, contributing to Doom Patrol and creating Coagula, the first transgender character in comics. She also authored a poetry collection, Fortune’s Lover, and collaborated with scholar David Vine to translate Sophocles' Oedipus Tyrannus (commonly known as Oedipus Rex) under the title Tyrant Oidipous. Pollack designed and illustrated her own tarot deck, The Shining Tribe Tarot, and, with artist Robert Place, co-created The Burning Serpent Oracle and The Raziel Tarot. She taught and lectured across four continents and spent eleven years as an instructor in the MFA writing program at Goddard College. Rachel lived with her wife and manager, Zoe Matoff, in New York's Hudson Valley.
When it was first published nearly 40-years-ago, Seventy-Eight Degrees of Wisdom was an instant classic and inspired generations of tarot students. Often referred to as the "bible of tarot books" it has now helped to launch the "tarot renaissance" we're seeing today. Drawing on mythology and esoteric traditions and delving deeply into the symbolism and ideas of each card, the book offers a modern psychological interpretation of the tarot archetypes rather than a system of esoteric symbolism.
Rachel Pollack (1945–2023) was an author, tarot scholar, activist, and artist. She authored 41 books, including two award-winning novels: Unquenchable Fire, which won the Arthur C. Clarke Award, and Godmother Night, which received the World Fantasy Award.
Her book 78 Degrees of Wisdom is considered one of the most essential modern works on the Rider-Waite-Smith tradition. In 1985, she wrote for Marvel Comics, contributing to Doom Patrol and creating Coagula, the first transgender character in comics. She also authored a poetry collection, Fortune’s Lover, and collaborated with scholar David Vine to translate Sophocles' Oedipus Tyrannus (commonly known as Oedipus Rex) under the title Tyrant Oidipous. Pollack designed and illustrated her own tarot deck, The Shining Tribe Tarot, and, with artist Robert Place, co-created The Burning Serpent Oracle and The Raziel Tarot. She taught and lectured across four continents and spent eleven years as an instructor in the MFA writing program at Goddard College. Rachel lived with her wife and manager, Zoe Matoff, in New York's Hudson Valley.
When it was first published nearly 40-years-ago, Seventy-Eight Degrees of Wisdom was an instant classic and inspired generations of tarot students. Often referred to as the "bible of tarot books" it has now helped to launch the "tarot renaissance" we're seeing today. Drawing on mythology and esoteric traditions and delving deeply into the symbolism and ideas of each card, the book offers a modern psychological interpretation of the tarot archetypes rather than a system of esoteric symbolism.
Rachel Pollack (1945–2023) was an author, tarot scholar, activist, and artist. She authored 41 books, including two award-winning novels: Unquenchable Fire, which won the Arthur C. Clarke Award, and Godmother Night, which received the World Fantasy Award.
Her book 78 Degrees of Wisdom is considered one of the most essential modern works on the Rider-Waite-Smith tradition. In 1985, she wrote for Marvel Comics, contributing to Doom Patrol and creating Coagula, the first transgender character in comics. She also authored a poetry collection, Fortune’s Lover, and collaborated with scholar David Vine to translate Sophocles' Oedipus Tyrannus (commonly known as Oedipus Rex) under the title Tyrant Oidipous. Pollack designed and illustrated her own tarot deck, The Shining Tribe Tarot, and, with artist Robert Place, co-created The Burning Serpent Oracle and The Raziel Tarot. She taught and lectured across four continents and spent eleven years as an instructor in the MFA writing program at Goddard College. Rachel lived with her wife and manager, Zoe Matoff, in New York's Hudson Valley.
