Seventy-Eight Degrees of Wisdom

Rachel Pollack’s classic guide to the tarot is a well-loved reference for me and for many.

While it’s a great next step to add depth of insight into the cards for the less experienced, it also continually serves up new insights to someone with more familiarity with the cards as well. She wrote it in the early eighties while living in Amsterdam and teaching tarot at the Kosmos Meditation Center.

Rachel Pollack is one of my Tarot heroes (the woman even created her own deck).

Her guidebook is a Tarot-reading classic as well as one of the books that got me started down my Tarot-research wormhole. In this book, she explores the meanings of the cards using archetypes, numerology, and folklore. And she does this in a way accessible to modern readers. 

But this is more than a book on card symbolism. The book also includes sample readings to help readers get an understanding of how to read the cards. Simply put, you cannot go wrong with Rachel Pollack. Her… show more.

Though Tarot readings themselves don’t always feel clear or straightforward, this book is both of those things. It does an excellent job of demystifying the cards, providing both practical card meanings and the history and symbology behind the art and iconography. It’s my go-to when I have questions or need clarification. Pollack manages to organize a huge amount of useful information into a format that makes sense and isn’t at all intimidating. There’s a reason a lot of people call this book their “Tarot Bible.”