Pollack's 78 Degrees of Wisdom

Just now on www.buy.com I found a book by Rachel Pollach due to be published in April called The Big Little Book of Tarot the Only Book You'll Ever Need.
Has anyone heard of it or have any info on it?
There was no description for it on the sight.

It is logical to include Kabbalistic and Christian commentary to the cards as Waite and Smith were using them.

What gripes me is that there is no mention of fact that the Kabbala is not true Hebrew Kabbala, but whatever was available to Waite, and that the traditional Kabbala of Jewish tradition has nothing to do with Tarot.

Nothing. Zip. Nada. No freakin' way.

Because Tarot, as portrayals of the human and animal figure, is a violation of the First Commandment and an abomination under Jewish law. The idea of incorporating Jewish holy teachings into a system of pictures would be as offensive as having students read texts written on the bodies of naked women.

...as an eternal student, I personally would not find the last suggestion offensive

Pagan X said:

Because Tarot, as portrayals of the human and animal figure, is a violation of the First Commandment and an abomination under Jewish law. The idea of incorporating Jewish holy teachings into a system of pictures would be as offensive as having students read texts written on the bodies of naked women.

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Artwork is an abomination under Jewish Law? Did anyone tell Chagal?

You're mixing up your centuries, firemaiden.

Chagal wasn't studying Kabbala in the fourteenth century.

Our twentieth century Tarots contain Kabbalistic symbolism through the work of Christian occultists in the nineteenth century, not through the tradition taught by Jewish mystics.

Pollack uses stories from the mediaeval Jewish tradition and applies them to the Tarot. This is sloppy scholarship and I consider it worth criticism.

Judaism and Jewish culture have also changed in the interim, becoming more liberal with respect to such things as art.

The Kabbalah - Tarot connection is at least a little older than the 19th century, and I would be very surprised if there were no Jewish Mystics working together with Christian mystics ... I mean... Christian Kabbalists couldn't have evolved in a vaccuum... could they?

Anyhow, perhaps we can take this discussion on the Kabbalah-Tarot Connection over to jmd's thread in the History forum: Kabbalah and Tarot

The Christian mystics aren't mystics, but occultists; mostly the members of the Golden Dawn. Educated Brits working with Jewish manuscripts in the British Museum. They may have easily avoided any actual conversation with living Jews who are not liberal minded artists and painters.

Yes, they very easily can work without Jewish Mystics, since a) there aren't very many in England and b) they are not going to talk to middle-class British occultists. Jewish Mystics are dodging pogroms in Eastern Europe and are not going to share their maligned and persecuted religion with non-Jews; double that for female non-Jews.

Tarot, the deck and the game, was in existence for a couple of hundred years before French non-Jewish authors assigned the Hebrew letters to the major arcana. This was on the basis of the coincidence of the number 22.

Let me put it this way: of all the Tarotists here, including those interested in Kabbala, how many have entered an Orthodox synagogue and discussed Kabbalah with a Jewish mystic? And our time is much more liberal with respect to social contact between faith groups.

It began in France in the 18th century...

Kether__ said:

Could You give me the Link to Rachel Pollack´s book review on this web?

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Reviews by Bonnie Cehovet and Isthmus Nekoi