Seventy-Eight Degrees of Wisdom?

Hi All! I've heard wonders about Rachel Pollak's book, Seventy-Eight Degrees of Wisdom. I, however, live in a very rural area and have not been able to obtain a copy even to leaf through. It is not in our library system and, believe it or not, there are no bookstores within 5 hours of my house. I'm thinking of ordering the book over the internet, but I would really value what you all have to say about this book. What is the style? What does she discuss? Is it comparable to anything else you've read? Is she partial to any decks in particular? If anyone feels like doing a mini-review of the book I'd be sooo grateful. Thank you!

This was one of those earlier books - well two actually, until they were re-published in a single volume - which was written in a way which certainly captured a wide audience.

Illustrated predominantly with the (Rider/)Waite/Colman-Smith deck, it, in my view, was instrumental in re-invigorating Tarot interests in the English-speaking world, and contributed to establishing that deck as one of the standards.

Personally, and though I do respect what she says, I do not value this book (or in my case, as I have the earlier 2-volume set - books) as highly as many others do. Written in 1980/1983 from what was, I believe, originally notes from a course she gave, I would have it on my shelf, but not seek it out at all costs...

I may add other comments on the books' wonderful attributes later - but I would have to re-look through them for specifics (it has been many years!)

belladonna ... here's a link to review of this book from jim revak's excellent website:

http://www.villarevak.org/biblio/biblio_op.html

Well, the book is soft cover, and the paper is yellowed like newsprint (at least my copy is). You can find a used copy on Amazon or half.com for cheaper.

I've got the copy where the majors & minors are in the same book (1997 edition). The chapter headings are:
Part One the Major Arcana
Introduction
The four card pattern
The overview
The opening trumps: symbols & archetypes
The Worldly sequence
Turning Inwards
The Great Journey (all this takes you to 110 pages)

Part Two the Minor Arcana
Introduction
Wands
Cups
Swords
Pentacles (takes you to page 232, each card is given meanings upright & in reverse-all illustrated with Rider Waite cards).

Part Three Readings
Introduction
Types of readings
How to use tarot readings
What we learn from tarot readings (takes you to page 342)

Then the Bibliography & index (page 354)

Gate cards

A concept discussed in the book is Gate Cards. I'll start a new thread with some questions I have about this concept.

Belladonna said:

What is the style? What does she discuss? Is it comparable to anything else you've read? Is she partial to any decks in particular?

Click to expand...

If you mostly use one of the Waite-Smith decks, or a clone, I would recommend it to you with the highest recommendation. She relies heavily on a subjective approach to the RWS deck scenes, and she examines each of them in a way that is thorough, well written, and gives you something to chew on.

If you don't use a RWS deck or closely related clone as your chief reading deck, what you take out of it will be much more limited.

Ahhh! Thank you all so much for your input and your time. Sounds like something worth having, but I think I'll look for a used copy! And Rusty Neon, I'm very interested about this Gate Card thing. I'm looking forward to that thread.

It would be worth your while to utilize the good folks at Amazon.