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The subject of Tarot has always intrigued me at some level, but I haven’t made any efforts to learn about it until now. This book is the first in a series of three, written by Rachel Pollack, and has been mashed together into one edition for whomever does not want to go through the ordeal of purchasing three separate books. I have the amalgamated version in my possession, so this review will deal with the first part of the three.
Books dealing with mystical or spiritual topics often fall victim to new age nonsense in their lines of thought and reasoning. The logic and coherence is usually severely lacking, and this one suffers from some of those tendencies. I read one review that dug deeper into such flaws, one which went great lengths to pulverize Pollack’s work. My verdict is not as brutal as the aforementioned review. Yes, there are some aspects that did bother me, but they weren’t as bad as I had anticipated. Mostly, I’d say it does what it sets out for, which in my interpretation would be to serve as an introduction to the world of Tarot.
A book that comes to mind is, believe it or not, Jordan Peterson’s behemoth ”Maps of Meaning”. What we are dealing with here is roughly the same – how symbols and archetypes represent a realm that is different, yet not wholly severed from the world we all share and live in. While it’s a much more surmountable read in terms of the language use and complexity, the ideas are not all that different. This book could easily have been given the name ”Maps of Meaning”, and it would have been a fitting title. Pollack does pull it off well enough to keep me interested, and as with any book dealing with meaning (if it’s not a disaster), it had me reflecting a whole lot while reading it. In other words: it enabled me to be an active recipient of the product. If it would have been a fiasco, I would not have been particurlarly enthusiastic about absorbing more information and knowledge on Tarot, but as of now I’m eager to continue the endeavor.
Pollack is fairly well read, and has some knowledge on other traditions which go hand in hand with Tarot. This adds to the book’s credibility as I utterly deplore reading ”spiritual” stuff by authors who are not educated enough to make their ideas come off as convincing or worthy of contemplation. Kudos to her for that. Moreover, making references to renowned authors and figures extends the parameters of the book’s scope. I guess I’m a bit traumatized from reading ”Laws of the Spirit World” (by some Indian author), which constitutes a prime example of how books of the sort should NOT be written.
Alas, it could have been a lot better than it is. What causes more damage than anything else in this case is the incoherent drivel of what I sometimes attribute to the ”crystal folks”. You know, the people who go on about energies this, energies that, chakras, the law of attraction, crystals, and astrology, without giving adequate support from other literature to come off as serious. These people disgust me. Another way of putting it is what I call ”The National Treasure Effect”, stemming from the Nicolas Cage movie National Treasure. ”Yeah, look, here we can see three of those figures, and there is a circle in there somewhere, and the circle is to the right, so that means if we go 300 steps to the right, we will find the next clue”, and so on. What Pollack does from time to time is to jump back and forth between cards and symbols not yet covered as if the reader already knew all about them, then going on to elaborate with skewed and arbitrary logic about how it is all supposed to make sense. Which it many times doesn't, but sometimes it actually does. I cannot recall any specific examples right now, but it lowered the quality of an otherwise effective introduction to the subject. It's the excessive emphasis on numerology, that's it.
All in all, certainly worth reading for anyone interested in learning about Tarot, and as I stated earlier, I think it’s a good starting point for beginners (such as myself). The fact that I feel drawn to explore Tarot in practice myself is an indicator that Pollack’s introduction does work, so I’m feeling unusually lenient to the otherwise intolerable bouts of hippie nonsense that did infect the book at times.
Three national treasures out of five possible.
Books dealing with mystical or spiritual topics often fall victim to new age nonsense in their lines of thought and reasoning. The logic and coherence is usually severely lacking, and this one suffers from some of those tendencies. I read one review that dug deeper into such flaws, one which went great lengths to pulverize Pollack’s work. My verdict is not as brutal as the aforementioned review. Yes, there are some aspects that did bother me, but they weren’t as bad as I had anticipated. Mostly, I’d say it does what it sets out for, which in my interpretation would be to serve as an introduction to the world of Tarot.
A book that comes to mind is, believe it or not, Jordan Peterson’s behemoth ”Maps of Meaning”. What we are dealing with here is roughly the same – how symbols and archetypes represent a realm that is different, yet not wholly severed from the world we all share and live in. While it’s a much more surmountable read in terms of the language use and complexity, the ideas are not all that different. This book could easily have been given the name ”Maps of Meaning”, and it would have been a fitting title. Pollack does pull it off well enough to keep me interested, and as with any book dealing with meaning (if it’s not a disaster), it had me reflecting a whole lot while reading it. In other words: it enabled me to be an active recipient of the product. If it would have been a fiasco, I would not have been particurlarly enthusiastic about absorbing more information and knowledge on Tarot, but as of now I’m eager to continue the endeavor.
Pollack is fairly well read, and has some knowledge on other traditions which go hand in hand with Tarot. This adds to the book’s credibility as I utterly deplore reading ”spiritual” stuff by authors who are not educated enough to make their ideas come off as convincing or worthy of contemplation. Kudos to her for that. Moreover, making references to renowned authors and figures extends the parameters of the book’s scope. I guess I’m a bit traumatized from reading ”Laws of the Spirit World” (by some Indian author), which constitutes a prime example of how books of the sort should NOT be written.
Alas, it could have been a lot better than it is. What causes more damage than anything else in this case is the incoherent drivel of what I sometimes attribute to the ”crystal folks”. You know, the people who go on about energies this, energies that, chakras, the law of attraction, crystals, and astrology, without giving adequate support from other literature to come off as serious. These people disgust me. Another way of putting it is what I call ”The National Treasure Effect”, stemming from the Nicolas Cage movie National Treasure. ”Yeah, look, here we can see three of those figures, and there is a circle in there somewhere, and the circle is to the right, so that means if we go 300 steps to the right, we will find the next clue”, and so on. What Pollack does from time to time is to jump back and forth between cards and symbols not yet covered as if the reader already knew all about them, then going on to elaborate with skewed and arbitrary logic about how it is all supposed to make sense. Which it many times doesn't, but sometimes it actually does. I cannot recall any specific examples right now, but it lowered the quality of an otherwise effective introduction to the subject. It's the excessive emphasis on numerology, that's it.
All in all, certainly worth reading for anyone interested in learning about Tarot, and as I stated earlier, I think it’s a good starting point for beginners (such as myself). The fact that I feel drawn to explore Tarot in practice myself is an indicator that Pollack’s introduction does work, so I’m feeling unusually lenient to the otherwise intolerable bouts of hippie nonsense that did infect the book at times.
Three national treasures out of five possible.
