Cards from the Brady Tarot – Image by Inkwood Tarot

For a long time I wondered why esoteric symbols and abstract images eluded me.  I admittedly have a very logic-focused brain. I’m better with science-y stuff than abstract – I have a master’s degree in conservation biology, and have spent decades studying the natural world.  I don’t know if my science schooling and professional work is a result of my brain being wired for structured thinking, or if my schooling and professional work have resulted in my brain being less comfortable with abstract and esoteric images. Don’t know. Either way for as much as I loved it, I struggled with the tarot for a long time. I understood the concept of intuitive reading, but my logic-focused brain wasn’t able to make much of the card images. I needed facts. I needed to better understand the esoteric world of tarot; otherwise card meanings seemed arbitrary to a level of pointlessness. I knew they weren’t, but I needed to know why they weren’t.  

I finally got what I needed when I was introduced to Rachel Pollack’s brilliant text, 78 Degrees of Wisdom at a tarot workshop in 2007. If you’re even remotely interested in tarot (which I trust you are, as you’re reading this) and haven’t yet read this book, I urge you to get a copy – it’s an invaluable resource.  In this book the Pollack explains what’s behind the symbolism of the Major and Minor Arcanas. Rather than just giving pat explanations for card images, she reveals the esoteric traditions and teachings behind the cards; she explains the larger concepts behind the Arcanas, knitting the 78 cards into an understandable whole.