Memory Eternal: Rachel Pollack

I remember standing in front of my first tarot deck. It was facing me on a shelf in a gift shop in the Casper, Wyoming mall. I was fifteen and had no money on me. We did not live in Casper so I knew I wouldn't get a chance to come back and buy it (this was before Amazon). I asked my sister to buy it for me and am so grateful that she did. Some years later, I learned that there is a superstition about decks: they should not be sought, rather, found. I'm sure many deck sellers would refute this.

Legend: The Arthurian Tarot by Anna-Marie Ferguson, was my deck. The imagery was beautiful and haunting. The accompanying little white book was a key to learning individual card meanings--but how was I supposed to understand a layout? There were no instructions for that.

Enter The Complete and Illustrated Guide to Tarot by Rachel Pollack. A Barnes and Noble had just opened in Cheyenne, and they had a section of New Age books. It was at this point in my tarot journey that I began to understand the deck as a whole. It was not just individual pictures, rather, an organized system of two decks. My readings finally started making sense. Rachel introduced me to the world of symbolism and how to work with the basics such as elements, colors, and numbers.

As the years went on and I acquired other excellent tarot books, I continued to reference my first book, as it formed the bedrock of my tarot practice. I am so grateful to have been her student at such a formative age. Through Rachel's wisdom, I learned how to cultivate my techniques.

Rachel Pollack passed away at 78 years of age on April 7, 2023. May her memory be eternal.