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The New Tarot Handbook: Master the Meanings of the Cards
Renowned author Rachel Pollack has spent more than forty years studying and practicing Tarot. This insightful guide distills her vast knowledge and offers a direct, accessible approach to mastering the cards.
This book will teach you the meanings of the cards and enable you to begin doing compelling readings right away. More seasoned readers will find that this basic reference has a richness and depth that will call you back again and again to discover your own truth within the cards.
Find new descriptions and divinatory meanings with a modern twist Learn not only what each card signifies, but how to discover what it means to you Enhance your understanding of the cards with information about numbers, elements, astrology, and Kabbalah Try the unique spreads inspired by each Major Arcana card Understand Tarot's rich history, including Eden Gray's immense influence
This book will teach you the meanings of the cards and enable you to begin doing compelling readings right away. More seasoned readers will find that this basic reference has a richness and depth that will call you back again and again to discover your own truth within the cards.
Find new descriptions and divinatory meanings with a modern twist Learn not only what each card signifies, but how to discover what it means to you Enhance your understanding of the cards with information about numbers, elements, astrology, and Kabbalah Try the unique spreads inspired by each Major Arcana card Understand Tarot's rich history, including Eden Gray's immense influence
290 pages, Kindle Edition
First published July 1, 2012
About the author
Rachel Pollack
212 books378 followersRachel Grace Pollack was an American science fiction author, comic book writer, and expert on divinatory tarot. Pollack was a great influence on the women's spirituality movement.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 37 reviews
September 21, 2012
Pollack is one of the seminal sources on tarot; if you're interested in learning more about the cards than the pamphlet that came with your deck provides, this is an excellent place to start. Pollack has another text--Seventy Eight Degrees of Wisdom--which is probably the tarot book of the 20th century, and this is a sort of shorter version. It's not a revision, or an update, or a diluted introduction to the other text--it stands well on its own, and both can be used together. But of the two, this is the more approachable.
The thing about tarot is that each deck has a slightly different configuration, and the cards can have different meanings depending on the artist's interpretations. Pollack here chooses to go with the Waite-Smith deck, the "basic" tarot deck that most newcomers will be familiar with. It's the place to start, and provides all the basic symbolism to get you started. Personally, I'm not a fan of that deck--but this book is still enormously helpful in describing the cards, and what you learn can easily be transferred to other decks.
The second thing about tarot is that it relies more on the reader's intuition and interpretation of the cards than on codified meanings for them. Pollack knows this, and describes the cards in terms of encompassing symbolism; she gives you a place to start, but there's enough wiggle room that one card can be interpreted in different ways depending on how it shows up in a spread, and what the question is. Many tarot books border on useless because they insist they describe the "true meanings;" this book has no such pretension.
The layout of the book is simple. After an introduction and some basic explanations of the tarot in general, there's an in depth description of all 78 cards. Some layouts finish off the book. There's no attempt to tell the history of tarot, the complications arising between different decks, or hints at esoteric knowledge you'll only get after buying more books. Just good, solid information you can really use, presented in a friendly and comprehensive manner.
Definitely recommended: anyone with an interest in studying the tarot should have this book in their library.
The thing about tarot is that each deck has a slightly different configuration, and the cards can have different meanings depending on the artist's interpretations. Pollack here chooses to go with the Waite-Smith deck, the "basic" tarot deck that most newcomers will be familiar with. It's the place to start, and provides all the basic symbolism to get you started. Personally, I'm not a fan of that deck--but this book is still enormously helpful in describing the cards, and what you learn can easily be transferred to other decks.
The second thing about tarot is that it relies more on the reader's intuition and interpretation of the cards than on codified meanings for them. Pollack knows this, and describes the cards in terms of encompassing symbolism; she gives you a place to start, but there's enough wiggle room that one card can be interpreted in different ways depending on how it shows up in a spread, and what the question is. Many tarot books border on useless because they insist they describe the "true meanings;" this book has no such pretension.
The layout of the book is simple. After an introduction and some basic explanations of the tarot in general, there's an in depth description of all 78 cards. Some layouts finish off the book. There's no attempt to tell the history of tarot, the complications arising between different decks, or hints at esoteric knowledge you'll only get after buying more books. Just good, solid information you can really use, presented in a friendly and comprehensive manner.
Definitely recommended: anyone with an interest in studying the tarot should have this book in their library.
July 2, 2013
Let me just preface this review by saying that I don't at all doubt Pollack's knowledge of the tarot. I have read her more cumbersome book, Tarot Wisdom, and it is my favorite book on the tarot to date. This seemed like an effort to cut the fat out of that book and be a more to-the-point reference, but I don't think Pollack effectively sorted out what was excess and what was going to help readers understand the cards more. I felt the entire section on the Major Arcana was only worth skimming, she focuses too much on symbolism she finds in the math of the numbers of the cards (much of these examples I find to be stretches and linked to things that are not terribly relevant.) The symbolism in the imagery is also very specific to the Rider deck, so if you do not use the Rider (I don't) you'll find what Pollack has rendered important to be less so. She doesn't really discuss the meanings of the cards as a whole outside of her decided key words at the end of each card's description. I finished this book feeling like it didn't really have to be written, and I would highly recommend her other effort, Tarot Wisdom, over this one.
April 5, 2012
Ms. Pollack brings forty-plus years of experience with the Tarot to this book and it shows in her detailed explanations. In addition to her own experience, she follows the background originally put forth in the Eden Grey book “The Tarot Revealed”. In this book, Rachel describes the classic Rider-Waite deck – its history, the symbolism embedded in each card, its importance and the divination aspects. She does it clearly with explanations that anyone can follow and understand. Although the explanations can be applied to any deck, the symbols found in the Waite deck may not be the same in other decks.
Rachel starts with the twenty-two cards of the major arcana – going from The Fool through The World. According to her, these cards represent the journey the Fool takes. Each description she gives grows “naturally out of the cards’ images, stories and spiritual wonders…” This particular ARC did not have any pictures, but I’m hoping the finished book will have pictorial examples of the cards. If not, you should have a deck handy to look at as you read the explanations.
The minor cards consist of four suits – Cups, Pentacles, Swords, and Wands. Each suit has fourteen cards – ten numbered and four court cards. She explains each one and what each means and how it corresponds to elements and more. The last chapter explains spreads, how to handle the cards and, that the only rule you need to follow is to do what works for you with the cards.
This was an easy-to-read, easy-to-understand book that I highly recommend to anyone who is thinking about getting into Tarot. It’s also good for those who have been reading for some time as a refresher, or even just an interesting read. Definitely recommended.
Rachel starts with the twenty-two cards of the major arcana – going from The Fool through The World. According to her, these cards represent the journey the Fool takes. Each description she gives grows “naturally out of the cards’ images, stories and spiritual wonders…” This particular ARC did not have any pictures, but I’m hoping the finished book will have pictorial examples of the cards. If not, you should have a deck handy to look at as you read the explanations.
The minor cards consist of four suits – Cups, Pentacles, Swords, and Wands. Each suit has fourteen cards – ten numbered and four court cards. She explains each one and what each means and how it corresponds to elements and more. The last chapter explains spreads, how to handle the cards and, that the only rule you need to follow is to do what works for you with the cards.
This was an easy-to-read, easy-to-understand book that I highly recommend to anyone who is thinking about getting into Tarot. It’s also good for those who have been reading for some time as a refresher, or even just an interesting read. Definitely recommended.
December 4, 2019
Quite clear, really gets into the RWS symbolism. For some of the minors the introductory paragraph can feel a little too abstract, but the summary under the sections for "Divinatory Meanings" and "Reversed" has the gist of it and I usually skip to that part. There were some meanings I hadn't considered before, but make sense. Good section on the court cards, the author gives a "theme" for each one. I feel like I got to know their personalities better.
Recommended for beginners. This beats my previous top rec of Tarot Plain and Simple (Anthony Louis), which can be a little too much info. This one gets to the point quickly, good for when you don't have a lot of time.
Recommended for beginners. This beats my previous top rec of Tarot Plain and Simple (Anthony Louis), which can be a little too much info. This one gets to the point quickly, good for when you don't have a lot of time.
August 29, 2026
Rachel Pollack is one of those tarot authors where you can tell she genuinely understands the cards as a living symbolic language, rather than just a list of meanings to memorize. The New Tarot Handbook is much more compact than Seventy-Eight Degrees of Wisdom, but it still has that depth and insight that makes her work so special. She can take a card you think you already know and casually point out some detail or connection that completely changes the way you see it.
I especially liked how approachable this feels. There’s enough structure here to make it genuinely useful when you’re learning the cards, but Pollack always leaves room for intuition and for the imagery itself to speak. She gets into symbolism, patterns, and the relationships between cards in a way that helped me think more about why a card means what it means instead of just trying to remember keywords.
I also really appreciate that this is the kind of tarot book you can actually keep near your deck and return to. It works as a reference, but it also rewards sitting down and reading through it because there are little insights scattered everywhere. Even after you’ve been reading tarot for a while, there’s plenty here that can make you look at familiar cards with fresh eyes.
Rachel Pollack was such an important voice in modern tarot, and books like this make it obvious why. It’s accessible enough that I’d absolutely recommend it to someone learning tarot, but thoughtful enough that I don’t think you really outgrow it. Definitely one I’ll be coming back to.
I especially liked how approachable this feels. There’s enough structure here to make it genuinely useful when you’re learning the cards, but Pollack always leaves room for intuition and for the imagery itself to speak. She gets into symbolism, patterns, and the relationships between cards in a way that helped me think more about why a card means what it means instead of just trying to remember keywords.
I also really appreciate that this is the kind of tarot book you can actually keep near your deck and return to. It works as a reference, but it also rewards sitting down and reading through it because there are little insights scattered everywhere. Even after you’ve been reading tarot for a while, there’s plenty here that can make you look at familiar cards with fresh eyes.
Rachel Pollack was such an important voice in modern tarot, and books like this make it obvious why. It’s accessible enough that I’d absolutely recommend it to someone learning tarot, but thoughtful enough that I don’t think you really outgrow it. Definitely one I’ll be coming back to.
September 12, 2026
Rachel Pollack could make a person who has been reading tarot for twenty years look at a card they think they know and suddenly notice the whole thing breathing differently. This is a compact handbook, but it never feels like a flat cheat sheet. Her meanings are clear enough for a beginner to use in a real reading, while still leaving room for contradiction, story, humor, fear, desire, and the strange personal associations that make tarot worth practicing. I loved how closely she stays with the images. The cards are not treated as little flashcards with a correct answer printed on the back, and Pollack keeps inviting the reader to participate in the meaning rather than just recieve it. The spreads and practical advice are sensible too, which is not always a given in books that are this imaginative. My one complaint is honestly that I wanted more pages. Pollack can open up an enormous idea in a short paragraph, then move on just when I was ready to follow her further down the rabbit hole. A true beginner may also need to go slowly, because her accessible writing sometimes carries more depth than it first appears to. But I would rather have a tarot book that trusts its reader’s intelligence than one that makes everything sound simple by making it shallow. This is a wonderful companion for learning, relearning, and getting unstuck with the cards.
February 21, 2021
Rating: 5+ / 5
Maybe, and especially for someone who knows tarot better than I do, this isn't the best book out there, but it certainly is well-formatted and easy to understand! For a beginner especially, I highly recommend this book and think I'd even cite it as a must-have if you're beginning from point zero.
It is, like all the books from Llewellyn that I've read so far, written in a humble, unassuming way that seeks to be informative but not to impose anything on anyone. That's what I like: choice and freedom to self-educate with informative background sources for help.
The illustrations in the book are also very helpful, beautiful, and well-explained, enough to communicate the meanings of the cards even if you won't be using the Rider-Waite tarot deck.
I understand that Ms. Pollack has a much bigger book that is considered to be the essential one of tarot studies. Well, after going through this beauty here, I think I just may take her up on that offer. Getting more and more excited in anticipation of getting my own special deck a la Kickstarter when it finally gets around to shipping.
Really looking forward to studying tarot and divination and improving on my own skills. Really good starting points and a super easy read!
Maybe, and especially for someone who knows tarot better than I do, this isn't the best book out there, but it certainly is well-formatted and easy to understand! For a beginner especially, I highly recommend this book and think I'd even cite it as a must-have if you're beginning from point zero.
It is, like all the books from Llewellyn that I've read so far, written in a humble, unassuming way that seeks to be informative but not to impose anything on anyone. That's what I like: choice and freedom to self-educate with informative background sources for help.
The illustrations in the book are also very helpful, beautiful, and well-explained, enough to communicate the meanings of the cards even if you won't be using the Rider-Waite tarot deck.
I understand that Ms. Pollack has a much bigger book that is considered to be the essential one of tarot studies. Well, after going through this beauty here, I think I just may take her up on that offer. Getting more and more excited in anticipation of getting my own special deck a la Kickstarter when it finally gets around to shipping.
Really looking forward to studying tarot and divination and improving on my own skills. Really good starting points and a super easy read!
October 22, 2020
The New Tarot Handbook: Master the Meanings of the Cards
Rachel Pollack
I have the deepest respect for Rachel Pollack as an author and tarologist. Nevertheless, I found this particular book to be a little mediocre. It simplified and rephrased material that Ms. Pollack has covered before and which can be found on an almost mindless number of tarot books and websites. This is a very RWS-based book and pretty good as an introduction to esoteric tarot. The copy I read was borrowed from a library and I don't think I'll be purchasing a copy for my personal library to serve as future reference material.
Rachel Pollack
I have the deepest respect for Rachel Pollack as an author and tarologist. Nevertheless, I found this particular book to be a little mediocre. It simplified and rephrased material that Ms. Pollack has covered before and which can be found on an almost mindless number of tarot books and websites. This is a very RWS-based book and pretty good as an introduction to esoteric tarot. The copy I read was borrowed from a library and I don't think I'll be purchasing a copy for my personal library to serve as future reference material.
January 24, 2023
This is just a cliff's notes version of her book Tarot Wisdom (which I do love). I would have liked it more if it felt like a quick reference, but everything she said related only to the RWS deck and half of the information was numerology or Kabbalah, neither of which I'm interested in.
I would love to see her use all of her knowledge and experience to talk about the universality of the cards instead of focusing once again on Smith's art. At the end of the day the RWS deck is a deck full of cis white people and I'd like some more inclusivity.
The only part I liked was the spread ideas.
I would love to see her use all of her knowledge and experience to talk about the universality of the cards instead of focusing once again on Smith's art. At the end of the day the RWS deck is a deck full of cis white people and I'd like some more inclusivity.
The only part I liked was the spread ideas.
June 7, 2026
**** 1/2 Every Tarot book has its own strengths. I like Pollack's comparison of the Minor Arcana numbered cards across suits (e.g. IV of Wands, IV of Cups, IV of Swords, IV of Pentacles) and analyses of the elements of Fire, Water, Air, and Earth, which I had not thought about much before. She also has a healthy skepticism of taking reversals to seriously, as does my favorite Tarot writer, T. Susan Chang. Her narratives about each card are sometimes a little vague and less than incisive, but alternate points of view on Tarot are always good. I have never used complicated Tarot spreads (e.g. Celtic Cross) but appreciated Pollacks discussion of them .
May 17, 2023
i have only been reading tarot for a year or so, and i wanted to learn more about the mystical meanings of the cards’ images and this was a great reading option. Some connections seem circumstantial, but appeared to be overall well researched. Very easy read as it was well organized and language was engaging. The authors passion is so clear. Will definitely be including the considerations from this book in my next readings.
February 11, 2024
Fantastic Book!
1) Read the Chapter well,
2) To get card reading at end of each chapter, Use this CustomGPT: https://chat.openai.com/g/g-OQaRyWWjm... Give it a command: ‘use your magical algorithm to answer the following questions’ and copy-paste the questions at the end of the chapter.
3) Meditate on the answers!
1) Read the Chapter well,
2) To get card reading at end of each chapter, Use this CustomGPT: https://chat.openai.com/g/g-OQaRyWWjm... Give it a command: ‘use your magical algorithm to answer the following questions’ and copy-paste the questions at the end of the chapter.
3) Meditate on the answers!
May 21, 2021
I skimmed through this book to see what Tarot was about and why it endures and I like the way the author explained it and while I don’t really know anything about Tarot, (aside from what I just read here) I found this book very eloquent, helpful and well written.
February 4, 2023
Pretty good, but card descriptions are inconsistent, and there are off-the-cuff interpretations of some cards that might confuse the novice reader more than help them (the Tower = crowing of a baby, anyone?).
November 21, 2017
A great tarot book for beginner or a quick reference for experienced Tarot readers. Very condensed information and easy to use. I would highly recommend it.
August 13, 2018
Amazing book, well laid out, great history of cards and matrices for understanding their relationships with each other.
November 20, 2018
I loved the approach taken by Ms Pollack but especially the descriptive explanations with mythological connections provided on each page.
February 7, 2019
A good book for beginners. Symbolism of cards is well explained.
February 2, 2020
More Wisdom
I have been studying the work of Rachel Pollack for over a decade and I love the simplicity of her teachings and how easy it is to implement her ideas.
#winsalesnow
I have been studying the work of Rachel Pollack for over a decade and I love the simplicity of her teachings and how easy it is to implement her ideas.
#winsalesnow
October 4, 2021
it honestly helped me w learning tarot cards, absolutely recommend !
December 9, 2021
I felt some of the RWS meanings were way off. I got this book on sale and because everyone recommended this author. I wasn't really impressed. Maybe the original book was better?
December 27, 2021
I love this book. I connect more to the descriptions here than anywhere else. Perfect for beginners and great for a refresher~
September 14, 2022
Excellent, helpful and concise guide to the tarot. A valuable resource that is actually insightful compared to the bulk of tarot books out there
June 9, 2023
A great, well written reference book. A great companion book to 78 Degrees of Wisdom.
June 11, 2023
Wonderful clear descriptors
Read
February 27, 2024Great book for starting Tarot readers
August 3, 2026
Excelente libro para iniciarse en el tarot
September 16, 2026
Fun introduction if you’re curious about tarot
August 10, 2020
Great intro book, zero gatekeeping (rampant I’ve found with such subjects), and a fun exploration. Good history, advice, and explanations!
July 18, 2021
The New Tarot Handbook breaks down all 78 tarot cards using the imagery of the Rider-Waite-Smith tarot deck, the most well-known deck to ever exist and the foundation for the majority of decks that exist today.
Rachel Pollack is world-renowned tarot expert and she discusses not only keywords but themes, elements, upright and reversed meaning. She also goes in-depth concerning the imagery and how that can help you interpret each card. As a special bonus, each Major Arcana card also has a spread inspired by it, which can also serves to help when leaning the cards as well as how you may relate to them.
The Minor Arcana is split into two sections, just as with most tarot books: ace through ten for each of the four suits, followed by the court cards for each suit (page, knight, queen, king). There is also discussion concerning spreads, though this isn't touched on too much, as well as a small section at the back that lists more books for further reading.
I decided to give this book 3 stars. Ideally, it is worthy of 4 stars, but I chose to drop it due to how the book was formatted. The formatting works for fiction, but not so much for a non-fiction book such as this. It made it difficult for me to learn and remember what I read. Which is a shame, 'cause this is truly a good book that deserves to be in more hands.
Rachel Pollack is world-renowned tarot expert and she discusses not only keywords but themes, elements, upright and reversed meaning. She also goes in-depth concerning the imagery and how that can help you interpret each card. As a special bonus, each Major Arcana card also has a spread inspired by it, which can also serves to help when leaning the cards as well as how you may relate to them.
The Minor Arcana is split into two sections, just as with most tarot books: ace through ten for each of the four suits, followed by the court cards for each suit (page, knight, queen, king). There is also discussion concerning spreads, though this isn't touched on too much, as well as a small section at the back that lists more books for further reading.
I decided to give this book 3 stars. Ideally, it is worthy of 4 stars, but I chose to drop it due to how the book was formatted. The formatting works for fiction, but not so much for a non-fiction book such as this. It made it difficult for me to learn and remember what I read. Which is a shame, 'cause this is truly a good book that deserves to be in more hands.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 37 reviews