At last, the long-awaited update to the Shining Woman Tarot.

The Shining Tribe Tarot is a harmonious distillation of 30 years of scholarship, experience, and spiritual exploration of its creatrix, Rachel Pollack. While
structurally rooted in Tarot tradition - four suits of 14 cards each plus 22 Trumps - these astonishing images nevertheless hearken to a mindset which pre-dates the Tarot's human-centred Renaissance origins. Instead of mind-made artifacts - Wands, Cups, Swords, and Pentacles - the suits depict aspects of nature: Trees, Rivers, Birds, and Stones. Hierarchical Court Cards are replaced with Vision Cards: Place, Knower, Gift, and Speaker, a progression of learning and using the energy of each suit. Some of the Majors have undergone a name change (e.g. "Hierophant" is "Tradition", "Wheel of Fortune" is "Spiral of Fortune", etc.). Pollack's creation-honouring symbols pay homage to a rich array of sources - Stone Age art, Native American and African shamanism, Kabbalah, Australian aboriginal art, psychology, and the artist's own life and travels. The Shining Tribe deck is a powerful yet approachable mentor in divination, meditation, dream work, ritual, study, self-awareness, and understanding the world around us.

Equally valuable is the accompanying 360-page book. Other than one or two minor editorial glitches (e.g. writing "Trees" instead of "Rivers" on p. 145) this is
a fine work. For each card, there is an original poem, a descriptive story, and succinct divinatory meanings.  Pollack encourages us to expand the interpretations through our own work with the Tarot, befriending and
dialoguing with the deck. The Shining Tribe book contains an appealing selection of spreads, including the author's own wonderful "Leap Across the Abyss"
spread. There is also guidance for dream work, techniques to activate a card's energies and concepts in one's own life, study group suggestions, commentary
on the use of reversals, and a helpful glossary of terms. Pollack's prose is thoroughly engaging, and information is clear and easy to locate.

The Shining Tribe Tarot is a priceless map to assist us on our sacred journey. In Rachel Pollack's own words, "Those who use the cards to enter the sacred
world receive the radiance of the Spirits. They themselves become the Shining Tribe of diviners."

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Guest Review Copyright 2001 by James Wells
used with permission

The Shining Tribe Tarot: Awakening the Universal Spirit. Rachel Pollack. 78 full-colour cards with 360-page book. $34.95 US, $53.95 CDN.
ISBN 1-56718-532-0. Llewellyn.