Rachel Pollack
| Rachel Pollack |
| Born |
1945
Brooklyn, NY |
| Occupation |
Author |
Rachel Pollack (b. August 17, 1945 in Brooklyn, New York) is an American science fiction author, comic book writer, and expert on divinatory tarot. Pollack has been a great influence on the women's spirituality movement.
Tarot reading
Pollack's work 78 Degrees of Wisdom on tarot reading is commonly referenced by tarot readers.[1] She has created her own tarot deck, Shining Woman Tarot (later Shining Tribe Tarot).[2] She also aided in the creation of the Vertigo Tarot Deck with illustrator Dave McKean and author Neil Gaiman, and she wrote a book to accompany it.[3]
Comics
Pollack is best known for her run of issues 64-87 on the comic book Doom Patrol, on DC Comics' Vertigo imprint,[3] which became a cult favorite under Grant Morrison. A comic fandom legend has it that Pollack was assigned to write the series after writing persistent letters to the editor.[4] Although the letters are a matter of record,[4] it's unknown if they were actually the cause of her employment. During her tenure Pollack dealt with such rarely addressed comic-book topics as menstruation, sexual identity, and transsexuality. Pollack's run ended two years later, with the book's cancellation. Pollack also wrote a Brother Power the Geek one-shot, and eleven issues of a New Gods series for DC Comics (the first five co-authored with Tom Peyer). Author Neil Gaiman has sometimes consulted Rachel Pollack on the tarot for his stories. Pollack created an actual tarot spread for one of Gaiman's books.
Fiction
Her magical realism[5] novels explore worlds imbued with elements pulled from a number of traditions, faiths, and religions.
Several of her novels are set in an alternative reality that resembles modern America, but an America of Bright Beings, where magic and ritual, religion and thaumaturgy are the norms.[6]
Nonfiction
Her book The Body Of The Goddess is an exploration of the history of the Goddess. Rachel Pollack uses the image of the Goddess in many of her works.
Influences
Pollack is Jewish,[7] and has frequently written about the Kabbalah, most notably in The Kabbalah Tree.[8]
Pollack is a transsexual woman and has written frequently on transgender issues.[9][10] In Doom Patrol she introduced Coagula, a transsexual character. She has also written several essays on transsexualism, attacking the notion that it is a "sickness," [11] instead saying that it is a passion. She has emphasized the revelatory aspects of transsexualism, saying that "the trance-sexual [sic] woman sacrifices her social identity as a male, her personal history, and finally the very shape of her body to a knowledge, a desire, which overpowers all rational understanding and proof."
A Secret Woman features a police detective who is transgendered and Jewish. The detective utters the prayer, "Blessed art thou oh G-d who made me not a woman. Double blessed is Doctor Green who has."[12] Rachel Pollack created the characters known as 'the bandage people' for her Doom Patrol run. The bandage people are 'sexually remaindered spirits' who died in sexual accidents. The initials srs came from the medical term 'sex reassignment surgery'. Rachel wrote the essay "The Transsexual Book of The Dead" for the anthology Phallus Palace. This article is concerning transmen. Fairy tales such as the Brothers Grimm have influenced many of Ms. Pollack's writings. Her new book 'Tarot of Perfection' is a book of fairy tales based on the tarot.
Teaching
For nearly 20 years Pollack has been teaching seminars with Tarot author Mary K. Greer at the Omega Institute, in Rhinebeck, New York.[13] She has also done seminars for several years in California in conjunction with Greer, and she co-presented a breakthrough seminar with Tarot author Johanna Gargiulo-Sherman on Tarot and psychic ability, using her own Shining Tribe Tarot and Gargulio-Sherman's Sacred Rose Tarot.[13] Pollack is also a popular lecturer at Tarot seminars and symposiums such as LATS (Los Angeles Tarot Symposium), BATS (Bay Area Tarot Symposium), and the Readers Studio.[13] Pollack currently teaches creative writing at Goddard College. Her most recent work is included in the anthology called Interfictions: An Anthology of Interstitial Writing edited by Theodora Goss. Pollack has taught English at State University of New York.
Published works
Non-fiction books
- Anderson, Hilary (1989). New Thoughts on Tarot. North Hollywood: Newcastle Pub. Co. ISBN 0878771395. [8]
- Livernois, Jay (1996). Archetypal Sex: Spring : a Journal of Archetype and Culture. Irving: Spring Publications. ISBN 1882670051. [8]
- Mckean, Dave (2001). Bento. Pacific Grove: Allen Spiegel Fine Arts. ISBN 0964206943. [8]
- Pollack, Rachel (2002). Complete Illustrated Guide to Tarot. City: Element Books Ltd. ISBN 0007131151. [8]
- Pollack, Rachel (1997). The Body of the Goddess. Tisbury: Element Books. ISBN 1852308710. [8]
- Pollack, Rachel (1990). The Haindl Tarot. City: Newcastle Publishing Company. ISBN 0878771565. [8]
- Pollack, Rachel (1990). The Haindl Tarot: the Major Arcana. City: Newcastle Publishing Company. ISBN 0878771557. [8]
- Pollack, Rachel (1995). The Journey out. New York: Viking. ISBN 0140372547. [8]
- Pollack, Rachel (2004). The Kabbalah Tree. Saint Paul: Llewellyn Publications. ISBN 0738705071. [8]
- Pollack, Rachel (1990). The New Tarot. City: Overlook Hardcover. ISBN 0879513950. [8]
- Robbins, Trina (2002). Eternally Bad. City: Book Sales. ISBN 0785815651. [8]
- Anderson, Hilary (1989). New Thoughts on Tarot. North Hollywood: Newcastle Pub. Co. ISBN 0878771395. [8]
- Hillman, James (1997). Marriages: Spring 60, a Journal of Archetype and Culture. City: Continuum International Publishing Group. ISBN 1882670094. [8]
- Pollack, Rachel (2005). Seeker. Saint Paul: Llewellyn Publications. ISBN 0738705217. [8]
- Pollack, Rachel (1998). Seventy-Eight Degrees of Wisdom. New York: Thorsons Publishers. ISBN 0722535724.
- Pollack, Rachel (1991). Tarot Readings and Meditations. London: Thorsons Pub. ISBN 1855380498. [8]
- Pollack, Rachel (1986). Tarot. Wellingborough: Aquarian Press. ISBN 0850304652. [8]
- Pollack, Rachel (1986). Teach Yourself Fortune Telling. New York: Henry Holt & Company. ISBN 0805001255. [8]
- Pollack, Rachel (2000). The Power of Ritual. New York: Dell. ISBN 044050872X. [8]
- Pollack, Rachel (2001). The Shining Tribe Tarot. Saint Paul: Llewellyn Publications. ISBN 1567185142. [8]
- Pollack, Rachel (2001). The Shining Tribe Tarot, Revised and Expanded. Saint Paul: Llewellyn Publications. ISBN 1567185320. [8]
Novels
- Pollack, Rachel (1980). Golden Vanity. [14]
- Pollack, Rachel (1994). Temporary Agency. City: St Martins Pr. ISBN 0312110774. [8]
- Pollack, Rachel (1987). Alqua Dreams. New York: F. Watts. ISBN 0531150704. [8]
- Pollack, Rachel (1988). Unquenchable Fire. [14]
- Pollack, Rachel (1996). Godmother Night. New York: St. Martin's Press. ISBN 031214606X. [8]
- Pollack, Rachel (2002). A Secret Woman. New York: St. Martin's Minotaur. ISBN 0312246595. [8]
Collections
- Pollack, Rachel (1998). Burning Sky. Cambrian Publications. ISBN 1878914049. [8][15]
- Pollack, Rachel (2008). The Tarot of Perfection: A Book of Tarot Tales. New York: Magic Realist Press. ISBN 1905572093. [8][15]
Anthologies
- Pollack, Rachel; Caitlin Matthews (1996). Tarot Tales. New York: Ace Books. ISBN 0441003524. [8][15]
Short fiction
- Pollack, Rachel (1971). Pandora's Bust. [15]
- Pollack, Rachel (1973). Tubs of Slaw. [15]
- Pollack, Rachel (1975). Black Rose and White Rose. [15]
- Pollack, Rachel (1976). Is Your Child Using Drugs? Seven Ways to Recognize a Drug Addict.
- Pollack, Rachel (1982). Angel Baby. [15]
- Pollack, Rachel (1984). The Malignant One. [15]
- Pollack, Rachel (1984). The Girl Who Went to the Rich Neighbourhood. [15]
- Pollack, Rachel (1984). Tree House. [15]
- Pollack, Rachel (1984). Lands of Stone. [15]
- Pollack, Rachel (1986). The Protector. [15]
- Pollack, Rachel (1989). The Bead Woman. [15]
- Pollack, Rachel (1989). Knower of Birds. [15]
- Pollack, Rachel. Burning Sky (1989. [15]
- Pollack, Rachel (1990). The Woman Who Didn't Come Back. [15]
- Pollack, Rachel (1990). General All-Purpose Fairy Tale. [15]
- Pollack, Rachel; James Patrick Kelly, Pat Cadigan, Nancy Kress (1997). Making Good Time. [15]
- Pollack, Rachel (1998). The Fool, the Stick, and the Princess. [15]
- Pollack, Rachel (2001). The Younger Brother. [15]
- Pollack, Rachel (2003). Delusions of Universal Grandeur. [15]
- Pollack, Rachel; "Michael Cisco, Jeffrey Thomas, Eric G. Schaller, K. J. Bishop, Stepan Chapman, Richard Calder, and R. F. Wexler" (2003). Reminiscences. [15]
- Pollack, Rachel ("May 2010"). "Forever". "Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction". [15]
Poetry
The Wild Cows (1993)[15]
Essays
- Introduction: A Machine For Constructing Stories (1989)[15]
- Read This (The New York Review of Science Fiction, October 1991) (1991)[15]
- Read This (The New York Review of Science Fiction, July 1995) (1995)[15]
- Read This (The New York Review of Science Fiction, August 1996) (1996)[15]
- Pollack, Rachel. "Death and It's Afterlives In the Tarot". "Parabola". [15]
Forthcoming books
- Pollack, Rachel (2007). Simon Wisdom. [8]
Reviews
- The Book of Embraces (1991) by Eduardo Galeano
- Outside the Dog Museum (1992) by Jonathan Carroll
- Coelestis [vt Celestis](1996) by Paul Park
Comics
Degrees, awards, and memberships
References
External links
| Persondata |
| Name |
Rachel Pollack |
| Alternative names |
|
| Short description |
author |
| Date of birth |
1945 AD |
| Place of birth |
Brooklyn, NY |
| Date of death |
|
| Place of death |
|