Do Tarot readings set in motion self-fulfilling prophecies? Can Oracles create action? Rachel Pollack and David Vine’s translation of Sophocles’s play Oedipus Tyrannus provides the theme for this presentation.

The story of Oedipus revolves around a human desire to control destiny and the tragedy lies in the actions which follow the god Apollo’s predictions through the oracle at Delphi. As Rachel says in the introduction to the translation, the predictions “do not force anyone’s behavior, but they create the very conditions that lead to that behavior”.

Don’t miss this opportunity to explore,  in the context of Tarot readings, the themes of fate, destiny and prophecy that the story of Oedipus raises.

About the presenter

Rachel Pollack is one of the world’s foremost authorities on the modern interpretation of the tarot. During her lifetime she published numerous books on the Tarot, including Seventy-eight Degrees of Wisdom, which is considered a modern classic. She also designed and drew the Shining Woman Tarot, described by Caitlin Matthews as “the crowning jewel of geocentric shamanism.” She was a member of the American Tarot Association, the International Tarot Society, and the Tarot Guild of Australia, and was conferred the title of Tarot Grand Master by the Tarot Certification Board, an independent body located in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Rachel Pollack was also a poet, fiction writer, and a comic book artist. As a fiction writer, she was bestowed many honors and awards, among them the Arthur C. Clarke Award for Science Fiction (for Unquenchable Fire) and the World Fantasy Award (for Godmother Night). She was a recommended member of PEN International, and wrote for numerous publications. Pollack held an honors degree in English from New York University, a master’s degree in English from Claremont Graduate School, and taught English at New York State University.

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