36 Secrets: A Decanic Journey through the Minor Arcana of the Tarot by T. Susan Chang

[Ix Chel]

I was wondering if some of you have bought the book:
36 Secrets: A Decanic Journey through the Minor Arcana of the Tarot by T. Susan Chang

Information from Amazon


The minor arcana of the tarot have an astrological secret: 36 of them, in fact. In the early 20th century, members of the British secret society of the Golden Dawn created what would become the world's best-known tarot deck: the Rider Waite Smith tarot. They also created an infrastructure of esoteric correspondences around the deck, assigning each minor card numbered 2 through 10 in each of the four suits, to a decan—a 10° section of the zodiac, and by extension a 10-day section of the calendar year. For magical practitioners, these decans have a deep and lasting relevance; their mythic history, their imagery, and their use in talismanic work date back millennia. In our time, the yearlong "decan walk" has become a means of honoring that occult legacy, a way of experiencing firsthand the qualities reflected in each of these cosmic windows. 36 Secrets is the chronicle of one such walk, taken by T. Susan Chang in the period from March 2019 to March 2020. It explores the ways tarot and decan imagery overlap and depart from one another, and the metaphorical language they share. Beyond that, it is a deep excavation of the meaning to be found in the minor arcana, or "Lesser Secrets," and one practitioner's heartfelt contribution to the lore and mythic legacy of the cards.

I am wondering what your book review is and if you would recommend it.

Thanks in advance.

[Joan Marie]

I have been hearing about this book. It looks really great.
I have another book by Susan T. Chang, Tarot Correspondences.

She is a wonderful writer. Very pleasant to read and extremely knowledgeable.

I have another from her that she co-wrote with Mel Meleen on pre-order called Tarot Deciphered
She and Mel have an excellent podcast called Fortune's Wheelhouse . I can highly recommend it.

I am also interested in this book, 36 Secrets.

I've seen a few excerpts and it really does look good.


I took a workshop from Susan once a couple of years ago about using tarot to cast spells. She was very charming and it was a great workshop.

[Nemia]

I'm on my very own decanic journey and will immediate visit Amazon! I loved Tarot Correspondences and I'm sure this book is exactly what I need! Thank you for bringing it to my attention!

[Joan Marie]

I just read the introduction on the amazon page and had to buy it.

Also, I have to admit, being on lockdown, getting little treats like books and decks and such delivered to my door has become something I look forward to so much.

[Nemia]

I have the Tarot Correspondences book as hard copy because of its many tables, but I'd love to have the Decanic Journey as Kindle. And I pre-ordered the book Tarot Deciphered. Great author!

[Joan Marie]

I got this book a couple of days ago.

I can't recommend it enough. It's just wonderful.

Susan T. Chang is brilliant and a brilliant writer.

I've been interested in decans for some time, read many things, I even took a workshop on the subject. But nothing has ever really opened the door for me like this book. I'm beginning to really see the underlying structure to so many things now, to astrology, to tarot, to kabbalah, to the seasons. Even time itself.

I confess, this kind of structured way of looking at things does not come naturally to me. I'm terrible at math. I am not a musician. But when the light comes on, it's a wonderful surprise not only to understand but to see the beauty of it.

I was thinking this morning after reading some that it is so easy for us to accept that there is a structure to the "concrete" things, but harder to see and accept there is a structure to the non-tangible. And that to understand structure deepens the way we experience our world.

I am not a musician. But I love music. However, I know that a musician experiences music entirely differently from the way I do, in a much deeper and personal way. Understanding the decans brings out the color and life to the minor arcana in a way I didn't expect.

I have a lot more to say about this book and once I get through it some more I will.

I'm happy to see that the beginning of the decanic year is soon to begin. I'm really looking forward to going on this journey. In the meanwhile I am "warming up" with this book and learning more. Every time I sit down with this book I get the real sensation of a door opening, of a light shining on what was right in front of me all along.

[Nemia]

Crying bitterly here! I've been writing on this forum about the decans a lot but it seems Chang has done it better. I'll have to get that book

[Joan Marie]

I doubt Susan's book would have spoken so clearly to me without the pre-work I did and much of that was reading, and re-reading, your writings here!

In fact, I credit you with piquing, and keeping my interest in the subject. I sincerely mean that.
I made my 1st (and 2nd) decan wheel based on a picture you posted here.

For any one who hasn't seen any of Nemia's brilliant and very generous writing on the subject, I recommend this link.
viewtopic.php?f=79&t=227



In fact, now would be a good time for me to re-visit your writing again.

[Nemia]

Aaah, you're a born diplomat!

Seriously - it took me years to wrap my dear old brain around the whole concept. What really made it easy to understand was Anthony Louis' second book (forgot the name, the advanced one).

Until the Chang book comes out as Kindle, I won't buy it - or let's wait who breaks down first, me or Amazon

I find that tarot has come alive for me in a totally new way since I really live according to the decans. I put up the cards of each decan on a magnetic board since April 2017, making the tarot my cosmic clock.


https://ibb.co/album/JCMVGt


It's next to my desk so I see it all the time. I have time to contemplate the cards, to connect them to the weather, the atmosphere, the challenges of my life.

I also watch the stars and planets and Moon outside, so I have become "cosmically grounded" if you can be such a thing.