Overview

A guide to reading Tarot as a spark for community engagement and social change ""A beacon of insight and action."" -Nyasha Williams, author of Black Tarot and I Affirm Me The cards in the Tarot deck offer seventy-eight invitations for change-not only in our inner life, but beyond. Lane Smith invites us to read each card with an eye toward the collective-how we can contribute to liberation in the world. Smith shares, ""Behind every story about Tarot-and about the world-are power relationships which are often invisible."" 78 Acts of Liberation examines the structure, history, and components of Tarot through the lens of power, helping us better understand power dynamics in our life and in society. After a brief history that highlights often-ignored aspects of Tarot's past, Smith guides us through each card with reflections about clarifying our values and putting them into action. The cards are organized numerologically so that each number corresponds to a type of action, from Ones as Acts of Initiation to Tens as Acts of Generation. Every individual card offers questions for personal reflection and social consideration. Each Major Arcana card is illustrated with an example from a social movement-from the Indigenous Water Protectors to #MeToo-that illuminates how we can put the power of these timeless archetypes into action today. Every Minor Arcana card is linked to a practical and actionable term to know or skill to practice. 78 Acts of Liberation helps us explore: . What our core values are, and how we can put them into action . How we can be socially engaged, whatever our life circumstance-whether it's through what we teach our children or through collective action and protest . How to sustain ourselves over time and through challenge As Smith explains, ""Truth alone will not set us free. We have to act on it."" This guide offers inspiration for action-action that can feel joyful, hopeful, freeing, and empowering.

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9781649632203

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Reviews

"""This book is potent, smart, and ridiculously readable. It serves to reminds us that Tarot is political, not only in terms of what is platformed, published, and discussed, but also in terms of how the cards offer medicine for collective healing. Lane Smith weaves the energies of the cards seamlessly together with key figures, events, and movements of resistance, connecting the reader with a time line of activism to appreciate and learn from. The many opportunities for reflection have led me to define the nature of my own activism more, giving me clarity on what I'm capable of and where my strengths lie. Lane Smith welcomes all cardslingers of conscience to not only feel the cards but decisively act on them, for the good of all."" --Kelly-Ann Maddox, author of Rebel Witch and Witch in Darkness ""78 Acts of Liberation is a book that I, a Tarot enthusiast and personal reader, have longed for. We are in charge of our destinies, and the Earth (and stars) are demanding more from us--how do we utilize the planetary materials we have, such as Tarot, to lead us toward revolution? This book is all about how the Tower falls. An important guide to existing more authentically with the world."" --Fariha R�is�n, author of How to Cure a Ghost and Who Is Wellness For? ""78 Acts of Liberation is hugely informative, inspiring, and crucial, bringing the transformative power of Tarot to the realm of collective human struggle. A powerful addition to Tarot literature."" --Michelle Tea, author of Modern Tarot ""As we navigate turbulent times and grapple with entrenched injustices, Lane Smith offers a prompt in collective liberation--a call to action in the profound wisdom of our communal power for the betterment of our world. In reimagining the Tarot cards as freedom movements and collectivists rather than individuals, readers will find guidance and inspiration to bridge the gap between insight and impact, between knowing and doing, beyond the sole into kinfolx. 78 Acts of Liberation emerges as a beacon of insight and action in an era seeking liberation and abolitionary change, ready for a revolution. The book is my chosen gift for others for the foreseeable future."" --Nyasha Williams, author of Black Tarot and I Affirm Me ""With 78 Acts of Liberation, Lane Smith lifts Tarot out of the realm of ungrounded archetypal psychology, shakes off the dust of elitist esotericism, and roots it firmly in the Earth, where it has the power to create real change. Through careful analysis, Smith reveals the myths and historical fallacies that have so often been used to neutralize Tarot's revolutionary potential and restores Tarot to its origin as an oracle for the people. Sharing insight based on lived experience in justice work with deep compassion, Smith shows us how to engage the Tarot as a tool to unravel the lies that preserve systems of oppression, while reminding us that all freedom struggles are connected. This book is a beacon, reorienting us to the necessity of moving as a collective, to create change today, empowered by the wisdom of liberation movement ancestors who have gone before us."" --Langston Kahn, author of Deep Liberation ""I so appreciate Lane Smith's thoughtful, inclusive, and thorough scholarship, which ranges from revolutionary to poetic. I recommend this book to beginner and seasoned Tarot readers alike because it is both approachable and filled with fresh perspectives and voices not often spotlighted."" --Jezmina Von Thiele, coauthor of Secrets of Romani Fortune-Telling and cohost of Romanistan podcast ""78 Acts of Liberation syncretizes the history and practice of Tarot with the history and practice of justice, elegantly outlining the unbreakable connection between these divination tools and the changing world that created them. There is plenty here for the Tarot professional and the novice, both of which will learn much about bringing their work with Tarot congruent to how they live their beliefs. This book asks, and answers, many thought-provoking questions, and the writer's style is brisk and engaging!"" --Logan Grendel, TikTok creator of Focused on Infinity ""78 Acts of Liberation is a shockingly enticing Tarot read that I will return to again and again. It has all my favorite elements of Tarot books--rethinking classic writing on the cards, rich examples both literal and metaphorical for us to pull from, and tangible ideas to take away. It's also an INCREDIBLE resource for the radical history nerds among us, like myself. Lane Smith should teach a master class on how to make a book so in depth yet so approachable and downright good at the same time."" --Cassandra Snow, author of Queering the Tarot and coauthor of Lessons from the Empress ""78 Acts of Liberation is at once an incisive Tarot reference work and activist call to action--which is exactly the kind of insight and reflection we need to push the practice of Tarot forward and make it relevant, not just to ourselves but to ALL of our communities."" --Asali Earthwork, author of the Asali Earthwork blog and #TarotoftheQTPOC project ""Lane Smith's incredible work shows us a Tarot for today, focused on clear-eyed, un-sugared awareness of the power structures that privilege some but harm us all. This is Tarot that knows change is possible and that divination is a revolutionary act: a rebellious, antiestablishment magic with the power to destabilize the status quo--but only if we can see things as they are, not just as we want them to be. This book, a deliciously rebellious and antiestablishment work of power itself, reexamines everything we think we know about this deck of cards."" --Tom Benjamin, author of Tarot on Earth and Your Tarot Toolkit"

Author Information

Lane Smith has over 20 years of experience as a Tarot reader, organizer, and activist. They are the editor of the Tarot & Politics zine and a member of the Solidarity Tarot group in Baltimore. With two master's degrees-one in social work, one in humanities and social thought-they have been involved in public health supporting harm reduction, the movement that helped end the death penalty in Maryland, and more. Smith lives in Baltimore, Maryland. Visit mxlanesmith.com for more.

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