August 2026 Newsletter: Honoring Rachel Pollack’s Legacy with the Open Labyrinth

Welcome to this month’s newsletter! Each month, I try to share what I’ve been up to, what things I’ve published that month, and exciting news if there’s any to be shared.

News and updates

Our summer has been a busy one, so we’ve tried to embrace slowness with online writing. We don’t have any new posts to share with you this month. Instead, read on for information about a great upcoming event and some reflections on Rachel’s relationship with Rachel Pollack.

Additionally, you can still request free LGBTQ+ books shipped directly to you! Ashton’s got a whole pile of them ready to be sent to folks who request them. Fill out the form to request books for you, a loved one, or even a reading group or library.

On Sept. 6, I’ll be part of a virtual launch event for the 40th anniversary edition of Rachel Pollack’s book The Open Labyrinth. If you don’t know the work of Rachel Pollack, now is an ideal time to discover her many novels, comics and works on Tarot (including her own Shining Tribe deck). Rachel came out as a trans lesbian in 1971 and is a leading figure in trans and queer Tarot and magic. Despite her physical death in 2023, she’s still present for many of us who know her—and we’re working to preserve and expand her teachings and stories. 

Featured image caption: Both Rachels at a Tarot-themed costume party in the early 2000s. Rachel Pollack is dressed as The Empress from her Shining Tribe Tarot and Rachel Gold is dressed as the angelic half of The Lovers from the same deck, becoming the complete card when hugged by Rachel Pollack as the human half. 

The Event

Rachel Pollack’s The Open Labyrinth 40th Anniversary – A Conversation with Amber Highland, Rachel Gold, and Carolyn A. Cushing and guests, moderated by Laetitia Barbier.

Date: Sunday, September 6
Time: 2pm ET
Location: Zoom

Admission: FREE – Participants must RSVP through this page.

My connection to Rachel 

I met Rachel Pollack in September 1998, during a trip to New York City. I remember standing in a friend’s apartment, talking on the phone to Kate Bornstein, who I’d met as a reporter for an LGBTQ newspaper. We were figuring out where to meet in the city, but I also mentioned that I’d just read Rachel Pollack’s Godmother Night, which had recently won the World Fantasy Award, and I strongly resonated with it. 

Kate asked if I’d like an introduction to Rachel. I said: absolutely! Kate got in touch with Rachel, then gave me Rachel’s phone number and told me she was expecting my call. Rachel and I had a lovely conversation about Godmother Night and many other things, including that Minneapolis, where I live, is home to one of her major publishers, Llewellyn. 

In 1999, she came to Minneapolis to meet with Llewellyn and also do a Tarot workshop that I attended. The following year, I got my first Tarot reading from her and wrote in my journal: “I learned more about reading tarot in that hour than I have in a very long time.” 

The larger reading was eight cards, representing the first eight cards of the major arcana, with each card spiraling inward. “But first,” she said, “We’re going to look at your teachers.” I shuffled the deck and cut it into three piles. She turned over each pile and the bottom card represented one of my teachers. But she didn’t stop there. If she wanted more information, she looked at cards underneath that first, visible card. 

This and other readings by her taught me to read tarot like reading a story; you can keep looking at cards until the arc of the story feels complete, until it lands. If you want to hear more about what I learned from this reading and from her, attending the Sept. 6 event is a great place to start.

Over the years, I helped set up events for her in Minneapolis, attended events with her, played poker, emailed and called; and started to visit her whenever I went out to the East Coast to visit the rest of my extended family. She bears a strong resemblance to my other Jewish aunts and in 2017, I asked if she’d officially be my Aunt Rachel. 

Not only that, but would she be Aunt Rachel for whom I was named? 

She’d transitioned in the spring of 1971, and I was born in November of 1971, with a bit of timeline magic, it’s possible for her to be the family member I was named for. (There are other connections to how I got my name, and I don’t want to diminish any of those, only to add that I am also named for my Aunt Rachel.) 

She said yes, absolutely, and then called me “Nephew Rachel,” which was incredibly sweet, because gender play is wonderful. 

Hi, Rachel. It’s Rachel. 

For all the years we’ve known each other, we’ve been delighted that we have the same name. Every time we called each other, we’d start with: “Hi Rachel. It’s Rachel” and then laugh. Every time we emailed each other, one of us would sign it “the other Rachel” or “the other other Rachel,” and variations on that.

Last March, when I was flying out to New York to work on her estate, I ended up sitting next to a delightful person on the airplane. She complimented the queer and trans buttons on my backpack and that started a wonderful, rambling conversation. About twenty minutes in, we realized we should introduce ourselves with our names. 

She said, “I’m Rachel,” and I said, “Oh my god, so am I.” 

Driving from the airport to Rachel Pollack’s house, I realized this was an ultimate “Hi Rachel. It’s Rachel” moment; the beautiful synchronicities of the world lining up, so that Rachel Pollack, on my way to meet her in her new life at her estate and archive, was showing me that we can still play together about our shared name. 

I feel very privileged (and emotional) that I get to participate powerfully in her legacy — in these events, with the wonderful people on this team — to keep carrying forward and unpacking all of her tremendous and visionary teachings. There’s so much wonderful material, and it’s exciting to see it continue to live in the world, and to feel her presence still very active, still very much moving around in this world. 

I hope, if you’re interested, you’ll join us for the event on September 6, and for other future events we’ll certainly be having. Stay tuned for more exciting news about work on the Rachel Pollack Archive.

Stay tuned next month for more blog posts, other resources, and another newsletter. Thanks for being a reader!

Reading this post on the blog? Enter your email to receive future newsletters right to your inbox! And encourage your friends to subscribe if you think they’d enjoy.