The blog post below was written a few weeks ago, and was intended to be posted last Friday. Like a bolt out of the blue, my niece, Brenda, called me with terrible news. That morning, my sister, Dollie, had a massive stroke. At the time I was being very optimistic as both my mother and mother-in-law had strokes at much older age and both had worked their way back to mostly normal. Unfortunately, Dollie’s stroke was much worse and in a part of her brain that was harder to heal. So it is with sadness that I say that she valiantly fought for several days, but on Tuesday she went to join my Mom and Dad, our sister, Anne, and her beloved daughter, Candice, who just left us suddenly 2 years ago on the other side. It is strange, but I can feel her kicking my ass a bit – she was so excited as I filled her in on my progress with my deck, and she shared my enthusiasm as I neared my Kickstarter launch date. I laughed when I looked at my “Launch Team” list this morning – hers is the first name on it. So, I am counting on her to get all the Angels and Saints, all my loved ones whose Spirits I still sense so strongly surrounding me all helping me out on my project. I am comforted she is behind me all the way, and I will miss her presence on this Earthly plane all the rest of my days.
I did eventually buy the Thoth Tarot, and damn is it hard to read. There is a much deeper symbology and that deck is far more complex, touching on everything from astronomy and astrology to far more complicated Kabalistic tradition. The more you peek under the rock the more you find, and you see that some 15th Century French game is so, so much deeper. I took a class with Tarot Master and Harvard Educator, Jeanne Mayell. She finds the Tarot fascinating, and relates the uncanny revelations uncovered through use of the Tarot to quantum mechanics. The cards are tools that open your subconscious to know what already exists. Her deck of choice is the Thoth Tarot.
I have quite a few serious decks, and also quite a few “collector” decks that are not really meant for divination but more like art to enjoy – a tiny gallery. I do believe that all of them do possess on some level the basic structure of a working deck, but especially a few of the “whimsical” decks are not at all meant to be used in a serious way. I have thematic decks like the DaVinci Tarot based on the master artist’s journals and artworks, Celtic-themed decks like the Robin Wood Tarot, some with fantastic imagery like Ciro Marchetti’s lush Gilded Tarot and ones with contemporary imagery like The Everyday Witch Tarot.
I have learned that finding your true “soul mate” of a deck is very hard. I often come back again and again to the Rider-Waite-Smith deck. I know it in the most thorough way, understand the symbology for each of the 78 cards and it is so familiar to me. I recently found the Golden Tarot by Kat Black. It is beautiful beyond description and based on the RWS deck. She has taken actual examples of Renaissance art from hundreds of sources and in an epic way has digitally collaged those images into new art that represents each of the cards as though they existed that way forever. The cards feel luxurious and meaty, with beautifully gilded edges. Their box and book is stunning, everything about them is luscious. Like a gorgeous new pair of shoes, I try this deck on and find I adore the pictures on the cards and understand the symbology, but it pinches my brain like new shoes pinch my feet. I put my grubby old sneakers on and they are so comfortable if somewhat uninspiring to look at, and I go back to my old RWS deck. I did switch to the Radiant Rider Waite deck a few years ago. The cards are much more colorful and vibrant than the ordinary RWS deck suiting my colorful personality better. Of all the decks I have bought and tried and researched, Kat’s Golden Tarot suits me best. But I still use my Radiant RWS.
I have endorsed a few Kickstarter decks and I recently received a very unique deck, the Mystical Garbage Tarot. The watercolor illustrations spoke to me, and the illustrator, Melanie Nicole, is such an interesting artist with an interesting journey that continues to unfold for her. There are multitudes of Kickstarter and Indigogo Tarot deck projects, many are not very good or creative, but there are a couple that I missed the window to support them and I am sad for it. I’ll look for them when or if they are available off of the crowdfunding platforms, and it will not be long before my Mystical Penguin Tarot is one of the Tarot decks offered on Kickstarter. I am nervous and excited and horrified and hopeful unleashing my deck, but I think it will be a successful campaign.
I expect to launch it this coming month, May, 2021. Tuesdays are the best days to launch, I am told, so I am looking at May 25. I have a binder filled with tasks to do and a colorful mindmap and calendar that I am already running both behind and ahead on, if that is possible. I built a rocket that I have painted in a penguin theme to use as a publicity stunt (literally launching my campaign). I am going to make penguin-shaped cookies. Everything, every day, all day, has become Tarot and penguins.
#mysticalpenguintarot #Tarot #Penguins #Dawnarts
My husband, David, my sister, Dollie, me and Dollie’s husband, Tom. Miss you forever, Sis.
