Cards are fun, whether they’re Tarot or not. They’re even fun when they’re virtual and used as an event guide.
Like the ones on camdenplayers.co.uk where people in Camden, London can divine where to find good times in their neighbourhood this July.
Visitors to the site are welcomed by Mr. Eks, the master of serendipity and captain of the covert. By dealing the cards, he’ll find an adventure perfectly suited to each person who asks.
my first choices - flytrap, palm tree or cactus
Three choices are offered to start. It’s sort of like finding a signifcator for the reading. What you choose at this stage is meant to determine the choices to follow.
By the end of the reading, you end up with three possible events you might like to attend. I know I liked what Mr. Eks suggested for me. Too bad I’m not in Camden this month.
But it’s fun to play whether you’re there or not. And if you are there … try it out!!
The site was created by the design agency Coney. They based it around the historic culture and characters of Camden. I think it’s just great. Good work.
Here’s another Tarot Kickstarter project that looks interesting…
It’s April’s Army Tarot Project and features 25 artists from across the world coming together to create 78 original cards.
All participants are fans of the website Regretsy.com, who’s catchphrase is, ‘Where DIY Meets WTF’. And they’ve invoked that spirit in the creation of their deck.
They’re working in a wide variety of mediums – paint, pencils, pixels, fabric and clay. And you might say they’ve taken liberties with the traditional Tarot suits.
Instead of the familiar Swords, Cups, Wands and Pentacles, they’ve opted for Tools, Genitalia, WTF, and Whimsicles (F*ckery). And yes, that’s how they spell Whimsicles.
The adult nature of this deck might not be for everyone, but it looks really fun to me. You can see some of the cards and artist discussions at their collaboration space. And watch the video below to meet some of the people involved.
April’s Army is trying to raise money for production costs and they’re accepting pledges until August 4. For as little as $20 you can help get the deck finished and get your own copy as soon as it’s back from the printer in November.
Visit their Kickstarter page to read more about the deck. And consider supporting it. When regretable crafting meets Tarot, it’s something to celebrate.
The show featured visionary art and imaginative paintings and animation surrounding the theme of prophetic dreams and oracles.
Not only was Stoneham’s artwork displayed, but also his own oracle, The Deck of the Avatar was put into service. Stoneham himself gave readings during the show.
In the video, he talks about his deck and how it grew out of his paintings, and how his paintings grow out of his visions and dreams.
The story of card #9, the Ghost, is especially haunting.
If you’re anywhere near Southend-on-Sea, Essex, UK, you might want to get down to this Tarot show.
Outrageous Fortune is a collective Tarot deck created by 78 different artists and curated by Andrew Hunt.
Each artist randomly drew one card from a Marseille deck, and were asked to interpret what they saw. They saw all sorts of things, and came up with a diverse mix of formal, conceptual, Expressionist, literary and design-based approaches to making their own cards.
If you can’t get there, you can see some of the cards on-line. And maybe if you’re lucky, the show will be coming to a town near you.
It opens today at Focal Point Gallery in Southend-on-Sea, Essex, and will be there until August 27. Then it hits the road to tour the UK through January 2012.
A lot of people shy away from the Death card in Tarot, using different labels, or not naming the card at all.
Artist and poet Ricardo Olvera has taken a completely different perspective, and has used death as a main feature throughout his deck.
He’s created The Bone Tarot, an art exhibit made up of twenty-two pieces, each work an assemblage of animal bones and found objects, and based on one of the Major Arcana.
Olvera sees the show as a ‘symbolic mandala’, each piece important on its own, but even more meaningful as part of a grander whole.
He uses the bones to highlight the tension between life and death, and to show that one cannot be without the other.
Olvera’s sculptural deck is not meant for divination, though he says it can be used that way too. He sees it more as an homage, his interest being strictly aesthetic.
But as with divination, appreciating visual art involves looking and interpreting. As one explores a piece, or a card, the process of interpretation itself invokes insight.
The show opens tomorrow and runs through July 30th at Sheppard Fine Arts Gallery in Reno, Nevada at the University of Nevada.
Olvera will give a lecture about his work at the opening reception, Wednesday, July 13th.
There’s a Tarot film in the works. And after three and a half years, 22 different groups of people, and a journey across the United States, it’s almost done.
Maybe you’d like to help co-directors Zeljko McMullen and Severiano Martinez get it through editing and post-production?
‘We Are Fools’: A Visual Poem dedicated to the TAROT is one story with 22 parts. The actors were given bare bones direction in order let their own experiences fill in the meaning behind whatever card they were depicting.
Watch the clip below to see some of the film, and to hear what Zeljko McMullen has to say about it.
Then visit the Kickstarter page to help them out. They’ve got lots of ‘awards’ for those who do.
The first book I ever read about Tarot was the original version of The Tarot Handbook, by Angeles Arrien. At the time, I had just got a copy of the Thoth deck, also my first, and was rummaging around in a discount book store.
Arrien’s book was there, with images of my new cards pictured on the cover, on sale for only $10. Of course I bought it on the spot, and started figuring out Tarot Soul and Growth cards right away.
Her system helped me a lot. And at the time, it was one of the few books available on the Thoth deck. The one I got next was Crowley’s own Book of Thoth, which could have been a little intense had it been my first.
The reason I bring this up is that Angeles Arrien will be teaching a weekend seminar on symbolism and the Tarot, July 16 and 17, at the California Institute of Integral Studies in San Francisco. I can’t be there, but I wish I could.
She’ll be exploring the meaning and significance of how symbols in the Tarot function as internal and external mirrors for our own various levels of consciousness.
Arrien is a cultural anthropologist, with expertise in psychology and comparative religions, and of course Tarot. She really knows her stuff. It’s going to be a mind opening weekend.
People at all levels of Tarot experience are encouraged to participate. And Tarot reader or not, it’ll be of especial interest to those in the counseling, coaching, teaching, management, and service professions.
