A Sneak Peek of Tarot of the Divine Masculine

A Sneak Peek of Tarot of the Divine Masculine

Tarot of the Divine Masculine, by Vasich and Vasich, is a new indie deck that will begin funding on Kickstarter on October 1, 2019. Marko Vasich asked me to take a look at a few of the cards in advance of the Kickstarter rollout.

One of my favorite things about being a tarot pro is this privilege. It’s so exciting to get in on the early stages of a creative project, and to be able to communicate with the talented and thoughtful artists.

I was impressed with the lovely packaging of the cards they sent to me. From that I can tell that the artists will spare nothing in the quality and presentation of this new tarot.

The theme of the deck is specific, and, because of the theme, not every tarot reader will feel called to work with it. Yet, the fact is, there are a lot of queer tarotists, just as there are a lot of queer artists. This is why it is such a shame that there are so few decks available that specifically honor this community.

One would not have to be gay, or male, to read with this deck. Yet, it is definitely a deck that celebrates men, and not in a Village People way. These men are pictured in nature, not in nightclubs. There is a fair amount of male nudity in the deck, but it feels naturist, rather than sexual. It’s important to remember that the deck artists are from Germany and Serbia, where the human body is not so often viewed in a shameful way. There is subtle Pagan imagery peppered through the deck,

I remember, years ago, speaking with a group of Dianic witches, discussing that men needed to discover their spiritual mysteries. I think Tarot of the Divine Masculine would be a good tool to help with that journey, for men of any orientation.

Six of Swords image from Tarot of the Divine Masculine by Vasich and Vasich, used with permission.

The art in this deck is splendid, detailed, and realistic. The cardbacks are reversable. The cardstock is of quality and has a pleasant finish that I can only describe as slippery matte. The card edges are black.

In a deck of men, some card names must be changed. The High Priestess has become Intuition, and the Empress has become The Provider. My favorite of the card samples I received was the Six of Wands, a fierce Celtic warrior clad in a kilt.

This deck follows the Smith-Waite tradition to the point that the cards will make sense to anyone who reads with a Waite deck. The suit of Pentacles is called the suit of Diamonds, yet seems traditional in its expressions of earthly matters.

While most of the cards aren’t overtly sexual, the Four of Cups isn’t for the faint of heart. We see a woman engaged with two men, while a second woman appears disinterested. It’s important to note that none of the deck images seem pornographic. The art style is gentle and sensuous, rather than cheap and tawdry.

Tarot of the Divine Masculine is not for everyone. That means that the people who resonate with this deck need to get behind it. Let’s make sure that this beautiful offering becomes available to those who will find wisdom in it and use it to find wisdom within themselves.

Corporate Tarot: Minding Your Business with the Cards

Corporate Tarot is a unique self-published deck created by my Tampa Bay neighbor, Melanie McCarthy.

The deck is of average size, and come in a box with a lift-off lid. The cardstock is of good quality, flexible to shuffle, with a glossy finish. The deck does not come with a little white book (LWB). However, a lengthy, fully-illustrated companion e-book, also by McCarthy, is available for free download from the very helpful Corporate Tarot website.

It was a very easy process to get the e-book downloaded into my iPhone.

Corporate Tarot deck is more than a theme deck about the business world. Corporate Tarot is specifically designed for use in the boardroom, in career development, and business strategy.

Truly, this deck is a good tool for anyone who has a job, a business or a career – and that’s just about everyone!

There are many unusual and creative elements to this deck, not the least of which are the card backs. The backs of the card are non-reversible, and they are also not all the same!

The card backs depict an urban business district. Each card back shows a distinct view and perspective. Some feature bridges, or billboards. Others show tall towers, or an urban skyline.  These backs are meant to add to the interpretive value of the reading. In the e-book, the backs are described as a bonus, to be interpreted in whatever fashion the reader sees fit. To me, this is one of the most exciting aspects of this deck.

The deck’s structure is based on tarot, but designed to fit within the workplace theme. The Major Arcana is presented as “Strategy Cards”. The four suits Ace-Ten are “Tactical Cards”. The Court cards are “Myers-Briggs Personality Cards”.

This is not the first time a tarotist has drawn a connection between the sixteen Meyers-Briggs Personality Types and the sixteen Court Cards of tarot. In the Corporate Tarot “court”, the ranks are Manager, Mentor, Partner and Strategist. These do not seem to reflect age and gender as with traditional tarot, but rather personality and professional energy.

The Major Arcana card names are changed to fit the business theme. I can certainly see how these cards could be used, in divination, to decide on a particular strategy, or predict what another’s strategy might be.

For example, the Fool is exuberance, the Magician is Proficiency, the Hierophant is Training, the Devil is Negativity, Death is Promotion (that one is brilliant, I think).

The one Major Arcana association that didn’t make me smile is Card 11, Justice, as “Karma”. When every other Strategy card is named with a word chosen from business vocabulary, the word “Karma” sticks out like that one New-Agey crystal-adorned paralegal in the otherwise stuffy firm.   Legality and ethics are such important aspects of the corporate world; I might have preferred a different label for this particular card.

I also didn’t love that the Star has become “Inspiration”, only because the suit of Wands has been renamed the Phase of Inspiration, and that seems confusing and redundant.

The Minor Arcana Ace through Ten cards are called phases rather than suits, but retain elemental associations. Phase I is Inspiration, or Fire, therefore the suit of Wands in a standard deck. Phase II is Research, associated with Air, and Swords in a standard deck. Phase III is collaboration, Water, and Cups. Phase IV is Expression, Earth, Pentacles.

I love that the Air suit is Research, and that Water is collaboration. What perfect ways to express those elemental energies in business terms!

Each Phase is described card-by-card in the book. McCarthy has tried to fit each minor card to an actual linear progression within its phase. In my opinion, some of this seems forced, and sometimes departs from the traditional energy of the card, even when that energy could easily fit into the Phase.

There is a special section in the e-book dedicated to professional tarot readers. I am looking forward to using this deck in planning and operating my own business. In my book, Fortune Stellar, I advise tarot professionals to use their decks to plan and create their businesses. How exciting that there is a deck designed for that actual purpose!

McCarthy sees a place for Corporate Tarot, not just as a kitschy theme deck, but as a tool to be used by actual corporate leaders, visionaries and employees.  To me, this is not a far stretch at all. The community that embraced “What Color is My Parachute?”, “Who Moved My Cheese?” and “The One-Minute Manager” could easily accept Corporate Tarot.

So, what does the deck actually look like?

The cards are attractive, and exactly what you would expect a business-themed deck to be. The cards are color-coded in muted tones. Border-clippers, beware! This is not a deck that would work with borders removed.

Some of the deck images are photographic, others are illustrated, some are a combination. Much like a Marseille tarot deck, the Strategy (Major) cards, and the Personality (Court) cards are illustrated with people, while the Tactical (Minor) cards are illustrated with symbols.

Corporate Tarot may not be a deck for everyone, but it distinguishes itself by being a deck for a group of people who might not otherwise consider tarot a helpful tool.

I think that Corporate Tarot could help any tarotist improve their understanding of the ways tarot can speak to questions of business.

As a tool of career development for professional tarotists and their clients, Corporate Tarot could be invaluable.

(Note 9/7/24: The link to the Corporate Tarot website, corporatetarot.org, isn’t working. Please use the link to the Amazon page instead.)

A Review of the Inner Wizard Message Cards

The Inner Wizard is a unique oracle deck, written by Jacob Roth, and created, designed, produced and published by Livi Ram and Orna Ben-Shoshan. The publisher is Kabbalah Insights.

It’s interesting to say that a deck of cards was “written” by someone, usually oracle cards feature scenic or symbolic images. While the Inner Wizard cards are colorful, they use words rather than pictures to convey their messages.

Because the cards contain easily-understood written messages, there is no need to study or read a book in order to use them. The cards come with a single page of written instructions, which clearly explain many ways to use this unusual oracle.

The deck contains eighty-four cards. The cards are small and square, and come in an attractive box with a lift-off lid. The cards are printed on a quality stock, and feel good in my hands.

The cards are of assorted coloring, but there is no explanation or obvious reason for the color differences. I tried sorting the cards by color, and was frustrated that I couldn’t find a correlation. I have to say, this sort of unexplained choice in an oracle deck bothers me. If you are going to use color as part of an oracle, please tell us your intentions so we can enjoy the magick, too. Simple aesthetic choices only go so far where tools of divination are concerned.

The cards are not numbered, and have no particular order. However, the deck does have a structure that is fascinating.

Each card is two-sided. One side is a lovely reddish pink, with a faded border of suns, moons and astrology glyphs. This side of the cards is the back, and these messages are “renewed choice proclamations.”

The front of each card has color, as I described. Astrology symbols are in the background. Each card is a “notelet” from “someone that represents your higher self”, according to the instruction sheet.
The notelets are lengthy. This divination will require few cards, and much active process of the part of the seeker.

Although the publisher is “Kabbalah Insights”, the wisdom in each notelet doesn’t seem to come from any particular source or school of thought outside of basic feel-good-conscious-living neo-spirituality.  They resonate well enough for me, and I think they will resonate for those willing to do some deep inner seeking.

The notelets each bear attribution to an “inner wizard”.  The notelet you receive might be from “your future self”, “your fear”, “your big dream”, “God”, “Mother earth ”, “your future self” “your sex organ”, “your soul”, and so forth. I do not believe there are two from exactly the same attributed source.

I think some folks will have a tendency to find some of the notelets, and their attributions, a bit smarmy, or corny. I am not sure, for instance, that I want to receive a note, in divination, from my vagina. I am also not sure that I am comfortable with someone else imagining what my vagina might want to say to me.  Other folks may be uncomfortable with notelets attributed to “God” or “The Divine Mother.” 

My answer to that is this. There are eighty-four cards, unnumbered. If you find a card that offends you, remove it from the deck!  Before you do, though, it might be a good exercise to figure out why you are offended, and to find some insight and healing in that process.

Also on the front of each card are astrology glyphs. These glyphs correspond to a table that takes up half of the one-page printed instruction sheet. This table lists the corresponding zodiac signs divided into “Reinforcing features” and “Weakening features” for each astrological archetype.

The astrological signs in this context are not a reference to the natal chart of the seeker or their friends. Rather, this association adds helpful information about the way to carry out the instruction of the card.

A side benefit is that, if you are struggling to learn basic astrology, this deck will teach you the glyphs and the archetypes quite painlessly.

A simple one-card reading, then, will have three pieces to it. First, the notelet will give you your focus. Second, the astrological archetype will give you advice about how to process that focus. Finally, the back of the card will give you an affirmation to help you embrace the communication you have received from your higher self.

This is definitely not a fortune-telling deck, nor is a deck to use if you are not looking for actual insight. I can imagine many ways to use this deck in introspection, journaling, group process, and in conjunction with other tools.

You can get your copy of the Inner Wizard cards directly from Kabbalah Insights.

In a world where many oracle decks seem simply like a shallow collection of pretty pictures, The Inner Wizard offers us the opportunity to use divination as a gateway to deep personal introspection and manifestation.

To see the deck in action, watch the video!

Tradition and Innovation: Celtic Lenormand

Celtic Lenormand

By Worthington, Will

Buy on Amazon

I have been excited about the new Celtic Lenormand for as long as I have been reading Chloe McCracken’s fabulous blog. It’s wonderful to be able to finally hold the cards in my hands. Now, the Celtic Lenormand Blog can become a resource to help me learn to use these beautiful cards.

The artist of Celtic Lenormand is Will Worthington, who has created several tarot and oracle decks, including one of my favorites, Druid Craft Tarot.

U.S. Games Systems, Inc. is the publisher of Celtic Lenormand. The cards come in a sturdy matte finish box with a lift-off lid. The card backs are muted shades of tan with a simple Celtic knot design.

Celtic Lenormand is a fascinating addition to the growing number of available Lenormand decks.  With nine extra cards, and a booklet denoting correlations between each card and the Wheel of the Year, Pagan deities from many cultures, magical spells and affirmations, this deck evolves beyond Lenormand tradition in a variety of ways.

If you are a tarot person just discovering Lenormand, or if you are discovering modern cartomancy all at once, you will probably hear some sweeping comparisons between tarot and Lenormand. You might hear that tarot is only for spiritual divination and psychological introspection, and Lenormand is only for fortune telling, or something like that.

My experience with tarot far outweighs my knowledge of Lenormand, but I can say this.  I know that tarot always expands itself to rise to whatever tasks I give it. If I want mundane fortune-oriented answers, I can get those out of tarot. If I want communication with those in Spirit, I can get that with tarot. If I want spiritual guidance, I can get that from tarot, too.

Many of the statements made about Lenormand and tarot seem to limit tarot’s ability in a way that doesn’t make sense to me, and isn’t true for me. Thus, I wonder if the limitations that people put upon Lenormand are also limiting and untrue. Celtic Lenormand really fuels my fire on this topic.

Celtic Lenormand is not simply a Pagan-themed art deck. Celtic Lenormand finds the balance between tradition and innovation, inviting the seeker to explore their spirituality and practice magick with this special fortune telling deck.

The nine extra cards are as follows. Four cards are extra “people” cards. There is a female Rider, called “Bardess”, as well as the usual male Rider, in this deck called “Bard”. Cards 28 and 29 each have an extra, so cards 28 are “Lord” and “Man,” and cards 29 are “Lady” and “Woman.”    There are two Child cards.

Quite a few new Lenormand decks add extra people cards. This allows the reader to activate specific cards to more accurately handle gender-specific questions and topics regarding same-sex relationships.

Celtic Lenormand ventures into uncharted territory with some of the other additional cards. There are two Tree cards, “Oak” and “Holly”. These cards are associated with the male aspect of deity, referring to the Celtic myth of the Oak King and the Holly King.

There are three Birds cards. These are sacred to the Triple Goddess. Songbirds represent the Maiden, chickens represent the Mother, and owls symbolize the Crone.

There are two Snake cards, one “Fierce” and one “Shedding.” There are two cards for card 18, a dog and a cat.

The additional cards allow the reader to choose their favorite image, or to divine with the greater number of cards.

While the divinatory interpretations of the extra cards are essentially standard, the booklet gives different spiritual interpretations and activities for the extra cards, expanding the possibilities for what one can accomplish with this Lenormand deck.

Celtic Lenormand breaks with tradition by discussing the “dark and light” nature of each card. Typically, Lenormand cards have clear designations as to their nature. Some cards are positive, some are negative, and some are neutral.  This does not change deck to deck or reading to reading. This is in contrast to modern tarot, where we like to say there are no “good” or “bad” cards. We rely on context and perspective to reveal the nature of the cards in the specific reading.

Celtic Lenormand suggests that, while the positive and negative designations can be helpful in answering yes/no questions, “It can be useful to see all cards as having both positive and negative interpretations inherent in them” (P. 15). I must admit to some mixed feeling about this. I had just finished memorizing the positive, negative, neutral list, darn it! On the other hand, to see all the possibilities in each card is exactly the way I read tarot, so I should easily be able to connect with Celtic Lenormand, perhaps in a way I have not before felt permitted to connect with other Lenormand decks.

Chloe McCracken notes very clearly, on Page 13, that there is a credible history, in Europe and elsewhere, of using Lenormand for spiritual readings, as well as practical ones. She points out, wisely, that spirituality and practicality are not mutually exclusive.

While Celtic Lenormand describes the spiritual processes one might attempt with the cards in greater detail than I have ever seen before with a Lenormand deck, I know that there indeed are existent spiritual traditions around Lenormand.

In her fabulous book, “The Essential Lenormand,” Rana George describes a process of focus and prayer she has successfully used to manifest a different, more positive outcome than the cards had originally predicted. Celtic Lenormand gives us some clear ideas of ways we, ourselves, might accomplish this sort of work.

Celtic Lenormand is very specifically a Pagan deck. This would be a marvelous gift for any lucky Pagan diviner. At the same time, while a non-Pagan might not be interested in certain aspects of this deck, such as the deity or the Wheel of the Year associations, there is no doubt that Celtic Lenormand is a legitimate Lenormand deck with which any seeker could derive helpful information.

Some seekers might consider the extra cards to added opportunities for spiritual growth. Others will be less interested in the spiritual associations, but might enjoy the opportunity to use the images they prefer to create their personalized 36-card deck.

In soft tones and detailed textures, Worthington’s lovely illustrations set the Celtic Lenormand in Brittany, in the north of France.  Brittany is one of the six Celtic nations, and serves to tie the deck both to its Celtic theme and to Lenormand’s French origins.

Each card features its symbol within a full background. There are no borders, or card insets; a small round icon in the bottom right corner of each card depicts the playing card association.

Lenormand is definitely growing in popularity worldwide. As it grows, artists and authors will add their creativity and insight to this simple, profound system.

Celtic Lenormand honors the Lenormand tradition while pushing the boundaries on what we’ve believed a Lenormand deck could be and do.

To see more card images, watch my video review!

A Review of Art Through the Starstream Oracle

“Art Through the Starstream Oracle” is a new 52-card oracle deck by visionary artist Cheryl Yambrach Rose. Although this deck stands on its own as a complete oracle, it can also be used as a companion to the artist’s earlier work, “Art Through the Eyes of the Soul Oracle.”

The two decks are the same size and card number, and of a similar style. The Starstream Oracle’s cards are numbered, the first deck’s are not. Both have lovely gilded edges.

In both decks, each card represents an archetype. The archetypes are from the myths and legends of many cultures. Each card is a marvelous work of art. The images include many people with long flowing hair and ceremonial garb. Although cards in both decks represent many different cultures, quite a few myths and characters represented seem to be Celtic and British. The characters reflect both Pagan and Christian themes.

Now that I have “Art Through the Starstream”, I like “Art Through the Eyes of the Soul” much more than I originally did. There are instructions for using the two decks together in the Starstream Oracle’s 113-page booklet, written by the artist.

I think Cheryl Yambrach Rose has grown as an artist in the past few years. At least, I love the paintings of the new oracle, and I was lukewarm about the painting of the first oracle. It’s not that the art of the first deck is bad, it’s actually lovely. To me, something about the Starstream Oracle feels deeper and more evocative.

The Starstream Oracle works with the theory that visitors from other worlds inspired many of our spiritual myths and archetypes.

This oracle speaks to those people who find themselves longing for their lost home; the starseed, the crystal people, the Atlantians, and Lemurians. It also speaks to people who believe that those who live among the stars have long been in contact with us.

 I have to say that, while I am sure it is likely there is life on other planets; my spiritual path doesn’t deal with extraterrestrials in any way. Frankly, I’ve at times been concerned about the sanity of those whose spiritual base is off-planet. Recently, I’ve evolved on this a bit, especially after a conversation with Patricia Cori, artist of the Sirian Starseed Tarot.

I have occasionally read for people who did in fact seem to fit on this planet even less than the rest of us. They found comfort in the ideas that perhaps, on some level, they are not native to this planet, or that they have some connection to extraterrestrial beings. I think those folks who feel a longing for the stars, or for sunken islands of yore, will resonant completely with this lovely oracle deck.

Beyond the beautiful artwork, there are two things I really like about “Art Through the Starstream Oracle.” One is Rose’s thorough research and well-written explanation of each card. The other is that each card bears an extremely specific key phrase. For instance, the first card is “The High Priestess from the Land of the Arianni”.  In a very interesting story that bears further research, Rose explains representatives of the Arianni, the “Inner World of Earth”, appeared to Admiral Byrd in 1947 at the North Pole.  The key phrase on the card says “Be Open to Communication from an Unexpected Place”.

I like these sorts of key phrases much more than the generic one-word phrases on many oracles cards.

Other characters, myths and archetypes making an appearance in this deck include Mary Magdalene, King Arthur, the Bedouins, and the Black Madonna of Prague. The more I read the booklet, the more I find my skepticism about our interaction with extraterrestrials, and the spiritual significance therein, suspended.

This deck reminds me of a story. When I first moved to Florida, I was staying at a resort that catered to an eclectic mix of New Agers from around the world and native Florida locals. On my first night there, I met a Florida native. He told me about the community’s monthly drum circle. “It’s fun,” he said. “But some of the people at the drum circle are definitely waiting for the spaceship to land.”
Then, without skipping a beat, he asked, “So, what do you do for a living?”
I laughed, and answered.
“I’m a tarot reader. I, too, am waiting for the spaceship to land.”

I think all those who are indeed waiting for the spaceship to land, and even some who aren’t, will enjoy this creative oracle.

(Note 9/7/24: The Art Through the Starstream Oracle is no longer available.)

A Review by Request: Golden Tarot by Kat Black

I received a note from Felix asking me to do a review of Kat Black’s Golden Tarot. I was surprised that I had never written an official review of Kat Black’s Golden Tarot – it’s one of my favorites.

During the first half of the 2000s I taught a very popular special series of tarot classes called “Important New Tarot Decks.” Each class would feature a newer deck that I thought was significant in its readability and unique contribution to the tarot world. Kat Black’s Golden Tarot was one of my most popular classes in the series. To this day it remains one of my favorite decks, to the point that I have worn off the beautiful gilt edges of the cards with constant use.

The thing that is, too me, most wonderful about this deck, was expressed by Felix in his note to me. He said, in part,

“For a newbie like me, it seems to follow very respectful the RWS tradition, but the Renaissance imagery and the rich colors work for me in at a level that Pamela Colman Smith's art (while indeed excellent) just doesn't. The cards come alive and restless in my hands. Studying is so much easier.”

Golden Tarot follows RWS imagery in a way that makes it easy to use, but uses richer period artwork in a way that feels really authentic.

Golden Tarot is a 78-card tarot deck published in 2003 by U.S. Games Systems, Inc. Often U.S. Games adds value to certain decks with really creative packaging. The special box that holds the deck and book is in itself remarkable, and makes it easy to develop a practice of drawing a card each day directly from the box.

The cards are standard sized with an old-fashioned brown textured pattern for the reversible card back. Strength is card 8 and Justice 11. The suits are Swords, representing the medieval ruling class, Wands, representing the peasant class, Cups, representing the clerical class, and Coins, representing the merchant class. The court characters are Pages, Knights, Queens and Kings.

The deck is completely illustrated with digital collage that uses elements from renaissance masterpieces. The resulting card images are very similar to the Rider-Waite-Smith images in terms of symbolism and action.

Current historical thinking says that tarot itself came from Italy in the late 1400s – essentially the same time and place that produced the works of art that Kat Black has used to illustrate Golden Tarot.

The Waite-Smith Tarot images are the most popular in the world. Many say they are the easiest to learn.

From the world that gave birth to tarot Kat Black has taken art, added to it the wisdom of A.E. Waite and Pixie Smith and produced a truly readable deck that honors the mediaeval origins of tarot.

The accompanying booklet fits nicely in the box. A little more than half the book is dedicated to insightful, understandable card interpretations. The rest of the book includes a lengthy list of the original art from which images were sourced for each card.

Golden Tarot is a perfect deck for someone who loves Rider Waite Smith imagery, wants to honor the medieval roots of the original tarot and enjoys art from the middle ages and early renaissance.

Aside from being a triumphant tarot deck, Golden Tarot enjoys a bit of irony. This deck that so thoroughly honors the era that gave birth to tarot could not exist without the digital technology of our own modern era.

Visually, the feel of Golden Tarot is rich, intricate, expressive and a bit somber, exactly as we expect art from the middle ages to be. I remember wishing, years ago, for a truly medieval deck that was illustrated with the same images as symbols as the Rider Waite Smith. With Golden Tarot, my wish was fulfilled.

Golden Tarot, by Kat Black, is published by U.S. Games Systems, Inc.

Christiana Reviews Golden Tarot by Kat Black

Video of Christiana Reviews Golden Tarot by Kat Black

Sylvia Browne at Coconut Creek, June 2, 2010- A Review

When I told my Psychic Development class that I had gone to see Sylvia Browne on her new lecture tour, half the class was impressed. The other half had never heard of Sylvia Browne.

That surprised me. To me, she is a household name. Granted, I have never actually seen her on TV, and I’ve only read one of her books, but to me she is the grand dame of professional psychics in the United States.

I paid attention during the brief media flurry that followed the revelation that she had gotten it wrong- way wrong- when she read for the parents of a miraculously recovered missing child. I was interested to see that her loyal public forgave her and moved on.

I’ve noticed that her ever-growing number of husbands is surpassed only by her every-growing number of published books. Each book seems to capitalize on a spiritual trend of the past decade or so; The Secret, The DaVinci Code, angels, dreams . . . You get the idea.

Of course I have been to her website, and have read with some interest about her church, Novus Spiritus. So when, on the way to the beach some months ago, I saw a billboard announcing her appearance at the Seminole Casino at Coconut Creek, I knew I wanted to be there.

Coming from the legendary and larger-than-life casinos of Connecticut, the casino itself seemed small and dingy to me. The staff was friendly and helpful, though, and the food and drink were good and reasonably priced. Two live bands played, one in each bar. Not bad for a Wednesday.

Life on the Other Side: A Psychic's Tour of the Afterlife

By Browne, Sylvia, Harrison, Lindsay

Buy on Amazon

Sylvia was doing two shows at Coconut Creek, I saw the second. I know that a few of my audience mates were there for both nights, hoping to be chosen to be able to ask a single question of Sylvia. Predictably, the audience was primarily female and primarily middle-aged. Not as many crystal pendants and gypsy skirts as you might see at a Pagan festival or a Stevie Nicks concert, but certainly a lot of colorful, sequined, flowing polyester knits.

The four-hundred seat pavilion (really a poorly air-conditioned tent) was almost full. We were each given a raffle ticket on the way in. I clutched mine in my hand the entire time, afraid to lose my chance to speak directly with Sylvia. I noticed my peers doing the same.

The pavilion had a nice feel to it when we walked in. The stage was set modestly, with a cushy chair, some plants, and a microphone. Enya-like music played in the background, as pink and purple light shapes played against the backdrop. Not psychedelic, certainly, but definitely new-agey.

The whole left side of the pavilion was taken up by lit tables. Vendors! My shopping genes turned on immediately. As I got closer, I realized it was one vendor; Sylvia Browne’s jewelry, books, and international tours.

I took a seat in the back of the pavilion. Soon, a tall, slim, casually dressed gentleman walked on to the stage and introduced himself as Sylvia’s new husband. He proceeded to tell us about the jewelry, the books and the tours. After a brief delay due to air-conditioning troubles, he led Sylvia onstage.

To me, she looked and sounded like a hairdresser of a certain era, who would pin your perm and give you the latest with a cigarette hanging out of the corner of her bright-red mouth.

She began her lecture, seated, with very little fanfare. I liked her honest, direct, approach to the audience. Not lofty, but practical. I couldn’t help thinking, though, that a lot of what she had to say sounded more like Joan Rivers- style comedy than glimpses at enlightenment.

One of the first things Sylvia talked about was something she called “a dark soul entity.” She said we have all known them, and a lot of the women in the audiences nodded their head emphatically.

A “dark soul entity,” said Sylvia, is a person who is a narcissist. The person may be your husband, or your son. If that is the case, you cannot fix the problems, you cannot blame yourself, and you must take care of yourself and get away. When these “dark soul entities” die, they are immediately reincarnated into a new life. At least I think that’s what she said.

As she spoke, she had very little compassion in her voice. She segued in to talking about her most recent ex-husband and the terrible things he did to her. Her anger was palpable. She shared that he had taken 1.5 million dollars from her that her lawyer said she couldn’t recover. But, she said, making a remark about karma, now he has throat cancer.

“That’s because he’s a liar,” one woman from the audience shouted out.

I was honestly appalled. Sharing the intimate details of her personal, legal and financial life with an audience of strangers seemed cheap and sleazy to me. Taking delight in anyone’s illness seemed low and unenlightened. As I saw a majority of heads bobbing up and down enthusiastically, I realized I was by far in the minority. 

Sylvia went on to talk about death, and God. She is Gnostic in her beliefs. I would have loved to hear her speak more about Gnosticism, but she glossed over it. Her views on death, and reincarnation, are pretty basic for the new breed of Christian new agers. Her message here is one of comfort.   Your pets and your family greet you when you die.   There is no hell, and no devil. God loves you. God want you to love yourself, and to forgive yourself, just as he loves and forgives you.

While I think that is a great message, and one I believe in, it seemed pretty basic. Not one I would think people would want to pay $35 dollars to hear. Again, my inner critic was silenced by the sea of bobbing heads that surround me.

Suddenly it made sense to me; Sylvia’s message really isn’t for me. It’s a message I already know. Sylvia’s message is for recovering Catholics who were taught to fear God and fear death. Sylvia’s message is for abused women who suffer in silence, not knowing they have the power to make a change. For these people, this is a revolutionary message of empowerment.

Sylvia spoke authoritatively on the mysteries of life and death. Apparently each human has five “exit points.” That is, times when we might possibly die. Not four, or six, but five. Here, my inner skeptic started to boil over. Sure, I get the idea that we have possible exit points throughout our lives. But the idea that we would all be granted precisely five doesn’t make sense, and seems unimportant and dogmatic.

Sylvia instructed us not to worry about 2012, speaking derisively about the Mayans. Then she said something that made me question her basic intelligence. She compared the anticipation of 2012 with the worries of Y2K, saying that they were essentially the same thing. 

While her prediction that 2012 may be as ordinary and anticlimactic as was 2000 may be correct, it’s a terrible analogy. The Y2K bug was not prophesied by an ancient and spiritual culture, it was a software problem.  

Sylvia went on to talk at length about how we should take care of ourselves physically. We are to eat a high protein diet and take amino acids. Again, the heads bobbed. One thing she said I really liked, especially coming from her voice of experience. That is that the best way to stay well and healthy is to enjoy other people, to stay active, and to have no downtime.   It sure seems to be working for her!

Somewhere in there, Sylvia had a long rant about how much she hates mirrors now that she’s older, and how much she hates her naked body. The things she said were certainly comical, but seemed incongruent with her message about loving oneself.

Overall, I would say that Sylvia’s message throughout her lecture was more about hate than it was about love. She hates aging, hates her body, and hates her most recent ex-husband. It could be, though, that her hatred is empowering to her audience. Those drawn to her message may need to know that they have a right to their feelings, and that they can use those feelings to make changes.  It may also help them to know that the woman they admire has the same issues they do.

Abruptly, the lecture portion was over and it was time to meditate. On cue, the house lights went down, the swirly lights went up, this time different shapes and colors, and the new-agey music began.

Sylvia’s voice is neither soothing nor hypnotic, but I really enjoyed the meditation. In fact, it was my favorite part of the entire presentation. She helped us send healing green light throughout our bodies, and helped us blast through boulders of negativity. These boulders had names like “abandonment,” and “fear.”

After the meditation, it was time to call out the lucky winners of the lottery; those who would get to ask a question. Overall, there were about forty of them. Many of Sylvia’s answers were short, and without explanation or additional comment. But the questioners seemed happy enough. A few thanked her for changing their lives.

After two rounds of questions, the presentation was over, and Sylvia went to the side of the stage to sign books. Most of the audience lined up with the books they had just purchased.

I left feeling that Sylvia Browne certainly deserves the empire she had built for herself. In her mid-seventies, she is a powerhouse of messaging and merchandising. I can’t help but admire it.

I don’t question her gifts, although I saw no particular evidence of them during the event. I know full well how grueling the life of a full-time professional psychic can be. It is impossible to get to where she is without some real gifts and talents.

I truly hope, though, that there is room in the world for other messages. I hope that there is, somewhere out there, a psychic-loving audience that is ready to move beyond the message of hate and self-deprecating humor and into a message about the empowerment that can come from inner peace, self-acceptance and forgiveness, even when forgiveness needs to be from a distance.

Sun and Moon Tarot Review

Sun and Moon Tarot
By Vanessa Decort
Published by US Games
Review by Christiana Gaudet © 2010

The title, Sun and Moon Tarot, conjures celestial images, thoughts of outer world versus inner world, masculine and feminine, and, of course, two Major Arcana cards. In looking through the deck, it is unclear to me why it is so titled. There don’t seem to be any obvious references to celestial bodies, light and dark, God and Goddess, or inner and outer worlds.  The deck does have a sense of universality; we are all different, and yet all one. Perhaps that is what Vanessa Decort was trying to convey with her heavenly title; that we are all the same under the sun and the moon.

Sun and Moon Tarot

By Decort, Vanessa

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Unlike many tarot artists, Vanessa Decort is both a tarotist and an artist. Her first introduction to tarot was the Crowley Thoth Harris deck.  According to the deck’s accompanying materials, Decort designed the deck “to deepen her understanding of tarot’s messages”. It was her goal to incorporate in Sun and Moon Tarot “universal archetypes and symbols from many cultures”.  

The colors of Sun and Moon Tarot are lovely and the images are evocative. This deck is like no other I have seen, and yet it is grounded enough to make it serviceable and understandable. While there are many tarot decks available, there are very few that are both unique and truly usable. Sun and Moon Tarot is.

The cards are standard sized, and have a plain white border. The card titles are on the bottom, in the border. There are no capital letters; all words on the cards and the box are lower case. .Numbers are written out in the card titles; there are no roman numerals. New students will enjoy the ease with which they can identify each card, even the pips, by name.

Sun and Moon Tarot honors both Waite and Crowley. The Crowley keyword for each pip card is boldly printed in the top of the white border.   The images themselves are often reminiscent of Waite images. Justice is card eight, and Strength eleven, as in Crowley’s deck. Major Arcana fourteen is called “art-temperance” and twenty is called “the aeon-judgment,” melding the Crowley card names with the Waite card names. The Court is comprised of Princesses, Princes, Queens and Kings, but the Kings are pictured riding steeds, as Knights normally would.   The backs are reversible but no reversed meanings are included.

Sun and Moon Tarot people are shaggy, baggy, dreadlocked folk of many skin tones. They have no distinct facial features. They are dressed in cargo pants, stripes and layers.  In fact, they are dressed like the young adults you might see at an art opening, a drum circle, or on the way to Burning Man. This is adorable in some cards, meaningful in others, and ludicrous in a few. The Emperor, for instance, in his striped tee shirt and sneakers, needs to do his homework, take out the garbage and stop playing video games. Well, that’s what happens in my mind when I see him dressed and slouching like my fourteen-year-old son.

Many of the characters and images seem small, set against immense backgrounds; skies, moons, walls, oceans and fields that are often monochromatic and always textured. Occasional metaphysical “symbols from many cultures” sometimes fit well, and sometimes seem contrived and out of place. Some of the trees and costumes may have been inspired by Tim Burton and Amy Brown.

As in many tarot decks, the people in Sun and Moon Tarot are often accompanied by animals. The deck loses some favor with me in that many of the animals are so cartoon-like that they just seem silly. Perhaps they were inspired by anime and Spongebob; things I am just too old to understand.

Despite the monkeys and alligators, the Major Arcana is really brilliant in a lot of ways. The Magician is a Rasta dude with a djembe on the beach. The Moon has lighthouses for its two towers. Death is called “death-rebirth” and pictures a phoenix. The High Priestess is powerful and ethereal.

The Minor Arcana uses Swords for air and Wands for fire.   The elemental triangle is placed at the top of each card, just below the keyword. The icons of the suit do not appear in each image. The Minor Arcana cards are not as detailed as the Majors. In some cases it is hard to see how the Crowley keyword fits with the image. In other cases it makes an interesting point.

For instance, the Ten of Pentacles is “wealth”. Here we see a couple (he’s wearing a hoodie, she’s barefoot in a billowy dress) hugging each other with a tree between them. They each have their faces pressed against the tree. This neatly represents family legacy, being grounded to the earth, and the Kabalistic Tree of Life. That is a nice depiction of true wealth, better than the typical castle and coins!

Sun and Moon Tarot is youthful, fresh and casual.  I had thought perhaps it would be more appealing to younger readers and clients. I tested that theory at a tarot study group, and found that age played no role in determining which tarotists would fall in love with this deck. I also discovered that some readers rejected the deck on first view, and then began to appreciate it after spending some time with it.  Sun and Moon Tarot kind of grows on you.

The deck is packaged in the classic US Games box with a little white book, also written by the artist. I love it when artists write about their own decks.  However, Decort’s little white book is a little bit irritating. It may have been limitations of space, language or skill that caused Decort to feel complete sentences were optional in her card interpretations.

Not everyone will appreciate Sun and Moon Tarot. The fifty-year-old in me wants capital letters, realistic animals, complete sentences and appropriate dress. The professional reader in me wonders how clients will react to boldly written keywords like “failure” and “debauch.”  But my inner tarot intellectual thinks this is a smart, workable and unique contribution to modern tarot.   And my eternal, ageless, timeless inner child is delighted by Vanessa Decort’s Sun and Moon Tarot. 

A Review of the Movie Eat Pray Love

I have to admit I never finished reading the book Eat Pray Love. So many friends and clients recommended it, and a few gave me copies. The book’s biggest fans, I found, fell predominately into two categories; women who were self-reflective and women who were self-absorbed. In my limited downtime, I prefer easy-to-digest brain candy like a good sci-fi or mystery.

I did, in the snippets I read, get a sense of Liz Gilbert’s humor. I wonder what she said, or thought, when the great Julia Roberts was cast to play her in the film adaptation of her best-selling memoir. That is probably my biggest take-away from the new movie. If you can have a spiritual transformation and write a great book about it, Julia Roberts might play you in the movie. What more could a girl want, really?

If you don’t enjoy the movie Eat Pray Love, and many people won’t, it’s because you don’t need its message. If you find it trite, and may will, it is because you have yet to suffer in the quest for your own identity. Eat Pray Love is the story of a woman’s journey to Italy, India and Bali. But really, it is the story of her journey to herself.

Set against an international backdrop, Eat Pray Love offers a view of American neurosis.  In Italy, Liz commits to eat without guilt, and to learn “the sweetness of doing nothing.” This is a valuable lesson for those living in the pressure cooker from which Liz was lucky to escape.

In India, Liz stays at an ashram, and in finding God, begins to find herself. While there, she is promoted from floor-scrubber to hostess, learns to meditate, and is befriend by a recovering alcohol from Texas.

An early scene in the movie depicts Liz, while in Bali on a writing assignment, getting her palm read by a medicine man. His prediction is a guiding force for her journey, which concludes, as he had predicted, back in Bali. 

It is in Bali that the love part of Eat Pray Love happens for Liz. Here, she learns that she can find love without losing herself. Or a least we hope she does. The movie ends pretty quickly thereafter. We will have to read Elizabeth Gilbert’s new book, Committed, to discover what happens in her marriage to Felipe, the Brazilian from Bali.

God is a central character in this movie. Much discussed in Liz’s voice-over narration, God is clearly not the Angry Sky Daddy of the Abrahamic religions. God is the international, inclusive God of the “Spiritual but not Religious.” God is the God of yoga, palm reading, kirtan and meditation.

Eat Pray Love is directed by Ryan Murphy. I didn’t realize who he is until I got home from the premiere and read some reviews online (mostly bad). Ryan Murphy is the creator of Glee; trite, sugar-coated, larger-than-life, message-y, highly entertaining Glee. Ah, now it all makes sense.

I was smugly pleased to see a magazine article recently saying that Glee was under some fire from conservative Christians for its moral messaging. I am sure that same group will find fault with Eat Pray Love, where God is found not in a church, nor in a book, but in oneself.

Eat Pray Love is a visually stunning movie. The soundtrack, like the movie itself, was aimed directly at my middle-aged female self, with snippets of Fleetwood Mac and Neil Young. The casting and acting were decent, although this is not the first time we have seen Julia Roberts cast as a woman afraid to love. Eat Pray Love just misses being The Runaway Bride Goes to Bali by a smidgen.

As I walked out of the theatre with my friends from the Awesome Mixers Social Activities Group, I had two things that stuck with me. I mean, besides the part about wanted Julia Roberts to play me when I write my memoir.

The first was from a scene early in the movie. Liz is helping change her friend’s baby. Liz wonders when her friend knew she wanted to be a mother. We can tell Liz is conflicted about the idea for herself. Her friend pulls a box from under the bed, and shows Liz that she has been collecting baby items for years, simply waiting for the right time to have the baby she had always wanted.

Voice-over Liz tells us that she has a special box too. Only hers is filled with travel guides and brochures. It made me wonder, do I have such a box, either metaphorically or literally? What’s in it?

The second thing was about words. In Italy, Liz and her friends suppose that each city might be represented by a single word. New York, for instance, was “ambition.” People, too, could be represented by a single word. Liz’s search for identity became a search for her word.

 The title itself, Eat Pray Love, divides neatly into the three places Liz spent time. But it wasn’t just that Liz ate in Italy, prayed in India and loved in Bali. It was that in Italy, she learned to eat. In India, she learned to pray. And in Bali, she learned to love. 

You don’t need to take a year-long international trip to make a spiritual journey, unless perhaps you are a professional travel writer like Elizabeth Gilbert. But the spiritual journey, by its very nature, involves learning. So if I were to title the memoir of my spiritual journey with three things I had learned, what would my three words be?

Eat Pray Love is a chic flick. See it with your introspective girlfriends and bring some tissues. Leave the menfolk at home. Enjoy the feel-good afterglow in meaningful conversation over several glasses of wine. If you have the wine beforehand, there is a chance you might fall asleep.

A Review of The Pamela Colman Smith Commemorative Set

A Review of the Pamela Colman Smith Commemorative Set
Featuring the Smith Waite Tarot Centennial Edition Deck
Published by US Games
ISBN 978-1-57281-639-8

There are more tarot decks based on A.E. Waite’s designs (and Pamela Colman Smith’s artwork) than any other tarot model.

There is the Rider Waite, the Golden Rider, the Universal Waite, the Albano Waite, The Original Rider Waite, The Radiant Rider Waite, and so on.

Pamela Colman Smith Commemorative Set

By Stuart Kaplan

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When we look at the Smith Waite Tarot Centennial Edition Deck, the first question we need to ask is this. Did the world really need yet another version of this deck?
To me, the answer is clear. The world desperately needs this deck, and any reader who values Pixie’s humongous contribution needs it too.

US Games released this set to celebrate the one hundred year anniversary of the publication of the Waite designed images. That they took this as an opportunity to honor Pamela “Pixie” Colman Smith is brilliant, and long overdue.

Whether you are a new tarot student or an experienced reader, you may wonder why you should pay $35 for yet another Waite deck.

First, the deck is only a small part of what is included in this special set. The set comes in an attractive box that opens up to reveal compartments on each side. One compartment holds the tarot deck. The other holds a wealth of amazing stuff, included a new edition of the Pictorial Key to the Tarot, and a wonderful book by Stuart R. Kaplan.

Kaplan’s book is “The Artwork and Times of Pamela Colman Smith.” It is one hundred pages of color illustrations and stories about Pixie. We can see her handwriting, read her poetry, and learn more about the woman who influenced tarot so greatly. Pixie finally becomes a real person, rather than simply the talented puppet who rendered drawings for Waite. The book includes primary source material. It is graphically beautiful, and a pleasure to read.

That same compartment holds other treats, including postcards of Pixie’s non-tarot artwork, and a tarot spreadsheet. This truly is an epic collector’s edition.

The tarot deck itself is a masterpiece. Of course, we are familiar with the images, and with the structure of the tarot itself. A few things make this edition special, and make it my very favorite edition of this deck for professional readings.

The cards are printed on very heavy stock. It is noticeably heavier than an average deck. It’s perfect for a collector’s edition! The deck stands taller than average decks when side-by-side. The weight of the stock does make the deck harder to shuffle. In all my years of professional reading, I have rarely developed calluses on my hands from sweating over the hot tarot cards. After using this deck as my primary reading deck for only a month, my hands had developed definite ridges. For me, this was kind of a cool badge of honor, although I understand that not every reader might appreciate it that way.

The card backs are a light antique-looking blue with a white border. The white flower from Death’s flag is in the center. Pixie’s familiar initial logo is large and black in alternate corners. The logo does cause clients to ask, “What does that symbol mean?” A quick opportunity to educate an interested client about tarot is never a bad thing.

The card images are re-colored in muted tones. There is a subtle texture, as well. Together, the tones and texture make the cards look antique, as if they had actually been made during Pixie’s time.

In a way, I regret reading with my deck at all, since keeping this collector’s set in mint condition might have been wise. But these cards are just too tempting to keep on the shelf.

My solution is to buy two sets. That way, you can send the postcards to your friends, or incorporate them in art or décor projects. You can read with the deck, use the books as reference, and still have a perfect set in your collection.

That’s right, I am recommending this tarot set so highly, I think some folks will need not only one but two!