Have you seen the fab MidCenturian Tarot deck by Madam Clara that's on Kickstarter?
What I find fascinating about this deck by Madam Clara (real name, unknown) is that she's managed to update Rider-Waite-Smith symbolism via the abstract graphic illustration style of the 1950s-1960s (hence, the name "MidCenturian")--but still maintains the color scheme and iconography.
I love it! So much so, I've supported the project at the Double Decker level. Should you like to support the bold MidCenturian Tarot, too, visit the Kickstarter page here.
What’s your favorite breakfast food?JustRight cereal with a good serving of fruit salad or peaches in the juice with lemon yoghurt. Orange Juice and Coffee
Book you’d like to give everyone (or wish they would read)?Spiritual Growth by Sanaya Roman
What makes you laugh? People make me laugh. Silly, clumsy antics that where no one gets hurt (well not too much). Just finding humour in the silly things we do...so I guess I'm laughing quite a lot lol.
Drink of choice: Jack Daniels / Coffee [Yes, I asked Gina that. NO, not together!]
Would you rather be hot or cold? Hot of course! I melt ice!
Mountain, beach, desert, or forest? Forest with the Fairies
Favorite color? Green, all shades
Best movie line:I’ll be back!
Last thing you splurged on? Car Cameras. Snap!
Bonus Q:What’s your favorite thing about being a Tarot reader? I meet colourful eccentric crazy people and beautiful souls - talking 'love a chat' compliments my work and I love to give and share with all I met. It's a win-win and truly I am happier giving and sharing to help others to do the same. Spiritual life sets us free from perceived dramas and another’s opinion.
About Gina Simon-Blease aka Harriet Potty: Gina started out in her career in the corporate world in 1980. She worked in the finance, business, publishing, sales, marketing to the signage industries. She finally left mainstream work after 5 years in the car industry.
During her career she found people would naturally approach her with their problems needing advice or help of some kind. Gina never turned anyone away. She has a natural ability with people and would always be ready to listen when needed.
Gina had been gravitating towards philosophy all her adult life. She always found inspiration and wanted to share this with anyone who was interested in discovering spiritual secrets.
Gina continued to learn. Channeling was a natural gift found first through automatic writing, discovering communicating with passed over family members had never been ‘so easy’ but at the same time became overwhelming as once again, no one to share her discoveries with.
On a whim she bought a Spanish deck of Tarot cards; suffice to say the rest became history. She began reading tarot first intuitively. She attended quite a few workshops and also invested in a melee of books on anything to do with Spirit. After meeting a famous author of philosophy, Dr. Wayne Dyer in the early 1990’s, this was a huge turning point in her life and she has never looked back.
Gina then joined a Spiritual Tarot College to complete her transition as an advanced student. Later graduating and eventually wrote and taught a course on Art for the college. She then began teaching a structured art class in Psychic Art and Meditation and learning many healing modalities over an eight year period to enhance her psychic work.
Her work has inspired others to learn to love their life. Gina loves her work as she feels the healing benefits of it all. Life has challenged her many times, being in and out of hospital with several joint replacement surgeries but always came bouncing back with smiles, keen to get back to work. Gina knows that living in the light is where she needs to be.
Gina has been working from home on and off for 25 years. As a healer she focused on the Philosophy of Tarot. She believes that the deeper philosophy has been lost and become more about fortune telling instead of spiritual growth. Therefore her tarot course has been written as a self-healing tool and journey. She sees it as a self-challenge to make those life changes and to remove those obstacles that we create. She believes that we were all born uniquely gifted and that it’s our responsibility to harness these individual gifts and utilize them to better our lives.
Today Gina delivers her gifts through her own business called Harriett Potty’s Tarot Magick. Visit here onlinehere.
The Deadliest Garden in the world, full of poisonous plants. Looks like a slice of heaven to me. Wonder if they have my favorite flower, Sacred Datura?
I'm happy to report that my 2017 Tarot Journal is now finished and available! Squee!
The Minor Arcana of the Tarot is the least explored cards in the deck (including the Court Cards). I've changed all that by creating the 2017 Tarot Journal: A Minor Arcana Journey. Some fast facts:
New for 2017!Thirteen spreads with full-color illustrations!
This is a full-color, printable journal that doubles as a calendar. Every week is dedicated to ONE card in the Minor Arcana, with eight lines for writing down your answers. Every DAY includes a journal prompt, with a bonus prompt at the end of every week--377 prompts total.
You do not need to own a Tarot deck to use the 2017 Tarot Journal! Full-color images of every card in our Snowland Deck is provided at the beginning of every week. Prompts are based on the keywords and energy of the card, so anyone can use the Journal with great results.
Bonus prompts (52 of them) often ask you to look through your deck or draw a card or cards. You do NOT have to do the bonus prompts if you don't yet have a deck. (You're also free to use any oracle deck or charm-based oracle like our Boyer Charming Oracle, instead). Or, you can visit sites that provide images of all 78 Tarot cards to make your selection. The free website My Divination (click here) lists 133 different decks you can browse through for card selection--including our Snowland Deck.
The 2017 Tarot Journal will be sent to you using your PayPal email. If you'd your Journal sent to another email address, just make a note of it in your PayPal order--or email it to Janet.
A full year's worth of thought-provoking prompts that will take you through the Minor Arcana, as well as:
The highs and lows of yourrelationships, dreams and feelings
The wide range of yourattitudes, assumptions and fears
Thestrength of your passion, courage and self-esteem
The nitty-gritty of your environment and work, as well as your physical and financial state
How much for this unique, original fabulosity? For this entire year of self-examination and journeying through the Tarot's Minor Arcana? Only $9.95!
I know, you can't even get a softcover self-help book for that price!
If you're thinking , Ohhhhh, Janet! I'm excited! Count me in! then visit this link to get your very own. (The Minor Arcana will never look the same to you after this...)
1. What's your favorite breakfast food? French toast with loads of syrup. Not the health conscious choice but there ya go. :)
2.Book you’d like to give everyone (or wish they would read)?This is a hard question. Books serve several purposes. One book I'd recommend is The Collected works of Mao Tse Tung. I'd highlight one speech "Combat Liberalism". Without getting too political , I think the title speaks for itself . In a time where people are very cautious about expressing their true thoughts and feelings because of the political correctness movement, I think this speech points out the evils of such a mindset and why as a society we must struggle against political correctness and just worry about one thing: authenticity.
3. What makes you laugh? The absurdity of the world . Life's subtle ironies. David Icke. I agree with many of his observations but I chuckle a bit whenever he says "Rothschild Zionist". He says it like 30 times a speech. After each person he adds "Rothschild Zionist".
4. Song that never gets old: "We're All Alone" by Rita Coolidge. Oh yeah, and Men without Hats' "Safety Dance". (Had to sneak that one in....lol).
5. Drink of choice: A good cup of Kona coffee
6. Would you rather be hot or cold? Definitely HOT...
7. Mountain, beach, desert or forest? Mountain
8. Favorite color? Coral
9. Best movie line: That's an easy one... Vin Diesel in xXx: "I live for this shit" lol
10. Last thing you splurged on?5Preview top. I love their shirts. They have little messages like "Chaos", "Whatever", "Misfit"...you get the idea. Hey, I'm a Libra.
Bonus Q:What's the best thing Tarot has taught you? I design Tarots and read them. The main message I get from the Tarot is "keeping the language of Tarot alive". The symbols of Tarot are a universal language capable of breaking down cultural barriers but also a living, evolving thing in itself subject to radical transformation and change. Symbols, archetypes, cultural motifs all undergo a transformative process with time. As culture evolves, symbols evolve they take on new meaning and layers of meaning.
While I was designing cards for the Twisted Tarot Tales, the thought would occur to me of adding some ideas from the current era. Some people refer to it as the "age of technology", "the computer age" or more appropriately the 'information age" .
One of the aborted concepts was a computer virus or malware for the "Page of Swords". Traditionally, this card represents a spy or someone capable of prying into the querents secrets. Nowadays, with the amount of information being exchanged electronically, things like "spyware" , "malware" and computer viruses are a major concern for most people. In fact , for everyone who owns a PC or shares sensitive information electronically this concern is a part of day to day living to the extent of becoming a subconscious part of daily routine. Right now , your computer's more than likely protected with a virus scan. Without thinking about it, virus protection has become a part of modern life. Which card would represent a virus? The Tarot told me the "Page of Swords".
Jimmy didn't know whether the concept would fit a horror Tarot or if people would understand it, but I thought it would so we kept the idea for the background in the final version of the Page of Swords.
One of the tendencies of people I deal with is their reluctance to embrace a more modern concept in favor of an older antiquated symbolic representation of an idea. The Tarot told me clearly "update the visual image". A dark youth with a sword might fit an older archaic archetype of a "spy" but will not do for the computer age where spying is more common and closer to home than it was previously. In modern times even a casual internet acquaintance can Google search you and pry into your personal life. So in response to your specific question, the hardest thing about designing Tarots is keeping the symbolic language fresh and vital while struggling against a certain sectarian mindset among Tarot readers.
We're working steadily on our Coffee Tarot: Grande Edition, and Ron has completed three new cards! (A fourth is already sketched out, ready to be colored. Woohoo!)
Ron feels to work on the Water (Cups) suit, so below is the 3, 4 and 7 of Water (the sketch in the hopper is the 5 of Water):
Ahhh, the 3 Bears in Goldie's Cafe. Ron imagines Papa Bear looking in the mirror hanging on the wall behind the counter, spying Goldie carrying a tray of coffee cups, wondering, "Isn't that the chick that trashed our place...?"
Holy cow, the bored security guard from the 4 Emoting card in our Snowland Deck re-appears in our Coffee Tarot--and the guy is still apathetic, missing the splendors around him. Geez Louise!
One of my favorite cards in the Tarot, the 7 of Cups (or Water or Emoting or Chalices or...you get the drift). The ol' "shitload of choices" card. My life. My bane. Sigh.
To stay super-updated on cards as they're completed, "like" our Facebook page at Facebook.com/CoffeeTarot. Otherwise, you'll have to wait for periodic updates here. (You don't want to do that, do you?)
The MidCenturian Tarot Deck
