The Tarot Channel

Mahalo.com's "How to Read Tarot Cards"

Mahalo.com (an editor-assisted search engine featuring articles by paid contributors) recently published this not-bad beginner-level how-to article. Not much new here for those in the know, but links-a-plenty for those who care to explore 'em.

Le Grand Tarot Universel

During my last trip to Paris, I picked up Le Grand Tarot Universel (from Editions Bruno de Nys). Its rainbow-hued, TdM-inspired images range from cotton-candy happy to mildly hallucinatory. It's almost as though the deck's cast members have all taken hits of ecstasy before showing up for work.

German Lo Scarabeo Tarot Comparison Feature

This German web site offers an extended critique of the Lo Scarabeo Tarot, featuring great full-color comparisons of the Lo Scarabeo Tarot cards with their Marseilles, Rider-Waite-Smith, and Thoth cousins.

Tarot Fraud...this isn't good...

A couple in Naperville, Illinois has been charged with eight counts of felony charges for using their Psychic Tarot Card Reading business to defraud customers by telling them they were cursed and need to undergo $1000's worth of counseling to lift it.  Click here to read the story.

SHAME ON THEM!!!

Sunlight Satin Bag from Lo Scarabeo

Just in time for Spring (or anytime!) arrives the bright aquamarine satin bag from Lo Scarabeo. Available with the Lo Scarabeo Circle of Life Deluxe edition or by itself, this cheery bag features a sunny yellow embossment on the front with the same golden color on the inside of the bag. Black satin drawstrings with yellow satin ends complete this attractive pouch that can be used for storing Tarot cards, runes, crystals, stones or oracle decks.

Measuring approximately 8 ¾ x 5 ½ inches, the Sunlight Satin bag easily stores average sized decks like the Universal Fantasy, Gilded, Pictorial Key and Fantastical Creatures. In addition, larger decks like DruidCraft Tarot fit easily into this bag with drawstrings closed, but the Rohrig Tarot is too big for complete closure (however, you could still technically *store* such a deck in the Sunlight Satin bag).

The lively, vibrant colors on this bag would be great for whimsical decks such as the Inner Child Cards, Kitty Kahane, Oracle Tarot or the Sakki-Sakki deck (whose backings match the lemon yellow sun perfectly!).

So if you’re in need of a lovely but sturdy satin bag reminiscent of clear aqua waters on a sunshiny day, I highly recommend the Sunlight Satin Bag from Lo Scarabeo.

-- Janet Boyer

Tarot Scramble (Feed the Hungry)

Hi all,

Do you like word games? Below are some Tarot-related words to unscramble. By all means post your guesses!

NAAACR   TIEWA   OYCLWER   ASDPER   LCCISHSAE   USSTI   ECEERPTAMN   EORWT   IGKTHN

To be honest, I'm making this post with an ulterior motive: to draw your attention to a fantastic website that donates rice to the hungry simply by playing an online multiple-choice word game at FreeRice.com.

You can increase your vocabulary and test your skills while helping your fellow man. Get one word right, and 20 grains of rice are donated to the United Nations World Food Programme. Five words right and POOF!--you've donated 100 grains of rice.

Pretty cool, huh?

If you like the idea and want to support the cause beyond playing online, you can visit this link to snatch a banner to put up on your site or blog.

-- Janet Boyer

Interview With Patrick Valenza - Creator of the Deviant Moon Tarot

I had the great pleasure of interviewing artist Patrick Valenza, creator of the much-anticipated Deviant Moon Tarot which should be out within the next few months according to my contact at U.S. Games.

Janet: Patrick, I just have to ask: are you a water sign, by any chance?

Patrick: Yes, Pisces.  Better yet, I am born on the "Ides of March".

Janet: Well Happy Belated Birthday to you!

Patrick, tell me a bit about yourself. Where do you live? What are your passions?

Patrick: I was born and raised on Long Island, NY.  As a child, I always saw the melancholy side of life.  I believe I came into the world with some kind of experience, which eventually shaped my persona in the years that followed.  My childhood imagination was very vivid.  I would constantly create stories and characters based on the shadowy images of my “past life”. 

Most of the visions included a murderous harlequin or a ward of deformed babies screaming in a medieval nursery, to name a few. Pretty deep for a three year old, but I definitely came into this life with memories like this.  I don’t know where they came from, but they were always there and were a part of me. As I got older, I would use this source for my stories and tried desperately to connect all of the visions I saw inside.  It is an ongoing endeavor.

Having haunted memories, as I used to call them, never scared me.  It made me more interested in history and events from the past than what most children might involve themselves in.  I believe I can clearly identify a handful of different time periods.  They all occur during a time of great stress and tragic death.  I am a woman, a child, and a soldier.  The greatest and most influential memory deals with a group of harlequins circa the renaissance. The sound of certain types of harpsichord music often sends chills down my spine to this very day, causing me to “remember” some diabolical event from a long forgotten past.  I have been trying to piece that memory together throughout my life.  It was this vision that influenced the original design for my Fool card, back when I was about 9 years old.  It deals with insanity for the sake of being insane!

Another childhood influence in my art and the Deviant Moon were the old insane asylums here on Long Island.  There were three of them in very close proximity to each other, but it was Pilgrim State Asylum that caught my interest growing up.  I would see its looming structures from my window silhouetted against the night sky, the moon hanging malevolently over them.  My parents told me it was “Boogeyman Island”.  My mind would run wild thinking of all the debauchery running wild within its dark brick walls at night.  The asylums were abandoned in the mid 90’s.  I finally had the chance to explore the rotted corridors for the making of the Deviant Moon, taking hundreds of photographs that would later be manipulated into the backdrop of the deck.

Tarot of the Angels

“In a world that is increasingly alienated by the struggle for power, by a love of money, and by a yearning for fame, the Angel Tarots [sic] can be guides, almost like a spark of light during dark times, and to find your way amidst confusion.” – From the L(ittle) W(hite) B(ook) to the Tarot of the Angels

Heralded as special agents of the Divine, angels appear in sacred texts, literature, art, mythology and movies. These beings deliver messages to humanity, as well as bring solace, guidance and protection. Some individuals believe that the angelic realm consists of “good” and “bad” angels (often called demons), while others feel that these powerful creatures manifest only light and love.

With lively imagery, artist Arturo Picca displays a wide variety of angelic beings in Tarot of the Angels. From warrior angels to playful cherubs, dark entities to humble servants of humanity, a myriad of vocations and persuasions find expression in this ethereal deck.

Tarot's big splash in The Times!

You've got to take a look at the illustration for today's New York Times's Week in Review cover story! It's a hoot! Click here!