I loved running the World Tarot Day Instagram Contest! Participants snapped photos of 'Tarot in the World' people and things that look just like Tarot in real life. We know that Tarot is a mirror of the world but the world, interestingly, can often mirror Tarot. I was blown away by the creativity, sensitivity and gorgeousness of the folks who sent me snaps. Want to find them all on your own? On either Instagram or Facebook search #queenofwandstarot to find the full selection. Below are the winners of the contest along with a few of my favorites. First Place Winner Sarebear830 sent me some lovely pics but this is my absolute favorite. A fool and his dog is a winner where ever you go. She also snapped a couple of other really great pics including the 7 of Pentacles and the Queen of Cups! Check those out on her instagram profile, above. Second Place Winner Eloy sent me this incredible Ace of Cups along with some others. I think he had a lot of fun coming up with pics, you can find his full submissions by #queenofwandstarot on Facebook! Third Place Winner Cindy of Rocky Mountain Tarot Sent me this lovely Strength pic! She totally gets 3rd place for snapping this little gem. Honorable Mentions This was great fun and it was very difficult to choose who gets placement. Below are some honorable mentions that I also wanted to share with you! I personally made many submissions throughout the day but this was my favorite of the group I shared. Everyone, meet Ace of Wands! My only Lenromand contribution came from Katrina Wynne of Transformative Tarot Counseling. See what she did there? The sea and the tower? Lovely! This is an incredible, and incident shot taken by Marcus Katz of the Tarot Association renown and highly regarded Tarot author shared with me his shot of 5 of Pentacles. The resemblance is very striking. Eloy who won 2nd place above also made this stunning contribution of 2 of cups. It was hard choosing which of his many submissions were the winner! To everyone else who contributed your time, skills and talent thank you for making World Tarot Day a success!
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Sometimes I will see a client tell me, “I do not want to hear any bad news.” By bad news, I believe he is referring to cards which come up that he may not want to see like Death, The Tower or 10 of Swords. However, I am very Zen about Tarot, I do not believe that there are any bad cards. I believe that there are hard truths and difficult outcomes, there are mistakes being repeated and sad endings that we can change or prepare for and for that, the Tarot can be its own weight in gold. I cannot in good conscience lie about what I see. I have had clients walk out, yell at me, argue with me, defriend and unsubscribe from me and even then, I cannot make something that looks “bad” what they want to hear as hard as it can be for the both of us even knowing that the moment that I share the ‘bad news’ will be the last time I might ever see you. Even though hurt springs to your eyes and you suffer, even though you blame me and call me a fake, a fraud, a ne’er do well; I still am only the conduit for the information and to lie about that means to lie about everything that I do and am. There are readers out there who will only tell you the good news, because it is easy and it feels great. In fact, I know of a few readers who TAKE OUT the ‘bad cards’ in the deck; ensuring that everyone gets their happy ending. At the price of my integrity, I cannot do that. At the price of your beautiful shining spirit reaching to you through the Tarot, I cannot do that. So when our Deep Self brings to us ‘bad news’ I find it to be a helpful warning about the things currently dealt with and the things to come. As Tarot is plotting a probability line we are being afforded a choice to continue to a path of unwanted outcomes or to prepare for an ending of a thing. Bad news gives us warning and also choices. However, our egos- the part of us worried about the car and what the neighbors would think and is filled with fear and anxiety and separation- can get in the way of hearing the message. We know that ego is acting up and trying to block the message by doing the following things: · Flipping completely out (using emotionality to override the message) · Feeling helpless and victimized · Blaming the messenger · Ignoring the message So when we catch ourselves in the act of the ego responding we can then redirect ourselves by attuning to the message of our Deep Selves. Appropriate actions to ‘bad news’ are: · Understanding the message without excess emotionality · Looking into our part of creating the ‘bad news’ · Pulling more cards for clarification and understanding of the outcome · Asking different kinds of questions to gain a greater understanding · Asking what is the lesson both spiritually and otherwise · Asking what actions we can take to change or influence the message · Asking how we can best deal with endings Many clients will respond after the reading that, “Deep down, I already knew that.” This is when Tarot is its most powerful to transform the current reality. The Tarot are the breadcrumbs scattered across the pond so our Deep Selves can emerge up like golden Koi fish, bringing their beautiful natures up to the surface. We know the fish are always down there but in moments of transcendental clarity, during a tarot session, is when we get to hear what they represent and have to say. The tough hard stuff, that is where the work needs to be. Helping to bring up Deep Truth to the light of consciousness is a beautiful moment that needs to be honored and to take out the bad cards, to ask to not hear the process goes against the very wonder of what Tarot can do. I am rarely one to review Tarot decks but when I saw this gorgeous OMG YES deck in the works by Janet D.H. Hinkel I knew I had to help this vision by sharing it with you so that you, too, may fall in love. Tarot of Delphi: Know Thyself I reached out to Janet about 8 months ago offering to review the deck because YOU JUST HAVE TO KNOW ABOUT IT! Janet is focusing on fine images from artists in the Victorian Neoclassical era from the late 1830s to about 1910 including Waterhouse, Leighton and many others. The deck is a reasonably standard Tarot deck with one extra card at 79 but what I find most fasinating is how she turned the traditional court cards: Page, Knight, Queen and King into Devotee, Artisan, Hero and Enchantress. These names invoke in me a dream of 1880s fairytales, nymphs, and a sigh for a largely imagined world gone by. My first deck at 15 was the Enchanted Tarot (which also has neoclassical art) and when I gasped upon seeing Janet's vision I understood that my tastes have a reliable theme. Every day another Tarot baby is born but Janet has the artistic knowledge and sense for iconic photos as well as a technical sense in Tarot. Any reader of the Ride Waite Smith should have no problem transferring to these images as Janet has chosen art to closely match original sentiment while staying on theme. There are also some interesting small changes in the major Arcana that strengthen the theme throughout, for example the Tower is re-envisioned as The Shipwreck. Janet's gorgeous compilation of classical work into a lovely Tarot deck is completely self published and she needs some help to get this beautiful deck birthed into the world. She is currently running a Kickstarter campaign to raise funds to pay for some of the images that will be used (as she uses high quality museum art) as well as for the publishing of the decks. If you have fallen in love like I did with this lovely work of art, mosey on over to her Kickstarter campaign and if you have to have this deck like I do... there are some wonderful give aways for every level of contribution. There is also a video from her talking a little more about her process as well as theme for the deck. Enjoy! |
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Jenna Matlin
M.S. in Organizational Psychology and Leadership Categories
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