SKT Revelation Status Update – Proofs Redo

Second print run certificates (showing 1 of 8 Orders)

Please anticipate more delays to delivery of your pre-ordered decks.

(I feel a bit awful that I’m always leading with that in every status update…)

But I’m gonna be pushing back the estimated delivery dates even further now.

Left: 2021 proofs for the first printing. Right: 2023 proofs for thee second printing.

The physical proofs of the printed cards have arrived. And I have questions.

Like why are these proofs cooler-toned than the previous printing when I used the same 600 dpi digital files for both?

Left: 2021 proofs for the first print run. Right: 2023 proofs for the second print run.

I need to backtrack and assess what I did for the 2021 first print run to get those warmer and brighter tones and why these 2023 proofs look cooler, fuzzier (does it? is it just me or do you see the fuzz too?), and like no seriously what is happening.

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Vintage Tarot Texts (Gebelin and the comte de Mellet), trans. by David Vine

David Vine is one of those rare treasures in the tarot community. Combining his academic training, knowledge of the classical languages, medieval literature, and art history with a passion for the tarot, Vine has translated several seminal French-language tarot texts, and Vintage Tarot Texts, Volume 1, is one such treat.

Just a random comment– A beautiful touch in this edition are the captioned historical illustrations throughout, such as this print of an array of ancient sistra and rattles. I so appreciate the added illustrations.

Volume I consists of seminal essays on the tarot by Court de Gebelin and comte de Mellet. The first text to address tarot at length in a symbological context was by comte de Mellet, and thus in one sense, his work is the foundational document for everything we have come to understand about the esoteric tradition of the cards.

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The Magickal Botanical Oracle: Plants from the Witch’s Garden

This is a look-through of one of the most talked about oracle decks of late 2022, and that’s The Magickal Botanical Oracle: Plants from the Witch’s Garden by Christopher Penczak and illustrated by Maxine Miller.

The aesthetic is reminiscent of a Victorian botanical illustrations. It’s a witchier, grimoire art-esque version of A Curious Herbal  (1737) a la Elizabeth Blackwell. This is the plant kingdom as seen through the eyes of the witch– as alive, animate, and willing to commune with us.

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Trying to Resume the Etteilla Doodles

I’ve been trying to summon the motivation to resume my reconstructed Etteilla Tarot project. Funny… the card I resume on is the Four of Swords, which perfectly captures how I’ve been feeling.

Here are varying drafts of my illustration for the Etteilla Four of Swords. My art process begins with sketches by hand that I then scan in, clean up, and digitally color. I also separate out each feature in the composition as its own layer, so I can move around the pieces, resize, etc.

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Taoist Spirit Maps (Líng Tú 靈圖)

Líng Tú 靈圖, or spirit maps, are oft referenced in the Taoist Canons (道藏經). They’re a recurring feature in the Canons that have always intrigued me, and how the term “Líng Tú” is used in the scriptures.

So that’s the topic for video #6 in this series.

修真歷驗鈔圖, one of the scrolls in the 洞真部靈圖類 of the Taoist Canons

Let’s summarize the three classifications of spirit maps: (1) maps of spirit realms for the purposes of astral journeying or spiritual cultivation, (2) enshrining divinities or creating thresholds for which communication between the physical and spirit realms can take place, and (3) Fu, which are talismanic edicts or petitions to regulate spirit forces in a way that will influence physical forces.

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AI Art Controversy: The Libran Perspective =)

Everyone from all corners and interest groups have been buzzing over AI art, or at least this is most certainly the case in my world.

Here are some from the online hamlets I lurk in: Juli, Heather, and Sarah chat about AI Art here. Here’s Ethony’s take, “Are AI Art Tarot Decks Immoral or Genius?” Will and Kate touch on AI created tarot decks in this discussionGoliath, the creator of the El Goliath Tarot, weighs in as well. I’m really loving Chaweon Koo’s perspective in this article, “Will You Burn the AI Like You Burned the Witch?

If I tried to list out all the impactful video discussions on AI art I’ve been loving, it would just go on and on, so I won’t link to the more popular takes from artists themselves. Plus, you can find them via any quick keyword search on YouTube.

I’ve been quite verbose myself when it comes to sharing my thoughts and commentary on AI art. See below hyperlinks to three past blog posts. As an assist I’ve outlined bullet point lists of subtopics each blog post covers.

But I thought I might add a candid video chat, too. =)

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SKT Revelation 2nd Printing: Final Box Design

Here’s the box design for the second print run of the Revelation deck that I’ve decided to go with. Thank you, everyone, for your input in the previous post and on Facebook!

I posted the poll on here yesterday at 3 pm and closed it to count the results this morning at 6:30 am. There were only 74 votes total. Option B (the new one, with no SKT or brand identifiers on the box) won with 56.75% of the votes (total of 42) while Option A, which is this one you see here, received 43.25% of the votes (total 32), so very, very close!

I was going to go with the majority vote, but J raised a good point. The total number of input is too low compared to the total number of people who pre-ordered the second printing, so it’s not actually going to be an accurate gauge of what the pre-order people want.

Also, said J, the people who would be able to jump in and vote in less than 24 hours on a blog post I didn’t even publicize or my Friends-only Facebook share are people who already have a copy of the deck and who are already really used to my Stuff, so they don’t need brand identifiers on a box cover.

But, he said, since he’s the one doing intake of all pre-orders, he knows that most of the second print run pre-orders are new people. So it wouldn’t be fair to totally change the box design from the first printing when the whole point of the second printing is for people who didn’t get the first to still snag a copy.

Meanwhile, most of the people voting (according to him) are names he recognizes as people who’ve ordered other stuff from us. They can’t speak for the people who have never even heard of me and are buying the SKT for the first time.

And then I was like, dang. Good point.

This blog post is going to be a walk-through of the box design. Since I took out the Book of Maps chapter on the card back and box design, I’m going to put that info here on the blog and point people here in the delivery e-mail you’ll be receiving.

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