I started working on my reconstructed Etteilla Tarot in early 2022 and was making pretty decent progress. Then in all of 2023 I only completed the first drafts of 7 cards. That’s right. Seven. It took me an entire calendar year to complete seven cards.
Also, I stalled on the Judgement card because I just couldn’t get the composition quite right.
Left: Il Giudizio Universale (1536-1541) Michelangelo; Right: The Last Judgment (1599) Barbara van den Broeck after her father, Chrispijn van den Broeck
At first I was seeking inspiration from, like, Michelangelo and van den Broeck, with hundreds of teeny tiny people, angels, and demons in the background, lined up and down those mountain tops. But having nowhere near an iota of their talent, my drafts kept looking like a hot mess.
StaarCon has the personableness and small-group-feel of the Omega conference, some of the razzle-dazzle characteristics of the iconic Readers Studio, and the ability to attract big personalities the way NWTS does. Oh, and because video recordings of all master classes are available all year long and there is the post-conference tarot lounge events and virtual gatherings, it’s reminiscent of Ethony’s Tarot Summer School at the Tarot Readers Academy (my blog posts on it in 2016 and in 2018). So if you’re looking for that tarot conference with a little bit of something for everyone, then that’s StaarCon.
Accelevents Attendee Portal StaarCon 2024
I was invited back as a keynote for StaarCon 2024, my first time attending in person (the 2021 conference during the pandemic was virtual only). What’s unique about StaarCon is its hybrid model, with the virtual event managed by Accelevents. Meaning you can elect to attend in person or attend virtually from the comfort of your own home.
For the price of admission, you’re getting access to a wide array of master classes on tarot techniques, tarot adjacent studies like astrology, crystals, and sound bath meditation, in-depth targeted explorations on how to read the cards, powerful and transformative guided visual journeying sessions for connecting with an animal totem or quantum healing, tarot business essentials, more academic-driven workshops, to creating and selling your own deck, just to name a few of the topics covered this weekend.
The Lepus Tarot by Witchy Cauldron, with illustrations by Artem Chernobai, arrived in my mailbox under somewhat mysterious circumstances. I’m not entirely sure how I came to receive it, but I sure am glad I did!
The deck’s namesake, lepus, means hares, or rabbits, and is also a reference to the constellation Lepus, eternally hunted by Orion. I love how the card back design even has constellation map vibes.
Javier Navarro‘s Tarot de El Dios de los Tres (Tarot of the God of Three) first came out in 2021 and I’ve had my eye on it since. There’s something about it that immediately sets it apart from most tarot decks I’ve come across on the market. It feels counterculture, cheeky, and yet not without depth and substance of thought.
Major Arcana, Chariot through The World; Ace, Two, and Three of Pentacles
Navarro is an Andalusian born artist and illustrator who blends sacred imagery from world religions and pop iconography to design a universe that is energetic, joyful, and liberating.
Four through King of Pentacles; Ace through Seven of Cups
This isn’t a deck review, just a walk-through, as I have not done readings with these cards. For me personally, this is a collector’s deck. It’s a deck I’ve acquired for the artwork, to get to hold a gallery of beautiful illustrations in my hands.
Michele Knight-Waite is a celebrated, award-winning astrologer and psychic. Once voted “UK’s Favourite Psychic,” she is a media personality, best-selling author, and regular astrology columnist at various magazines. These days you can also find her on Instagram and YouTube where her generous spirit is on full display.
I love that she has channeled her many gifts into creating a modern RWS-based tarot deck that blends together the art of photo collage, with cameos from some of our favorite historical figures, and the familiar iconography of Pamela Colman Smith, who is featured on the High Priestess card.
There are notable graphic design elements here that I really love. Somehow, it’s both borderless and it has a border, where the full composition continues all the way to the edge, but then there is that classic tarot card white margin for the card title. See also how, for instance, in the Seven of Pentacles, the Pentacles “spill” over and out of the border.
This is going to be a multi-part series of personal reflections on my life experiences and interactions with having mainland Chinese in-laws and the cultural clashes that have ensued. Part I was about the MIL. Part II continues where Part I left off, moving on to the father-in-law.
benebell wen 