The Witches Tarot: Deck Interview (and Review)

On March 2, 2015May 16, 2015 By benebellIn cartomancy, deck review, divination, tarot12 Comments

Witches Tarot 01

I totally swiped this deck interview idea from Kate at Daily Tarot Girl. Read her blog post about it here. I was gifted the Witches Tarot, a deck created by Ellen Dugan and illustrated by Mark Evans. It’s a Rider-Waite-Smith based deck with photographic digital art that is a near seamless blending of realism and fantasy.

The cards are 2.75″ x 4.60″, a typical size for tarot, though perhaps a smidge smaller, which means they shuffle great in my hands, fan out just beautifully across a tabletop, and are very easy to work with. It’s published by Llewellyn and has a pretty standard Llewellyn/Lo Scarabeo cardstock quality. For an RWS tarot practitioner who likes modern digital art, the Witches Tarot would make an incredible workhorse reading deck.

Witches Tarot 03

The cardbacks are so pretty. There’s a galactic vibe to it and at the center, the triple goddess symbol, with the waxing crescent, full moon, and waning crescent moon. The backs are not reversible, however, as one edge is reddish and the other bluish. I’ve opted not to read with reversals when using this deck.

Now, without further ado, let’s interview the Witches Tarot with Kate’s suggested questions.

BENEBELL: What is your main mission or message in this world?

WITCHES TAROT [WT]: Page of Swords

The page is represented by a tall, thin teenage boy on a green plain. He wears a talisman with a hawk around his neck. This card, per the Companion guidebook is about thinking quickly and active decisively. However, use wit, not brute force. Per the traditional attribution of the card, that of messages, the hawk symbolizes messages. What an appropriate card to respond to the question with! In the Witches Tarot deck is embedded Ellen Dugan’s message, a message about her belief systems, her traditions and how she has integrated those traditions with the Rider-Waite-Smith tarot, and a quick and natural wit about the deck’s style that will attract its followers.

Continue reading “The Witches Tarot: Deck Interview (and Review)” →

Triggering Creativity with Tarot: Replay of a Free Webinar

On February 27, 2015April 24, 2023 By benebellIn divination, free download, Holistic Tarot (book), personal spirituality, professional tarot, promotional, tarot, tarot community, tarot symbolism1 Comment

On February 21, 2015, North Atlantic Books hosted a free webinar where I talked about intuitive-creativity and tarot. You can check out a replay of the webinar above.

About the Webinar

Albert Einstein attributes his most ground-breaking insights not to logic or mathematics, but to intuition and inspiration or, as artists and writers often express it, to the muses. However, the one trait believed about the muses, about how intuition and inspiration hits us, is that it comes only when it comes, almost divinely, and the artist or writer cannot call upon it at will.

Yet through tarot, learn how to harness intuitive-creativity at will. Tarot facilitates the transcendent experience needed for the muses to speak to us. Learn how to use tarot to trigger your intuitive-creativity and apply the tarot fundamentals taught in my book, Holistic Tarot to remove creative blockages.

Preview_Slides — Presentation Slides Preview

In this 45-minute webinar that will be invaluable to any artist or writer, I’ll be lecturing about how to use tarot cards as an intuitive and inspirational tool for creative and artistic passion projects. The lecture will cover attunement, how to exercise the intuition muscle, and specific techniques for using tarot spreads to read about your creative projects.

When I say “intuitive-creativity,” I’m talking about the muses, about divine inspiration, about that “a-ha” moment. Learn how to use tarot to identify your creative focus, mind-map your project trajectory, perform character analysis if you’re writing a novel, explore the themes of your project in greater depth, and generally trigger your own inspiration with tarot card imagery.

Download the Handout

There is also a handout in PDF format that goes along with the webinar. Please be sure to download it as reference for the techniques and exercises discussed during the webinar.

CLICK TO DOWNLOAD THE HANDOUT

Preview_PDF

Tarot and Socioeconomic Class: My Thoughts After drawingKenaz

On February 27, 2015May 30, 2025 By benebellIn cartomancy, divination, opinion, personal, professional tarot, tarot, tarot community, traditional witchcraft13 Comments

Thorn Mooney recently shared her thoughts in her vlog, “Paganism, Tarot, and Class.” You really should watch her video first before reading onward, but to give background for my thoughts here, I’ll try to recap.

Mooney talks about witchcraft as a practice occurring lower down on Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, a practice that is more concerned with practical applications, like talking to the dead, love spells, money spells, or getting jobs. She uses the phrase “real world, tactile, necessary things.”

Those who endeavor into the esoteric or metaphysical, she says, are more concerned with self-actualization, per Maslow’s hierarchy, which is at the top of the pyramid. They’re working through long-term emotional or spiritual concerns, striving to be their best selves, and can endeavor with these concerns because their basic physiological needs have been met.

She then talks about how all that translates in her professional tarot readings. She has found, per her own experiences, that those who request readings from her online tend to ask about issues relating to purpose in life, spiritual direction, meaning, connection to deity or deities, which she acknowledges are very “important,” but “not critically important in the sense that, oh, ‘I might be evicted from my home tomorrow'” important.

::nods:: I get that.

In contrast, reading requests she gets from the shop she works at (i.e., in-person readings, I presume), clients are asking questions like “I don’t have any money to afford a lawyer and my ex-husband has filed for full custody of my kids and the court hearing is tomorrow. What is going to happen? Am I going to lose my kids?” or “My child is physically ill and we can’t afford healthcare. What do you see happening to us?”

“I am obviously not qualified to offer legal or medical advice,” Mooney remarks, “and yet I am repeatedly put in the position where I am asked to provide input, and technically [that input] is not from me, it’s from the cards, but that’s a really blurry line.”

Mooney continues, describing the nature of these lower-level-per-Maslow’s-hierarchy questions as “gritty,” noting that it’s rare for someone in that context to be asking her about finding higher meaning in the world.

And Mooney hypothesizes that it’s tied to socioeconomic class.

Continue reading “Tarot and Socioeconomic Class: My Thoughts After drawingKenaz” →

New Faces of Tarot: BuzzFeed Article

On February 26, 2015May 16, 2015 By benebellIn cartomancy, divination, professional tarot, tarotLeave a comment

I wrote a Community Post on BuzzFeed about the Millennial generation of tarot professionals. I reached out to my arm’s length network of both tarot professionals and the professionals of other industries who seek the counsel of tarot professionals.

In retrospect, I regret not having interviewed male tarot readers. I will have to make up for that in future work that I do, somehow. Considering other recent articles on tarot, like “The Tarot Card Reader” in the New York Times blog or [the not as recent] “Psychics: The New Therapists?” that BuzzFeed published two years ago or the interest in The Atlantic about fortune-telling and the law, I do believe the practice of tarot is on the verge of a new phase.

Well, it has been for some time, with the interest in the intersection between tarot and psychology, spearheaded by folks like Art Rosengarten, Katrina Wynne, Kooch and Victor Daniels, among others.

Now Millennials are really making tarot trendy, from The Wild Unknown tarot deck garnering a ton of attention from the fashion blogosphere to tarot being taught as a creative writing tool in MFA classes.

For the longest while, whenever tarot made an appearance in Hollywood film, it would be ominously. Some of the depictions I’ve seen in recent years have been, at the very least, neutral, and on a few occasions, in a manner that tarot professionals would find much more agreeable.

Please join in the discussion on tarot in the comments section below the BuzzFeed article, direct link here.

I was a guest on “Out of the Fog,” hosted by Karen Hager

On February 25, 2015May 16, 2015 By benebellIn divination, Holistic Tarot (book), tarot2 Comments

“Out of the Fog” with Karen Hager, on Empower Radio

Karen Hager, an intuitive guide and psychic channel, hosts an impressive radio show, “Out of the Fog” that airs every Tuesday at 9:00 a.m. PT (12:00 p.m. ET) on Empower Radio station, with syndication on both iHeartRadio and Stitcher. She has interviewed William Gladstone, Chris Saade, Melissa Virtue, Suzanne Mathis McQueen, David Meltzer, Bob Sima, Dr. Michael Lennox, David Christopher, among many others who represent the modern spiritual movement.

So imagine my surprise when I was on the lineup for “Out of the Fog.” What a wonderful experience! I enjoyed every minute conversing with Karen and once you hear her show, you’ll have it bookmarked on your iHeartRadio app., too!

CLICK HERE to download the mp3.

Or CLICK HERE to the permalink on Empower Radio to listen to the program.

Deck Review of the Tao Oracle Cards by Ma Deva Padma

On February 24, 2015May 16, 2015 By benebellIn cartomancy, deck review, I Ching, oracle deck, tarot28 Comments

I’ve fallen in love… with the Tao Oracle deck by Ma Deva Padma published by St. Martin’s Press. This is the I Ching oracle deck. It’s a deck of 64 cards based on the 64 hexagrams of the I Ching Book of Changes. Padma’s paintings are emotional, textured, and fully expressive of each of the hexagrams they represent. A quote from the artist: “The evolution and creation of my paintings is sparked by a deep and intensely personal journey into the realm of the subconscious — the kingdom of archetypes and the home of mysterious symbols.”

The deck is beautifully packaged in a sturdy high-gloss box. It comes with a 310-page perfect-bound guidebook that contains the author’s personal interpretations of the 64 hexagrams. St. Martin’s Press really out-does the more popular tarot and oracle deck publishers du jour. I cannot praise the quality of this deck enough.

Continue reading “Deck Review of the Tao Oracle Cards by Ma Deva Padma” →

A Review of the Efflorescent Tarot

On February 21, 2015May 16, 2015 By benebellIn cartomancy, deck review, tarot23 Comments

Efflorescent Tarot Review 00 Intro

The Efflorescent Tarot is a self-published deck by artist Katie Rose Pipkin that you can order through Etsy. It comes in two options, colored as shown in this deck review or black and white. View all card images, in both black and white and color at Pipkin’s website here. The deck name could not be more appropriate, because the artwork here truly represents the efflorescence of Pipkin’s extraordinary artistic talent. I have a particular weakness for ink-drawn decks and the Efflorescent Tarot is an incredible demonstration of the medium.

Efflorescent Tarot Review 01 Box Exterior

The deck comes in a white box made of thick cardstock, which is relatively sturdy but not indestructible– by the time my order reached me, there were already a few minor dents in the box. A full-color reproduction of the Ten of Pentacles appears on the lid. I love Pipkin’s rendering of the Ten of Pentacles here.

Efflorescent Tarot Review 02 Only Explanation Card

There is no little white booklet and the only introductory material that accompanies the deck is that single card you see in the above and below photos. That’s all you need, really. The Efflorescent Tarot is a Rider-Waite-Smith-based deck and if you’re familiar with RWS, you’ll read just fine with this deck, no explanations needed.

Efflorescent Tarot Review 03 Packaging

I would not call the deck a clone, however, because Pipkin does deviate from traditional RWS imagery in a few of the cards to give her own interpretive spin, like the Ten of Pentacles on the lid that you see above and also in a few other cards, which I’ll mention later. All card images are available for your viewing pleasure on Pipkin’s website here.

Continue reading “A Review of the Efflorescent Tarot” →

Divining for Your Personal Stone Talisman

On February 18, 2015May 16, 2015 By benebellIn divination, tarot16 Comments

It’s Lunar New Year and while the kiddies get red envelopes, what do the grown-ups get? I’m starting a new tradition for myself, and that is a baggy of charged gemstones. Based on the type of stone, I categorize the stones per the ba gua (eight trigrams) and which trigram each stone corresponds with. This is all a personal intuitive process and not based on any tradition other than the one I’ve come up with.

There are stones consecrated and charged specifically for wealth and financial prosperity; stones for career advancement; stones for increasing more love, romance, or family time into your life; stones of fertility, be that physical fertility or artistic creativity; and stones for health and wellness (I lump intuitive and spiritual development in with health and wellness, which runs counter to what Westerners would think, but in most traditional Eastern metaphysical viewpoints, all of that go together pretty much). I’ve consecrated and charged the stones in five separate batches, on five different dates and times with different, shall we say, metaphysical methodologies, based on their purpose, a small handful of stone selections for each category.

Then I place all of the stones into a drawstring bag (originally meant to be a tarot bag) gifted to me by someone special. This is the baggy I’ll be lugging around to all Lunar/Chinese New Year related social gatherings.

Continue reading “Divining for Your Personal Stone Talisman” →

Review of the Psychic Tarot Oracle Deck

On February 17, 2015May 16, 2015 By benebellIn cartomancy, deck review, oracle deck, tarot, tarot symbolism9 Comments

I’m not liking the Psychic Tarot oracle deck at all. I mean, let’s just start with the above photo of the cards. Look at the quality. This is a brand new deck mind you. I bought it still encased in shrinkwrap. All that white stuff you see along the edges of the card backs is how these cards came, brand new.

It’s a fortuitous thing that I got my hands on the Psychic Tarot for the Heart before this one, otherwise I’m not sure I would have had the mind to give the Heart one a try. Earlier I reviewed Psychic Tarot for the Heart here.

Here is a close-up of the cards. I’m digging the reference to sacred geometry on the card backs and throughout the packaging (such as the interior of the box that the cards come in), but if returning these cards and getting a refund wasn’t such a hassle, I have to tell you, that is exactly what I would have done.

And…here’s the front of the cards. It wasn’t that the plastic wrap peeled the coloring of the cards off. That was my first hypothesis, but the plastic wrap was clear. It came like this! Many of the cards from the center of the deck, which wouldn’t have come in touch with plastic wrap or anything sticky, had that white scrape-y stuff.

I believe both the Psychic Tarot and the Psychic Tarot for the Heart oracle decks have the same number of cards, but look at the thickness of the Psychic Tarot deck compared to the Heart one. Yes, I am dazzled by the gold gilded edges of the Psychic Tarot, but that wasn’t enough to appease me. I much, much, much prefer the Heart one over this deck. I’m so bummed. And the backs of the Psychic Tarot are so nice, too!

Continue reading “Review of the Psychic Tarot Oracle Deck” →

Triggering Creativity with Tarot: Free Webinar this Saturday, Feb. 21

On February 16, 2015May 16, 2015 By benebellIn divination, Holistic Tarot (book), professional tarot, tarot, tarot symbolism11 Comments

Join me on February 21, a Saturday, at 10 am Pacific Time (12 pm Central or 1 pm Eastern) for a free webinar sponsored and hosted by North Atlantic Books and NAB Communities.

CLICK HERE TO REGISTER

There is also a handout that goes along with the webinar. Please be sure to download it as reference for the techniques and exercises discussed during the webinar.

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE PDF HANDOUT

* * *

Yet through tarot, learn how to harness intuitive-creativity at will. Tarot facilitates the transcendent experience needed for the muses to speak to us. Learn how to use tarot to trigger your intuitive-creativity and apply the tarot fundamentals taught in Wen’s new book, HOLISTIC TAROT to remove creative blockages.

2/27/2015 UPDATE:

Watch a replay of the webinar HERE:

So the actual webinar on Saturday (2/21) had a video camera of me yapping away at the corner of what would have been your computer screen as the PowerPoint presentation played, which I would assume would make the webinar more engaging. (Maybe.) However, in the upload, the video camera of me is no longer there. (Also, now I will never get to see how I looked during the webinar. If there were boogers hanging out of one nostril throughout the thing, now I will never know.)

Yikes, now watching this replay (without the webcam of me, which I really don’t know whether it added or took away from the webinar), this looks kind of boring. So sorry. Thank you even more to those who stuck it out with me to the end!

benebell wen

Author: benebell