Category: tarot

Copyright Law and Tarot: Handbook Download

On By benebellIn free download, professional tarot, tarot, tarot community8 Comments

Last Updated 2023 Dec. 29

You might find this free handbook helpful.

Here’s some of what you’ll find in the downloadable PDF and DOCX:

  • Copyright law basics, from what is a copyright, to what constitutes infringement, and defenses against infringement
  • Group Registration of Unpublished Works (GRUW)
  • The DMCA and template DMCA take-down notices; how to look up an ISP’s DMCA Designated Agent
  • Template cease-and-desist demand letters to send to an infringer
  • Template letters to defend against a cease-and-desist demand letter
  • Sending cease-and-desist demand letters to stores selling knock-offs
  • Actionable solutions for the independent artist to deal with counterfeits
  • How copyright law applies in various tarot professional specific scenarios
  • AI technology, web scraping, copyright, and tarot
  • How copyrights compare to trademarks and patents; design patents and how they might be pertinent in the world of tarot

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Masonic Tarot by Patricio Diaz Silva

On By benebellIn cartomancy, deck review, tarot, tarot symbolism2 Comments

The Masonic Tarot came out in October 2022, created and illustrated by Chilean artist and academic Patricio Diaz Silva, and it is in the top 10% of the most well-done tarot decks in recent years. The illustrations for the Major Arcana are exquisite, as are the court cards.

Do note, however, that this deck has elected to go with non-narrative illustrations for the pips, which works for the Masonic Tarot given its ceremonial leaning purposes.

The deck is designed as a “gateway into the secret mysteries of the soul” integrating the sacred symbolism of Freemasonry. The premise melds together the arcana of the tarot with models from Masonic rites, with heavy emphasis on alchemy.

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#54321Tarot

On By benebellIn book review, cartomancy, deck review, divination, personal, personal spirituality, promotional, tarot, tarot community7 Comments
The selfie function is hard. I never know where to look…

This is a TarotTube tag started by @Kelly Bear but I’ll be participating via blog post. =) I was tagged by the lovely and precocious @JessReadsCards. The prompt is to share 5 tarot decks, 4 tarot books, 3 tarot spreads, 2 tarot reader habits or tarot reading paraphernalia, and 1 piece of advice (or alternatively, 1 tarot card you’d like to embody).

Ack. You can see my Invisalign attachments in the above photo. And of course now that I called it out, it went from 50% chance you’d see it to 100% chance you’ll see it. Also, shameless off-topic plug for my new book, I Ching, The Oracle. The first few months after an author has released a book, you’re just gonna have to brace yourself for a lot of promo. =D

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Six of Swords WIP: Please halp with composition ideas…

On By benebellIn Etteilla Tarot, personal, tarot, tarot card meanings25 Comments

I’m struggling with swords placement in my Six of Swords wip. In fact, there’s a lot to this illustration composition that I’m struggling with. Maybe you’ll have some suggestions on what I can do.

I’ll start from the beginning. I knew I wanted to play with the religion and science dynamic in the Six of Swords, and my ambition was to do that in a way that isn’t too cliche.

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Changes to the YouTube Channel and Access to Past Videos

On By benebellIn Bell Chimes In, Learn the Tarot, Magical in the Mundane, personal, personal spirituality, promotional, Sightsee the Tarot, Spirit Keeper's Tarot, Taoism, tarot, tarot community, Tinkering Bell, traditional witchcraft7 Comments

In an effort to curate the publicly visible videos on the Benebell Wen YouTube channel, many past videos are now unlisted but still publicly available via the Playlists tab.

For a ballpark sense of how many videos are now unlisted, as of this posting only 129 of 405 total videos are publicly visible in the general Videos tab and thus only those 129 videos are searchable on the YouTube platform.

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Tarot of the Vampires by Charles Harrington and Craig Maher

On By benebellIn deck review, tarot7 Comments

Everybody needs a vampire deck. Is a tarot collection even complete without a vampire tarot? 😉 And this one in particular is tantalizing!

The Tarot of the Vampires by Charles Harrington and illustrated by Craig Maher is sleek, modern, and cinematic. You might recognize Charles as the author of the Murder of Crows Tarot (2020), Tarot V (2021), or the Ferenc Pinter Tarot (2021). He’s also a frequent speaker at various tarot conferences.

In terms of a genre, this tarot is delectable blood-sucking dark urban fantasy horror. These illustrations reveal a secret world coexisting with ours– as Harrington puts it, “the world of the undead and their eternal dance suspended between Heaven and Hell.”

That world of the undead and eternal dance enthralls all the more in Tarot of the Vampires because of Maher’s art. Craig Maher is an impressively talented artist in the realm of fantasy and imaginative realism. His renderings of this vampire universe are masterful. The detailing in these illustrations is next level. Just you wait and see.

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The Masters of the Tarot Conference at Omega Institute

On By benebellIn cartomancy, conferences, divination, tarot, tarot community4 Comments
2019 Masters of the Tarot Conference. Left to Right: Me, Mary K. Greer, Terry Iacuzzo, Rachel Pollack, and Joanna Powell Colbert

I was first invited to present at the Masters of the Tarot Conference back in 2019. The Conference takes place every July at the Omega Institute in upstate New York, and was founded by Rachel Pollack and Mary K. Greer.

Opening ceremonies and introductions happen on Friday evening, with a starter workshop or master class as your night cap. Then the keynote speaker events begin first thing Saturday morning and go until Sunday noon. Interspersed throughout are discussion panels for Q&As and moderated topical conversations. The event ends with all of us having lunch together.

From the 2019 Masters of the Tarot Conference. Photo courtesy of Joanna Powell Colbert (IG: @joannapcolbert)

I’ve had an incomplete draft of a post-event write-up since July 2019 that I never got around to finishing and posting onto this blog. Sigh. And now the 2023 Conference has come and gone, which was the second time I’ve presented at Omega.

So this blog post is going to cover both the 2019 and the recent 2023 events.

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The Living Tarot by T. Susan Chang

On By benebellIn book review, tarot, tarot community, tarot exercises3 Comments

I’m a huge fan of T. Susan Chang’s work. I loved Tarot Correspondences, which I’ve reviewed before here, have and cherish my copy of Tarot Deciphered, co-authored with M. M. Meleen, creator of the Rosetta Tarot and Tabula Mundi Tarot, two of my all-time favorite decks, ever.

So I’m thrilled about the opportunity to review Chang’s latest book, The Living Tarot published by Llewellyn Books. Unlike her previous publications, The Living Tarot is written with the beginner in mind, and more pertinently, how the modern reader can find personal, everyday meanings to the 78 cards.

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Wanderer’s Tarot by Casey Zabala

On By benebellIn deck review, tarot2 Comments

This is a look-through of Casey Zabala’s Wanderer’s Tarot. It’s a black and white tarot deck published in 2021 by Weiser Books billed as a feminist tarot deck for modern witches.

In terms of production, it comes in a fold-out matte finish box while the cards have a semi-gloss finish with metallic silver edging. The size is more oracle than your typical tarot standard, which elevates the presentation aesthetics when you use these cards on clients for professional readings.

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Meera Tarot by Runali Patil

On By benebellIn cartomancy, deck review, tarot2 Comments

Meera Tarot immediately stands out from the crowd, and as soon as I saw it, I realized I had nothing quite like it in my current collection. The art has postmodern  avant-garde somewhat Cubist take on medieval Hinduism, rendered with bold, vivid colors and emotive geometric forms.

The deck’s namesake “Meera” means prosperous, virtuous, and fearless, in disregard of social conventions; it can reference a devotee of Krishna, one who is a mystic and a creative.

From the suit of Cups. Per the companion guidebook, this is the realm of feeling. People connected to this suit tend to be artistically gifted and imaginative. Reversed, the suit of Cups can express emotional blocks and repression.

A compelling thesis of this deck is the binate feminine and masculine within each one of us, and that dichotomy’s ever shifting balance. How do you become self-aware of that internal exchange and how does one integrate the two toward self-actualization? The narratives within these cards express the Twin Flame Journey not as one soul in two bodies, but two souls within one body–thus you’ll see the recurring symbolism of the yin and yang.

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