Since I was a teenager, I have been attracted to astrology, Jungian psychology, synchronicity, symbolism, alchemy, and Jewish esotery. Someone gave me my first Tarot deck as a present. Since then I collect old and new decks from the entire world and created my own Sun and Moon Tarot. I continue to deepen my knowledge of tarot and all the systems associated with it.At times I focus more on the Sefiroth and Kabbalah. Sometimes I’m more interested in different ways of interpreting tarot. I've been illustrating Astrological Learning Cards for a while now, trying to better understand the different astrological archetypes and to make art.
By playfully incorporating mythology and astrology, I bring unique interpretations to traditional tarot. The deck follows the traditional structure of Crowley Thoth Tarot but is also influenced by the book Mind Mirror. The Minor Arcana features Crowley’s keywords, but has people in the imagery and is influenced by the symbolism of Pamela Colman Smith's illustrations. Major Arcana cards show the associated Hebrew letter in the artwork.
Sun and Moon Tarot is a multi-cultural tarot deck with symbolism borrowed from Hinduism, yoga, ancient Egyptian and Greek mythology, the teachings of the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, and more. The Sun and Moon Tarot was published in 2010 and the pocket-sized version in 2017, it’s presented in a tin and features the black borders as originally designed.
As a visual artist, I adore symbols, it’s
unbelievable how a symbol can evoke emotions through its associations and
meanings. Each Tarot card has its own character and many
symbols. These reveal more than their immediate meaning and
they visualise human experiences, behavioural patterns and
developmental patterns. These archetypal images, as Jung calls them, are
stored in our collective unconscious and can be found all over the world in our
fantasy, dreams, mythology, religion, literature, fairy tales and other forms
of art.
In Tarot and other oracle systems, the concept of
synchronicity would explain how they "work" as a kind of mirror of
the psyche. The symbols and illustrations are thus the language with which the
tarot can make the unconscious in our psyche conscious. They mirror what
happens from the inside to the outside. So the cards would reflect your inner
state at that time.
In this book, CG Jung explains with great clarity
his basic ideas about the collective unconscious, myths, symbols, archetypes
and dreams. His closest collaborators describe the practical elaborations and
applications of these core ideas. For me it was a very cool experience to discover
very large similarities with the cards of the Major Arcana while reading the
descriptions of different symbols, motives and archetypes.
The landmark text about the inner workings of the unconscious mind—from the symbolism that unlocks the meaning of our dreams to their effect on our waking lives and artistic impulses—featuring more than a hundred images that break down Carl Jung’s revolutionary ideas
“What emerges with great clarity from the book is that Jung has done immense service both to psychology as a science and to our general understanding of man in society.”—The Guardian
“Our psyche is part of nature, and its enigma is limitless.”
Since our inception, humanity has looked to dreams for guidance. But what are they? How can…
Coincidences and synchronicity fascinate me endlessly. I have been
collecting books on this subject since 2000. With synchronicity, there’s a
connection between your inner state and a physical outer event. And I believe
that’s what we evoke while doing readings with tarot cards!
I agree with Dr. Beitman when he says that a meaningful coincidence can
lead us to think completely differently about the nature of reality. Sometimes
they are little hints that make us suspect that there is a reality where
everything is connected to everything. They are lifting ‘The Veils of
Maya’, the illusions that prevent us from seeing ‘actual reality’.
Bernard Beitman MD has been studying coincidences all his life and he’s
the first psychiatrist since Carl Gustav Jung to attempt
to systematise the study of coincidences. He explains how they
could be activated and how we can use them to solve problems and to make
choices. In addition to his book, I
am also a fan of his podcast in which he talks weekly with different guests.
We've all experienced or heard of surprising events and unexplainable coincidences-money that seems to come from nowhere, a spontaneous idea that turns into a life-changing solution, meeting our soulmate on a flight we weren't supposed to take, or families being reunited by "accident" after years of separation.
Often these coincidences are explained as being controlled by a higher power or pure chance. But for the first time since Carl Jung's work, comes bold new research that explains scientifically how we can identify, understand, and perhaps even control the frequency of coincidences in our everyday lives.
I like many of Rachel Pollack's books, but this was one of the first
tarot books I read. This kind of book is perfect for me to learn something. It reads very
easily, more like a course than a book with pages full of text. The layout is
light and each page is richly illustrated with colour photos including tarot
cards from all over the world, so you can compare and get a good idea of the
character of each card.
All facets of tarot, which you can delve into later, are discussed:
origin, history & the different traditions, symbols & colours,
the Tree of Life & the
Hebrew letters, numbers & the paths of the Sefiroth, Kabbalah &
astrology, the journey of the fool through the Major Arcana, different readings
& card spreads, different ways to use the tarot cards: to meditate, to
work with dreams, games, storytelling and music.
Rachel also pays attention to the value of making your own tarot deck,
by copying, colouring or painting it. Or by making your own version
in a very simple way with collage techniques or photography. Or by designing or
illustrating your own new tarot deck. And that is exactly what I have
done. I created my own deck to deepen myself more into each card
separately and to pass on this wisdom. Making your own tarot deck is also
a journey through self-discovery and spiritual development.
The tarot is an ancient system of wisdom, using a deck of 78 illustrated cards, which is designed to enhance both daily life and spiritual development. This reference includes information on the origins, history and structure of the tarot, the symbolism of the cards, and how to do a reading.
While designing and illustrating my own Sun and Moon Tarot, I followed
the normal order of letters of the Hebrew alphabet and therefore also their
values. And I respected the original Western Hermetic order of the cards on the
paths of the Tree of Life and their corresponding Hebrew letters. This system
is explained in detail in this book.
Rufus C. Camphausen describes in detail how the numbering of the tarot cards has been changed by
different groups of people (Kabbalists, Astrologers, the Hermetic order of the
Golden Dawn & Aleister Crowley, A. E. Waite of the Rider Waite Tarot). The
same is true with the assignment of the planets and zodiac signs and the
assignment of the numbers and the Hebrew letters on the paths of the
Sefiroth (Tree of Life in Kabbalah).
Together with Van Leeuwen he also created ‘The
Kabbalistic Tarot/Tree-of-life Tarot’. This tarot deck was designed as a study
aid for learning the Kabbalistic and Astrological associations in Tarot.
Theimages on each
card are wholly symbolic. Instead of illustrated scenes, the Major Arcana features the
Tree of Life with a path between two Sefiroth highlighted. Within each of
the two Sefiroth, a planetary symbol is inscribed. The Minor Arcana shows a
zodiac wheel with three houses highlighted and a small glyph of the Tree of Life is in the center of
the Zodiac wheel.
When you delve into different facets of the tarot, you come across quite a few different models or systems with different assignments of numbers, Hebrew letters, paths, astrological signs…which can be very confusing! I was quite confused myself when I was looking for the correspondence between the 4Tarot ‘suits’ and thoseof a regular card game and find different contradictory correspondence with the pips of regular playing cards.
In a lecture, Isabelle explained to me very clearly with many examples how the 4 elements or colour symbols of the 4 suits in the regular card game originatedand changed over the years and how they evolved in different systems of the tarot cards.
Isabelle Nadolny has done a lot of research working as a historian in the National Library of France and has compiled her findings, based on multiple references and documented resources, in this thick and very richly illustrated book. Her search gives us more insights into the origins and history of Tarot. Where and when it might have originated, what it might have served for, how the colour symbols, the pictures, the numbering, and the names have changed in the different traditions and countries, and how tarot evolved into a divination game and when tarot became occult. You can find out all this and much more in this very interesting French book that needs to be translated into English!
L’histoire du tarot est fort méconnue. Si de nombreux livres abordent sa pratique ou ses significations, les rares publications historiques existantes circulent peu en dehors du cercle des chercheurs. Isabelle Nadolny entend y remédier en proposant au grand public un vaste panorama du tarot à travers les siècles. Cette présentation est assortie d’illustrations issues des fonds de la Bibliothèque nationale de France, de collections privées ou publiques, qui, pour certaines, sont publiées ici pour la première fois. Toute personne ayant prêté attention à ces cartes à la fois simples et mystérieuses est naturellement amenée à se poser quelques questions :…
I am adopted. For most of my life, I didn’t identify as adopted. I shoved that away because of the shame I felt about being adopted and not truly fitting into my family. But then two things happened: I had my own biological children, the only two people I know to date to whom I am biologically related, and then shortly after my second daughter was born, my older sister, also an adoptee, died of a drug overdose. These sequential births and death put my life on a new trajectory, and I started writing, out of grief, the history of adoption and motherhood in America.
I grew up thinking that being adopted didn’t matter. I was wrong. This book is my journey uncovering the significance and true history of adoption practices in America. Now, in the wake of the U.S. Supreme Court’s overturning of Roe v. Wade, the renewed debate over women’s reproductive rights places an even greater emphasis on adoption. As a mother, historian, and adoptee, I am uniquely qualified to uncover the policies and practices of adoption.
The history of adoption, reframed through the voices of adoptees like me, and mothers who have been forced to relinquish their babies, blows apart old narratives about adoption, exposing the fallacy that adoption is always good.
In this story, I reckon with the pain and unanswered questions of my own experience and explore broader issues surrounding adoption in the United States, including changing legal policies, sterilization, and compulsory relinquishment programs, forced assimilation of babies of color and Indigenous babies adopted into white families, and other liabilities affecting women, mothers, and children. Now is the moment we must all hear these stories.
Who Is a Worthy Mother?: An Intimate History of Adoption
Nearly every person in the United States is affected by adoption. Adoption practices are woven into the fabric of American society and reflect how our nation values human beings, particularly mothers. In the wake of the U.S. Supreme Court's overturning of Roe v. Wade, the renewed debate over women's reproductive rights places an even greater emphasis on adoption. As a mother, historian, and adoptee, Rebecca C. Wellington is uniquely qualified to uncover the policies and practices of adoption. Wellington's timely-and deeply researched-account amplifies previously marginalized voices and exposes the social and racial biases embedded in the United States' adoption industry.…
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