Tarot of Pagan Cats

Ok. I just did some research and apparently, she wrote the LWB under the pen name of Magdelina Messina. Not to be mean or anything, but it does seem she writes quite a few of the books that go with the decks, and well...wouldn't we prefer the illustrator's take on the deck? Maybe I'm in the minority, but I know I would. That's why I like Tarot of Vampyres so much. But then again, do we ever really know who writes the book?

ETA: I forgot to mention I found this information on blog.tarotlady.com:

Another ETA:

"Barbara enjoys giving a voice to tarot cards not only by doing readings but also by writing the books that accompany decks. She has had the good fortune to write books and booklets for several decks, including A Guide to Mystic Faerie Tarot, The Gilded Tarot Companion, The Enchanted Oracle, The Mystic Dreamer Tarot, The Vampires of the Eternal Night Tarot, The Witchy Tarot, The Dream Enchantress Tarot, Tarot of the Sweet Twilight, and Shadowscapes Tarot, Pagan Cats Tarot (under the pen name Magdelina Messina), The Pagan Magical Kit, and The Book Shadows Tarot, volumes 1 and 2. Her new edition of Llewellyn’s Tarot for Beginners will be released in November."

Apparently she's written books/LWBs for many decks...

tarot heart said:

Ok. I just did some research and apparently, she wrote the LWB under the pen name of Magdelina Messina. Not to be mean or anything, but it does seem she writes quite a few of the books that go with the decks, and well...wouldn't we prefer the illustrator's take on the deck? Maybe I'm in the minority, but I know I would. That's why I like Tarot of Vampyres so much. But then again, do we ever really know who writes the book?

ETA: I forgot to mention I found this information on tarotlady.com

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The LWB is pretty standard, as in, not worth looking at. It doesn't mention anything about the cats. I tossed it into my LWB box and it is going back in there now.

aurarcana said:

The LWB is pretty standard, as in, not worth looking at. It doesn't mention anything about the cats. I tossed it into my LWB box and it is going back in there now.

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Yes, I agree. I rarely look at the LWB either, so I wonder why she wrote it under the pseudonym?

Many authors use pseudonyms when one area of their work might cause an adverse reaction to the audience who buys in another area. I associate "Barbara Moore" as a Llewellyn author. If she is writing for Lo Scarabeo also, I can see value in using another name.

tarot heart said:

Yes, I agree. I rarely look at the LWB either, so I wonder why she wrote it under the pseudonym?

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People and authors use pseudonym' more than you know.

P.S. All companion books should be written like the one in the other deck you mentioned. That set the bar high for others to follow and many will never even come close.

ETA: And there's a response from her here. And now we know! I do love the Pen name though. It goes with the deck .

Lady LuLuB said:

As for why the pen name...the catalog this was originally meant to go when had another project by me and Lo Scarabeo didn't want two by the same author in one catalog. Unfortunately, the second project has been delayed so the pen name was unnecessary.

I wish this had my name on it, as it is the first deck that I completely wrote the script for and directed the art. This deck is "me" more than any other I've ever worked on. And it is what I am most proud of so far (next to Tarot for Beginners).

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cardlady22 said:

Many authors use pseudonyms when one area of their work might cause an adverse reaction to the audience who buys in another area. I associate "Barbara Moore" as a Llewellyn author. If she is writing for Lo Scarabeo also, I can see value in using another name.

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Well, it's my understanding that Llewellyn is the distributor for Lo Scarabeo. Perhaps there's an agreement between Llewellyn and Lo Scarabeo...we do the art, you do the LWBs. ???

aurarcana said:

Doesn't it just make you smile and feel warm? It's such a great deck....with cats!

I am using it for this month's The Mandrake Cat Exchange (in the Reading Exchange forum) and can't wait to try it out.

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Yes they do make me smile! Love the personality of this deck! Ya might say they are purrrrrrfect!

tarot heart said:

Well, it's my understanding that Llewellyn is the distributor for Lo Scarabeo. Perhaps there's an agreement between Llewellyn and Lo Scarabeo...we do the art, you do the LWBs. ???

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No, there isn't.

LoS is entirely independent of Llewellyn, who just distribute their decks. LoS generally work in a different way from Llewellyn though, in that someone writes the "script" for a deck and then an artist is commissioned to produce the art work for that script, in collaboration with the - er - script-writer - to make the idea reality. So it isn't generally entirely appropriate for the artist to write the LWB, kind of, if you see what I mean.

An example: Ric Minetti conceived the Fey, and wrote the book about what he intended. Mara Aghem did the art work and turned his thoughts into cards, but I think could not have written the book.

Quester said:

Yes they do make me smile! Love the personality of this deck! Ya might say they are purrrrrrfect!

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I know what you mean. My partner and I spent a half hour last night going through the cards and giggling at the RWS "jokes". Love the Queen of Wands card!

Barbara Moore, here

Hi all,

I felt like I needed to jump in here. I usually don't like to, as I know how most of the contributors here feel about my work. It's okay...I know not everyone will like everything.

If you are interested in the story behind the Pagan Cats Tarot, I actually just wrote about it today on my blog.

Here is a snippet:
This project had very humble beginnings. Ric from Lo Scarabeo asked me if I was interested in writing the script for a light, fluffy, novelty deck. Because I love light, fluffy, and novel, I said yes.

Once I began, though, I found that the Cats had different ideas. While the deck is truly cute, it really isn’t light and fluffy. As I began writing ideas and descriptions, I kept reminding myself, this is a deck of Pagan Cats. Not just cats, but Pagan cats. What did that mean? How did that translate into tarot? How did it affect tarot? In short, I began feeling very serious about this.

Luckily, the cats themselves were quite vocal (in my mind, anyhow) and were clear about how they wanted to be depicted. In a way, the images felt as if they were from me but also more than me. And the result is a deck that is more than anyone originally expected.

As for why the pen name...the catalog this was originally meant to go when had another project by me and Lo Scarabeo didn't want two by the same author in one catalog. Unfortunately, the second project has been delayed so the pen name was unnecessary.

I wish this had my name on it, as it is the first deck that I completely wrote the script for and directed the art. This deck is "me" more than any other I've ever worked on. And it is what I am most proud of so far (next to Tarot for Beginners).

As for the companion book...there is such a tight word limit that I could give general meanings or talk about the cats. I wanted it to be useful to a complete beginning, so I opted for general knowing most advanced users would toss it.

I hope that answers some of your questions.

PS regarding, for example, the Vampires book, I relied in part on the artists' notes and on bouncing ideas and concepts around with Lo Scarabeo. Many times the artists (for decks) are not writers. Because I have a knack for getting what the artist is trying to convey, I do get selected for this work. All the artists (well, all the English-speaking artists) read and approve the text.

PPS yes, Llewellyn and Lo Scarabeo are independent. Llewellyn is the North American distributor for LS.

I think that is all.