It's a tarot that looks like an oracle...

Recently a publisher turned down my deck, Tarot of Life, because it doesn't look like a tarot and suggested I cut it down to 40 and make it into an oracle. I'm not interested to do this because I made it to correspond with RWS but I'm also pioneering something here and my cards are kind of a contemplation of the RWS.

I thought it was time to make this really clear so I've started posting RWS cards underneath the Tarot of Life cards with a little explanation as to how they connect. Most of this (not all) is done. There are so many RWS experts here, I would love some feedback. I know it will never be accepted by traditionalists but more for people who are looking for a bit of a brain challenge or something totally new.

Click my signature to link to my blog - all the cards are up there. You can use the card index tab to find them by RWS listing.

Hi Uma,

I got the grasshopper card; which I like a lot. Unboundedness.. LOL.. its just what I needed to know too. Been focusing on the negatives again so this card definitely reminded me to turn my sights to what I forgot I had. Also like the "animated" moment in your art; capturing the grasshopper in mid-jump reminds me of how we are in charge and it channels the mind into thinking of how far we jump; how high rather than dwelling on what we don't like about our surroundings.

The simplicity of your style reflects a lot of the influence I see in your blog. Enjoy reading up on Hindu philosophies myself so I instantly took a liking to your approach for your deck.

Sometimes, half a loaf is better than none; I remember Emily got her Transparent Tarot published before Tarot of Sidhe; then the Transparent Oracle was in progress.

I think if the publisher is willing to work with you for an oracle instead of a tarot deck approach, its something worth exploring if only for the possibility to share your work in this form with the world for now.

In the end, as the creator of the deck.. the decision lies with you. The option to publish this deck as an oracle may just be the stepping stone that leads you to something else.. but I do think it will be a shame if your work didn't get published at all.

Just my 2 cents worth, its not easy getting a publisher to accept a deck to begin with. You got one foot through the door and maybe its what you need to get started with before the deck is published as a full tarot deck.



Ash

I'm afraid I agree with Ash.

The cards are really beautiful, and so deserve to be published, but I can see that to many they would not be seen as 'Tarot' based.

Big plants from little seeds and all that....I'd get it published in whatever form, and then you have the stepping stone....

Ange x

I've met Uma and talked with her over the deck. It does hold up as tarot - and tarot evolves like anything else. In your place, Uma - I would try another publisher. If you were working with the one I think you were - there ARE more discriminating and less hide-bound and traditional ones !

Though heck - if you can keep tarot in the name and explain in the book - people will "get" it anyway. Just stick with the 78.

I just like to see great work being published. Can't say I really care who does the publishing or how its done (tarot or oracle)... but I think every option should be actively explored.

A writer friend of mine told me this story about how JW Rowlings was laughed out of a meeting with Penguin because they couldn't see how a story about a boy and magic, wizards and dragons would possibly sell in this day and age :/) Well, she took it elsewhere and look what happened

Don't know how true that story is but it goes help gather the resolve to keep going, doesn't it?

Any direction you choose will be right for you as long as it keeps true to what you want for your creation.

Thank you so much Sacred Ashes, Ange and Gregory for your feedback!

The publisher not only said make it an oracle, they said to reduce it to 40. I'm just not okay with that...not willing to "sell out" with this. I'd rather get them printed myself or hand make them if I have to. I've done a lot of soul searching about it and there is something that these cards want to become and I need to honour that.

I've been working on these cards on and off for the last six years and I know they are a new kind of tarot. I'm just not sure how to express this a way that makes sense or is useful for people. My interests run in so many directions - I feel these cards will have multi-purposes, tarot being only one of them, but an important part.

When I look at RWS, I think of the whole theosophy movement that arose in those days, Madam Blavatsky's Secret Doctrine and how so much of that was already perfectly spelled out in the Vedas of ancient times...because yoga is really about what's inside of all of us and how the cosmos works. We can talk about it in so many ways... My thing most of my life is always to "cut to the chase" and go to the essence of a thing and find new ways to express it through creativity.

Sometimes I think the problem is that it's rejected because it's too simple. Other times it seems too complex, too much thinking involved. The simplicity comes from experiencing the spiritual states that the cards are hinting at that show us why we are here and what we're all about. The complexity comes from the limitations of the thinking mind - because you can talk about H2O (water) forever and understand everything about it but to really satisfy your thirst, you need to actually drink the water. Does anyone hear me???

So I'd love to get into the minds of people who love RWS and find a way to make my cards touch them. I'm thinking to even create borders or some extra drawings that hint at the original RWS illustrations - so there is a stronger connection. I'm conflicted about that though... so I'm just asking for opinions.

Gregory, your vote of confidence in me is SOOOO much appreciated! Thank you so much.

And Sacred Ashes and Ange, I can appreciate where you're coming from. This is the kind of feedback I need because it will take me out of the clouds and into the real tarot world.

Love & Light,
Uma