Dust II Onyx: A Melanated Tarot Deck

While I adore tarot and my life in it, I have so many decks and work with so many beautiful witches and artists in all aspects of my life, so it takes a lot to really get me going at this point. However, when I received an email from a self-described fat/black/queer woman that had their artistic vision come to them in a dream, I had to find more. I'm so thrilled I got to chat more with Courtney Alexander about the upcoming Dust II Onyx, a deck created for people struggling with the same lack of representation in a world of #tarotsowhite that Alexander chose to address.

First, I just want to know more about YOU! Tell me everything!
Well, my mom-given name is Courtney Alexander. I'm an artist and recently graduated (December 2015) with my degree in Studio Art from the University of South Florida. I'm fairly new to tarot. I've been learning a little under 2 years. I began with apps and this year I finally purchased a physical deck. I grew up Christian, and in my early 20s began my shift away from it. But I always had an aversion to tarot because of what I had been told. I was comfortable going to a clairvoyant healer, but she didn't use cards so it felt "safe". Then as I progressed in my personal journey I allowed myself to experience tarot. I realized there wasn't anything overly scary about them and recognized the tools they could be to tap into our higher consciousness. Using apps was convenient for me to try out different styles and just learn about the cards. Looking for a physical deck was a bit more difficult. Finding that one that really called to me was not easy. I settled on Aquarian Tarot by David Pallidini for my first deck and I really love it. I've always liked the Art Deco style. Plus I find his deck to be great for deeper work than the traditional Rider-Waite. I use it more for deep emotional and spiritual probing. I also have the Crystal Tarot by Lo Scarabeo. However I was unaware it was Pip-based and so I don't use it as much. But it's still beautiful and I bring it out every now and then to experiment. I have the traditional RW gifted to me by a friend for external issues and mini Angel Cards. I'm not really drawn to angel themes/imagery but these little one word cards have been invaluable in clarifying my readings. especially as a newbie reader.

Aside from tarot, I also loveee crystals. I've amassed a nice collection. I use them to grid and pair it with candle burning. I have an Aunt who has always been into the occult so she helped me learn more about the power of candle reading. I also enjoy making my own auric sprays, spiritually cleansing bath products, and creating altars. I have mini altars around my home that I construct from random items around my home. The process of putting together things with what I have (and just a few purchased small items) really helps me connect with my intentions. It's been a very effective focus tool for me. 

You mentioned to me struggling for awhile to see yourself in the cards, even when you decided to make your own deck. Can you say more about that, and go ahead and go into how your vision for Dust II Onyx came to be?
I'm at this point in my spiritual journey where I've shed a lot of misconceptions about ritual practices. Most of my exposure has been in "new age" spaces, so of course meditation, crystals, and energy healing is where I started. Then through my art I began to explore West African cultures. Art is intricately weaved into their culture and spiritual practices that you can't separate the two when learning about the various belief systems. African-based spiritual practices are somehow seen as darker and more dangerous than even Wiccan and Pagan practices. There's this inherent fear of the deep spirituality of African people that had created such a block in me but I had to break it down. I'm still not to the place where I work with Orishas or anything, but I realize now the importance of that energy being bought into my practices. Most spiritual spaces I occupied on and offline were very white-dominated. Although it doesn't bother me in regards to my ability to build one-on-one relationships, these spaces never made me feel completely safe and open. I couldn't talk about real issues I experience at the intersections of racism/sexism/fatphobia without being dismissed. Especially as a Black American, we have definitely been taught to distance ourselves from our spiritual roots.  

I say this to say essentially representation matters. Having spaces for POC and LGBTQ is vital. We also need to see it in the art and tools we use such as tarot.

That's part of the reason why Dust II Onyx came to be. I wanted to create the kind of deck I wish I had. There are several decks with POC, but I found I wasnt drawn to some of the art or themes. Many decks seemed to references common themes like Orishas, Egypt, or the art was purposely drawn in this basic "primitive" (I shutter at the word) fashion to make it seem more indigenous inspired. None of it appealed to me. I wanted to see melanated people just be beautiful and powerful without limitation. I wanted a deck that other POC could relate too that didn't rely upon any cliches or typical themes because we are so much broader than that.

As for the art, I wasn't sure up until very recently what the cards would look like. I had two dreams about black portraits. In the dream the figures were completely black. The figures were matte with these high gloss highlights that brought the figure forth. It was gorgeous. The black on black made the figures barely noticeable, but intense. The clothing was so lusciously painted with what I’d guess was oil paint, in these deep jewel tones. I plan on doing some separate paintings more in the exact style of what was in my dream. Either way it still was a great inspiration for this deck and not far from what I had been moving into already in regards to my artistic process.

What's the process of building a deck been like?
It's been quite a journey so far. I produced 18 of the cards in a very short amount of time, I spent a lot of time trying to figure out what I'd do and plan out details but that didn't work. I had a deadline set for myself since I wanted to premiere them at a local art event. Once I began working they all just came to me intuitively. I didn't spend too much time researching in regards to symbolism or anything. I had enough knowledge from my own tarot use to understand the energy of the cards and some common references. Aside from that, I just decided to work with what I had; my pastels, acrylic and piles of fashion magazines. The cards I struggled with the most were the cards that I also struggled with in my spiritual life (for example, the Magician). Creating these has deepened my personal understanding of the cards so much. What comes forth is as new to me as it is to everyone else. So I have to go back and interpret my own creation. Using the Magician card for example, I wasn't sure what the hell I was doing. It looked like some weird man child. But as I meditated on it I realized the Magician is like a child. Children have no sense of limitation until we put it on them. They use what's at their disposal to create their world. There's also a connection between the scales texture of the clothing and the infinity signs throughout. It reminds me of Ouroboros, the snake that eats its own tail. It references alchemy, the infinite and wholeness. All of these details were not thought of or planned. It's cool to go back and see how the work is being created from a space beyond my own consciousness.

What else do you want us to know about this deck that you haven't gotten to say yet?
That it is something that I feel is seriously being birthed from me. Not just a baby in terms of my ownership of this project. But more-so in this way where events in my life have brought me to what feels like a fated point. Before this deck was created I had been going through a lot of stress. I was dealing with anxiety and depression on a level I hadn't for a long time. Then I noticed my dreams and card readings all pointing towards birth and I honestly thought I was pregnant, LOL. I was afraid it was a real baby. Looking back I believe it was Dust II Onyx. If the chain of events never transpired in my life the work would not be what it is. So I'm dedicated to bringing it forth. It wants to be out there and it's informing me of what it wants to be every step of the way.

A personal goal I have is to bring the artwork for this deck into the contemporary gallery space. As an artist I love creating experiences. I've had the desire to fulfill a particular solo exhibition project for awhile now and this deck art will definitely be a part of it. I want to transform the modern gallery space into an immersive and spiritual experience, as well as use it as a platform to introduce more people to the beauty of tarot.

How can we best support this deck and your tarot efforts?
Share with anyone you know would appreciate the work. Talk about it in your communities. Reach out to me with resources or suggestions. Preorder, preorder, preorder. Kickstarter is my way of being accountable to everyone who wants to support this project. There's a risk of not meeting the KS goal and therefore receiving nothing. But that is also the exciting part. It's not just a push to sell. When the public is excited about what you have to offer they want to see you succeed, so it's a bit more than just dropping money in the bucket. It's all of us pooling together to make this project a reality. Teamwork makes the dream work.

Kickstarter funds will go towards production, print, shipping, campaign fees, and limited first edition run of the deck. Any leftover funds will be seed money for a 2nd edition of the deck and a companion book. I look forward to this project opening doors to other opportunities to not only share my work in general, but to also offer more to the tarot community. I've already had visions for another deck to come once this project is complete so this is only the beginning. I'm so grateful for the love and support I've received so far. There is so much more amazing work to come and I'm super excited about it!

• Sign up for email updates at http://dust2onyx.launchrock.com
• www.dustonyx.com
• facebook.com/dust2onyx
• instagram.com/dust2onyxtarot

Thanks so much to Courtney for letting us know about this deck and sharing her important vision and art with the the world. I'm so excited to see how things develop. And don't forget:
 

Blessed be, all.

Heart and Hands Tarot--Support Now!

Good Afternoon all! I once again feel myself compelled to apologize for a lack of posts but I'm excited to be back, and SO excited to be writing a tarot deck in the works. Liz Blackbird contacted me about her upcoming Heart and Hands Tarot and the IndieGoGo making it all possible. I'm always happy to support queer creators, and I was additionally intrigued by the black and white art. As I watched the video on the campaign's page, I was moved by the unspoken but strong healing energy that went into the deck. I responded and told Liz I was eager to learn more. Here's our Q&A and some info about how you can support this great deck:

Tell us about yourself, first!
My name is Liz Blackbird (she/her/hers). I’m a visual artist, fiction writer, and poet currently based in Brooklyn, but I’m about to move to Ohio to pursue an MFA in creative writing. I’m originally from Michigan, so this will be a bit of a homecoming!

Prior to printing this deck, what was your relationship to tarot?
I’ve been interested in tarot since I was a teenager. I grew up in the suburbs of Flint in the 90s and generally felt a little unsatisfied with the environment around me, like it was kind of a bad fit, like there had to be something better out there. So I think I was predisposed to be attracted to all things magical. I was not raised religious, but my mother’s family was Catholic and evangelical Christianity was a strong (and often oppressive) force many of my friends’ lives, so I’ve also always been resistant to organized religion. A lot of my friends at that time felt similarly and were exploring wicca, neopaganism, and other more open-ended spiritual practices, and I initially learned about tarot through them. Many of us would ultimately come out as queer, and I think that had a lot to do with those initial feelings of discomfort with the status quo and the “bad fit” it seemed to be for us that led us to seek alternative spiritual paths in the first place.

The tarot attracted me as an artist, because I love the way its meanings are conveyed visually through mysterious and evocative images. It also nested nicely with my general agnosticism – whether or not I believe that I am being guided by supernatural forces, I can still trust that what I “read” in the tarot represents my truth on some level, even if it’s just tapping into something I already know about a situation but have been afraid to admit to myself, or giving me a framework to think about a situation in a different way. I generally only read for myself or close friends, so I’m usually pretty intimately acquainted with the lives of people I read for.

What stands out about the Heart and Hands deck? Why did you want to create this deck specifically?
The genesis of this deck was different than most, because it initially began not as a commercial endeavor, but as a personal project that I undertook to help me develop a new artistic direction at a time when I was feeling a little blocked. I had decided not to focus on studio art in college, and was regretting that decision a little bit. I had a really inspiring art professor at the time, Jyung Mee Park at the Maryland Institute College of Art, who essentially told me not to force it, that your art should stem from something you do naturally. In my sketchbooks, I had been doing a lot of casual black-and-white free-associative drawing, so I decided to try to take on a project in that style to see where I could go with it. I was already interested in tarot but didn’t feel that my knowledge of the cards’ meanings was very strong, so I decided to try designing my own deck to both stimulate my creativity and get to know the cards better. This, of course, turned out to be a much bigger project than I expected! It took me ten years to complete the illustrations. Though I had initially expected the project to remain private, as the years went by, so many of my friends saw my drawings and asked about how to get a copy of the deck that I decided I had to print it. I named it the Heart & Hands Tarot as a reminder of the power of our hearts to dream new possibilities and our hands to put those dreams into practice.

Ultimately, I think the black-and-white illustration style I developed is very unique and makes the deck stand out. I also think that my intention to enact a kind of creative “rebirth” through creating these cards really permeates the deck and comes through in the lushness and exuberance of the drawings. I also tried to create images that communicate the meanings of the cards in a direct and relatable way without requiring prior knowledge of other fields, like astrology and Kabbalah. But in general, I think my slow and meditative composition process—the fact that I didn’t force it—is what makes this deck special.

How does your deck speak to marginalized and queer audiences?
Because I identify as queer, and because queerness was so bound up in the way I first became interested in tarot, I tried to design this deck in a way that that avoided presuming heterosexuality or a male perspective, and that included people of color. Many of my figures, especially my Lovers, are very androgynous, and my number cards are all zoomed in to depict only the figures’ hands to avoid ascribing them a fixed identity. For my court cards, I chose to use a Prince and Princess rather than a Knight and Page to have gender equity within the court. There are also two major arcana cards that depict genderqueer figures – Justice and the World. In general, I wanted to create space in the designs for readers to be able to ascribe their own gender and sexuality interpretations to the cards.

Another big element of my work is in helping people heal so they can get to the part where they can be inspired and empowered. How does your deck speak to the healing process?
I think that in a lot of ways, creating this deck was a form of shadow work. Being a visual artist was a strong part of my identity as a teen, but because I did not focus on studio art in college, I found it harder and harder to maintain a creative practice in my 20s. Working on this deck was a big part of what kept me connected to that creative part of myself even as I was trying to make a living in other fields. Also, because the tarot is, among other things, a compendium of archetypal personalities, situations, concepts, and developmental states that we might experience throughout the life cycle, I found that working on parts of the deck that corresponded to issues I was dealing with in my life at the time was a great way to think through those issues in a broader, more distanced, more insightful way. 

Thank you so much for taking time to tell me more about this wonderful new addition to the tarot canon. How can we find out more or support you?
I’m currently running an Indiegogo campaign to raise funds to print the deck, so please visit my campaign page to support the project and to check out the "perks" (including copies of the deck) available for donating. https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/heart-hands-tarot-deck/x/14290775#/ The campaign will be live until August 14th! I'm also launching an Etsy shop, ThirteenWaysToLook, so that I can make the deck available there after the campaign ends. It should be active by the winter of this year.

Thanks so much to all of you, especially Liz. Now, go support indie decks!

Blessed Be.

Tangled Roots Oracle Review

A little while ago a wonderful witch friend gifted me an Oracle deck she wrote and made the art for. It's a first run of a locally made deck, with the added bonus of Leora gifting it to me out of love, and so I was inclined to like it anyway--but as soon as the deck hit my hand I was surprised by how right it felt that I owned this deck. I rarely connect with oracle decks that aren't slightly creepy or fairy-laden (and even those I'm picky about), so I was really excited to see what transpired as I went through it.

This gift, the Tangled Roots Oracle, was created by local artist Leora Effinger-Weintraub, and her website as well as more about the deck is here. I wasn't officially asked to do a review, which makes me feel even warmer and fuzzier about the gift, but decided to do one anyone because I truly love this deck.

Overall inspiration and connection I've already touched on this quite a bit. Originally I sat down with Leora and asked a million questions about the how and why of the deck, and it originally started as just a way for her to have a deck she truly connected to. Her spirituality comes from a certain line, and she's a woman who's soul runs very deep, and so it was hard for her to find THE one. I think it's fascinating, and confirms the adage I hear about art and story-telling, that the more personal something is, the more universal it is. Leora may have created this for herself and those like her, but something about this deck runs really deep and digs right into your own soul.

The Artwork on the Tangled Roots Oracle is so simple and beautiful. That's very true to the artist's style--she does a lot of work with lettering and simple things that make a big statement. I'd seen some of the early illustrations and knew they gave a lot of ideas in a very concise manner, with the reader's knowledge and ability to suss out symbols being pretty key. The finals in the deck added a lot of color for what seems like interest but is incredibly mood-focused. Her use of symbols is great, and since this is a deck meant to be incredibly personal, I love that the picture is of just, say, a raccoon, for example. If a raccoon means something drastically different to you than it does to Leora, it doesn't matter--there's not anything to contrast your vision on the card, so it gets to speak to you as it needs to without being confused. Simple decks are one of my greatest joys in life, don't let my Prisma Visions and Tarot of the Silicon Dawn addictions confuse you, and this is one of the best I've seen in this vein.

Card Quality: If you've been keeping up with my blog or even just hear me talk about tarot a lot, you know this can be a touchy subject for me. I don't let poor card quality ruin a deck for me, but I do find it incredibly disappointing on otherwise flawless decks. So I am very happy to report that these simple but powerful images are seated comfortably on durable but flexible cards. One of the first things I said out loud about the deck was "Oooh, good cards!" by which I meant the quality.

Overall Inclusivity is a non-issue with this deck. Leora designed this with herself and immediate inner circle in mind, but she is a proud social justice warrior like myself (I know that term is supposed to be derogatory. I just don't find it to be.) This deck relies so heavily on suggestion, symbols, and shrouded figures that I don't think anyone would feel left out by this deck, and if anything, I think the way she uses her artwork does include and pull pretty much everyone into the fold.

The Queerness Quotient then is also stellar. Leora is a queer woman, so much like the Fountain Tarot, while not an explicitly queer deck, that piece of her identity runs through it in a way that those of us looking for a deck with queerness will be satisfied. That being said, the ambiguity of this deck makes it even more welcoming of those marginalized even within our community. While the deck was designed through a certain lens, she does a really lovely job of making sure that's not the only lens it can be seen through.
 

Guide Book and Ease of Learning also hit a home run in this case. Because this is a low cost self-published deck (a rare thing in and of itself), the guide book is a simple folded pamphlet with brief interpretations of the cards. It's very straightforward, and makes it doubly clear that this deck is very Pagan and very personal. The book offers very short interpretations which further allows for the reader to build from the building block she's laid out for us. My one sort of complaint or criticism is actually that I wanted more of Leora's voice in the book. Not necessarily in the interpretations of the cards, but she had such beautiful things to say about the deck's conception and creation that I thought a thicker pamphlet with more info about the deck would've been so valuable, esp to those who might just pick it up at an event or online. This Oracle deck is very easy to learn in comparison with others. I know tarot so well that I sometimes struggle with oracle decks, but the Tangled Roots Oracle goes in a logical order, and allows for free-thinking in a way that makes it easy for anyone to at least read for themselves with.

Leora Effinger-Weintraub's Tangled Roots Oracle sounds like a vague concept, but the information if gives can be as ethereal or concise if you need it to be. I've used it for everything from a "Mind, body, spirit" check-in to a question about a practical business issue I was facing and it gave me the information I needed in all cases. There's one or two cards that did take me aback--I expressed my concern about the deck's use of wedding bands to stand-in for commitment in a day and age where that particular symbol is often still seen as one of super traditional nuclear family lifestyles as opposed to how I, and many, queer people feel about romantic and other commitment. I have the deck's first run, and the artist is taking my feedback as well as that of a few other people into account. Ultimately though, even if nothing changes on the second run, Leora has created a really sweet, beautiful deck that is deeply rooted in Pagan beliefs but still offers incredibly valuable insight regardless of your identity and faith. I can't wait to get fully "off book," and this may be one of the first oracle decks I ever use for clients. It's that good.

Again, the website is here, and I am sure those that follow it will be among the first to know when sales go live again.

Blessed be, and thank you so much to Leora, her wife Eli, and all of the amazing queer Pagans doing amazing things in their communities.