Every once in awhile I come across this sentiment on the internet that suggests Pamela Colman Smith has just been discovered as the artist behind the RWS - like there has been some concerted effort to conceal her name and scrub her of any involvement with the tarot. Granted, there was a period where the RWS was traditionally referred to as the Rider-Waite tarot, which does eliminate Smith’s name from the equation. However, this has mostly been corrected among tarot enthusiasts and the community at large.

I have a really old tarot quiz on this site, kicking around from maybe 2016 or so. I’ve never updated it in all that time, but I keep meaning to come back to it or maybe add another. Then, the other day I posted a tarot brain teaser on Instagram and I thought, let me make a quiz with more of that! But, alas, the platform I used to make that initial quiz, only allows you to make 1. After that, it’s $30 a month - no thanks!

So, we’re just gonna go ahead and make that quiz but do it as a fun, interactive little blog post! Want to play along?

The shadow is a tricky thing. It lives in a language-less land and so it can’t just come out and say, with words, what’s on its mind (generally speaking). Instead, it feeds us in symbols, feelings, sensations, intuitions and other such urgings that can seem vague and elusive.

I can’t say for sure, but I wonder if part of the reason it works in this way is that it simultaneously wants to be discovered while wanting to evade detection. The part of it that desires discovery, is probably the part of it that is seeking expression and ultimately acceptance. But on the other hand, it doesn’t want us to be totally aware of its schemes because then it runs the risk of eradication or further suppression. Let’s face it, we haven’t been exactly welcoming of our shadow parts - I can totally understand why it would be as afraid of us as we are of it!

The 5 elements permeate the cards in an almost unavoidable way. Each Major Arcana is associated with either a planet or a sign that carries with it an elemental nature. The Majors as a whole depict Spirit, the 5th element. Then we have the minors. Each set governs an entire element, Pentacles are Earth, Wands are Fire, Cups are Water and Swords are Air. We can take it even further. Among the suit cards you’ll find 4 court characters - Pages, Knights, Queens and Kings. Each “type” of court also has its associated element. The Pages are associated with Earth, the Knights Air, the Queens Water and the Kings Fire. So while the Page of Cups is a “Water” card by its suit, the element of Earth would also apply and add an extra layer of information about the workings of that character.

I’ve been thinking recently about the relevance of asking bigger, more impersonal questions of the tarot. I think for many of us, we have adopted this perspective that the specificity of the question dictates the quality of the response, and some questions are better left alone. But, are there any questions truly off the table? Sure, perhaps queries that contradict a personal set of ethics may be out of bounds, but assuming the question passes the “morality test”, why can’t we go there?

With that in mind, we turned to tarot and asked one of those big questions, curious to see what the response might be. That question went a little something like this - “Why do we come here? What is the purpose of incarnation here?” (stay with us ‘til the end because we’ll be answering a second big question to interesting results)

After a longer than expected hiatus, we’re back with our 16th meditation, this one designed to capture the essence and energy of The Tower. You might be asking yourself, why would anyone want to purposely step into this landscape? Well, we hope to clarify that below - so keep reading!

After a longer than expected hiatus, we’re back with our 16th meditation, this one designed in the essence and energy of The Tower. You might be asking yourself, why would anyone want to purposely step into this landscape? Well, we hope to clarify that below - so keep reading!

For a long time, I associated the High Priestess with intuition - just, a broad sweeping faculty that spoke to one's ability to access something out of the ordinary.

The more I sit with this archetype though, the more nuanced my understanding of intuition has become. I have discovered, and probably you have as well, that intuition isn't intuition isn't intuition. There are levels, degrees and types - and we think this may be why many of us have a hard time discerning between the voices in our head. 

We recently sat down with Vanessa Bartlett on her amazing podcast The Aquarean.

Vanessa invited us on to talk allllll about tarot, our practice, what brought us to this work, the Golden Dawn, shadow work and even our relationship, which is...something we don't discuss often. At least not in this depth!

Did you know that one of the most potent ways to work with the cards, to truly understand their essence beyond the books, is to sit in contemplation/meditation with them? Not only does this open a portal or gateway into the caves of that archetype, it also takes us deeper into ourselves.

A year ago we began producing meditation music to accompany each of the Major Arcana. We publish these on a semi-regular basis on YouTube and are nearing the completion of that series. But, it occurs to me that we haven’t talked much about how one can simply and practically work with that material. Or, how to just meditate with the cards in general!

About 4 weeks ago I stopped drinking my daily brew. And it’s not just coffees and lattes I gave up, but all types of caffeine in all of its forms. I have been drinking coffee solidly for close to 20 years, so to give up my daily cup is kind of a big deal…for me.

I did this for a few reasons mostly related to health and overall wellbeing. For starters, a lot of coffee gives me heartburn. Oddly enough, a Starbucks triple latte goes down super smooth, but it’s painful for my wallet. On top of digestive reasons, I also started to become super aware of the ups and downs that come from it and how sensitive I am to those fluctuations. Leading up to this decision, and on the back of it, I’ve also had a lot of insight come to me around energy and more specifically, where I get mine from and how I use it. And with this insight, I’ve been taking steps to eliminate unhealthy forms of energy acquisition, while focusing on getting it in more sustainable ways.

Infinity is a a strange and interesting concept. It can be difficult to grasp, let alone pin down with words. Regardless, we can intuit it's meaningfulness. Whether you have an interest in the symbol, or its use in tarot, I think it's a universally noteworthy concept. And, regardless of what we know or don't know about the way it works, we sense there's something to it, worthy of exploration.

If you are a reader of the cards, then you’ve definitely noticed the symbol for infinity used a number of times throughout the deck. Far from an arbitrary artistic detail, the infinity symbol serves a purpose. But, what is it? What can the cards teach us about it and what can it teach us about the cards?

On March 17th, doors open to our SEVENTH(!) year of Pull Pen Paint - A 10-month journey of Self-Discovery using signs, symbols, and systems in your spiritual and creative practice. I just sent an email newsletter with all the details, but I know not all our readers are on that so I wanted to make sure I share in this space as well.

The program is open for registration and students are already making handmade journals; organizing binders; and gathering their oracle & tarot decks, crystals, art supplies, woo-woo tools, and other goodies for a dive into learning more about who they are and how they move through the world. They are all connecting to their intuitive voices as they prepare for the opening circle on March 17th. 

We just missed Capricorn season with this one! While not totally on schedule, we’re pleased to bring you our 15th musickal meditation, this one designed in the essence and energy of The Devil.

As with all meditations, you may opt to simply enjoy the music on its own, or work with some of the suggestions provided to perform a fuller ritual. We do hope you enjoy the sounds! We will be updating the YouTube page regularly as we add more tracks as well as storing all links on a separate page of this site, so they are easy to find! Keep reading to learn more about connecting with The Devil!

We’re getting this one in right before Sagittarius season comes to a close! This will be our 14th Musickal Meditation, tapping into the essence and energy of our alchemical angel, Temperance.

As with all meditations, you may opt to simply enjoy the music on its own, or work with some of the suggestions provided to perform a fuller ritual. We do hope you enjoy the sounds! We will be updating the YouTube page regularly as we add more tracks as well as storing all links on a separate page of this site, so they are easy to find! Keep reading to learn more about connecting with Temperance!

For the entirety of 2022, Death has been a major theme for us. Not only does it continually come up in readings, we’ve also both experienced some major shifts in life this year, providing more evidence of this force in motion. Because it’s been such a thing for us, we’ve been a bit slower with this write up. Turns out though, divine timing wins again as we’re now less than a week away from Scorpio season (associated with Death), so it’s all worked out.

So, we hope this track serves you and on a personal note, we’re hoping it also helps us to properly assimilate these energies and the messages they have for us.

As with all meditations, you may opt to simply enjoy the music on its own, or work with some of the suggestions provided to perform a fuller ritual. We do hope you enjoy the sounds! We will be updating the YouTube page regularly as we add more tracks as well as storing all links on a separate page of this site, so they are easy to find! Keep reading to learn more about connecting with Death!

With Scorpio season quickly approaching, we are reminded of the importance of life, death and letting things come to pass. Associated with the tarot card Death, Scorpio alludes to transience; the need to make space for things to end, transform and move from one state to the next. We give the seasons this grace each year, and so it’s equally as important in our own life that we honour the cycles, and make peace with this powerful force.

Death, change and transformation can be scary, which is why we often see the Death card depicted so bleakly. But, it’s also natural. In fact, when we try to evade death’s inevitability, we often find out how futile it is to cling to something past expiry. In other words, we can't escape the pain of goodbyes by holding on for too long. Everything has a consequence, after all.

We’ve been thinking a lot about what it means to conduct an ethical tarot business/practice. It’s a topic we’ve touched on before, and one in which many other practitioners have lent their perspective. I think it’s important to regularly come back to it though because as with all things, our ideals and principles evolve over time. This way we can reassess how those evolving values impact the work we do, and determine if our conduct is still in alignment, or if some tweaking is required.

During a recent mentoring session, we found ourselves on the topic of elements. This obviously isn’t an uncommon place to travel when discussing the cards, however, after the session ended, the conversation continued. Through that, we began to think of the elements not just as reference points to understanding the cards, but as a framework to becoming more proficient with them.

In other words, what can the elements teach us about becoming effective tarot card readers? How can we use these basic concepts to enhance our practice and ensure we’re approaching things in a balanced and whole way?

We’re back with another track in our Musickal Meditation series. This installment features The Hanged Man. I’m excited to share this one because The Hanged Man has come to be a very special card both personally and within the context of our work here. Its mysteries have captivated us over the last couple of years, and we’ve learned so much from the themes it conveys: surrender, the law of reversal, altered states of consciousness and exchanging the material for the spiritual (while honouring both).

As with all meditations, you may opt to simply enjoy the music on its own, or work with some of the suggestions provided to perform a fuller ritual. We do hope you enjoy the sounds! We will be updating the YouTube page regularly as we add more tracks as well as storing all links on a separate page of this site, so they are easy to find! Keep reading to learn more about connecting with The Hanged Man.

We don’t do a huge number of deck spotlights on this site, however I couldn’t not write about the final deck in the Wild Unknown Series, Alchemy, by visionary artist Kim Krans.

And even though we’ll be talking about the deck at length, I wouldn’t regard this article as a review in any way. These will be mine and Tim’s personal thoughts, ideas on how we plan to work with the cards, and any stirrings that come from our initial impressions. We are huge fans of The Wild Unknown series and regard both the Archetypes and Animal Spirit oracle as some of our most loved and most used decks. When we caught wind of this newest installation, we were extremely excited to get our hands on it, and even more thrilled that it overtly tackles alchemy; a subject that underpins much of our work, conversations and contemplations, especially as of late.