books

The Tarot Gypsy Tales
 The Tarot Gypsy Trips
The Tarot Gypsy Tapes
Tarot Comparisons:78 Packs of 78 Cards

decks

(excerpted from Tarot Comparisons:78 Packs of 78 Cards)
Egyptian Tarot
Tarot Maddonni
Medicine Woman Tarot
Ravenswood Eastern Tarot
Renaissance Tarot
Tree-Of-Life Tarot

Long before I met her, I was intrigued by this mysterious Gypsy personage whose velvet-bound hand-stitched books I had encountered here and there in the Tarovian outback.  I finally met Ms. Rose at the 1997 World Tarot Conference in Chicago,
where I was so captivated by her charisma and eloquence
that I bought an armful of her books and tapes.

A one-woman industry, she’s out churning a buttery and burgeoning body of works
in various forms: books, audio tapes, and video tapes – mostly about Tarot,
and some poetry and storytelling too.  All are interesting and ambitions….
Juiced by feminine surehandedness,
whatever Rose does is instructive, engaging and inspiring.

The following was dictated to me by a higher power:
“You never actually own these books;
you merely enjoy them until it’s time for the next generation to inherit.
Unlike most self-publishers, Rose doesn’t have a garage full of these babies.
These velvet bindings cradle collector’s editions, sure to become heirlooms.  Hand-stitched, they’re full of a spirit a paperback hasn’t heard of.
Believe me, I know how one hesitates at the prices.
But unless you make the leap of faith you cannot know the rapture
of holding these tomes in your hands.

“Perennially optimistic and personally happy, Rose prefers to peddle her work
of at least a lifetime to those who will appreciate the melodic insights.
‘It’s not good for mass-marketing,’ she smiles, ‘but I do tend to interview folks
who want to buy my books to be sure they’ll give them good homes.
And, as in adoptions of all sorts, the relationship only begins after one has said Yes.’

“The medium is integral to the message.
These works convey a worldview that comforts, rocks us on a sweet and wise bosom.
The form alone is remarkable.  And the contents boast a form of their own.
Each of the “tales” for the Major Arcana is four stanzas of piercing syllabic lines
which capture the essence of the card from any Golden Dawn-based deck,
the subset of Tarot that has come to dominate the US marketplace and consciousness.
C.J. un-earths, un-airs, un-waters, un-fires and exposes the Spirit of the commonalties and lets us sense, know, feel, intuit and grok
how each archetype fits in our inner mystical worlds.
For the minors, Rose goes to the delightful extent of Golden Sections,
an ancient rhymed form in which the first stanza is to the second
as the second is to the whole!
Some say the Glossary alone, filled with gods and goddesses from all cultures,
is worth the price.”
 

The Tarot Gypsy Trips
adapted from American Tarot Association Newsletter, Spring 1999, by Arielle

Once upon a time in places near and far, books were very rare.
They were all handmade and owning a book was a very special privilege.
I had the opportunity to see how this must have felt when the ATA awarded me
a copy of  The Tarot Gypsy Trips  by Carol Jean Rose.

This book is hand-stitched and hand-bound, printed on recycled linen.
It has a gorgeous mossy green velvet cover and luxuriant ribbon place marker.
More than just a book, it looks and feels like a piece of art.
Without even opening it, the mystical, magical energy warms the hands.
You know immediately that you will learn much from this labor of love.
For me, the book was a real "AHA!" kind of experience and to me,
there aren't words good enough to do it justice!

The story opens with Chapter 0 (The Fool) and continues through Chapter 21 (The World) with each chapter in between devoted to one of the Major Trumps.
In the most recent edition of  The Tarot Gypsy Trips, chapter titles
are from a strange and beautiful poem spoken through the mouth
of the divine feminine power Sophia in the Gnostic texts written and collected
by early Christians and found in a jar containing ancient papyruses in 1945,
near the Egyptian town of Nag Hamadi. Entitled, “The Thunder, Perfect Mind,”
the poem divides our polarities into twenty-two categories:
Potential, Confidence, Receptivity, Mother, Father,
Belief, Passion, Ambition, Health, Will,
Change, System, Sacrifice, Transformation, Peace,
Desire, Survival, Hope, Illusion, Awareness, Forgiveness and Synthesis.

We follow Gypsy Ella on a metaphysical journey that takes us not only coast to coast,
but also over all kinds of “speed bumps.”
She deals with financial limits, transportation challenges, needy people,
users and abusers, folks who want free readings, rude people, bad weather,
temptations of the flesh, and every other conceivable road hazard.
The metaphor of speed bumps is apt in that,
with our heroine, we learn to adjust our pace to minimize our discomforts.
Ella finds friends in unusual places, angels at the curves,
who hand her along the path even as she hands them along.

We laugh, we frown, we weep, we learn about The Cards and sit in on readings.
We also win pearls about myths, pendulums, numerology, astrology, and
the importance of animals in our lives.
We ponder how our happiness may come from within and
how our hopes and our fears may be the same.
We consider faith in ourselves and our capabilities.

This is a book about coming to peace.
It’s a beautiful book on the outside – and a beautiful story on the inside.
Buy yourself a ticket and get on board for The Tarot Gypsy Trips,
departing this very minute for a destination nearer you!

Dear Carol Jean,
Thanks for sending your books and tapes around the world so quickly!

In hearing the first of the Tarot Gypsy Tapes
awe became delight.

It’s such a pleasure to listen that I can tell I’ll do it often
and the wisdom may even seep in!

You synthesize material so beautifully, so melodically.
Your extensive knowledge is mind boggling.

I've bonded so fiercely with the velvet books
they have a place of honor on my bedside table.
Your handy work is so fastidious it’s fabulous!
Your gifts are truly sensuous!

Thank you from deep in heart and soul,
Sandra Steff, Auckland, New Zealand

     The LWB says, “The Book of Thoth…
aka The Book of the Leaves of Gold,
allegedly contained the synthesis of all human knowledge….”
Court de Gebelin advanced the Egyptian Origin theory in the 1780s.
One of his disciples, Alliette, published a diagram
of 78 locations in the Temple of Fire at Memphis
where he believed the Tarot cards originally appeared.
Interestingly, his deck, the Grand Etteilla, is not in Egyptian motif.
Some say it’s not even Tarot.
     This one is based on designs created in 1901 by Comte Saint-Germain.
Ten Egyptian decks have evolved since.

The Fool in this one is Key 22.
The funeral mask of King Tutankhamen is printed in mirror images
on the backs of cards which simulate early parchment.
There is a blank.
Hieroglyphs and astrological associations complement the imagery.
The Four, Five and Master (King) 0f Pentacles feature
a pentagram with apex down.
Some say this indicates spiritual principles
overcome by material concerns.
Other decks which show such a glyph confine it to The Devil.
The Eight of Cups arranges the symbols in a squashed cube of space.
The Eight of Pentacles are similarly placed on a cube
so squashed it must really be called a rectangular solid.
The Thunder-Struck Tower knocks us off a pyramid.
The Mistress of the Cup is the only dark-skinned character in the deck.

     The major arcanes are named, The Magus,
The Gate of the Sanctuary,
Isi-Urania,
The Cubic Stone,
The Master of the Arcanes,
The Two Ways,
The Chariot of Osiris,
The Balance and the Sword,
The Veiled Lamp,
The Sphinx,
The Tamed Lion,
The Sacrifice,
The Reaping Skeleton,
The Two Urns,
Typhon,
The Thunder-Struck Tower,
The Star of the Magi,
The Twilight,
The Dazzling Light,
The Rising of the Dead,
The Crown of the Magi and
The Crocodile.

     Invited to tell you of its intention, the Egyptian Tarot offers The Veiled Lamp, Key 9.  Here’s an excerpt from The Tarot Gypsy Tales:

THE HERMIT

Leave town.  It’s time to head for the hills.
Go as you are.  Follow your own star.
 Pass all the neon signs, motels, truck
stops, used car lots, to where trees begin
and drag strip narrows to shady lane.
Park here.  That’s right.  Get out and walk, dear.
Just beyond this bend you’ll find the trail.
There is plenty of time.  From here on
keep silence.  No radio, tee vee,
no mass mind.  Your quest is to listen

for your own voice, deep in your heart’s throat.
It hasn’t had much of a chance, so
it’s feeble, but grows with attention.
You must keep what you hear to yourself.
This is sacred initiation.
Inquire within.  Seek.  Find.  Your mind’s pure.
You prepare for service.  You must trust
yourself with no supervision or
relief.  Your third eye’s intuition
will guide your survival.  If you fail

there will be no trace.  You will learn how
to die artfully.  How to transcend.
Continue into the mystery.
When you come to a cave, reach into
your pants.  Play with yourself till you’re through.
Self-sufficiency is ritual.
Contemplate dual divinity.
Turn to meet androgyne who knows all:
Benevolence.  Discretion.  Kindness.
Spinning and weaving of time secrets.

Ask what you’ve always wanted to know.
The Wise One takes off a hooded robe.
Its cosmic protection is yours now.
Here are the distaff and the lantern.
All answers are yours.  The Wise One smiles,
quite naked, patient, prudent, assures
you till you’re certain you can do this.
Glows down path to help those who dare to
find themselves climbing up out of town.
You find yourself shining lantern down.

     This LWB compares this deck to Tarot of Marseilles,
the French classic and makes no mention of Madame Maddonni.

     This Mat  has caught a fish, a bird, a pot and a label.
This Bateleur  has dice, cards, a cup, a bird and a top hat on his table.
This Papesse  wears a nun’s winged wimple.
This Imperatrice  has a mythic bird on her shield.
This Empereur’s shield’s bird’s made mirror-image.
This Pape  has five supplicants and a mustache.
Four pair of Amoureux  are in Cupid’s range of fire.
This Chariot, in profile, isn’t moving.
This Justice  has green hair.
This Ermite  is very fat.
This Roue de Fortune  has heads on its spokes.
This Force  is in reverie.
This Pendu  hangs by his left foot.
This Mort  has lopped a crowd of limbs.
This Tempérance  pours liquid gases.
This Diable  has people for pets.
This Maison Dieu  topples without apparent cause.
This Etoile  is blue.
This Lune  is too.
This Soleil  shines on a desert.
This Jugement  calls on a man and two women.
This Monde  looks like Eve.

     When do we consult this oracle?  Ace of Swords.  New ideas.
Let’s treat ourselves to some from The Tarot Gypsy Tales:

     THE ACE OF BLADES is the card of originating thought forms.
It’s about focusing attention on specific ideas.
It’s about concentrating one’s intellect to create personal belief systems,
individual patterns of communication, taking authority for one’s lifestyle.

The unicorn is symbol of the sword
and emblem of the word.
White-bodied, scarlet-headed, blue-eyed lord
is stallion of the herd.
The stud is universally adored.

His capture eludes all but virgin girls.
Somehow he sniffs them out.
They make him twist and shout.
Those who have heard insist his throat unfurls
the sound of bells.  They say that when he curls
his horn in virgin lap
he’s vulnerable to huntress’ trap.
But once she’s out of sight, away he whirls. 

Medicine Woman Tarot
by Carol Bridges
published by U.S. Games Systems, Inc., 1989
book: The Medicine Woman Inner Guidebook, 239 pages
non-traditional card titles, with traditional sub-titles
eight: Strength; eleven: Justice
suits are pipes, bowls, arrows and shields
courts are apprentice, totem, lodge and exemplar
illustrated pips, no captions
backs non-symmetrical
purpose: Totem of Bowls, Prince of Cups

     “All of the characters depicted herein are roles that you play,
people in your life, archetypal forces, and
medicine helpers rolled into one.
At the same time, they depict a path of life,
the laws of manifestation,
the biochemical interaction of cells,
the evolution of humanity and your daily encounters….

     ”The first eight cards tell you how to manifest a thing into being:
Plant the seed idea (card zero Seed).
Take stock of resources, both earthly (1 Resources)
and spiritual (2 Seeker).
Practice contentment by nurturing and appreciating
what you have been given (3 Bounty).
Take command of that which needs to be changed (4 Command).
Present your idea to the world (5 Peacemaker).
Maintain your inner/outer balance (6 Ecstasy).
Take note of your achievement (7 Warrior).

     “Cards 8 through 14 bring you into a deepening inner phase of life
to explore more fully the subtle spiritual forces that work through you;
healing (card 8),
inner guidance (9 Guide),
karma (10 Harvest),
balance (11),
vision (12),
the end of what is no longer needed
for your spiritual advancement (13 Sunset), and
the integration of your new-found truths (14 Blend).

     “Cards 15 through 21 raise you to communication with spirit ancestors
and the wisdom of ancient ways, providing you with help as you more clearly see and are able to tackle problems as big as the world.
As you travel the spiraling wheel,
you are led through the depths of the human dilemma
to the peaks of cosmic consciousness where
you become dancer on top of the world.
Now you more skillfully chose your dance ground and those with whom to live passionately and fulfill your spiritually rich earthly life.

     “As the nervous system receives, integrates and transmits knowledge,
consciousness goes through three stages
to accomplish major life changes.
You have been programmed by DNA in every cell to spiral onward until,
as your awareness increases,
you are more and more able to take over the job of programming yourself.
In other words, you are meant to become a Goddess,
a Creator of your own reality.
     “The beginning of this awareness of self-creation,
I call the Medicine Path,
and you who walk on it, a Medicine Woman.
‘Medicine’ is used in the Native American sense to mean ‘healing.’
It is a force which corrects that which was out of balance.
I use the words ‘Medicine Woman’ rather than ‘Medicine Man’
because the medicine of this deck means to restore balance within society
and individuals, and it is the feminine aspect which we currently need.
Whether you are male or female, this deck is meant
to bring the feminine healing aspect of you into realization.”

     Seed shows a woman sowing in summer.
Resources shows a shaman calling Spirit.
Seeker shows a woman holding a mirror beside a river.
Bounty shows a mother suckling her babe.
Command shows a chief at council fire.
Peacemaker shows a teacher addressing students from all races.
Ecstasy shows lovers approaching.
Warrior shows a brave on a rearing horse.
Healing shows a woman with child and creatures.
Guide shows a woman in hooded robe.
Harvest shows cornucopia.
Balance shows man and nature in sustainable relationship.
Vision shows a woman communing with her reflection in a pool.
Sunset shows a Grand Canyon scene.
Blend shows a woman pouring cup to bowl.
Trickster shows a man leaving family behind.
Pierced Shield shows lightning striking the Native symbol of identity.
The Grandfathers shows disembodied ancestors.
The Grandmothers shows guidance during sleep.
Rebirth shows a young family at peace.
Discernment shows a young woman dreaming.
Dancer shows a group of women celebrating.

     The card which would speak with us now is Totem of Bowls,
Dolphin, The Swimmers, the Prince of Cups.
To relate this deck with the others,
let’s take these words from The Tarot Gypsy Tales:

THE PRINCE OF CUPS stands for taking risks in each relationship.
He acts on emotions, initiates interactions, buoyed by oceanic depths.
This gentle penetrator dares love and fear,
is prey to all sorts of attractions,
enjoys his profound effect on others.

Supreme Lord of the Dance, our Shiva, god
of sensuality,
epitomizes ideal lover.  Nod
in his direction.  See
if you can raise, can ride his golden rod.

His rhythm marks the time and space of all
materialized form:
the constant movement, norm,
the beating heart that sounds in central hall,
the music that begins in newborn squall
and ends in rattling death.
His gift is feeling when to take in breath
and when to let it out, to lift the pall.

     This is one of the black and white line drawing decks which illustrate
The Tarot Gypsy Tales.
It’s also the imagery I use for my book covers and logos,
thanks to generous copyright permission.
I love the oxymoron of simple elaborate style.
This deck “successfully combines traditional Tarot symbols
with decorative elements found in art of the Middle East,
most specifically India and the Turkish Empire
during the 18th and 19th centuries.”

The LWB includes a color guide for each card.
     This Fool is a Gypsy with four aces.
This Magician levitates his tools.
This High Priestess clutches a scroll of hieroglyphics.
This Empress plays with a parrot.
This Emperor wears a turban.
This Hierophant looks right, accessing left brain.
These Lovers are sultan with sultana in back bend.
This Chariot churns up dust.
This Strength chats with her lion by a campfire.
This Hermit looks askance.
This Wheel has an eye for a hub.
This Justice is a Gypsy with a gavel.
This Hanged Man is bound like a bat.
This Death is a mountain overlooking a valley.
This Temperance covers chalice with palm.
This Devil has four arms, fangs, and a spider pendant.
This Tower disintegrates.
This Star is a diorama.
This Moon glows on a Gypsy rotel.
This Sun smiles on a supine baby.
This Judgment is heralded by Shiva.
This World looks out from a palace window.

     The Wheel is the card which stuck in the box
and had me looking and looking for it.
So it wins the place of honor:
It’s narration comes from The Tarot Gypsy Tales:

     THE WHEEL OF FORTUNE is the never ending,
forever changing field of motion, experience, opportunity, event, possibility, and karma that spins the rise and fall of opposites,
gain, loss, and culmination.
Rest assured that you will reap what you have sown.
The open hand gives all, receives all.
Balance frees us to view the cosmos objectively.
The circle shows the unique mandala of individual life
in the grand tapestry of the universe.
Imagination has a better chance than ego with the sphinx’s riddle.

Spider Woman overlooks her weaving.
She can hardly believe she has spun this
world of her own stuff.  Fine handiwork shines
in pale moonlight.  It’s alive.  Eternal
milky mandala transforms as she smiles,
watching countless creatures climb up and down
white sticky wheel.  Eight separate eyes see
the infinite comings and goings.  Eight
silken spokes stretch roads to the rim of her
circle.  Sweaty palms and good balance are

the charm for navigating this spinning
round.  Survivors don’t get stuck in the negs
any more than we propound all is well.
Between shadow and light, action and rest
sickness and health, poverty, wealth, we dance
this fairy’s ring to music of the spheres.
Whole zodiac whirls around central hub.
Each planet sings its rhythm, dark before
dawn before dark.  Ferris wheel carries us
up and over, down to doldrums and back.

We know when we near the bottom that all
will look up.  Recalling our place on disk
we won’t succumb to false pride or despair.
Folks who ride the cups on the big hoop’s edge
can get dizzy, where life seems so busy
we lose contact with the still, stable pole
of her cosmic clock.  Riding up we know
spirit.  Riding down we ground ourselves in
time and space, synchronize personal
seasons with the universal cycles.

No position is better than others.
Winners anticipate orbit’s tempo,
get in the swing, contemplate eyes’ center
for unity, rim’s boundless energy
for life.  Amoral Arachne holds sword
of truth in a gossamer galaxy.
She’s woven web to the top of each head.
Imaginative chanting opens us
to her unending love.  Spider Woman
gives us the fortitude to keep changing.

     “The Renaissance Tarot has some features that do not derive from extant decks dating from the Renaissance,
but are in harmony with interests of the period.
All twelve of the deities of Olympus, and other classical gods and demi-gods, have been associated with the major arcana cards.
In the description of each card,
the Greek name is given, with the Roman name in parentheses.”

     Il Matto’s companion deity is Dionysus (Bacchus), with a leopard.
Il Bagatto’s companion deity is Hermes (Mercury) with a crane.
La Papessa’s companion deity is Demeter (Ceres) with a cat.
L’Imperatrice’s companion deity is Hera (Juno) with a peacock.
L’Imperatore’s companion deity is Zeus (Jupiter) with an eagle.
Il Papa’s companion deity is Poseidon (Neptune) with a horse.
Gli Amanti’s companion deity is Aphrodite (Venus) with a pair of doves.
Il Carro’s companion deity is Ares (Mars) with a hawk.
La Giustizia’s companion deity is Athena (Minerva) with an owl.
L’Ermita’s companion deity is Hephaestus (Vulcan) with a salamander.
La Fortuna gestures before a wheel showing all the trumps.
La Forza’s companion deity is Herakles (Hercules) with a lion.
L’Impicatto’s companion deity is Prometheus with a vulture.
La Morte’s companion deity is Hades with Cerberus,
the three-headed hound of hell.
La Temperanza’s companion deity is Ganymede, immortalized,
for his beauty, by Zeus.
Il Diavolo’s companion deity is Pan with a goat.
La Torre’s companion deities are Icarus and Phaeton;
both went too close to the Light.
La Stelle’s companion deity is Astraea with a swan.
La Luna’s companion deity is Artemis (Diana) with a dog and a stag.
Il Sole’s companion deity is Apolla with a dolphin.
L’Angelo’s companion deity is Achilles with a phoenix.
Il Mondo holds a wreath of victory on a hillside
overlooking a Renaissance city-state.

     L’Imperatore would have a word with us on behalf of this deck.
Let’s give him voice via The Tarot Gypsy Tales:

THE EMPEROR
Wake up, little boy.  This is the day
of your coronation.  You must leave
dreams behind you now.  Say good-bye
to this nursery chaos.  Pronounce “I”.
Say “I see“, “I can”, “I will”, “I win”.
It’s your responsibility.
These are your new garments.  Not quite
as loose as what you have been wearing.
Lambskin will protect your innocence
as you must now protect your empire.

No whimpering.  Come to this window.
All that you see is yours to command.
You must order each person, each place,
each event from now on.  Your names
will be recorded so you must not miss
a thing.  You must build every city,
every state and every nation;
civilize this overgrown jungle.
You are now judge and jury so hurry
and here is your scepter.  It’s best

to hold it in your right hand, to prove
that you rule by reliable
discipline, divine right, air, fire.
Reason alone will not do this job.
You may consult your consort; here’s Her orb.
Yours is now to learn to be Her lover.
Be warned She won’t tolerate any form
of drunken disorderly decadence.
You must classify Her every impulse.
You must discover principles hidden

in problems of all sorts, must supervise,
define, limit, specialize and set laws.
You must derive the constitution.
Your duty is to fight for truth.
You will be seen as a man of war.
Here is your crested helmet, coat of arms.
You must always seem confident.
You must insist on stability.  Yours
is the empire and the power, if not
glory forever.  Keep a stiff upper.

     These are like flash cards for learning the paths on the Tree of Life,
along with all their associations.
The authors place Tarot and astrology as
“subsystems of the all-encompassing science of qabbalah.”
The pack helps me to know how much the pictures
are part of my notion of Tarot.
How much feeling and intuition inform intellect as I use The Cards.
This deck is pretty abstract,
though the LWB insists on addressing all ways of knowing.

“The ‘Tree’ consists of eleven sephiroth
(spheres of influence and energy)
connected with each other by twenty-two paths.
Both the sephiroth and the paths are numbered;
associated with them are certain color-codes, deities,
states of consciousness and much more.
 The Tree is an open-ended yet precise system of classification
that can guide both reason and intuition,
activating both hemispheres of the human brain/mind.
Numerology, astrology and the Hebrew and Greek alphabets
provide entrances into this system, as does
knowledge derived from mythology, comparative religion and
the psychology of the conscious and unconscious….

     “The colors used in this Tarot
as well as the associations concerning planets,
zodiacal signs, Hebrew letters and ‘astral beings’
(the two names on each of the cards numbered 2 through 10)
are those used in the qabbalistic tradition as it has been taught by
the Order of the Golden Dawn and others.
However, we have updated the Tree of Life according to information available in the twentieth century and have incorporated the ‘newly’ discovered planets (Uranus in 1781, Neptune in 1846 and Pluto in 1930).”

     The major arcana are represented as paths connecting the minors,
points of emanation of divine light.
The complex information is presented in a simple and direct pattern.
The same structure appears on each card,
with emphasis on the specific elements relevant.
The minors and courts light up progressive lines on the glyph,
illustrating manifestation in the suits.
This deck can help to imprint vast concepts.

     The Princess of Wands has stepped forward
to personalize the pack for us.
Let’s turn to The Tarot Gypsy Tales  for words:

     THE PRINCESS OF WANDS embodies meditative messages.
Untamable fire spirit in each of us, she illumines by her dance.
She’s propelled from within.
Brilliant in her vigor, she inspires us to focus on our highest selves.
She dreams our global peace and harmony.

Precocious child, come settle here and tell
your tidings of surprise.
Report of happenings where visions dwell.
Speak of your inner eyes.
Our spirits wait.  Awaken every cell

with new insight.  Suggest our other roles.
We gain from guidance now.
Sit near and tell us how
to take the tiger’s tail and stoke the coals,
stir up enthusiasm, dream new goals.
Come teach us of the East.
Proclaim it time for intuition’s feast.
Play hostess.  Introduce us to our souls.

     It’s no small task for a pack of cardboard flash cards….

from a letter of satisfaction in San Diego:

“Dear Carol Jean,
Oh, believe me, my copy of Tarot Comparisons
so far surpasses anything I expected
that I’m almost speechless!
Truly, I have never seen anything like it.
There’s no way a person could tell someone else what this book is like –
you just have to experience it.

“The Reading you did for me by e-mail was wonderful.
I have taken it deeply to heart and have already begun to act….
The Reading... was stunning in the way that it totally corroborates
(my knowing)
and yet you gave new information and insight – and a JOLT!
I had to really face certain motivations that absolutely have been there
but never acknowledged.
And the Reading was beautiful.

“I almost e-mailed you after I received it to ask what deck you had used,
but then I thought, “Oh, it probably was the Rider Waite
because that’s what one so often sees people use.”
Now, of course I know it was the Jungian Tarot…..
(In your review of your favorite deck in Tarot Comparisons,)
I especially love,
“When will we fully surrender to The Oracle?”
I plan to run around saying this to myself!

“After seeing and holding and smelling and listening to
Tarot Comparisons,
nothing could keep me from asking you to please send me
my very own copies of
The Tarot Gypsy Tales and The Tarot Gypsy Trips.
My pleasure in this utterly scrumptious red red red piece of art
is so intense it’s almost excruciating.
Bless you, Carol Jean, for doing this work in the world we live in now.
Affectionately, D. S. B."
 

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And thanks!

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