Hello everyone
Just two things to say. Firstly the printer has opened up sales to Australia (and hopefully other USPS blocked countries). And secondly I’ve (hopefully) fixed the Contact form now.
Let me know how that goes.
Kind Regards
Sarah
Category: Uncategorized
Asherah Tarot Release (Poker Size)
Today I have opened a store on a US based Print on Demand service and released a Poker size version of the Asherah Tarot Third Edition. Poker size cards are 63mm x 88mm, (2.5″ x 3.5″), so this is a small size deck. It comes in a tuck box and has 10 extra cards, which have interpretations of all the cards and correlations to the Qabalah. I am very happy with the colours and feel of this deck, and although it is small, it is glorious!
Click here to purchase deck.
There will be future releases of larger size decks, as and when I find appropriate printers for them, but I decided that I might as well start selling the Poker size deck now. It’s possible I will release a tarot size deck from the same printer if they can provide good proofs, but best case scenario is that won’t be for three or four weeks. Worst case is I might need to find another printer altogether for the Tarot size, as I certainly will have to for the deluxe large version.
I am also looking at Print on Demand options for other parts of the world, because the big problem at the moment is international shipping prices. It’s impossible to say how this will pan out as so many POD companies seem to be in difficulties or raising their prices exponentially. I have the files ready to make the decks so it’s just a question of finding the producers. If you are aware of any good POD options in your region please let me know.
Thanks as always for all your support and encouragement. I am working towards more releases as soon as possible, and planning a hard copy book soon too.
Watch this space!
Love Sarah
Tiger Star (and release news)
Hello again all you lovelies!
Sadly the printer I was hoping to use appears to be unable to produce cards with structural integrity. The coating is not adequately sealed and deteriorates quickly which is a shame because they got the colours spot on. This is unfortunately an unacceptable defect and so I am on the hunt for another printer. This of course pushes everything along into 2022. On the good side the worldwide shipping issues caused by the pandemic might have eased by then. It has not been an easy time for self publishing!
I’m very grateful for your patience and encouragement. All the kind people who have contacted me expressing interest should know that each message lifts my spirits and gets me back to work. For me the road of self publishing has been fraught from the start as I am sure it is for everyone. I am getting used to the struggle though now and starting to see a lot more possibilities. In a way the delays have been beneficial, because my perspective has changed a lot, and I have had time to format the Tarot size, which I am starting to realise is my key product, being large enough to show off the artwork and small enough to be affordable to ship and produce.
Regarding the pdf of the guide book, I am still willing to send out copies. Just contact me via the form. It will get updated and hard copied eventually.
And finally I have shared the new Princess of Wands, as a thank you for your support, and to honour my dear sweet kitty cat who died last week at the age of 20 and who was integral to the creation of the cards. He is included in this card because he is the original Tiger Star.
A Happy Holiday to you all and Best Wishes for the New Year
Love Sarah
Release News!
Hello everyone, I have some news at last on the third edition release. As I have mentioned before I have been working on formatting a Tarot sized deck. I have recently received test copies of the deck printed by a US based manufacturer that I am very happy with, and I am planning to release a Tarot size deck and a Poker size deck as soon as possible. I need to fix the boxes and order samples of those and with shipping being slow these days that will probably take another month, but after that I will be good to go, so I can certainly say we will have something happening in time for the Winter solstice if not before. I won’t be doing fund raisers or preorders, because this manufacturer doesn’t really do bulk discounts in the same way as some of the Chinese manufacturers, but their prices are very affordable. As soon as I have a sample I am totally happy with, I’ll just open up the shop for sales.
There will still be a large deluxe edition, which I might need to fund raise for, but that will be next year some time. I decided to work on the smaller versions first to get used to box making tools and vector graphics, and I must say, the Tarot size is very pleasant to use and to look at. I am loving the richness of colours that this new printer had achieved!
Anyway I will get to work on those boxes now and keep you all posted of how things are progressing.
Regards
Sarah
Asherah Tarot 3rd edition release update.
Hello everyone, I hope you are doing okay in these strange times.
I thought it was about time I gave you an update on how things are progressing with the deck release. I have done quite a bit of work adapting the deck to a new size…Tarot size, and so I want to release three sizes, Poker, Tarot and Large, but I might end up releasing them one at a time.
I have also recently started to learn how to make boxes and packaging and that is again delaying the release. I am sorry to those of you waiting but I can only say that when it finally arrives it will be as good as I can make it. There are so many graphic skills that I have to learn as I am primarily a visual artist. On the good side it seems my brain is feeling very receptive to these new programs now so I am really enjoying the process.
I can’t give a date at this point but let’s hope it’s before summer is out.
Sarah
DEATH
DEATH
© Sarah Wheatley 2015
“As a culture we are in love with the idea of Death, and it feeds our creativity and desires. We intuit that Death is the true goal of life, the great release that we secretly long for. The Death drive is Thanatos, the will to die, the complement of Eros, the will to live. It can also be interpreted as the missing other, the black hole at the heart of the human psyche that we always long to fill, but never can. It is the wound of being born which we hope death will heal. Pain from this wound is the root cause of all reckless and self destructive behaviour, and paradoxically also the source of our greatest creativity and evolution. Awareness of our own mortality is the unique quality of human consciousness.”
HANGING
HANGING
© Sarah Wheatley 2015
From my book…
“In a colloquial sense, the term Hanging refers to unstructured and apparently unproductive passing of time as well as the loss of control of a situation. Hanging may seem like a negative experience from a material perspective, as it usually involves the loss of status and possessions, but it’s actually a profound evolutionary process. A total inversion of perspective erases our restricting social imprints, habitual limitations and assumptions and allows a new potential for creative and personal development to emerge. All the superfluous and outdated aspects of the persona are stripped away so that the individual can be reborn. Even in a purely physical sense, the inverted poses of Yoga are often the most powerful and healing. A Yoga Inversion swing has to be one of the greatest tools for self liberation in existence. Hanging upside down decompresses the spine and allows the free flow of vital energy. The blood rushes to the head and refreshes the intelligence. The inversion experience is one of the reasons why the flying fox, an animal that roosts upside down is my personal totem.”
Three of Cups
I got the idea for this card by looking at pictures of ancient Greek pottery. They do wonderful drinking cups in this shape with stylized eyes on them, so I thought it might be fun to make the eyes more lifelike.
Wine, dancing, music, communion in cups. This is a real human connection that is very powerful but often also illusory and temporary. It’s wise as Crowley of all people points out, to distrust the good things in life. And yet without experiencing those moments of Bacchanalia we can never really grow to our full potential. People who never lose control are living in fear of their own inner beast. And fear is a half life.
In a more literal sense these are three muses that appear so often in this card, three women in fact, whose coming together is so often the catalyst of great things in life. Certainly it has always been this way in my life. It also depicts the increasing effect of each glass of wine. I think it is very often women who make the connections between people blossom. Without the great sea of common affection and support that exists between women, the human race would have gone extinct millenia ago.
Three of Discs
When you hurt a spider
You hurt the goddess.
This card is the suit of form in the sphere of form, Binah. Binah is the dark mother so I chose spiders to represent her. The spiders are Arachne, the weaver, who creates beautiful but useful art. Anyone who has seen a spider web sparkle with early morning dew knows the meaning of aesthetic functionality.
Personally I am a great believer in useful art. Art that is used every day becomes a part of people, seeps into their consciousness much more effectively than art that sits on a gallery wall. It is devalued by the establishment because of its feminine attributions, just as Binah, the dark mother has been, and by association, the beautiful spider. These are the type of spider that decorate my garden, and in fact the whole city, dangling everywhere from trees and power lines and reaching sometimes the size of a mans’ hand. They aren’t white though…that is my artistic license and a symbol to me of trying to subvert the cliche of evil dark spiders. My spiders are the good guys. There is certainly nothing to fear from Golden Orb Weaver spiders, whatever colour they are, unless you are an insect. They are such industrious and creative creatures, but they also know how to wait, which seems to me the perfect formula for work of a spiritual and artistic nature.
If you want to understand more about the Qabalah and the system and meaning it gives to the minor arcana there is no better book on the subject than Dion Fortunes “Mystical Qabalah”. Witty, amusing and crystal clear…there are very few occult tomes you could say that about. Quite often she makes me laugh out loud.
Hell of Mirrors
Hell of Mirrors is a story by Edogawa Rampo. Its about a man who sends himself crazy with mirrors…I’m not going to spoil it more than that. But the general idea is that he was unhinged by being forced to look at his own demon.
Like in the movie Chinese Oddysey, a version of Journey to the West. Monkey is reincarnated as a human and forgets he is King Monkey. But someone gives him a mirror which reflects inner demons, and he is shocked to see his Stone Ape face.
And the Lady of Shallott and her mirror of course, because she is a metaphor for the curse of the artist, doomed to reflect life rather than experience it. Being gifted with a resident demon, such as this one. The DEVIL is a great patron of the ARTS.
A quote within a quote…
“A disturber of the peace, a spoiler, a serpent or corrupting agency is necessary to “get the play going”. It must function as “Lucifer”, a bringer of light, of new information and awareness. Initially the disruptive element will tend to be percieved as evil, and the disturber who personifies it will be rejected and made a scape goat.
The Greek word “DIABOLOS” means “confuser”.
Goethe makes god say:
For, man’s activity can easily abate
He soon prefers uninterupted rest
To give him this companion hence seems best
Who roils and must as devil help create.”
(Faust)
Quite clearly, creativity is implied by the poet as the intention and purpose of the “devils” antagonistic function”.
Whitmont MD
Alchemy of Healing
I’d certainly say that no other card has affected me more strangely than this one, and it still does. I finished it almost a year ago and have kept it hidden away since then. It spread a dark haze over my life last summer but ultimately it has been liberating. Maybe I had to keep painting to come to terms with it. Also to reward those of you who actually read the blurb I have put a photo of me in the in Enter the Tarot page, just to prove I’m really NOT the DEVIL. XD
Not on the surface anyway.
I certainly have one resident though, or maybe even several.