The American Tarot Association Quarterly Journal Fall 2008 In This Issue: Chris Butler Interview The Devil, Aces and Queens Publishing Tips Weiser Decks Venus Cards Clutter Consulting With Tarot Website and Deck Reviews Fall 2008 Issue - Table of Contents ATA News President‘s Corner page 1 Board Elections and Mentoring Program page 2 Features Interview with Chris Butler by Melanie Harris page 3 In View of the Devil by Leah Samul page 6 Functionality of the Tarot Aces by Bonnie Cehovet page 9 Clutter Consulting with the Tarot by Bev Hitchins page 12 The Queens: The Source of Power by Linda Gail Walters page 14 Insider Tips to Get Your Tarot Book Published by Melanie Harris page 16 Stars and Cards: Venus Cards by Elizabeth Hazel page 19 The History Geek page 23 Collector‘s Corner: Weiser Decks by Casey DuHamel page 24 Timeless Classics: The Greater Trumps by Sherryl Smith page 27 Reviews Tarot Website Reviews by Linda Gail Walters page 29 The Mystic Dreamer Tarot by Stephanie Arwen Lynch page 32 The Whispering Tarot by Leah Samul page 33 Fantastical Creatures Tarot by Leah Samul page 34 Back Matter Letter from the Editor and Submission Guidelines page 36 Organization Information back page On the Cover: The Ace of Pentacles from the Mystic Dreamer Tarot. Based on the Rider-Waite tradition, featuring updated symbols and imagery, this beautiful deck is designed to stimulate intuition, introspection and in- spiration. Mystic Dreamer Tarot, text by Barbara Moore, artwork by Heidi Darras © 2008. Llewellyn Worldwide Ltd, 2043 Wooddale Drive, Woodbury, MN 55125. Used with the permission and best wishes of the publisher. All rights reserved. ATA News President’s Corner It‘s fall and you know what that means. Elections are upon us! No, not the American version of the WWF Smack Down but the ATA‘s elections. We need you. Please consider running for one of the open Board positions. The meetings are via telephone once a month. We work anywhere from 1.5 to 3 hours making decisions and trying to improve the ATA. And we would love to have you. I want to address something that‘s come up from a few vocal members. This publication is sent out via mail and email. Some have complained that they are paying a higher price and therefore they should not have to see the Quarterly online before it is in their hands. I think there is a mistake sense of entitlement here. The extra money paid to receive the Quarterly in print is not about speed. It‘s about having the publication in your hands physically. That extra money goes to pay for the high cost of printing and mailing the Quarterly. To be honest, those of us who do pay for the print version of the Quarterly are funding one issue a year. I admit that it does bother me to read people who are unhappy with the ATA. Every Board member is approach- able and welcomes input. If we have to stumble across some unhappiness on the web, it makes it very difficult for us to tackle the things that bother you. If we the Board are not doing what you the membership wants, let us know. Overall, I am hearing from happy members who feel that they are getting what they wanted. And we have big things in the pipe! Our member-at-large, Paul Weiss, is actively working with people who want to start local Tarot groups. He is also in charge of a Professional Tarot Consultant Network where we hope to connect readers with one another. Remember that if you do not speak up, we can not do anything. Your voice is our guide. I invite you to write to the board at [email protected]. This will go directly to our Yahoo loop so your letter will be seen by all the Board members. And don‘t forget to step up if you want to help the ATA grow and move forward. Without you, we don‘t exist. Check out the election information in this issue to see what positions will be open. Until next time, Stephanie Arwen Lynch Marilu Mann (writing alter-ego of Stephanie Arwen Lynch) released a novella 9/10/08 called Sapphire Tease. The sequel to her May release will be out 11/07/08 titled Changing Hearts (Lusting Wild 2). ATA Quarterly Journal - Fall 2008 page 1 ATA Quarterly Journal - Fall 2008 page 2 ATA Board Elections The ATA is holding elections this winter for the following positions on its Board of Directors: Vice Presi- dent of Education, Vice President of Communications, Secretary, and Treasurer. Please help us make this a truly democratic election by volunteering to serve on the Elections Committee. The Committee writes up election information, reviews nominees' qualifications, draws up a slate of candidates, creates the ballots, and counts the votes. Most of the work will occur in late December and early January when the nominees' quali- fications must be examined, and again in late February to early March when the votes are counted. The com- mittee disbands in March once the election is completed. If you are interested, please familiarize yourself with the ATA's Elections Procedures at this link http://www.ata-tarot.com/election-procedures.htm . To volunteer or ask questions about the committee or the election process, please contact Sherryl Smith at Sec- [email protected] . The deadline for volunteering is September 30, 2008. The Mentoring Program The mentoring program is available to any member wanting the help of a more experienced reader. We also wel- come experienced readers to join the pool of mentors. This is a wonderful way to meet new people and share ideas. Teachers often learn great things from their students. If you are interested in becoming a mentor or being assigned a mentor, contact Errol McLendon at [email protected]. In the email, briefly explain your background. If you are interested in mentoring, also include the number of students you would be willing to help. ATA Quarterly Journal - Fall 2008 page 3 Interview with Quantum Tarot’s Chris Butler By Melanie Harris Traditional tarots are fine, but using these same designs again and again can get a bit dull after a while. Sometimes we crave something a little more out of the out of the ordinary, and The Quantum Tarot is out of this world. Out this September from Kunati Inc., The Quantum Tarot is a brand new deck that carries far the idea of pure energy embodied in imagery. Here, stars, planets, and subatomic particles mix with cups, swords, wands, and pentacles to reveal new levels of symbolic reality. We wanted to find out more, so we tracked down Chris Butler, the professional artist behind these very intriguing images. From his home in Liverpool, England, this is what Chris had to say. Quarterly Journal: Tell me more about the concept behind the Quantum Tarot. Chris Butler: The concept for the Quantum Tarot came from Kay Stop- forth. Kay had previously published an oracle deck with Thorsons/ Element (now part of Harper Collins) in 1999. Entitled The Universe Cards, each card took stellar imagery from the Hubble Space Telescope or a similar source and combined its divinatory meaning with elements of Quantum Physics and astronomy. The Quantum Tarot evolved out of this concept for two reasons. Firstly, Kay had long thought the basic combi- nation of cutting edge science and divination would benefit if expanded into a full 78-card tarot deck. Secondly, she had never been completely satisfied with the card images in the original version of The Universe Cards. Thorsons had done a stunning job in design and presentation, but Kay had often wondered if a more fantasy-based approach was possible for the artwork itself. As a writer working on her own, this hadn‘t been possible in the late nineties, but a combination of our talents several years later allowed the concept to be born out to her original wishes. QJ: How did you create the artwork for this deck? CB: The artwork was created digitally in Photoshop and our starting point was a selection of photographs taken by the Hubble Space Telescope. I used these and other photographs to improvise collaged images around the card meanings already devised by Kay. The first versions of the cards were completed within a three-month period in early 2006. We had discussed the possibility of working together on the project in January, and we eventually got together mid February for a trial work session, to see whether or not the collaboration would be practical. As it happened, there were no worries. We had an incredibly productive day, with myself putting the images together on the computer and Kay overseeing and giving instructions where necessary. We completed the first versions of the Fool and Death that day, and with both of us more than happy with the results, the stage was set to proceed on the rest of the deck. Over the next few months, we worked together for two or three days a week, often completing four or five images in a day. These work sessions were some of the most intensive I‘ve ever experienced, but seeing the cards emerge was unbelievably satisfying. We posted a lot of the images on the Aeclectic Tarot Forum as they were being cre- ated, and the feedback from our friends there was invaluable. Many of their suggestions were incorporated into the cards, and I know that similarly, Kay received a great deal of constructive advice for the accompanying book.