The reimagining and reinterpreting of an ancient oracle takes termerity, time, and energy. Yet it is a task that two local women have undertaken. A new and completely original Tarot deck called The Wayfarer Tarot is the project they have teamed up to create.
Stacy Salpietro-Babb, a Tarot reader and teacher, and Margaret Shipman, an artist and illustrator have a combined vision for a Tarot deck that is relevant to a modern audience. “The traditional deck that is often used, and which most modern interpretations draw from, is geared toward people in the early 1900’s.” says Salpietro-Babb, a Tarot professional with over 20 years of experience, “It used common religious symbolism that was easily understood by people one hundred years ago, but today … not so much. I have to spend a lot of my time during readings explaining what the imagery means and how the meanings relate to the person who I am reading for.”
A good example of this is the Judgment card. In the traditional Tarot deck there is an image of a figure looking down from the clouds and blowing a horn. Pale naked figures stand in coffins with their arms raised toward the figure. In the early 1900’s this picture was easily recognizable as the angle Gabriel, blowing his horn at the last Judgment, when Christians believe all humanity will be answerable for their sins. The real meaning of the card is about passing judgment, being judged, and wonderful things after a period of dormancy. The Wayfarer Deck brings this meaning to light with imagery that has a widespread significance to contemporary people. The Wayfarer Judgment card is a long dark hallway with lockers on the walls, at the end a door standshalf open to a golden light. “The sight of a high school hallway brings up feelings of being judged for me and for most people.” says Shipman, who took a year off from her regular painting practice to focus on illustrating the first part of the Wayfarer deck. “Also that feeling of anticipation is a memory from high school . . . waiting for that time to end so something new could begin.”
Since 1999, Stacy Salpietro-Babb had been eager to collaborate with an artist create a Tarot deck. She has had a lifelong fascination with Tarot cards, teaching herself to read cards without the help of any person, class, or book. It was explained to her that if she waned to learn to read books – then she should read books. But if she wanted to learn how to read cards – then she would have to read the cards. With this advice, she jumped into the mystery of Tarot, learning from the cards. As much as Stacy enjoys reading cards, she found that she also had a love for teaching it to others. For years she has been guiding students in forming a relationship with the spirit of each card.
Margaret Shipman had always been interested in Tarot but learning about it in a meaningful way began for her in the spring of 2013 when she took Stacy’s Tarot class. She found that she loved learning about the mysteries that the cards represent and looked forward to each morning when she would learn about the next card of the day. It was after that first class that Margaret asked if Stacy would be interested in collaborating on a Tarot deck. The two have been working together ever since, forming the ideas that would become the deck called The Wayfarer Tarot, combining Stacy’s vision for the meaning of the card and Margaret’s visual interpretation.
The two have finished the first part of their deck, the Major Arcana. Each image for this part of the deck was created as an original oil painting by Margaret. These twenty-two cards can be used independently from the rest of the deck and so getting this far represents a milestone for the project. While they continue to work on the other fifty-six cards, called the Minor Arcana, they have reached a point where they have a useable deck.
They are offering the first printing of Wayfarer Tarot Major Arcana decks for sale now. People who are interested can pre-order their decks on the Wayfarer Tarot website or contact them at wayfarertarot@gmail.com. They are also offering an online class which begins May 11, 2015 and will focus on teaching students one Wayfarer card a day with a focus on meditation and dream work. The goal of the class is to help students to form a relationship with the Wayfarer Tarot deck and have tools to continue a personal practice of divination and deeper connection with the deck.
Major Arcana Deck – $18.00
Deck and Class – $14.00/deck
and $30 per week ($134.00 total)
Contact: Stacy Salpietro-Babb and Margaret Shipman
https://www.facebook.com/wayfarertarot?ref=hl
http://margaretshipman.wix.com/wayfarertarot
a non scary deck
When I see someone using the traditional deck, I think “they are using the Scary Deck” all because of the images.
Good idea of updating the art, and I like how your example looks. (The middle image above is the re-do of the upper image, in case readers haven’t figured it out.)
Judgement = school hallway : )
viewing other images
Thank you for your positive feedback! If readers are interested in seeing more of the deck, all of the Major Arcana Wayfarer images are on our website.
Follow this link: http://margaretshipman.wix.com/wayfarertarot
Thanks for the link
Wow! That’s quite a project and a lot of artwork.
How big were each of the paintings?
BIG!
They are each 22″h x 14″w. It is a big project! We are currently working on the Minor Arcana. These are ink and acrylic on paper and measure about 9″ high.
We wanted the minor arcana to have a different look from the majors because in a reading it is helpful to be able to distinguish the type of card at a glance. It helps with the narrative the reader is weaving with the person having a reading.
Synchro clocks
My guess is that the most common association of tarot for better worse is fortune telling. Divination by an agent who reads the cards which fall into a certain spot in a layout. Allies, past influences, dreams and goals, a story emerges. Many people fear these readings because they do not wish to know or ruffle the veil. Some even feel compelled to affirm their disbelief in predestination.
Another great use is to lay all the cards out, and see the grand epic of human existence sprawled before our eyes. ‘Leaving the library open all night.’ Throughout the centuries many artists have reimagined the major arcana, it’s always good work if you can get it. Brain food. Bringing the images up to date is a big task, seems like Margaret and Stacy have spent many an hour communing with the portals that are each of these cards.
A third way to use the cards, one hardly known, is to connect with the engine underneath the pictures. Kind of like how binary underlies digital representations, beneath the cards is the genie of synchronicity, accessed by the act of bringing an image into the moment. Shuffle the deck, it could be any image, ask what time it is, turn the cards. It’s emperor o’clock, get busy. It’s nappy moon hour. It’s ok to take a spin time.
There’s a lot to this even if you don’t believe in fortune telling. I hope people still recognize the value and appreciate the world it opens.