Description From Its Main Page – Spirit Hill Tarot

Heading of the Spirit Hill Tarot main page

: Explanation :
The Main Pages of my Tarots aren’t posts on this blog;
They must be on the site where they’re published & sold;
But you can’t find them there by searching here;
And the formatting there is impoverished;
So i copied the main gist here.
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Basic Menu For Spirit Hill Tarot:
More links are inside the text below.

{-here-} .. .. The deck’s main page
You can buy it or get the free downloads.
The text you see here is also shown there.

{-here-} .. .. In an art gallery
This is the best way to look at the cards.

{-here-} .. .. Testimonial
A review of the deck, written by a friend.

{-here-) & {-here-} .. Enclosed Documents
The papers that are packaged with the deck.

{-here-} .. .. Tarot Overview Page
About all my Tarots plus lots of related stuff.

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Dear Reader Note:
Spirit Hill is the 2nd deck i created, while i was well
established as a leader, artist & teacher among
New England’s Pagans. .. So, as you’ll see,
i felt perfectly free to experiment.
-sr

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Stone Riley’s Spirit Hill Tarot
A Tarot to fill your eyes with meaningful
shape and color
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Description
A deck by a Tarot master, after a 2-year study
of the masters of Modern Painting.

See the cards: ..
Scroll down to the “See it in action” section.
Or see them stand still: .. {-Here-}

Here’s a testimonial written by a friend .. {-here-}

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I made this Tarot after completing a 2-year study of several
masters of Modern Painting.

First i turned 50 years old, and moved out to the wooded
mountains.

Then i finally stood back, looked at my canvases in their
dozens, .. congregated on my walls, gathering dust in corners,
.. and realized there was a Tarot there waiting to be photo-
-edited onto cards. ..

.. .. Apparently that’s what the furious obsession had been for.

I’d started at a Boston Museum exhibit of Van Gogh, .. which
struck me speechless; .. .. .. .. Finally quit when i got a canvas
like the 1980’s, .. .. Stuff learned from Basquiat, the 1980’s
New York City Van Gogh. .. .. And in his days i’d still been
a lost soldier.

Looking at that canvas on my wall, .. .. in my mind the picture
became “Ten Of Air”, .. .. recalling Basquiat’s appalling drug
addiction and early death, .. .. And recalling that card’s caption
in my first deck: .. .. “Desolate ruin of past delusion.” ..

That’s when i stopped and looked around, and found a Tarot
near completed; .. .. Only lacking Tarot’s orderly and optimistic
sub-set of cards.

In other words, i made this deck because it must be made.

You understand, i’d closely studied Van Gogh’s life and death,
.. grew to feel i knew his spirit, .. .. from that became convinced
of the old rumor, .. .. The story NOT reported to police: ..

.. .. By story’s end, .. .. Him properly discharged from the well-
-run Saint Paul’s Mental Hospitial, .. .. He was all done with
drug abuse. .. .. Yes, his death was ACCIDENTAL shooting, ..

.. .. By a cruel neighbor lad taunting him, .. Wantonly waving
a pilfered pistol at him, .. .. That cruel lad with younger friends
out playing cowboys, .. .. Cruelly teasing about Van Gogh’s dirty
clothes, or such, ..

.. .. All of whom the mortally injured ARTIST then PROTECTED,
.. him INSISTING it was SUICIDE!

.. .. The young avant guarde artists in Paris came out for his wake.

.. .. In this Tarot, Van Gogh is the Buddha figure “King Of Water”.

.. .. After all, life is art. … Life is the greatest art.

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When there’s time before a reading, .. I’ll show my 3 Tarots &
let Client choose. .. .. This one, the 2nd, is only rarely chosen.

I need to be brief, but i speak some truth about each, wanting
Client to have what’s best for them. ..

.. .. And introducing the Spirit Hill will depend on my first
impression of Client, .. .. For i go either Historical or Technical: ..

.. .. I’ll say either “it’s colorful exciting Modern Art” .. .. or else
it’s for “people who take in information thru the eyes, from
color & shape.” ..

.. .. Either way, those few who choose Spirit Hill, choose it
quickly and emphatically; .. .. “!!THIS ONE!!!” they’ll say.

I hope they’re never disappointed. .. But it’s been years since
i made this Tarot.

Whereas the charming Singing Fish are new, .. .. Emphatically
Modern Art too, .. .. .. .. Yet for them the coloring’s like an
evocative Film Noir twilight, .. .. and their captions are elongated
into Film Noir plots as well: .. little action-oriented stories.

But then when client asks their question, .. .. and i start laying
out these 6-sided cards in their “Twining Vine” layouts; .. .. Now
the question’s logic flows like LIFE ENERGY flows, in all directions
where things touch, ..

.. .. And sometimes suddenly we’re sitting there, .. maybe under
a vine-draped arbor, .. maybe beside a road, .. in a garden, ..
.. in Ancient Greece!

And i sometimes seem to recall a life there, .. Beside the busy
road to Eleusis. .. In a garden’s shade, at a simple wooden
table, with pebbles in a basket, .. Where we advised the earnest
travelers how to find their souls.

That’s how i think the Spirit Hill cards’ magic works best .. ..
Like a full sudden discovery, like an initiation; .. .. For Clsssical
Tradition breathes in some Modern Art; .. .. Just scroll down,
and look at some of these challenging faces.

And you’ll see my Basquiat, a despairing MINOTAUR, is perhaps
the most utmost challenge.

.. While my Vincent smiles as sparkling King Of Water,
a Buddha of infinite compassion.

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I have a novel set on the road to Eleusis .. {-here-}
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To view the cards, either scroll down to the “See it in
action” section; (which actually isn’t in this blog post)
OR:
You can see them {-here-} in a nice art gallery.
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Components:
2 Documents
1 Hexagon deck of 78 cards
1 Parts bag, medium, red
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Spirit Hill Tarot’s 2 Enclosed Documents:
The folded papers packaged with the deck.

They are from my handbook “Documents For The Reader”.
Each is 4 pages printed on the front & back of 2 sheets,
giving you 4 tightly folded papers with the deck.

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The 1st .. .. {-HERE-)
Is Titled .. .. “How I Started In Tarot And You Can Too”.

It begins with these words: ..

..”Your experience having serious conversations with people
.. about life’s difficulties will be far more useful than any prior
.. Tarot experience.”

.. .. then goes on into a complete method of intimate healing
conversation guided & empowered by the cards.

There’s an interesting section called “Further Study”.

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The 2nd .. .. {-HERE-}
Is Titled .. .. “Poems For The Reader: A Gift For You”

First there is a dramatic 1/4-page poem introducing you to
the shamanic Psychological Magic used in divination.

Your next 2 & 3/4 pages has illustrated poems helping you
learn Tarot’s 22-card orderly & optimistic sub-set, the Major
Arcana cards.

Your final page gives a selection of poems trying to convey
my Moral & Spiritual Teaching about divination.

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All this is in my book “Documents For The Reader” .. {-here-}

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(- Here is the end of this blog post.-)