Description From Its Main Page – The Simple Tarot

( under construction )
( A piece near the end is not quite finished.)

Heading of the Simple 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 The Simple 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-} .. .. Make-It-Yourself Kit
Print the cards and cut them out.

{-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:
Simple Tarot is the first deck i made, in 1979 – ’80.
So this discusses how i started in divination.
-sr

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The Simple Tarot
Readable on sight by any intelligent
perceptive person in our modern world
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Description
A Tarot deck created as equipment in the founding
of American Paganism. .. Therefore designed to be
readable on sight by any intelligent and perceptive
person in the modern world.

Memoir.. .. A South American art critic, who couldn’t
read, speak or understand English, did read these
cards .. {-here-}

See the cards .. Scroll down to the “See it in action”
section. .. .. Or see the cards standing still .. {-here-}

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Over the years;
I’ve used this deck to teach somewhere near a hundred
people to read Tarot.

On the other hand;
Last year i published the Singing Fish Tarot and since
then i’ve found comfort and delight there.

Furthermore, in these months the Fish have been perfect
for the students i’ve taught. .. But they were all beginners
in the work.

When a Serious Student appears i’ll still reach for this one,
the Simple Tarot. .. Why? .. Thru its simple style of depiction,
it likes to tell the full rich details of your situation.

And i’ll tell you why it’s like that.

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I am a Peace Warrior;

A Soldier of Goddess Mother; .. That is something deep
in my soul, something puzzling and ancient remembered
from long ago.

Here in this lifetime, back in 1979, i created the Simple
Tarot, .. .. (in its handmade first edition,) .. .. as a way to
start my self-taught art career, .. .. and step decisively
into a well equipped Human existence.

But that was a puzzling task, for it was a time of WAR.

And i’d first been a leader for that war, .. but finally one
of countless leaders risen in the Anti-War SOLDIERS’
REBELLION, .. where i led, .. Yes, led a friend to his
DEATH in Pacifist Struggle.

And in Human instinct, losing one of your soldiers feels
like the death of your spouse.

So to justify my survival and move forward in strength,
i needed a way to absorb all that Love & Loss, ..

To not let all that Joy & Grief, .. all that Defeat & Victory,
.. that Imprisonment & Freedom, .. that unrelenting Effort,
and Effort, and Effort, .. a way to learn from all of that,

To stop it all from slipping away into forgetfulness
and dreams.

Then, in summer ’78, i got a few Tarot decks, .. Studied
the fine-print little booklets they came with, .. Tried
them out for myself and others, .. .. And realized that
to work well: .. The cards must somehow portray all
of Human Life.

So a new Tarot, .. MY Tarot, somehow come out of my
life, .. seemed like the only kind of art work big enuf,
.. deep, complex and full enuf, .. And therefore, i hoped,
of help to others too, .. .. IF i did it well.

I began doing some sketching, .. Seeking a design that
expressed my ultra-concentrated mind, .. Plus possible
with my neophyte artist skills. .. Until in a public library,
in an Art History book, i discovered an old Chinese style
of making pictures in scrolls called the “iron wire” school.

Then it took 12 months to work thru the 78 cards, ..
Producing for each a concentrated little iron-wire-like
picture, .. plus its scrap of Confucian-style poetry, ..
drawing that on heavy bristol paper with a stencil
and an engineer’s pencil or pen, .. cutting it out. ..
Twelve months to get the first handmade deck.

Then i began reading for the public at once.

A poetic memoir of that beginning time .. {-here-}

A dramatic poem of how that beginning felt .. {-here-}

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In Defense Of Fortunetelling:

I’m a big fan of Wikipedia, the on-line encyclopedia.
When they have a funding drive i give a few coins.

Well, they host a wide array of pro- & con- articles with
titles like: .. “Divination”, .. “Fortune Telling”, .. “Tarot”, ..
“Tarot Reading”, .. “Telepathy”, .. “Spiritualism”,
so forth, ..

Some articles treat this whole phenomenon respectfully.

But some articles denounce it ANGRILY, claiming Almighty
Science disproves it. .. .. (Like as if, until them, all humans
in history were stupid creatures full of silly illusions.)

But in 1978 i’d gone to Software School, and emerged
a neophyte Engineer, .. In other words: .. A PRACTICAL
scientist.

I mean, there was no Wikipedia in 1978, .. But i found
that same anti-experiment chorus in full howl then,
with Federated Oppressive Religions Of America all
dead set against this threat to their fantasy that fear
gave them power inside human minds.

Yes, and even then i was sure something of this kind
is definitely real, .. leaving only whole landscapes and
worlds of amazing details to be found by experimental
investigation.

I knew its reality from a spontaneous experience of
Oriental Meditation during my wartime stress, {-here-}

.. And knew it is real from my observation of sublime
Korean Shamanic Dance. {-here-}

.. Then later, knew its reality from experimenting with
the Oriental belief in re-birth, and recovering some quite
convincing past life memories. {-here-}

YES! .. In this mind-freedom struggle too, i knew i was
a Soldier Of Our Lady!

For even while, in that century, our US. Empire tried to
batter & burn its way into Asia, ..

.. First the appalling total wanton utter obliteration by
bombardment that we did to North Korea, ..

.. Then our clown show Hollywood helicopter cowboy
failed attempted occupation and conquest of China’s
south flank, .. Our failed futile laying waste by every
means possible, to all of Vietnam for 20 years, ..

.. For even while all that US. Capitalist Hell was raining
down, the Spirit-Force of Asia was LIBERATING American
minds.

And my efforts were a contribution where i was.

A memoir of that mental liberation .. {-here-}

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More about the artistic process:

I should tell more of how this deck was created. .. After
all, this story found a place in one of the documents you
get packaged with the deck.

It’s a 4-page document (front & back of 2 sheets) titled:
“How To Start Reading Tarot” {-here-) .. But this story is
in a small section called “Further Study” where it tells
how to really learn the cards.

For indeed, i had dabbled a bit before, but really learned
the cards by creating my version of them.

So here’s how that was for me:

… (-sorry, the last bit still under construction-) …

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By the way: {-here-}
The 2nd 4-page document packaged with this deck:

First it has an exciting 1/4-page poem introducing you to
the kind of Psychological Magic used in divination.

Its next 2 & 3/4 pages contain a set of illustrated poems to
help you learn the 22-card orderly & optimistic sub-set, the
Major Arcana cards.

Its final page gives a few more poems trying to convey my
whole moral and spiritual teaching about divination.

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In closing, will you indulge a fantasy of mine?

Seriously: Now in old age, i foresee my passing as me
becoming a Fierce Ancestor. .. Therefore my fantasy:

In many oriental temples the doors are defended by
statues of Fierce Guardians, giving reassurance as you
enter. .. And seriously: I’ve had profound experiences
while playing similar roles in our Pagan ceremonies.

Well, those guardians sometimes bear symbols for
wise folk passing thru to read and understand.

So i’ve imagined this:

Me after death in this realm, standing there smiling
enigmatically beside an Onward Gate, with a shield
displaying the Major Arcana of this Tarot.

Thanks for your kind attention! -sr

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:Components:
2 Documents
1 Tarot deck of 80 cards
Parts Bag, Medium, Blue
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(- Here is the end of this blog post.-)