Last Monday, the 16th, I got a visit from the lovely Elisabeth Alba, who illustrated the
Everyday Witch Tarot. Believe it or not, this was the first time we'd met in person, even though we'd worked together for over two years! We had a great time (with her husband, artist Scott Murphy, and their dog Rayo)--and we signed a bazillion copies of the tarot set. Okay, maybe it just felt like a bazillion, but she had her 30 limited editions and I had my 10, plus we both had extras to sell on their own (or gift to friends).
She posted about the visit on her blog
HERE
She's actually even nicer in person than she had been via our thousands of emails and Facebook messages. And as a few people pointed out, we actually resemble each other! Here's as few pictures from the day.
[In an aside, people seem to be really loving the deck, which makes us both VERY happy.]
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| They're here! Rayo is as excited as I am. |
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| You can see my original painting of the Ace of Cups on the wall behind us. |
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| What do you think? Do we look like we could be related? |
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| Signing the box and the books. |
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| Still signing! |
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| Her pile was bigger than mine, if you can believe it! |
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| Trying to get Rayo to sit still long enough for us to get a picture. Ha! |
It was a real treat to finally meet up, and hopefully it won't be the last time. It turns out that Elisabeth and Scott are both beer lovers like me, so I've invited them to come back sometime to tour the local Brewery Ommegang and just hang out. (They live in Massachusetts, about 3 hours from me, so this may take some planning.)
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YAY for finally getting to meet up! And yes, you totally look related. ^__^
ReplyDeleteI've struggled on and off with tarot for the last few years, ever since first trying to pick it up (and the off parts not being I didn't struggle but that I didn't deal at all, kept putting it aside), but nothing's ever clicked. Then, back however many months ago it's been now, you started showing preview artwork and text for select cards, and my brain went "OKAY, NOW THAT I GET!" Judgment was when I /really/ knew that this was /the/ deck for me. And now that I have it in my hands, I'm only more sure.
I've been using the deck almost daily since receiving it (not historically usual for me, but will be going forward). I took it with me this past weekend to show friends of mine, one of whom is a tarot reader who's been doing so for many years now and is quite advanced (I'm such a newbie ^_^). She had the deck in her hands for only a moment, looking through the cards, and she nodded that, yeah, this was definitely /my/ deck. For argument's sake, I asked what made her say that. She said because she's looking at them, holding them in her hands, and she could hear them calling for /me/, they wanted /me/. I'd sort of thought so too, but I'm still learning to trust myself and what I've learned all my life to ignore and dismiss as "just my imagination, not real", so it was nice to hear that. She said all she could compare it to, to try to explain it to me, was like when Harry Potter picked up the right wand and it as just The. Right. One. (Yes, I know, corny and dramatic, but it's what she said.) And a big reason that it /does/ work for me is that it's so straight-forward. No esoteric symbolism, just very realistic (within reason) images and situations, and I really appreciate that.
I hope it doesn't sound like I think This. Deck. And. All. Copies are mine. No...just my copy, and for whoever else has purchased one - I hope that's a LOT of people - their deck is /their/ deck. But I just really wanted to share how excited I am with this deck. I have many, and a few have tried to get through to me and I've tried to "get" them. This one is the first I've really made such a powerful connection to, and without any of the usual drama and effort.
THANK YOU to both of you!
Yay! I'm so glad you like it.
DeleteI've been reading tarot for over 40 years, and not only have the same personal deck for all these years, but a zillion other decks I've collected for various reasons. This is the first deck I knew from the moment I saw it on the shelf was for me. I grabbed it and haven't really let go. I'm not sure if it's just the beautiful drawings, or the text of the substantial book, but it really touches my heart in a way that is very, very unusual for me. Thank you to both Elizabeth and Barbara for a brilliant creation. The ten of swords in particular is a great re-interpretation of the classic RWS interpretation of that card. Penny in Los Angeles.
ReplyDeleteEnjoy! :-)
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