Nine Months Until the Tarot Deck! Guest Post by Elisabeth Alba

This is cross-posted from the blog of Elisabeth Alba, who illustrated the Everyday Witch Tarot I wrote for Llewellyn. Here's what she had to say as we hit the (more or less) nine month mark before the deck is released:

Hi All! Well Deborah and I don’t know the exact publication date yet, nor can we share the packaging design, but at least we have less than a year until publication! We’re so excited! We thought it was time to share another image.

The 5 of Wands… when I first read the description that Deborah wrote, I was dreading working on this image. The description: “Five witches in black hats (some tilted crookedly in the heat of the moment) and various color capes are standing around a cauldron. Each holds a parchment scroll (or a toad dangling by one leg, or some herb) in one hand and a wand in another, and they are clearly arguing about who has the best recipe for whatever spell they’re working on. To the right, five cats of different colors are hissing at each other. Unnoticed by the witches, the potion in the cauldron is beginning to seep over the edge and onto the ground and small flames are springing up. The mood is of unnecessary and unproductive argument among people who truly agree.”

The Wands had a few multi-character cards, AND this one included five cats to boot! A daunting composition to figure out.
Here is my rough sketch. You can see I made a few adjustments from the description:

Then I took reference for the witches, using myself as the model for all five of them because I was in Europe at the time and had no one else I could use. The reference is pretty hilarious…

In the end though, it became one of my favorite cards and I love the colors. Here’s the final image (followed by the full text)!

“I know best! No, I do!”
Sometimes it is hard to work with other people. Other times, it’s impossible. “These witches are the best of friends and all of them are skillful and knowledgeable. Just think what they could achieve if they could actually cooperate. Unfortunately, each one is sure that she has the best recipe, or knows the most powerful ingredients, or which direction to stir the pot in. Now they’re so busy arguing, nobody is stirring the pot, and you can almost see the explosion that is sure to come. Let’s hope they come to their senses in time and remember that they can achieve much more working together if they can all just stop trying to be the one who is right. Things to consider: If the Five of Wands shows up in your reading, it probably means that you are dealing with some kind of chaotic situation involving other people. Family, co-workers, friends—whoever it is, they clearly aren’t playing nice together. Are you? Maybe you can be the peacemaker, the one who helps everyone to come together in a more productive way. Maybe this is a situation that can’t be resolved, and you would be better off walking away. Sadly, you can’t make other people behave reasonably, but you can make sure that you aren’t making things worse by letting your ego or pride get in the way of cooperation. You wouldn’t do that, would you?”

The deck will be published by Llewellyn Worldwide in January 2017.
Meanwhile, you should consider pre-ordering the Modern Spellcaster’s Tarot, written by Melanie Marquis and illustrated by my husband, Scott Murphy!

Baba Yaga Novella Preview and Giveaway!

I have been hard at work at the next installments in the Baba Yaga series. I'm midway through the next novel, WICKEDLY POWERFUL, and I just finished the second novella and sent it off to my editor, Leis. It is called Wickedly Ever After, and it revisits the first Baba Yaga, Barbara Yager, taking place after the events of the first two novels, WICKEDLY DANGEROUS and WICKEDLY WONDERFUL. Basically, it asks the question: Can the not-quite wicked witch of the story get a happily ever after?

Of course, you will have to read the novella to find out the answer. (Chuckle.) But since the novella won't be out until January 2016, people have asked me to give them a sneak peek. So here you are! And in case that wasn't enough, I figured I'd do a Baba Yaga themed giveaway too. So I'm giving away a large double-sided tote bag with the covers on either side, and in the bag will be signed copies of each of the two novels, a cool wicked witch magnet, and a few other goodies.

Here's your sneak peak...enjoy! (The giveaway is at the bottom of the page.)

The irresistible sound of a child’s laughter drew Barbara Yager’s eyes out the window as she stood at the kitchen sink washing dishes. A sweet smelling blossom-scented summer breeze floated in the through the open casement carrying with it the unaccustomed joyful noise of childish giggling.

The source of the laughter became apparent as soon as Barbara looked; little Babs, her adopted daughter and pint-sized Baba Yaga in training, was lying on the bright green grass being tickled by Liam, Barbara’s new husband. Her other companion, the dragon Chudo-Yudo in his customary guise as a gigantic white pit bull, relaxed on the lawn nearby, gazing on in benevolent approval.

Barbara couldn’t believe this was her life. After all, it was a far cry from the one she’d lived until recently, a solitary roaming existence with only Chudo-Yudo for company as she traveled the United States carrying out the duties of a Baba Yaga. Not that she’d had any complaints, mind you. It had been the life she’d been raised for as one of a small number of Russian fairy tale witches whose job it was to keep the balance of the natural worlds and guard the doorway between the Human lands and the fantastical Otherworld. She’d never expected anything else.

Not until Liam came along and changed everything.

A call for help brought Barbara to Clearwater Country in rural upstate New York, where Liam dedicated himself to upholding the law as sheriff. To say that their styles had originally clashed would be an understatement; in fact, Liam had for a time suspected her of being behind the disappearances of several young children. With her gleaming royal blue classic BMW motorcycle and black leathers, Barbara hadn’t exact fit in with the local population, and her cover as a traveling herbalist at one point made her look even more suspicious.

Thankfully, they’d eventually uncovered the actual culprit and after Liam found out who and what Barbara really was, they’d worked together to rescue the children, even though that had meant a trip to the Otherworld. While they were there, they had discovered Babs, stolen as a baby and given to Liam’s insane former wife to raise as her own. The unpredictable magic of the Otherworld had caused the infant to be about six when they found her, even though it had been less than a year since she’d been stolen from her murdered parents.

The too-solemn little girl and the antisocial Baba Yaga had been drawn to each other right away, and in the end, Barbara, Babs, and Liam had formed a family, as wonderful as it was unexpected. As the not-quite wicked witch in the story, Baba Yagas rarely got to act the part of the princess. But this time, Barbara thought she’d actually get the happily ever after, as unlikely as that seemed.

All that remained was one technicality, and they were going to take care of that this very afternoon. Barbara glanced down at her hands, sunk deep into soapy water, and acknowledged that she’d probably been stalling. Not because she didn’t want to return to the Otherworld, which was something of a second home to her when she was growing up, but because nothing was ever certain there—especially when the High Queen was involved. Still, the moment couldn’t be delayed any longer, or the Queen might consider it an insult, and that could be a fatal error.

Barbara wiped her hands on a dishtowel and opened the back door that looked out over the yard. Back doors and yards were just one of the many changes she’d had to get used to after years of traveling in the shiny silver Airstream trailer she’d inherited from her mentor Baba, who had lived long enough to oversee its conversion from the original Baba Yaga’s hut on chicken legs so renowned in Russian folklore.

The old yellow farmhouse was far enough outside of the town of Dunville to give Barbara the privacy she needed, with the South River as a boundary to the back and rows of tall pines on the other three sides. A faded red barn leaned slightly to the right at the end of the driveway and the Airstream was parked behind it out of sight until it was needed. If you ignored the benign ghost that haunted the place and the witch who lived inside, it was practically the picture of normalcy.

Weird.

Still, in general Barbara liked her new life, especially the part currently walking towards her in well-worn jeans and a tight tee shirt that accented his broad shoulders and slim hips. Liam had dark blonde hair and hazel eyes that twinkled when they saw her, and the sight of him still made her heart skip a beat every single time.

 “Hey,” he said, folding his strong arms around her and giving her a quick kiss. “Where have you been? You’re missing all the fun out here.”

Barbara smiled at him. “So it seems,” she said. Liam swore that she still had a faint Russian accent, but she didn’t hear it in her own voice. “Was that actual laughter I heard coming from Babs?”

The girl in question picked herself up off the ground, brushing grass off of the brown shorts and shirt that matched her dark pixie-cut hair, and walked over followed by Chudo-Yudo. The dragon-dog had appointed himself her unofficial guardian and where one was, the other was likely to be found nearby.

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