GREAT ARTISTS OF TAROT

–or–What We’re Thankful For

It’s Thanksgiving Day in the US, traditionally the day most folks gather together to share a meal and give thanks for all that’s good in their lives. Of course, tomorrow has been ominously named “Black Friday”—a day of copious consumption and spending frenzies so oxymoronic to the preceding day set aside for gratitude, that it can boggle the equanimous mind.

Here at Red Feather, we have much to be thankful for: our growing community of readers and authors and illustrators so dedicated to an unconventional take on celebration and spirituality, helping spirits take flight. With this in mind, from today until the close of Cyber Monday, we’d like to draw attention away from unrivaled saving and spending and instead give humble praise for a group of people who have enriched our lives so very much—

The Unsung Artists of Tarot

Of course, the thousands upon thousands of artists who have brought the Tarot to life for all of us cannot be mentioned in this meager blog space by name, but today we’d like to take pause to thank just a few of them.

The first and perhaps most obvious names that come to mind are Pamela Colman Smith, creatrix of the Rider-Waite Tarot and Lady Frieda Harris, artiste of the Thoth Tarot. These two artists—in their collaboration with occultists Waite and Crowley, respectively—crafted the seminal Tarot decks that so many subsequent Tarot artists have used as their models and guides in the creation of their own interpretation of Tarot. We owe both artists a debt of gratitude that cannot be repaid, and we humbly thank these Great Artists of Tarot for their beautiful decks as well as the legacies that each has spawned in the Tarot world.

Red Feather’s own Tarot offerings include a treasure trove of eclectic artwork by the full gamut of tarot artists—something for every aesthetic. Herein lies the beauty of artistic interpretation within the spectrum of Tarot: we all have different preferences in our Tarot and there is an artist for every inclination, it seems. Although we are thankful for each and every artist whose work we have been honored to publish, we have chosen three Tarot decks from among the multitude of talent to highlight over the next four days both in this blog and on social media.

Six Great Artists of Tarot (in no particular order):

*Jasmine Becket-Griffith*
of **Beautiful Creatures Tarot**
(with J. R. Rivera)

Jasmine is a prolific fantasy artist whose medium is acrylic paints. Known for her subjects with unique “big eyes,” she paints Gothic, Fairy, and Lowbrow Art genres and has worked with such prestigious companies as the Bradford Exchange, Disney, Hamilton Collection and Ashton-Drake. Jasmine lives in Celebration, Florida with her husband Matt and their cats.

*Molly Applejohn, Eden Cooke,*
*Krista Gibbard, and Julia Iredale*
of **The Ostara Tarot**

These four wildly talented illustrators live in Vancouver, Canada. After meeting at art school and discovering a shared love for the occult, they decided to tackle the ambitious task of illustrating a Tarot deck together. Since then, they have delved into every corner of the trade; their individual work ranges everywhere from comics, to murals, to children’s books, and they continue to work on collaborative projects as well. Their Tarot deck centers around the Vernal equinox, Ostara, and delves into the fantastical world of traditional symbolism and contemporary themes that return the reader to the wilderness and explore the feminine. And the deck is breathtakingly beautiful, too.

Marie White was compelled to create art from a very early age and thought of it as something akin to breathing or water. She grew up with a pencil in hand recording the substance of dreams, visions, nature, and the human form. In 1997 her love of mysticism, symbolism, words, and art collided naturally, and she began the Mary-el Tarot which ended up taking over a decade to complete. Her favorite medium is oil paint used in a method called grisaille, a technique also favored by the old masters where thin layers of color are slowly built up bringing out the natural depth and luminosity of the paint. Born and raised in Southern California, she presently lives with her three children in the sultry piedmont forest of North Carolina where she can paint under the rolling thunder and the moving shadows of trees. The Mary-El Tarot is a rare and exquisite gem that reflects the truth inside you.

Join us on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and YouTube over the coming four days, Black Friday through Cyber Monday, as we pay tribute to these Great Artists of Tarot. We promise it will edify your spirit—and for those of you who love spending and saving, too, a discount to purchase these fantastic decks will be offered as well.

Thank you all for joining us. May this holiday season be your most magical yet!

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