“A ritual is the enactment of a myth. And, by participating in the ritual, you are participating in the myth. And since myth is a projection of the depth wisdom of the psyche, by participating in a ritual, participating in the myth, you are being, as it were, put in accord with that wisdom, which is the wisdom that is inherent within you anyhow. Your consciousness is being re-minded of the wisdom of your own life.” ~ Joseph Campbell
THE RITUAL TAROT began as a series of analog collages inspired by the symbolism of the Major Arcana. As I dissected and reassembled the 23 traditional archetypes of the Tarot, a complex visual narrative emerged; a language that is distinctly archaic but also holds space in the present; a story that honors the old gods and the new; a voice that speaks to the human psyche - not with words but with symbols. The overwhelmingly positive response to these artworks encouraged me to expand the scope of the project from the original 23 cards to all 78 found in a standard tarot deck. Two and a half years later, I debuted the large-scale collages at an art exhibit alongside the release of the Ritual Tarot, a 78-card tarot deck created from the scaled-down versions of my art.
The cards in the Ritual Tarot are nameless and do not feature titles or numbers. My intention behind this decision is to encourage those who use the deck to form a more intuitive connection with the cards and to engage in personal myth-making. Develop your own meanings. Design your own approach. Create your own ritual.
The Ritual Tarot follows the structure of the standardized Venetian or Piedmontese tarot: 78 cards; 22 Major Arcana: The Fool, The Magician, The High Priestess, The Empress, The Emperor, The Hierophant, The Lovers, The Chariot, Strength, The Hermit, The Wheel of Fortune, Justice, The Hanged Man, Death, Temperance, The Devil, The Tower, The Star, The Moon, The Sun, Judgement, and The World as well as the 56 cards of the Minor Arcana. The Minor Arcana cards are divided into four suits: Wands, Cups, Swords and Pentacles. Each suit contains an Ace card, 9 pip cards or numerical cards and four court cards: Princess, Knight, Queen and King. The cards are largely informed and inspired by the work of Pamela Colman Smith and Lady Frieda Harris; the artists who created the iconic imagery for the Rider Waite Smith Tarot and The Crowley Thoth Tarot.
