Souvenir

Some people collect postcards, others a t-shirt, a spoon, perhaps a keychain, the list is endless. What do I collect? I'll give you three guesses....

Why, Tarot decks of course, and my last trip to New Orleans was no exception. Truth be told, Michael and I have no shortage of keepsakes from our last trip and I really want to say a sincere thank you to the wonderful group of artists and friends that surprised us with a post wedding celebration where we received a veritable bounty of very thoughtful items....but I digress. 

Sallie Ann Glassman

After going into one shop after another, I finally found the deck I wanted. The deck that the lovely Marci Donely introduced me to. Which deck you ask?....the Voodoo Tarot Deck. Yep, that's right a VOODOO deck for tarot. How cool is that? Wanna hear something even cooler. I met the artist, Sallie Ann Glassman. She's a known Voodoo Priestess in the area and her colleague and created the deck and accompanying book with writing collaborator Louis Martinie.

Voodoo Deck by Sallie Ann Glassman, book by Louis Martinie

The imagery is really very interesting, a lot of it rich with symbolism that I am completely unfamiliar with. The Major Arcana included a Wild Card - the Baron. The Minor Arcana is divided into four suits, and for me at least, that's where the similarity to other decks ends. Three of the four suits are branches of Voodoo (the Petro, Congo, and Rada), but the fourth suit is based on the religion called Santeria, an interwoven tapestry of Catholic and African beliefs.

I'll have to do a little more research on the symbolism before I can use the deck for readings, but it is gorgeous isn't it?

P.S. If you want your own copy of this tarot deck do a search on "voodoo tarot", several online vendors are available, so you can find the one nearest you....