Ilin Shieh
New Deck: White Sage Tarot
I've been using my new White Sage Tarot this week, and it's become one of my top favorites. The imageries are so soothing and powerful at the same time. Who would've thought to mix nature with Victorian and Egyptian motifs. The palette and style reminds me of English watercolors with a hint of Japanese print sensibilities. Visually satisfying and thematically rich.
So I've got today's spread on the board. It's the typical Celtic cross with my added clarification cards. The interpretation process does involve foundational knowledge in the traditional tarot. For example, the 9 of swords in the traditional tarot is very self-explanatory with a sleepless person sitting up in bed while nine swords point at them in the background. In this deck, it is just swords pointing at a red ribbon bunch. It symbolizes psychological unease and anxiety, a sort of attack on the heart and mind. The imagery is not something difficult per se to decipher, but knowing traditional tarot would be helpful to differentiate it from the other sword cards.
Surprisingly, the Egyptian iconography was the main reason that I was drawn to this deck. Egyptian themes were already sprinkled throughout Ryder-Waite, and the author here magnified and emboldened it. The sun card with the Kheper beetle especially satisfies my artistic sensibilities. The juxtaposition of such powerful symbols, presented with the softness of the watercolor is just stunning. And there's something about seeing Anubis next to an acorn, a falcon, horses, and pussy willow branches in a spread. It scratches an itch deep within that I didn't even know I had.
A truly lovely deck, manageable in size, and comes with a beautiful storage tin. Can't ask for more.