FNL_INSPIRED Vol 2_Spring

REDFeather MIND | BODY | SPIRIT 21 but as I gradually noticed how many different ways each coloring page could be interpreted, I realized that they were, in fact, making the images their own by coloring them. A lightbulb went off! People could do that with their own Oracle decks! By coloring the card images, they could make the deck their own; they would no longer see the art of some faceless person whose name was on the box. Instead, they would see their own creation! They would be putting their own energy into the deck as they colored, one step closer to making my own part in the process null and void. Voilà! I reached out to my editor and pitched the idea. She was excited, talked to a few people about it, and came back with, “How about a color-your-own Tarot deck in- stead?” Besides being pressure prompted, I stand firmly in the camp of telling them “Yes” and then figuring it out later! I created a submission, which was definitely along the coloring-book idea. If I remember correctly, the image was a tree filled with pentacles and a rake leaning up against it (which did not remain in the final version). Kind of boring. But I got the go-ahead from my pub- lisher. While I am pretty well versed in Oracle cards, both mine and others, I am rather a newbie in the Tarot world. I have used them, of course, with the booklet al- ways at hand. I dove into researching Tarot and realized quite quickly that I could study the subject for a few lifetimes and there would still be nuances that I hadn’t yet grasped. I wanted to stay true to the spirit of Tarot. For instance, I dutifully learned that the Fool is looking in a certain direction for these reasons and there is a white dog at his feet for those reasons. Mind you, it’s not a black dog or a brindle, but WHITE … and he is wearing a red scarf because . . . Oh BOY. Tarot’s symbolism is off the charts and has been around for centuries for a reason—it freaking works! I struggled. I researched. I drew. I tore up paper. I cried. I drank. I felt like I was just copying the Rider-Waite imagery. It became complete drudgery. All my personal fears surfaced.