Media Kit: Maori Tattoo Tarot

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Horatio McBride
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Media Kit: Maori Tattoo Tarot Press Release The Maori Tattoo Tarot, created by Roxana Paul and published by the Rising Sun Publishing House, is a notable and intriguing Tarot deck that superimposes

To put it bluntly, the background of the cards is textured human skin, and all pictures outlines are executed in a tattoo designed style.

1 Media Kit: Maori Tattoo Tarot Press Release The Maori Tattoo Tarot, created by Roxana Paul and published by the Rising Sun Publishing House, is a notable and intriguing Tarot deck that superimposes the traditional Tarot structure on a Maori cultural background. To put it bluntly, the background of the cards is textured human skin, and all pictures outlines are executed in a tattoo designed style. These two distinctive features of the Maori Tattoo cards alone make the deck unique. Above all, it is the first classical Maori themed Tarot deck in the world. It is the deck of new generation, absorbing Maori spiritual wisdom to express it in vibrant and soul touching images. The Maori Tattoo deck is intended for readers who are looking for new appealing and inspirational decks. Tarot art collectors will discover new artistic challenge, while tattoo connoisseurs will find an abyss of blueprints in the Maori Tattoo cards (a free license to use the Maori Tattoo Tarot art patterns for a personal tattoo is enclosed, plus free e-book Maori Tattoo Tarot: An Illustrated Companion ). Publisher: The Rising Sun Publishing House Book ISBN: Retail Price: AU $40 (free delivery worldwide) Released 2016 (September) Available at The Maori Tattoo Tarot is a refreshing addition to the pantheon of Tarot decks. It stands apart in how stunningly beautiful is its artistry. And, from a Tarot orthodoxy point of view, I was pleasantly surprised to see how accurate is its alignment with the Marseilles, the Rider-Waite and other traditional sets of Tarot archetypes. Beautiful, classy not trashy, and great fun to use! - Paul O Brien, founder of Tarot.com. The Artist Roxana Paul is an exhibited artist and Tarot designer. She has been a Tarot reader for five years as well as a member of the Tarosophy Tarot Association and the International Tarot Foundation. She is a creator of Maori Tattoo Tarot (released) and Venetian Carnival Tarot (in print). Tel.: paulroxana@gmail.com Web:

2 Suggested Roxana Paul s Interview Questions and Answers for Maori Tattoo Tarot Q: What called your interest in Tarot and then in creating your own cards? A: I ve been an artist already when I received my first Tarot cards as a gift about fifteen years ago. In those years it was inevitably a traditional Waite-Smith deck. I was impressed immediately and started learning about Tarot and collecting decks. I've always wanted to make my own cards, but working with oil on canvas I wondered how feasible this idea really was in the digital epoch. Later, after several years of digital painting with Wacom panel I supposed myself skilled enough to create my own cards: Maori Tattoo Tarot, then Venetian Carnival Tarot. Q: So, in this case, it sounds like you gave up traditional media and you a digital girl now. Didn t you? A: I couldn t entirely agree. And thankfully, with my traditional painting experience, I can commit pencil to paper. So, I begin my cards as traditional hand-made sketches then scan it, put into Photoshop, and digitally end up the final design. I believe it s rewarding to add some new opportunities to a traditional system. I m talking not about painting cards only, but also of the Tarot system in general. Q: Tarot that is what we are talking about here. Let s get a definition of terms. What does it mean for you? As I know, there are more than two thousand Tarot decks created by contemporary artists in all possible genres and styles. Do you believe in the system nowadays? A: Yes I do. Again, it is important to distinguish esoteric Tarot system and its expression through art. The ancient knowledge of the Universe was coded within the Tarot as a pack of images. They were pictures of the Renaissance epoch with all simple and ugly painting of that period. We called it traditional Tarot. In recent years Tarot is expanding enormously, funneling new themes. Admittedly, contemporary people need new images, and their understanding of beauty is rather different now. Artists have a range of media now from watercolor to digital. As regards tarotists, they have own preferences regarding imaginary. Some of them like faded watercolor pictures, while others prefer bright digital images. They choose images that work for them, but the system is the same good old Tarot. Q: As I understood you re talking about a system of symbols within Tarot, some elements that draw attention. But these elements are rather different in modern cards. In what way they can influence people as before? A: Oh, don t worry, they can. I think some modern Tarotists focus on cards interior features beyond measure, instead of keeping in mind the bigger issue of Tarot, which is the coded information about the Universe. The unconscious mind is able to communicate via visual images, so an artist has to transform coded information from an ideal form to eminent pictures, expressing it through blatant symbolism. Which symbols artists use for visualization: Roman, Greek, Hindu, Egyptian, or Maori, doesn t matter. Q: Okay, that sounds a bit vague about symbolism. Can you explain then what does matter? A: Two things are important. First, the cards theme has to be associated with civilization, having high esoteric culture and spiritual roots. Second, an artist has to have internal, a can say spiritual understanding of this culture, to express knowledge through appropriate images. If so, an artist can employ any kind of stream-of-consciousness technique and symbolism of a selected culture. Surely, different cultures have different symbolism. Q: You believe a sound symbolism helps you creating ideal cards. Don t you? A: It s unclear what ideal Tarot means because any estimation of cards is subjective. In the very beginning of my Tarot path, I tried to find my only favorite deck but failed. If I like symbolism, the pictures were awkward, or the colors were faint, and so on. Every Tarot deck has its own frequency and 2

3 readers are looking for their ideal cards. I d say to catch a resonance when cards can resonate with the deepest self or soul. Unfortunately, they ve never found such a deck, for it didn't exist. The only way is buying more and more decks, and I m always in favor of that. Q: What do you think of canons in Tarot? Are there any rules for cards assessment or an official approval? A: Fortunately not. Popular opinion supposes several Tarot decks as canonical: Le Tarot de Marseille, Rider-Waite Tarot, and Aleister Crowley s the Thoth Tarot. I won t bore you with the details, but I can say that two great virtues of classical Tarot cards are a richness of symbolism and the simplicity of them. And all classical decks have an essential and notable similarity: they accumulate the esoteric knowledge of the Universe that depicted symbolically within standard patterns and designs of cards. But don t forget that nowadays Tarot boundaries are shifting, and designs are changing to meet new requirements of the audience. Q: What is your personal source of imagination? A: I d prefer to use the term visualization. So I developed my own visualizing technique. Sometimes I use a usual way when I do some research, gather appropriate materials, draw sketches, and even make a final digital painting, but once and again I don t like it. You can say it is done without imagination. As regards a source, I think it is everywhere around us. When I start thinking about something I begin finding a lot of hints as if the Universe supplies it intentionally. Let us say, I m thinking about tattoos, and I meet a lot of tattooed people immediately. Q: By the way, why you apply skin textured backgrounds and tattoo designs in your Maori Tarot? Do you follow this world fashion trend on the tattooing? A: Sure, in the modern production and consumption world the tattoo designing became a big industry. But the ancient Maori have never used tattoos for ornamental purposes. Their sacred tattoos, Ta Moko, had deep spiritual meanings, symbolized power, ranks, and social status of a bearer, even reflected a person s ancestry. So, visual art patterns of my deck are Kirituhi that are not restricted to only Maori people. And for me, human skin was very particular, for I could add haptic perception to my visualization to make cards pleasant to the touch. Q: You cannot deny we live in the rational world, we re different people now. Not so superstitious like Middle Ages people. How do you think such an intuitive system as Tarot can work for a modern rational mind? A: I d like to quote Albert Einstein to answer this question, The intuitive mind is a sacred gift, and the rational mind is a faithful servant. We have created a society that honors the servant and has forgotten the gift. I believe in Tarot not only as a tool for divination but also as a mean to shift popular social consciousness towards intuitive mind and more spiritual life. And it works. Q: Perhaps I m too pragmatic, but can you explain how a pack of funny pictures can predict future and influence the society? A: I d say so again, for profanes the Tarot cards look like a pack of funny pictures. In fact, they contain a symbolically coded ancient knowledge about the Universe. It explains Tarot predictive power, its ability to serve as a divinatory tool. The modern way of divination allows us to predict the future events in love, career, finances, health, and so on. But today we do it without full predetermination of events as it was suggested by old-fashioned fortune-telling. Instead, realizing that the future depends on the decisions that are to be adopted, a reader helps a querent to make a wiser decision and thus to avoid some undesirable outcomes. 3

4 The Art Portfolio related to The Maori Tattoo Tarot project 4

5 Roxana Paul in the Studio Powers of Nature in Maori Tattoo Tarot 5

6 Divination with Maori Tattoo Tarot 6

7 Roxana Paul s Personal Exhibition Mandala Colour Vibrations Pruners Hut Gallery 46 Trotts Road, McLaren Flat, 5171, Australia July 4 - July 26,

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each day of the week) 2 chakra information cards.

9 Roxana Paul s Chakra Affirmation Cards 49 chakra affirmation cards to balance and clear your chakras (7 chakra cards for each day of the week) 2 chakra information cards. 1 instruction card. 4 bonus cards for success, motivation, love and abundance. 9

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This deck applies the great medieval tradition of the Venetian carnival to grant you access to the realm of hidden personal identity through the dark

11 This deck applies the great medieval tradition of the Venetian carnival to grant you access to the realm of hidden personal identity through the dark symbolism of the Tarot beginning epoch. The classical structure of the deck makes it a convenient divination tool for any Tarot reader. (In print) 11

mystical tarot deck 39BC80BAA62C69F64B31C6F043F892A1 Mystical Tarot Deck 1 / 7

mystical tarot deck 39BC80BAA62C69F64B31C6F043F892A1 Mystical Tarot Deck 1 / 7 Mystical Tarot Deck 1 / 7 2 / 7 3 / 7 Mystical Tarot Deck The Mystical Tarot is a beautiful new deck from Lo Scarabeo. It has been created to speak to the intuitive part of our minds where logic, order,