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In the Edgewise Tarot (coming soon to a cardboard box under a merch table near you), I've taken the liberty of renaming several cards in the Major Arcana. I thought I might take some time now to talk about why I made the choices I made, if only so I can remember myself.


2—the High Priestess——the Librarian

I'm an atheist. One of my goals in assigning new names was to remove as much organized religion from my deck as possible while still maintaining a sense of wonder and reverence. The High Priestess is thought to hold all the answers, swift of thought, constantly on the edge of chaos. Coleman-Smith's artwork depicts the pillars at the entrance of Soloman's temple, the first temple, the home of the Ark of the Covenant. Filtered through the mind of a filthy heathen, that sounded a lot like a Librarian to me. So.


3—the Empress——the Gardener

Another goal was to remove as many references to imperialism as I could (see next entry for the exception). The Empress is Demeter, mother of Persephone. Love, abundance, fertility. "The root of the powers of the earth." The Empress is the Mother card. Originally I had this card nicknamed "The Nurturer" but boy is that hard to say out loud. When it came time to work on the art, she quickly became the Gardener, for reasons that should, I hope, be pretty clear.


4—the Emperor——the Monarch

Here's my one exception to the "no royals" rule. The Emperor is the Father card, tied with discipline, diplomacy, authority. Law, structure, leadership, these are all keywords that come up in a lot of interpretations of the card. Making them a gender-neutral Monarch made sense in my mind, because this one card can take on the negative impressions that a reference to imperialism could bring.


10—Wheel of Fortune——the Wheel

I could say that I removed the "of Fortune" to remove the part of the word that means "wealth" because it muddies the interpretation of the card. But I gotta be honest, I mostly just shortened it to keep from getting the game show theme song stuck in my head.


12—the Hanged Man——the Sin-Eater

The third main reason to rename cards was to attempt to take gender out of the equation. I knew I didn't want to call this card "the Hanged" or "the Hanged One", so I thought more about the meaning of the card. Martyrdom, nobility through sacrifice, surrender all stuck out to me, and I started thinking about the concept of a scapegoat. I remembered a comic series called FINDER by Carla Speed McNeil that had introduced me to the concept of a sin-eater, one who performs a ritual to consume the sins of another. The concept felt right, so I ran with it.


20—Judgement——Judgment

That's… that's just how it's actually spelled.



The rest of the cards I left alone, at least in name.


If you want to know more about my thoughts about my deck and the Tarot in general, watch this space. My 100+ page digital guidebook is almost done, should be available next week (if not sooner).


Okay. Drink some water. Wear a mask. Free Palestine. Edgewise out.


Hello my darlings. It's been a while.


A brief note here to let you all know what's coming down the pipe.


MADAME EDGEWISE TELLS YOUR FORTUNE has been accepted into the 2024 Charm City Fringe!


So all you Baltimore folx can come see me perform LIVE in the hopefully less heat-domed autumn of this very year. Dates and times and ticket prices TBA.


AND. Because the show has a full run? I've been working my pudgy fingers to the bone and have finally finished the Edgewise Tarot deck. In fact, the files are already at the printers for a limited run. Should have decks in hand next month. (!!!)


I'll talk a little more about the decks in future, because I intend to be updating the site a bit more regular-like. Suffice to say, there's decks a'comin'.


ALSO. I decided I would not include a guidebook in the deck box. This is because a) I knew designing the book would take ages and I wanted to be sure to have decks to sell after shows, and 2) because I decided I'd much rather make whatever guidebook I do design free for anyone who wants it, regardless of if they've bought the deck or not.


So. The next design project is, in fact, a free pdf booklet of the Edgewise Tarot. This will likely get revised constantly as I poke at what's already written and, yes, get feedback from folx who read it. What will it look like? NO IDEA. Very new concept. Haven't gotten that far. But I do hope to have something, version very alpha point 1, around the time the decks arrive.


I'm very excited to share this work with you. Feel free to reach out and say hi.


Unless you're an SEO expert who wants to optimize this site. I am not interested, Dan.


This is not a story that is told in words.


This is a story of action. This is a story of resolve. And this is a story of the depths of trust.


Two partners, facing the world. Their love and connection so deep, they don't need to speak. They don't need to see each other to know the other will be exactly where they need to be.


The swirling, menacing evils they face would be too much for just one. The demons that outnumber them would swarm in from all sides. But these two Lovers, they put their backs together, they set their footing, their mutual connection is all the rallying cry they need to withstand all the horrors the world can throw.


The action choreography is stunning. At any time, one of our heroes may stumble. But seamlessly, the other steps in, protecting, regaining their footings together, using the power of their love to give them more strength than they could ever have alone.


One is almost tempted to pity the villain who makes the mistake of thinking these two solitary Lovers are easy targets. They are not. They have the primordial flame of inspiration surrounding them, fueling their passion. So long as they are together, they will not fall.

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