Discovering the Magical World of Ellen Lorenzi-Prince

It’s not everyday that a deck grabs you by the balls and leaves you speechless. It’s even rarer when the same artist manages to do it again and again with every deck she puts out. And yet, this is exactly what happens to me every time I get my hands on one of Ellen Lorenzi-Prince’s work. With the forthcoming release of the third edition of the Tarot of the Crone and the reprint of the Tarot of the Dark Goddess, this is exactly the time to spread the word about this wonderful artist.

My first exposition to Ellen’s work came with the Tarot of the Crone. Unlike most decks out there, this one fulfilled all my personal needs. The lines were simple and clear. The colors added to the feel of the card, without overwhelming it. The human figures had expression and body movement. In fact, you could actually feel that these scenes were happening right there in front of you. Even better, the figures were facing us, the readers, inviting us to take our place among them and participate in what they were doing or, perhaps, confronting us with issues unresolved. But the most important thing of all, the one that actually cuts the deal for me is “do these pictures tell a story?” And well… they do! They spoke of ancient mysteries, of our connection to nature and the part women played in that process. They reminded us of what we once held sacred. How the elements of earth, fire, water and air had their role to play in our lives. And how, somewhere along the line, we had severed that connection to revere gods of electrons and statistics.

The Tarot of the Crone, by Ellen Lorenzi-Prince. 2nd edition.

The tarot of the Crone because an instant hit with me. For months, I would use it for every reading I would make, its voice whispering “Break down the mold. Go back to the basics and see where the important stuff lies.” Having started my tarot path as a full-pledged Thothite, this deck delivered the first major clue that the esoteric system with its elegant, complex and clockwork mechanics might not be as formidable as it seemed. Instead, I was asked to look below to the earth and to discover the magic in the little things that Nature continuously throws at us. And for that, I was eternally thankful. Click here for a glimpse of the kind of insights that I would get from the Tarot of the Crone.

A few months later, her second deck, the Dark Goddess Tarot, arrived. The deck presented images of 78 entities – as they aren’t all goddesses  – drawn from various mythologies and legends from around the world. I remembered being excited with this deck because one of the entities portrayed was that of Tlazolteotl, one of the goddesses that had a big impact on my life at that time. The inclusion of Tlazolteotl in the deck made me wonder who else might be in it. And while some of the more popular goddesses have found their way there – like, for example, Shekmet, Isis, Hecate (as Phosphorus), Aphrodite, Kali or Santa Muerte – a number of other interesting, even if less known, entities are there.

Cards from the Tarot of the Dark Goddess, by Ellen Lorenzi-Prince.

In all, these 78 cards bring us tales of love, vengeance, loss, pain and fury. If the Tarot of the Crone spoke about our connection about Nature and how far we’ve deviated from it, the Tarot of the Dark Goddess offers us a way back. By following these entities, learning their stories, hearing their advice and acting upon it, we can trace our way back to that communion with the natural world that was pictured in the Tarot of the Crone.

Coincidently or not, the first card of the deck, the Fool is attributed to Sheela Na Gig, figurative carvings of naked women with an exaggerated vagina, that are found throughout Great Britain and Ireland in churches, castles and other buildings. According to the LWB (Little White Book) that accompanies the deck, this card asks us to “Dare to come back to where you began”. For the last card of the deck, the Hag of Earth, Ellen gave us a painting of She Who Watches, a woman turned into stone by a trickster spirit so that she could fulfill her desire to be and stand by her people forever. Referring again to the LWB, the message Ellen gave to this card is “Remember history or more will be lost”. In-between, there’s 76 cards to leads us to this process of journeying back, once we decided to pass the Fool’s invitation.

The Fool and the Hag of Earth, from the Dark Goddess Tarot. 

With her next deck, we journey to Ancient Creete, home of the Minoan civilization. 78 cards, painted in the style of minoan images, while still maintaining that characteristic Ellen line, propose to show us aspects of the day-to-day lives of people that are in communion with Nature, the Goddesses and themselves. In a sense, this is the next stage of Ellen’s story. After the shamanic visions of the Tarot of the Crone and the journey back home with the assistance of the  various goddesses and mythical figures that populate the Tarot of the Dark Goddess, we suddenly arrive to where we’re supposed to be. And it’s a place filled with light, where everything feels in harmony with everything else. Looking at the images, one can’t stop to wonder why did we ended up diverging from this.

 

Cards from the Minoan Tarot. Art and conception by Ellen Lorenzi-Prince.

More or less at the same time, The Kali Tarot Prayer Cards were released. This deck, a set of 22 cards fashioned after the Major Arcana of the Tarot, gives us a glimpse of the work Ellen did with one of the Dark Goddesses present in the her second deck and how these entities can help us navigate to the places suggested by both the Tarot of the Crone and the Minoan Tarot. While this deck can also be used in readings – and to devastating results – it is a  a meditation tool that the deck shows all that its capable of. In every card there’s a painting corresponding to an aspect of Kali. An aspect that somehow can be framed as one of the Major Arcana of the tarot. All the pictures are presented as they are. With no names or numbers to indicate to each the Major Arcana they belong. In what feels like a conscious choice, we are asked to consider the images as they are. To truly read them as images, not as an assortment of keywords or any other tarot luggage that might get in the way. Behind each card, along with the indication of the Major Arcana, there’s a prayer to the goddess. A message, if you will of how we can connect to that goddess or how that particular aspect can help us with our issues.

Cards from the Kali Tarot Prayer Cards. Art and conception by Ellen Lorenzi-Prince.

In all, Ellen’s work with the Tarot is unique and deserves your attention. So give yourself a treat and treat yourself to one of her decks. You will not be disappointed.

 

The Christmas Advent Tarot Board

 

For a very long time, I was against having too many decks. I figured that two/three working decks were more than enough for day-to -day practices and would allow a greater focus on understanding each deck, instead of just jumping around from one deck to another. However, this started to change a few years ago, when I bought my first deck mainly because I enjoyed the artwork. It was the Sakki-Sakki Tarot, a cute and playful take on the Rider-Waite Smith deck. There was something special about that deck. The cards were playful; the deck reeked of good vibes and well, even though I would take it and stare at it for hours, I just couldn’t bring myself to use it. It felt special. Way too special to be used in “common” readings and, God forbid!! on others. In fact, if I’ve used it 10 times, it was way too much. This deck taught me that some decks are not for day-to-day situations. Rather, they are to be appreciated and used only when the time is right. Or in a special occasion.

As the years went by, I ended up adding a few more decks to the group of “For Special Occasions Only”. Decks which I felt had such a personal vision or a special perspective. Decks that truly felt magickal in one way or another. And, in time, I learned to use those decks. Some of them, like the Tarot of the Crone, I have already mentioned in previous texts; others, like Emily Carding’s Tarot of the Siddhe, I’m mentioning here for the first time.

You see, there is a special game I do twice a year. Once in July, the Nativity Board, and once at Christmas, the Christmas Advent Board.

It’s concept is pretty simple and derives from the Card-for-a-Day concept: Starting at the beginning of the month in question, you build a board with as many cards as there are days to the actual events: in this case, 27 for the Nativity board and 25 for Christmas (and yes, I’m actually counting the actual day of the event). These cards are randomly picked from the deck and randomly placed on the table. Every morning, you turn a card at random from the board. This is your Card for this Day. Your Special Card. The objective here, is not to make a prediction. Rather, it is to take the card as a guide and try to do your best to do something that not only lives to your reading of the card, but also feels truly special. In short, this is your cue to a very unique and special day. An opportunity to make this day a special event as catalyzed by a reading from a deck you consider in someway special.

This year, I went with the Tarot of the Siddhe.

At the time of this writing, four days had passed, which means that four cards have already been turned. Day 1, Dreamer Five: Winter’s Bite (fifth card, fourth tier); Day 2, Dancer Eight: Escaping Stagnation (third card, fourth tier; Day 3, Dreamer Queen: The Gift of Reason (second tier); Day 4, Dreamer Six, Insight’s Voyage (third tier).

As an example of what this Board can entice, here is today’s card:

The two main elements which immediately struck my attention are the boat and the Siddhe who is blowing some air, in order to make the boat go forth. Her hand stands below the boat, as if to give it protection. There is an owl carved in the boat (maybe symbolizing wisdom) and a sword on the sail. We’re in reason’s domain here as air propels the vessel of knowledge to go forth. The card is colored blue and yellow (also colors pertaining to the elements of water and air). So maybe a beach of some kind. The sun seems to be setting, as it’s at almost the same level as the boat. And then there’s the title, “Insight’s Voyage”, which made me think of gaining inner knowledge. So, for the special day… a voyage to be had, probably starting or ending at the beach, which is meant to give a deeper understanding of something. Psychogeography, a technique for shamanically finding meaning in urban landscapes immediately came to mind. I would then start at the beach, near a statue of a man at the helm, conveniently placed near the see here in my hometown of Oporto:

The walk would then proceed randomly, letting fate or chance (or the winds of the card), carry me to my destination. I would turn when I was told to turn, eventually do tasks (there was a part in the walk where I had to throw a stick into a lake in order to see where next to go) and generally let the city slowly show me what I needed to know in its own time.

I passed through many of its landmarks connected, in some way or another, with freedom. There would be statues celebrating victories against invading armies and ancient prisons known for having, among others, people who dared to think for themselves. I ended up passing through streets with names like “Praça da Liberdade” (Liberty Square) or the the remaining defensive walls. And at every other turn, there would be a fountain or a lake or a view of the river. Water was always present, always reminding me of being fluid. Freedom and Fluidity. That sure seems like Swords to me.

In the end, I took the message to be something like “don’t get constrained either by what others expect of you or by your own sense of identity. Let yourself flow, like a river to the sea or, as I walked, like the sea into the river. Remaining true to yourself doesn’t mean stagnation but rather the ability to honor your essence at every single opportunity”

And that, my friends, is the Christmas Advent Tarot Board.

An Additional Degree of Freedom

In music, you have someone, a composer, who writes a certain combination of sounds on paper. In this paper, he will also include information about tempo (the speed at which this combination has to be reproduced), rhythm (used to differentiate the strong and weak elements), how sounds and silence combine and an assorted number of information regarding how each sound should be played and its connection with the previous sound (or silence) and the next. When it is finished, he obtains something which can be seen as an instruction manual (for lack of a better expression) on how to reproduce this particular composition; this particular piece of work. He has written a music and he has left us the means to reproduce it, should we so desire.

But there is something interesting about music. No matter how detailed this instruction book is, everyone who addresses it and plays what is written, will play it in a different way. It is still recognizable, but there are subtle nuances that makes each iteration, each version different from all the others. This is particularly true with classical music, where there are hundreds of different versions from the favorite works of the likes of Mozart, Beethoven, Bach, Chopin, Schubert, Debussy, Schummann, Haydn, Händel, Tchaikovsky, Mahler,  and countless others. More to the point, not only there exist countless recordings of the same work (a brief search on Amazon on Vivaldi’s Four Seasons gives back more than 10 000 results!!!!), but there are still people interested in recording their own version. To bring forth a new point of view, no matter how similar it might be to the already existing ones.

And if you’re wondering how can this be, the answer is quite simple. The composer, in his strict guidebook, which every musician knows should be followed very very closely, didn’t account for one thing and one thing only: how the reading and the consequent reproduction of the musical score is made. In other words, how the specific reality-tunnel of the musician (his likes and dislikes; his particular sensitivity, its physical proneness to execute what its written; his own feelings, …) shape the music into something familiar, but slightly different.

In Jazz, the musician has an additional degree of freedom when addressing a musical score: after the theme is played, which is to say, after the written score is played, the musician can then improvise upon the theme. He can play whatever he wants, as long as he follows a set of specific harmonic rules and he connects his improvisation with what was written. In the end, as if to reinforce the importance of the theme, the musician will reprise the same score he initially played.

But what does any of this to do with tarot?

It has long been a pet peeve of mine that even though we see different representations of the same card from deck to deck that most people would insist in applying a general set of meanings that they’ve learned and disregard everything else. Here’s the thing: just like there are uncountable versions of the same music, there probably exists the same number of tarot decks. And even though most decks bear quite proudly its influences to the Holy Trinity of Decks, each deck presents a personal view of what that particular image should show.

As an example, here’s the images for the Devil Card from a few decks. In the first image, we have the cards from Marseille, Rider Waite Smith and the Toth Decks. In the second, the Hanson-Roberts, Tarot of the Crone, Peanuts Tarot, Tarot de St. Croix, William Blake Tarot and the Swiss 1JJ Decks.

In these nine cards, and it could be any other card depicted there, you can find some similar images (Marseille, RWS, St. Croix, Hanson-Roberts and… let’s include the Peanuts card) and some images which portray different aspects of the card. Even in the images with the same elements, you can see differences in colors, in shapes, in the positions of the characters, in the secondary elements that compose the card. All in all, even though we have some images with similar views, it is probably safe to admit that these nine examples transmit different feelings and different sensations.

As a test, I took the three devil representations from Marseille, RWS and Toth to the streets and asked people their opinion of the images. Was there an image that was particularly frightening? Or appealing? Or did they respond equally to the same images?

Most people responded in a more negative way to the RWS card, and one can see why: there’s a black background, the devil has some very “ugly” features, like the prominent bat wings, the long beard, the huge horns; the chains are very visible, the fire of the torch is pointing down, as if the devil wanted to burn something, etc, etc. There probably isn’t a positive element in this card. But the most interesting results came after: The Marseille card had a neutral to positive reaction even though it is basically the same representation. Factors pointed out include a greater variety of colors (some people even considered it a psychedelic version of the RWS card), a white background and a lighter expression of all the characters when compared with the RWS. And, not surprising, the Crowley card came as the most appealing card, with its pink background, its non-aggressive elements and the dancing figures all equally contributing to the overall effect.

When I asked the same type of questions over at Tarot Professionals (a Facebook group of… you guessed it!!) most all the answers I got were in the sense of acknowledging the differences between the cards, but not taking that as an important influence in the reading. There might be some tendency towards a specific response to one or the other, but people would respond that that didn’t consciously influence their reading. The thread then evolved into a left hand/right hand discussion, which didn’t say much beyond personal opinions are personal and should be left at that.

Aesthetics aside, working with a particular tarot deck should mean working with that particular point of view and the way that point of view interacts with our own reality-tunnel. This means that even though different decks might have the same images, the same keywords, there are different nuances, different shades to each card that should make a difference. In returning to the three Devil Cards of the questionnaire, I would read the RWS in a more gloomy/negative way than the others. Or the Toth Devil more as an expression of  a primal energy than the RWS or the Marseille. I would then adapt this impression into the keywords, if appropriate, to devise the meaning in a reading. On a similar note, even though the 1JJ and the St. Croix decks portray the same feeling of hopelessness, the simple fact that in the 1JJ Deck the Demon is standing and seems to be walking around tantalizing the hopeless woman makes, for me, a more negative impression than the St. Croix card, which portrays the demon as sitting on a pillar/bench.

In fact, one could argue that one of the most interesting things about all the different decks  is the fact that they provide different points of view; different perspectives on the same matter. Why then don’t we take then into account when reading the cards? Routine obviously plays a part in this. As do our own thought processes, already wired into a particular mind set. Obviously, working with different decks would imply to alter our own mind-set, to not have it crystallized and used regardless of what we see. One could also argue that each and every reading is personal and, as such, already dependent of the reality-tunnel the reader is at the moment. So, why not allow an extra degree of freedom and actually let the image influence the reading? Why not allow these little differences to actually make the difference between a standardized reading and a personal one? Even if we get back to the standard, like a good jazz musician would do, we already did something different. Something unique. Something personal. And our reading came much the better for it.

Breaking Free from the Iron Prison

The other day, I was playing with the wonderful Tarot of the Crone, by the great Ellen Lorenzi-Prince , when I realized something quite interesting. It was one of those findings that are so evident, you’re really surprised you never noticed it before. In this case, it was how common it is to picture the Tower card with a tower tumbling down.

 

Of course that image, as related to the “Tower of Babel” story, one of the fundamental meanings of the card, is appropriate. However, some artists do tend to choose other ways to depict all the violence and mayhem and disorientation that the card is supposed to convey. Case in point, Ellen’s choice for the Tower card:

Here we have an old woman (a crone) shouting so hard, the entire image shatters. There’s a profound sense of pain and revolt, like there’s so much bad things in her life, she just can’t handle them anymore and simply has to scream. A scream so strong and painful it ends up shattering the very idea we have from her. We can see the violence, the pain and the frustration this woman feels. But, at the same time, we also get a sense of release, of liberation. Like she’s finally releasing herself from all that excess baggage and can move forth.

As Ellen puts it in her description of the card,

I am the Mother of Madness

When I speak
I scream

When I scream
things shatter

I scream
Because these things are wrong

And I cannot have it so

Now this set my mind racing and the first stop was at greek-descendent american singer, Diamanda Galás. Diamanda’s work has focused on such issues as AIDS, the armenian massacre, injustice, mental illness and, more recently, love songs. Armed with a three-and-a-half octave voice (which, for those of you who doesn’t know means she can reproduce more or less 50% of all the sounds you can get from a piano), she was known by saying,

“My voice was given to me as an instrument of inspiration for my friends, and a tool of torture and destruction to my enemies. An instrument of truth.”

Now compare this with the description Ellen gave. Diamanda is known to have a voice that can shatter the usual conventions of musicality. And with albums such as “Wild Women With Stake Knives”, or “Schrei X” she does exactly that.

But there was a particular song of her that I wanted to address: the Cri d’Aveugle, based on the poem by Tristan Corbière, which was released in the Saint of the Pit album (as part of the Masque of Red Death Trilogy). The music, speaks about a blind man and his desperation about being blind. His eyes were just poked with a spike, by someone like an inquisitor. There’s pain and hurt and he feels there’s no reason left to live, as everything he believed is now gone, along with his eyes. Diamanda even goes as far as incorporating the classical phrase Jesus Christ said on the cross “Eli, Eli, Lamma lamma sabacthani” (My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken me?). It’s a very powerful text and one that fits like a glove on the ambience of the Tower card:

L’oeil tué n’est pas mort
Un coin le fend encor
Encloué je suis sans cercueil
On m’a planté le clou dans l’oeil
L’oeil cloué n’est pas mort
Et le coin entre encor

Deus misericors
Deus misericors
Le marteau bat ma tête en bois
Le marteau qui ferra la croix
Deus misericors
Deus misericors

Les oiseaux croque-morts
Ont donc peur à mon corps
Mon Golgotha n’est pas fini
Lamma lamma sabacthani
Colombes de la Mort
Soiffez après mon corps

Rouge comme un sabord
La plaie est sur le bord
Comme la gencive bavant
D’une vieille qui rit sans dent
La plaie est sur le bord
Rouge comme un sabord

Je vois des cercles d’or
Le soleil blanc me mord
J’ai deux trous percés par un fer
Rougi dans la forge d’enfer
Je vois un cercle d’or
Le feu d’en haut me mord

Dans la moelle se tord
Une larme qui sort
Je vois dedans le paradis
Miserere, De profundis
Dans mon crâne se tord
Du soufre en pleur qui sort

Bienheureux le bon mort
Le mort sauvé qui dort
Heureux les martyrs, les élus
Avec la Vierge et son Jésus
O bienheureux le mort
Le mort jugé qui dort

Un Chevalier dehors
Repose sans remords
Dans le cimetière bénit
Dans sa sieste de granit
L’homme en pierre dehors
A deux yeux sans remords

Ho je vous sens encor
Landes jaunes d’Armor
Je sens mon rosaire à mes doigts
Et le Christ en os sur le bois
A toi je baye encor
O ciel défunt d’Armor

Pardon de prier fort
Seigneur si c’est le sort
Mes yeux, deux bénitiers ardents
Le diable a mis ses doigts dedans
Pardon de crier fort
Seigneur contre le sort

J’entends le vent du nord
Qui bugle comme un cor
C’est l’hallali des trépassés
J’aboie après mon tour assez
J’entends le vent du nord
J’entends le glas du cor
———–
Dios, porque me has condendado?
mavpes apakvuthes!
lamma sabacthani!
Esta es mi sangre
Este es mi cuerpo
Estas son mis venas
Estoy siego
Dios, no puedo ver!
mavpes apakvuthes!
lamma sabacthani!
Aves de la muerte
Quiten me la vida!
lamma lamma
sabacthani!

Hopelessness. Darkness. Fear. Pain. Anguish. Punishment. Concepts that keep coming to mind when confronted by the XVIth Major Arcana. However, there’s another part of the story. Something that’s subtly represented by the common image of the falling tower, which tells us of the possibility of release. If everything we’ve built tumbles down, we’re free to start over. We’re free from previous obligations and baggage. Free to come along.

In the Tarot of the Crone image, we see this as the shattering of the Crone image. A light so strong that actually pierces through all the dark things in her life. A scream just like you hear in any of Diamanda’s songs, that seems like it’s gutting our entrails with a stake knife, but can also be cathartic. There’s darkness in the Tower card, but in some way or another, there’s also light. Or the prospect of light. In two of the three Tower cards from “Holy Trinity” of tarot decks (Marseille, Rider-Waite Smith and Toth deck), you get to feel this darkness that’s imbedded on the card. Even though the actual towers are colored Grey (RWS) and orange (Toth), there’s no escaping all that blackness that permeates the whole card. The absence of light, with the exception of the light brought forth by the Divine Punishment.

We know that when the Tower card appears we can expect the destruction of everything that’s unbalanced or unstable or just simply has to go. We are expected to break free from  everything the Tower represents. This Dark Prison. And go forth into the pathway of the light, as symbolized by the triad Star-Moon-Sun, the dark night of the soul almost over.

Philip K. Dick (PKD) was an american writer who, in the midst of a breakdown due to depression, drugs, a paranoid mind and whatever else was going on, had a revelation. In March 1974, a pink ray descended from the sky, more specifically, from God. Or aliens. Or a Vast Active Living Organism (also known as V.A.L.I.S.) and rewired his entire brain. This experience is described at length in his Valis novel and in his Exegesis writings. There’s also plenty of papers discussing his experience, including an academic thesis. Of interest here is a term he coined, The Black Iron Prison, which was meant to signify every government, every school, every institution, every political force that enforced an oppressive control on people and society. This would be symbolized by the Roman Empire, that paragon of everything that went wrong with the use of power. According to him, “The Empire Never Ended” (people who think the Matrix movies, or even the Star Wars trilogies or its simulacra brought forth in terms of original ideas and concepts should really pay more attention to what was being put forth by people like PKD and Jack Kirby and others from the 50s onwards…).

This notion was put forth in his Tractates Crytptica Scriptura, a part of his Exegesis that he worked into the VALIS novel. According to him, liberation was only possible by Divine Intervention. By a “ray of information” that would come forth from the Divinity itself (or aliens; or VALIS) and would allow us to break free from this Iron Prison. Also according to him, this bringing forth of information occurred in August 1974 (paragraph #17 of the Tractates Cryptica Scriptura), when we entered the Age of Gold, symbolized by a Palm Tree garden (hopefully, the same Palm Tree garden we find on the RWS’s High Priestess card…).

A ray of information such as the one seen on the Tower cards of the RWS, the Toth deck, the Marseille or even, the inner light that comes forth from the depths of the Crone woman. Divine intervention designed not really to punish ourselves, but to give us the necessary tools to effectively break out from the Iron Prison and escape the oppression of the Empire. Whether it exists outside of us in every social construct that employs what Foucault calls the “technology of power” or, perhaps, inside of us, in the very mechanisms we’ve built to sustain ourselves and cope what life brings forth.

The Great and Marvelous Tarot Game of the Goose

Have guests over and don’t know how to entertain them?

Tired of the same old games, which don’t bring anything new?

Want to know every dirty little secret your friends and acquaintances have, without too much trouble??

Want to astonish and mesmerize everyone with the depths of your arcane knowledge?

Say no more!!! Check out our new game, The Great and Marvelous Tarot Game of the Goose, designed by our own Myristic Miguel Marques to give you hours and hours of entertainment!

What do you need? Why, just a pack of wonderful tarot cards (like the utterly fabulous Tarot of the Crone, by Ellen Lorenzi-Prince depicted above), from one of your astonishing collection, two dices, and a marker for each of the players.

Give the cards a shuffle and spread them out across the table, in the form of a goose game. Three different levels available: Major Arcana, Minor Arcana or our amazing Full Deck!!!

For extra craziness, you can also add a few white cards in-between, in order to make the game more challenging!!!

Ideal for:

• inspiration
• exquisite corpses
• poetry
• divination
• storytelling
• and anything your imagination can fancy!!!

Don’t wait any longer!!! Gather everyone around and start playing today!!!

NOTE: variant editions with normal playing cards, Lenormand cards, Rorschach cards, ESP cards or any kind of oracular deck also available. Please leave a note below with your  name and address for a complete catalog.