Clairvoyaging
Normalize Your Spiritual Journey!
After a close family member experienced an undeniably psychic event that shocked believers and skeptics alike, Lauren and Frank (an open-minded but naturally skeptical married couple from the suburbs of California) decided that it was time to learn more about things that can't be easily explained.
Lauren and Frank Leon interview experts about the esoteric sciences. Through spiritual growth and trauma healing, they attempt to enhance their intuition and unlock their psychic abilities. They'll ask the stupid questions you've always wanted the answers to.
Clairvoyaging offers a glimpse into the couple's exploration of diverse esoteric subjects, with warmth, humor, and genuine curiosity, Lauren and Frank navigate these intricate domains, inviting experts and practitioners to share their insights, experiences, and wisdom.
Each episode explores the expertise of their guest. Topics include the vast spectrum of psychic abilities, mediumship, energy healing, divination, tarot, spirit communication, astral projection, remote viewing, auras, past lives, dream interpretation, intuitive awakening, spiritual empowerment, and channeling messages from guides and higher consciousness.
Whether you're a seasoned esoteric enthusiast or a newcomer to these mystical arts, this podcast encourages reflection and self-exploration, inspiring a deeper connection with the mystical aspects of life, and how to integrate open-mindedness with the struggle of adulting in everyday American life.
Clairvoyaging is your gateway to the extraordinary.
Visit www.clairvoyaging.com merchandise or to access free resources to help you on your spiritual journey.
Email us: clairvoyagingpodcast@gmail.com
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Clairvoyaging is a production of Wayfeather Media.
Clairvoyaging
081: Mindscapes Tarot: Art & Intention // with John A. Rice
What happens when an artist's mind becomes a portal for tarot imagery? For John A. Rice, creator of the breathtaking Mindscapes Tarot deck, the answer lies in five years of dedicated artistry, spiritual growth, and a profound connection to intuition.
Discover how ancestral connections, intuitive downloads, and artistic dedication converged to create not just a tarot deck, but a window into the mysterious spaces where creativity and spirituality merge. John's story reminds us that sometimes the most powerful insights arrive when we simply quiet our overthinking minds and trust what appears.
To learn more about John or to buy the Mindscapes Tarot deck:
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Hello, my sweet little angels. In today's episode we talked to John A Rice, author, artist and creator of the new tarot deck, mindscapes Tarot. We talk about tarot cards, intuition, honoring your ancestors and the art of creating a tarot deck. I'm Lauren Leon and I'm done hiding now I'm shining like I'm born to be.
Speaker 1:Wow. We are a married couple learning how to develop our own intuition. This is episode 81 of Claire Voyaging. We're going up, up up. This is our moment. Gonna be gonna be golden. Gonna be gonna be golden. Gonna be gonna be golden. Oh, wayfeather Media presents Claire Voyaging.
Speaker 2:Hello puppies.
Speaker 1:Hello sweet babies.
Speaker 2:How's it going today? How about us? We?
Speaker 1:Me and Lauren.
Speaker 2:We are great, we're so good, we're permanently tired, we're super late to Legoland, and yeah, it's okay. Here's a new episode we're going to lego land today we are our first our first time and we, when we say today, we don't mean that we recorded this three weeks ago, we mean today, on release day, right after we finished recording, I'm gonna go edit this and we're going to lego land sorry, it's, late sorry it's late. Little baby seat of our pants right now where we're still adjusting.
Speaker 1:It's a long adjustment and that's okay.
Speaker 2:You know great, that's part of grace you'll learn about grace today when I complain about the word that's part of being transparent and fully open and vulnerable.
Speaker 1:I look like a trash can I'm sweating.
Speaker 2:Did anyone know that that san diego is humid and hot?
Speaker 1:listen, not complaining, but boy, it's a, it's an adjustment there's a there's a heat wave happening right now it's more of a humid wave yeah, but, like you know, a lot of places in in San Diego don't have air conditioning because they're like you don't need it. This is the beach, but we we needed it yesterday, we probably need it today.
Speaker 2:My brow disagrees.
Speaker 1:Our poor kids are. They're sweating, they're sweating.
Speaker 2:I. We had one of those old like a window air conditioning unit, so I just installed it this morning, which is one of the reasons why we're late.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:But in their, in their room, they have the window where it fits, so they get the special treatment. They get mom and dad, get the swamp box, that's okay.
Speaker 1:We get to just walk into their room and say, oh my God, it's so much cooler in here than everywhere else.
Speaker 2:The kids, the dogs, they're all hanging out in the other room. Yeah, it's fine.
Speaker 1:But you know what they get to sleep, which is that's the most important thing.
Speaker 3:We'll test that they're not waking up.
Speaker 1:Hopefully, this is the first day.
Speaker 2:We'll see.
Speaker 1:But hopefully they won't wake up saying I'm so hot, anyway, hi everyone, hey, okay, anyway, hi everyone, hey, okay. So today's episode is with john, and we heard about john from our friend adrian, who we met in duluth at the duluth film festival adrian's.
Speaker 2:Adrian's the greatest thing that ever hit duluth and she's not from there.
Speaker 1:Yeah we became fast friends with Adrienne. You might remember her from our 50th episode. It was our Halloween special and we did a tour of the Glensheen Mansion and we learned before doing that. We quickly learned that Adrienne has mediumistic abilities.
Speaker 2:She see the ghosts.
Speaker 1:She see the ghosts.
Speaker 2:She see them real good.
Speaker 1:All the time, but it was just a really fun, serendipitous thing. Of course, nothing's a coincidence and it was great to meet her and she was like, by the way, my best friend John is creating a tarot deck. He's an artist and we were like, well, let's have him on the show.
Speaker 2:And we finally did well, he, finally, he finally released the deck his deck just came out, like a few days ago yeah and it's beautiful it's so cool guys, it's so cool.
Speaker 1:We should really fun, are we? Posting a link and show notes or anything of, of course, okay, okay, okay Of course I don't know what, uh, I don't know.
Speaker 2:Like in the link I haven't seen where you buy it or anything, but I don't know if they have photos of all the pictures of all the um cards. But man, oh man there are some beaut John A Rice, mindscapes, tarot, and you'll just be like, oh okay, yeah, this is gorgeous and we're not getting kickbacks or anything, by the way, we're just fans here. It's very nice.
Speaker 1:Truly Like just so fun to talk to someone who spent so much time creating their own tarot deck. Like what a special, cool thing.
Speaker 2:Took them five years. I don't want listen. No spoilers, go listen.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I don't want listen. No spoilers. Go listen. Yeah, go check it out. Come on, hey, oh yay. Hey, wait, the episode's right after this. Please just continue. You know what? Maybe just start it. No, go ahead, you first, after you, after you, let's let it rip. Finally we get to meet you. We're so excited about that. So you made this beautiful Mindscapes tarot deck which I have right here, and can you tell us about how you got into this? A little backstory background about you. Tell us about John.
Speaker 3:Sure. Well, a lot of people have been asking me lately how I got interested in tarot and, to be honest, I don't really remember. I'm a Libra who leans Scorpio, so I've always been interested in weird dark things ever since I was little, so tarot was always sort of on my radar. And then, around 2018, my partner, kevin, gifted me my first tarot deck, which is called the Wild Unknown by Kim Kranz, and I had heard, I guess like an old wives tale, that if you receive a tarot deck as a gift, you have to learn to read it. So, coincidentally, at a party a little later, I met this woman named Lorraine, from Italy and she is a prolific tarot reader, and she said hey, do you want me to mentor you in tarot? Um, I literally don't even think she charged me. I think I like gave her some money.
Speaker 3:But it was just this like beautiful relationship over one summer where I would go to her house, uh, every week, uh, uh, we would sit, and she had this incredible treasure chest filled with tarot decks. She must have had like 100 or like 150, and each session we would read with a different deck, like once we had kind of gone over the basics. So we had this huge overview of tarot art from all over the world and all different artists, all different cultures and um, it made me realize, like I kind of want to do this for myself. I want to put my stamp on the genre and, um, I, I guess I never realized until that point that fine art and tarot were aligned in that way, like I didn't realize that that was a thing that artists did, yeah, um, and then, uh, when the pandemic happened, I had been professionally doing a lot of tv and film up until that point. That's how we met our mutual friend, adrian um, and all those avenues sort of dried up.
Speaker 3:So, again, it was my partner, kevin. He, he, he's really behind all my good ideas. He was like he is, he is like the mastermind, like I just dance for him, um, but he was like you need to start putting your art online. And so at that point, because I had all this time on my hands, I started illustrating the tarot deck, started posting it online and it just took off and kind of got this life of its own. Um, and I've been doing that professionally ever since. That's now like my bread and butter. It's my nine to five is fine art and yeah, that's brought us here.
Speaker 1:That's so amazing. I love that. Oh my gosh. It was kind of wild how? It happened, I'm going to go Kevin.
Speaker 3:Yeah, I mean truly, truly.
Speaker 2:So first of all, like your, your art background, how long, when did you first get into fine art and how you seem? I mean looking at your, your, your pictures here. I don't even know if I should call them pictures you're a little doodles this is a really nice sketch and they're incredible and, like you, clearly have been studied in some way. So what's the story with that?
Speaker 3:um, you know, I've just been doing, uh, visual art as long as I can remember. It was like my first artistic love, before I did writing, before I did acting, all the things that I do now. Um, visual art, that's like my core memories. Um, my mom used to have like art class with me where we would go and she would sit. We would sit at this little like, um, I'm not sure what the, the. It was a very specific material. It was a little art table that I had. Do you know for for Micah? It was like a. It was like this ugly beige color, but all these like flecks, these like sparkling flecks in it, and it was written like metal. Do you know for for micah? It was like a. It was like this ugly beige color, but all these like flecks, these like sparkling flecks in it, and it was written like metal. Do you know what I'm talking about?
Speaker 2:yeah, yeah, yeah, you see a desk like that.
Speaker 3:You know it's time to party, yeah it is like, it is like a distinct memory in my brain, but anyway, we would sit at this table and have art class and I remember being like four years old and I would draw my favorite disney characters or like sonic the hedgehog or whatever it was, and I would draw my favorite Disney characters or like Sonic the Hedgehog or whatever it was, and I would create these stories out of them where I would literally write the story that went along.
Speaker 3:I would like basically create my own illustrated books and my mom still has a lot of them, but I think, because of the way I was raised, it was never presented to me as an option for a profession. Like I never even had in my head that a visual artist was a career, so it was something I never pursued in that way. Like I took art classes in grade school and I'm sure that I learned a lot in those that I now just take for granted being able to do, but I didn't go to fine art school. I just always did it for me in my spare time. But even hearing myself tell this story I realized I think that you even see that like storytelling aspect in the art that I do and in the tarot deck I feel like as.
Speaker 3:I'm saying it as I'm saying it, I'm like putting the pieces together. I'm like, oh, that's what I'm doing.
Speaker 2:The branches suit for specifically, like it was one of the like the suit, the suits where I'm going through your deck and I'm like, oh, this is a whole ass story.
Speaker 3:Yeah, yeah, even the way it's laid out.
Speaker 2:Yeah, no, I was. I'm obsessed with it. I think it's so cool. I was even I had my mom over this weekend and I was like mom, look at this. And I I was. I always quiz my parents. I'm like, go through this whole, go through this suit and tell me, like what do you see, what do you feel?
Speaker 3:oh, yeah, your dad's interested in tarot, or are they like?
Speaker 1:this is another weird interest our child has taken on we're just gonna smile and nod oh okay, they never like had even seen a tarot deck, I feel like, until we started talking about it.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I mean, I grew up Catholic so this was all like don't touch that stuff. But now they're coming around to it like, oh, that's pretty cool.
Speaker 1:But his dad was doing really great intuitive interpretations of cards. He was like well, what I see here is this man looks really sad and he's lonely and maybe he's done something wrong.
Speaker 3:You're like I get it, Dad, I get it.
Speaker 2:Maybe he should get a job.
Speaker 1:What Dad stop. It looks like his name is Frank.
Speaker 3:I love to hear that. That's great yeah, yeah this deck that people would just be able to. I actually have it here in front of me too, uh, because I did a little card pull for us.
Speaker 3:We can get into later oh fun oh, but I but I hope that people would just be able to like look at these and instantly feel something and it's, and that is the right answer. You know what I mean. Just like what do you? Whenever I'm giving a tarot reading, I always start with asking people that I'm like literally just name out loud the things that jump out to you, that you see first, and then that's always like such a good way into the card, intuitively.
Speaker 1:Yeah, right, so okay, like, when you were illustrating these cards, how did your like connection to your intuition play a part in the story you wanted to tell? Or?
Speaker 2:actually I. I was going to ask that question, but I have a pre-question to that.
Speaker 1:Okay, great Great.
Speaker 2:Were you a spooky person ever before you like were handed a deck yes, uh.
Speaker 3:Well, like I said, I, I always sort of leaned into that scorpio nature. I, with adrian, our friend, I would write horror movies. That was what I did for 15 years like, and they always had like the psychic character, like the ouija board or like some, like some aspect of that. I've always been very intrigued by those gray areas in our lives, like where I think it's much more interesting what we don't know than what we do know, like like that's always where the interesting stuff happens, in those like spaces of mystery. So, yes, I've always been interested in that. In terms of how I use intuition with this deck, I have always we're about to open a little side channel here but I've always been able to.
Speaker 2:That's what we love to do Only side missions, only side missions.
Speaker 1:Very nonlinear, so I've gone many side tangents. Yeah Well, this tangent is very, I think, gone. Many side tangents.
Speaker 3:Yeah Well, this tangent is very, I think, aligned with your podcast.
Speaker 3:Um, great, I've always been able to envision, um, these things in my head just instantly, like I don't know where they come from, but like I can just shut my eyes and picture like five different art pieces that I could make. Right now they're just like, instantly appear. And for the tarot deck, once I decided I was gonna do this project all 25 of the major arcana in one afternoon. Actually, I think it was like 23 out of 25. I just like in an hour. I just knew what they were going to be and so I just hurried up and I wrote, I wrote notes in my iPhone so I wouldn't forget them. And then it took two years to make the major arcana, but I never deviated from that original vision and the things that you see in front of you are literally what appeared in my head on that first day. Wow, and so when I say that this opens a little side quest, in doing the tarot deck, I have been introduced to a lot of different esoteric communities, including a spiritualist community called Lilydale, upstate.
Speaker 1:Do you all know about this?
Speaker 3:community called lilydale upstate. Do you all know about this? No, it's a town. It's a town of psychic mediums. Like literally everyone in the town, pretty much everyone, is a medium. Uh, they're all spiritualists and they all believe that, um, everybody has the ability to commune with the dead, with the beyond, and receive messages, if you just get quiet enough and kind of tune your mind to the right frequency.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 3:They call what I do channeling. I hesitate to use that language, but there are definitely people who consider my artwork in general channeled. Just because of how I receive these visual impressions and in terms of, like, artistic process, it's really important to me. One of the tenets of my whole, uh, artistic life is that I don't question these images. I just put them down exactly as they appear. As tempting as it is for my overthinking brain to want to move this bush over here and like, alter these little things, like no, no, I always, even if I don't agree with it or don't like it, I always just put it down exactly as I see it. So that's something that is a through line for all of my art wow, that's so interesting so does that answer your question?
Speaker 3:Yes, why do you hesitate to?
Speaker 1:say that it's channeled.
Speaker 3:Well, like you, frank, I grew up in a religious atmosphere, I grew up in a Baptist church, and I just struggle with religious language in general.
Speaker 3:I just I just that makes sense. I have like a knee jerk reaction to it. And I definitely did that thing where, like, I left the church at 18. I had been going literally like every Sunday until I was 18. Then I moved away and became like a heathen and then became like a complete atheist. Like I was like I was like these fucking idiots, like can I start your podcast? Heathen. And then became like a complete atheist. Like I was like I was like these fucking idiots, like can I start your podcast? But like, truly, it was like the worst kind of atheist, where it's almost like as bad as the fundamentalist, where you're like these people are so stupid they don't know. And then I feel like, as I get older, you like realize the truth is actually somewhere in between those things yeah, like you said so I still struggle with religious language a lot, but it's valid.
Speaker 3:You know, I I would maybe use a term like inspired artwork, but that's just my own.
Speaker 2:Like I said, it's just my own stuff I was telling lauren like literally a couple days ago, I was like, oh, I need to give myself a little more patience. Um, I guess the word is like grace, but I don't like that word because I grew up with that meaning a whole bunch of other things, and I mean one of the big, one of the big struggles, even when we started this podcast for me was like the concept of angels. I'm like okay, come on yeah right now.
Speaker 2:We've talked to so many people that I'm like, oh cool, yeah, like angels for sure. But I was, like I told her, I'm like I'm excited to get into this podcast and talk to some people and learn about things, but I'm going to have a hard time with angels, let me tell you and I don't know it's for the same reason of, like, I have a lot of deprogramming to do.
Speaker 3:That's exactly it. It is it? Deprogramming, that is such a good word for it, and so much of this semantics do like angels, but then you have people talking about like guides and ancestors, and those are much more like palatable to me for some reason.
Speaker 1:I mean they're not new, you know, they're not any less like like woo, but for sure yeah yeah, they're words that don't have, like historical or like I don't know, maybe even a trauma attached to it's, its meaning, it's to you and it was um hijacked meaning yeah, yeah, yeah lots of baggage, lots of baggage, lots of baggage, at least for us. So lilydale yeah, we gotta.
Speaker 3:We gotta make a trip to lilydale one day you said that's in upstate new york absolutely yes, it is in upstate new york um it's like western new york, so um by lake erie, like that sort of area like next to lake erie is a very funny place for a psychic city.
Speaker 1:Perfect.
Speaker 2:We're we're going to be, we're going to just pretend like we're okay with the term channeling.
Speaker 3:So you're channeling these things and downloading channeling. Yeah, yeah, let's use all the terms.
Speaker 3:And so you're getting these like visuals in your mind's eye and and then you like, just hold on to these things until you actually get them on paper or what's up yeah, so sometimes I'll do little sketches, sometimes I'll, like I said, I'll write notes in my iphone just and like truly detailed, you know, like bottom right corner there's a trash can and it's blue and purple the shadows are purple like really detailed. So I remember later, um, but it's like, yeah, I have this little list in my brain of artworks that I'm going to make that have just come to me and I try to freeze frame them in the moment. So I remember what they are. But yeah, that's awesome.
Speaker 1:Like okay, for example, the Wheel of Fortune, what's it called?
Speaker 2:Rider-Waite is. We don't talk about that one on this show. No, no, not today. There's only one deck as far as we're concerned.
Speaker 1:I know it's true. So, for example, for this, this spider with a spider web appeared in your mind and can you tell me about like, like the symbology of this one especially?
Speaker 3:Yeah, yeah, so I with the wheel of fortune. Um, it does, my credits do align with traditional I use that term loosely, traditional rider weight, smith imagery. Um, in some ways I mean, that was definitely like the core system that I learned and then you kind of can do your own thing with it. Um, and I tried to leave it up for interpretation. But in my mind the wheel of fortune is all about surrender, like if I had to pick a keyword for that card. It is like no matter where you are in the wheel sometimes you're riding the highs and sometimes you're at a really low point it will always change again. So it's like you kind of have to give in to the moment where you are.
Speaker 3:And I used the spider web because it's so, it's really strong and it's also really fragile. And I imagine it's really strong and it's also really fragile. And I imagine it's like sometimes you're the prey, sometimes you're the spider, but, like you can see, there's little parts of the web that are kind of like messed up or destroyed or like repaired, and then there's, there's, you can see, like little insects wrapped up in it. Yeah, the way I've suspended the spider web over the rushing river, it's just, it's just precarious, right, like there's no solid ground to be found in the scene, but there's also, like, the rainbow at the top. So it's this play of opposites, because it really is just about giving in to where you are and going with that flow of life and kind of going through those moments, like you said, frank, with grace, um, and acceptance in a way. Um, that's what that card is to me.
Speaker 1:That's so beautiful. Damn it, John.
Speaker 2:What was the original? What? What is the original medium Like? How did you initially make these? Oil pastel, that's my like. Traditional, that's my main medium. What? What is the original?
Speaker 3:medium, like how did you initially make these? Uh, oil pastel that's my like traditional, that's my main medium how big are the originals? Um five by seven ish like four point something by seven it's so cool.
Speaker 1:We've just like stared at these cards, like they're just so, they're so pretty hope.
Speaker 3:I hope people use these cards for meditation. That's like one of the uh, my, that's like one of my um individual wishes for this deck is that I, I really want people to spend time with it, and I've seen video. It's funny because people do these unboxing videos. It's like a whole thing in tarot. People do these unboxing videos. It's like a whole thing in tarot. And, um, there are some videos where I see people they flip the cards really quick and they're like this is the queen of wands, this is what it means. This is the wheel of fortune, this is what it means. This is the ace. This is what it means.
Speaker 3:And I'm like oh, that's fine if you want to do it that way, but take just like, take time with it, just spend time with these cards. I, I want seasoned tarot readers to be able to look again at these archetypes that we know so well. Like that was one of my goals with this is that not only can beginners just look at it and instantly be like oh the chariot. I get that there's movement and momentum, but I want people who know the cards to have to look also and kind of relearn them or like reassess their own definitions of them.
Speaker 2:Right, I mean, that makes sense, especially when you see something so many times, for so long you start to not even see it anymore. You know, Right, exactly. Like bringing a new, just a new visual to like these old meanings is so important, and especially if it was, you know, channeled, like you said. You know you brought all of this like new ways to interpret into it and it's, it's so nice. Um, how long does it? How long did it take you to just like make one? How long does it take?
Speaker 3:um, it varied. The first card that I ever did was the moon and it is the least detailed of all the cards, because I didn't know what I was doing at that point, so I just sure did a thing and it took like eight hours. Um, wow, the other cards took much longer, especially like you'll see they become. They can become very detailed, like by the end. I would say that I would spend like a couple weeks on a card, um just sketching it out and like testing colors and figuring things out.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, eight hours, eight hours minimum, and people are just flipping them. Oh, look at this one. Yeah, yeah, that's what I mean.
Speaker 3:So yeah, there's a lot of thought that goes into them, and I hope that people give them the same amount of thought when they're reading them.
Speaker 2:That's like. That's like fast forwarding through the Beatles discography and be like I don't do that? That sounds pretty good.
Speaker 3:I guess. But then a lot of people do get it, I have to say. A lot of people also do take their time and they and they go into the paintings and really understand them.
Speaker 2:That's nice.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:Um, yeah, I. Another thing I want to ask you about is your suits are uncommon.
Speaker 1:Was that another like channel thing, or no Suits are because I saw yeah, we've got spires, branches, stones and what's the other one?
Speaker 3:Spires, branches, stones and tides for cups Tides right. Okay, yeah, they all correspond with the traditional suits. I hate it when people change suit names. I literally it bothers me so much. But I tried to figure out a way to make those names work for this deck but it just didn't Like. With the landscape imagery and stuff it was too the traditional names were too human oriented, um, just like when you have like swords. If I'm thinking like, how does that manifest in the natural landscape?
Speaker 3:right it just wasn't. It just didn't fit like I. I gave it a lot of thought and and I changed them okay so now I'm one of those people that makes sense?
Speaker 2:I don't know. You know, I gotta remember this is a podcast, not always visual. Um, the majority of these are like, yeah, landscape focused, they're landscape oriented. Um, god, I'm just looking at your judgment card.
Speaker 3:I love that one so much oh thanks, new orleans, have you all been? Yeah, yeah, of course yeah, that was my favorite. That's one of my favorite places same has a full episode.
Speaker 1:It was like a storytelling episode. And after he came back from new orleans, because, oh, because you had a tarot card reading that was like profound, that's like my first, like professional tarot reading, and I was like that's cool, yeah, that that trip like shifted something. Oh yeah, for sure, in here, in here in your heart that little tiny, little tiny heart of mine.
Speaker 2:So, yeah, I mean, I love, I was looking at this and I'm just obsessed with them. Like that is it? That's a I don't want to say a perfect card, even. It's just a perfect image that you, you created.
Speaker 3:You, you brought something amazing to the world there yeah, thank you so that's that let me new orleans is also a very profound place. I I also had a profound experience in new orleans um with a reading, although it wasn't a tarot reading. I got my coconut shells read, oh say more by a voodoo priest named Charlie.
Speaker 3:Oh, my God, and um, and it was really profound, it was really revelatory. Like um, he said that I had a presence with me. There was an. It was an older female presence who had died 10 years previous and we, through conversation, we determined it to be my grandmother, who I, um, I had a lot of guilt associated with her passing because I was in college at the time. She got sick, thank, around Thanksgiving and I wasn't home and she had passed by Christmas. And so I, literally, by the time I got there, she was like in hospice, unresponsive, you know, I like was there, I said my words to her in her ear, but it was not the ending that should have been, you know. And so I definitely had a lot of unresolved feelings and emotions with that.
Speaker 3:But Charlie, the voodoo priest, picked up on this and he was like she's always with you, she's always in your corner, but you need to acknowledge that presence more. And he showed me how to do an ancestor service, which I had never even heard of before, honestly. And he was like, just go home, put on some music that you and your grandmother would have listened to, or put on a movie that you would have liked, eat some of your favorite foods, light a candle, just talk to her as if she's there. And at the time I left and you know my very skeptical, overthinking brain was like, okay, well, you know, everybody has a grandmother who passed. But I went home and I did the thing and, regardless of whether or not you believe that you are actually communing with spirits or just your own subconscious iterations, it was such a moving experience, emotional experience.
Speaker 3:I have ancestor services literally all the time. Now I have, I have a little box that has little tiny pictures of all the people in my life who've passed, who've been meaningful to me, and, um, I will often, at holidays or on birthdays I'll like, select one. I'll, you know, get their favorite food, I'll watch a movie that they would have liked. Sometimes I'll even dedicate my daily art practice to one of them. You know whose traits I would want to embody that day. It's become a really important part of my, of my spiritual practice.
Speaker 1:Okay, I'm trying to not get emotional, but today's my day.
Speaker 3:You're allowed. It was. It's an emotional thing. And I highly recommend I highly recommend doing what I just said.
Speaker 1:Yeah. Today's my brother's birthday and he passed 20 years ago, and so on his birthday we always do Sorry.
Speaker 1:No, it's okay, it's funny timing that you brought that up, because we always do like my daughter was like oh, we got to get maple donuts for Uncle Ian's birthday and you know we always do like a lot of things that he would have enjoyed and we like celebrate him, we say like happy birthday, we do a little cheers, so I love that. It's like just kind of perfect. Of course, yeah, there are no coincidences that you mentioned that, but yeah, that's so, it's so cool and it's such a great way to like keep their memory, sorry, keep their memory like present and keep their like legacy or their, their story alive, especially with, you know, younger ones or people who didn't know them, stuff like that. Yeah, that's so cool that's it's also so.
Speaker 2:I'm in the middle of reading a book about like um, doing that, like what you're saying, like like I don't I don't want to call it ancestry reverence I suppose like making like a little bit of an altar. I love that you have. Can you explain your setup again real quick?
Speaker 3:you have a little box with the like pictures in it yes, since you ask, we're in my art studio right now, so I have it. I have it handy, but um, so I have this little box. Actually, this was gifted to me by ad. We're very connected, so it's a little box and it has. It's just beautiful. There's like some herbs in it, there's a little essential oil thing, but then it came with this little picture frame and you can see little.
Speaker 3:I have all these little pictures of people who are important to me, and so, yeah, I'll select one or a group of them and put them in the frame, and then I have my little candle that I light and, yeah, it just is right there on my shelf while I'm working. This is where I work, where I do all my art I love that Wow, I have.
Speaker 1:That just gave Frank some ideas.
Speaker 2:I've got the perfect little box for this. It's already right over there.
Speaker 2:I have a whole thing for it. I keep like my sage and like my like house smudging things and my cleansing things and a couple like crystals and stuff like that and and uh, I've been. I'm like, where am I going to set up this? Like I didn't want to have like a permanent, like oh, basically like where do I? Where do I keep this stuff? Because, yeah, like one of my grandparents I'm just getting into like being a Reiki practitioner and one of my grandparents did like healing hand stuff in Cuba and I'm like, oh, I should probably like talk to that guy. Yeah, so I wanted to do.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I wanted to do exactly that and I love this format. That's perfect.
Speaker 3:That's like a little cigar box.
Speaker 2:Oh, what an idea.
Speaker 1:There it is.
Speaker 2:There it is.
Speaker 3:Thank you.
Speaker 2:I'm sure I can probably ask my dad. He probably has a box of Cohiba somewhere or something that I can, that's perfect, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 3:Has a box of cojibas somewhere or something that I can? That's perfect. Yeah, yeah, it is important, though it is important, I think, these little rituals like I said, regardless of what anyone believes you're taking thought and physicalizing it in the world, which just has so much power, and I don't think people give it enough credit and we certainly don't practice ancestor reverence enough in this country oh, no way I mean, we see how we treat our elders generally here, but it's so important in other places in the world and and I get it like I understand why- yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1:I mean, you're carrying so much story and history and trauma with you from your ancestors and I think part of like healing that is paying attention to it and giving it some kind of like honoring, Because you I think you were you were pretty like resistant to kind of like digging up stuff. You're like, well, why do I have to do it?
Speaker 2:Well listen, I grew up in America, so toxic individualism is built into my bones. Okay, and and also as someone who, like, tries to, you know, live into my own personal sovereignty and all that I'm like, and who didn't really have a really established relationship with the majority of my grandparents for various reasons, it's like, well, I don't need that stuff anyway, right, but then I'm also just not respecting the entire story of how I got here and what I'm about and what I'm bringing into the world, at least from a very foundational, like genetic level at the very least. So like acknowledging and then, and then that's not even to mention what they did with their lives. And you know, I'm, I'm, I'm on both sides. There's immigration that occurred and it's I can't just like ignore that. You know, right, and and and with that immigration come, came along like, and what I wish I had more access to is some of that, some of that folk magic, some of that that like cultural.
Speaker 2:You know, it's like they came to america and suddenly, and then you know, there was a connection that was lost at some point, and now I'm just a clean slate of, you know, cheeseburgers and I'm trying to tap into, I, I'm, I'm very much like culturally just straight American Right, even though my dad, like, was born in Cuba. So there's a part of me that almost feels like if I were to inherit some of that, those, and then my mom, my mom's side, is from Scotland. There's a part of me if I'm like oh yeah, I want to get like some Celtic tattoos or like, if I want to um, I don't know, like like practice, some like um Santeria or something it feels. It feels inauthentic to me because I had never had any real access to that. The foundation.
Speaker 1:You don't even click, you don't even put like Hispanic or Latino on your like applications or anything. I do sometimes if I really want, if I really want the job. Half Cuban. I'm always like what Frank like, he's like I don't know, I just put white yeah.
Speaker 2:Because culturally I'm not genetically, I am like like a mixed, you know, yeah. So the whole thing of like at the found on a foundational level, because culturally I'm not genetically, I am like like a mixed, you know, yeah, so the whole thing of like at the found on a foundational level, like, at least on, I know for sure, on my, my dad's side, the Cuban side, there was a little bit of like folk magic and healing stuff. And I, if I, if I don't have the cultural element of that I still have, I can still ask for the help. You know what I mean.
Speaker 3:Yeah, and also, and also and also. You know, it's not about like I don't I. It's not about being beholden to the past because, like the story is now yours to take in whatever direction you choose, like there's nothing wrong with eating cheeseburgers and you know, living your american dream or whatever it is, but, but it's just, it's more recognizing that you are continuing a story that was going long before you were around, you know and you're going to leave something for your chosen heirs long after.
Speaker 3:So, um, yeah, I I. If that takes the pressure off, I hope yeah.
Speaker 2:I just love your setup and I'm going to copy you, sorry.
Speaker 3:I hope you do it's. It's really lovely. I mean, I it. It makes it so much more intentional each day to do my work and dedicate that practice to, to the memory of somebody. Um, especially if there's some trait that I want to embody, if, like, like, I know that my great grandmother worked her ass off, so, like, if there's a day where I wake up and I'm like I don't want to sit and do this today, like, great-grandma, give me that, give me that energy, like we're gonna dedicate this practice to you. Um, who would like, even when she had like lost her sight, was like blindly, like cutting the noodles for the dinner you know what I mean. Like it's that sort of thing. And like then I have friends who are like creative engines and and they pass and I'm like, okay, I need some of that like creative inspiration today. So it really is like a lovely intentional practice and I hope that it is meaningful to you too no, that's, that's really great.
Speaker 1:I love that because I've heard people say like, oh, you know, I we had a guest and I can't remember who it was at this moment. But, um, they said they had like, oh, I put my grandfather on my spirit team and I put, cause he's really good at business and I put this person on my spirit team because they're good at this. It might've been Lucy Jane, but anyway, oh, that's right person on my spirit team because they're good at this might've been Lucy Jane, but anyway, oh, that's right she was.
Speaker 2:I was like she's one of the few people I'm like. Wait, you are, you're in charge of your roster.
Speaker 1:You're like spirit team, like lineup, yeah, but the way you're putting it, um, just helps me because there's like a tangible, there's a practice to that. That helps me put the intention in there with like I don't know the physical thing of your box and the picture, and going like, okay, I'm going to choose you to like kind of, I'm going to draw inspiration from your personality or your like these traits that you strongly have that I maybe don't, as well as you do. Yeah, I love that.
Speaker 3:Just to remember where you came from, that's great.
Speaker 2:So I mean, you got your first tarot deck in 2018. I mean, if I got, I'd be like, oh, I'm a, I still I'm like, I'm a baby witch. I'm a baby witch, but you, you're now, you're already like, like making your mark in this community, right, um, what's been like the thing it? Has there been a thing that has like helped you in your like practice or your development the most, aside from just studying tarot like you did?
Speaker 3:Well, illustrating a deck for five years gives you a very deep understanding of the cards in a more intimate way than I ever even thought possible.
Speaker 3:I have such a profound respect for tarot now it's really fascinating doing any project for that long, but like especially this that deals with all these archetypes and these situations that come up over and over again in our lives, because innumerable times I would be illustrating a card and then something would happen in my life and I'd be like oh well, I'm right here where this, this card is, and you just realize how much wisdom is encapsulated in these little 78 cards. It really is a distillation of, like great wisdom from thousands of years ago. You know like, like it truly is and when I say it, it it really does offer solutions for every problem that you can come up against in your life. Like it's all there. And that's really shocking to me, because it's easy to just be like, oh, tarot, like it's a fun game or like no, it's legit. There's like so much thought and so many hundreds, thousands of years of like the human condition put into these cards. It's really startling, like when you really start to start to study it I like, really do.
Speaker 2:I like to study people and their decision making and all that stuff, right and like I, I am unable to psychoanalyze the tarot deck. I'm like I don't know where this came from. This is like this is next level, shit right, it's not that simple. I, like a part of me is always wants to be like well, in any given situation, you know there's only a couple of choices you could make and they're all listed here and nope, nope, there's a lot going on here. It's way more than that is not that simple, and it's always exactly what you need, which is like the most amazing part.
Speaker 1:I love it so much. So, while you were illustrating them, there would be things that you're like oh there's, I'm learning, I'm getting the same message from this one that I'm working on, Just like it always feels like serendipitous, but the messages are coming through while you're working on them.
Speaker 3:Yeah, it happened all the time.
Speaker 1:And.
Speaker 3:I would be like there's a card for everything. I think that's the other thing. There's like a card for every situation that you can be in. I'd oh well, I'm in the you know seven of pentacles today. Like it and um. I took a class during the pandemic from harvard online um, it was on predictive systems, and a whole section of that class went into, like, the history of tarot and astrology and where all of these wisdom, traditions and divination systems met, um, like back in the fertile crescent, and it really did allow me to realize that back then people, would you know, come to oracles, almost like people go to therapists, like they would come with their problems and eventually, like these people figured out they're the right ways. There are. There are certain ways to live your life that just are better than others, and I feel like that wisdom is like carried through in all these different traditions and now they're distilled into 78 cards. But it, yeah, it's just, it's immense.
Speaker 2:I'm still surprised by it every day yeah sometimes, even though I'm just not feeling great, I'll just grab my deck and I'll go to like pull a card and I'll get distracted. But sometimes just holding my deck makes me feel better.
Speaker 3:I'm like it's like you're you're a blankie like you're adult it's a little bit of a blankie. Yeah, let's ignore my history of cod'm. Like it's like you're. You're a blankie like you're adult it's a little bit of a blankie.
Speaker 2:Yeah, let's ignore my history of codependence.
Speaker 1:It's fine um are any of these meant to be, or are they meant to be read upright, or do you do reversed at all?
Speaker 3:um, I personally don't do reversals in my own readings, because I tend to talk about the reversals anyway. When I'm explaining cards to people or reading, I tend to give them both sides of it anyway, but there's no right or wrong way. People can read reversals if they would like.
Speaker 2:I've started to actually, when we pull cards, I've started to read both the upright and reversal, because it feels like the entire picture. It feels like it gives you like the here's where you're at and here's where things could be different if you do the thing or whatever it might be right. Like it's like the total picture of it yeah exactly.
Speaker 1:I'm now understanding. I just realized the title of your oops, the title of your oops, the title of your deck mindscapes, because you said they show up in your mind. I love that.
Speaker 3:And actually Kevin came up with that title. Kevin, he's responsible for all my good ideas.
Speaker 2:I'm telling you, he's just the man in the chair. He's sitting behind you with his fingers like this.
Speaker 3:He's like Oz yeah.
Speaker 1:He's like next, john, you're going to do this.
Speaker 2:John, you don't need a deck, just ask me, kevin.
Speaker 1:I know your next move, the mastermind, the mastermind, the mastermind.
Speaker 2:That's amazing, John. Do you use your own deck?
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, he was just shuffling.
Speaker 2:Is it interesting to use your own deck I was talking earlier about, especially with Rider Waite? We use these cards all the time and it's like, oh, I've seen this and you forget to really look at it. Do you look deeply into your own pictures?
Speaker 3:Yes, forget to like really look at it, do you are you? Do you like look deeply into your own pictures? Yes, because, um, I think, because it is such a non-traditional system. Um, when I'm doing a spread, I still do have to think about how the cards relate to one another and how, like one might be informing something else. But also, this deck is still pretty new to me. I've only had it in printed form for like a little over a month, so I haven't been able to read with it for that long, and so I am learning with it too.
Speaker 3:But, I do like the way it reads. I definitely can get really good readings out of it and I've been getting really positive feedback from others, so it's great.
Speaker 1:That's awesome. Yeah, wait, what was the card you you pulled, though.
Speaker 3:Okay. So I woke up this morning and I was like I've been in kind of a a little bit of a funk lately, which is so crazy because I do have the deck that just came out. I have another book coming out next month but I felt like, um, a little bit in like a nebulous area and I was like I'm really in like a moon place with the moon is like the dark night of the soul.
Speaker 3:It's about unknown mystery and having to just put one foot forward, one foot in front of the other, to just keep going and trust that what is waiting on the other side is is right and worth it. But you have to keep moving forward, even when it feels paralyzing and scary. And I was like I'm going to pull a card for this podcast and I shuffled the crap out of this deck and I pulled the moon card Isn't that wild. I split the deck, I shuffled it in two piles, I cut it multiple times and that was the card that was right on top I would say it's wild if it hasn't happened to me a hundred times before I know that's true, that's true, like, like.
Speaker 3:The thing that shows up is the thing like, of course, of course yeah one foot in front of the other yeah, so that could be the card for me, though, because I feel that's.
Speaker 1:I've felt that same feeling that you were explaining in the last few days too. I came home from a trip two days ago and I was like I don't know, I just have this pit in my stomach. I was alone, without any plans, and I was like who am I? You should call Kevin.
Speaker 2:I know who am I, you know you should call Kevin.
Speaker 1:I know I'll call Kevin.
Speaker 2:Kevin, what do I do next? Well, I think I also saw something like, astrologically, there's a lot like the beginning of August is supposed to be too busy to um, we're uh over, uh committed, kind of thing. So, and overwhelmed, so I could I I'm no astrologer, but I would imagine that that might have something to do with it. And on top of all that, you, just you just dropped a deck.
Speaker 3:I just dropped the deck. It's the whole, it's the um. That old saying jump in the net will appear like that is the embodiment of that card um, john, do me a favor.
Speaker 2:Tell everybody where to find you and, and, and what your upcoming projects are how to buy this deck yeah, sure, well, uh.
Speaker 3:So the deck is available. Wherever you buy books, you can get it. I encourage people to go to their local indie bookstore, metaphysical shop. You can ask for it if they don't have it. But you can also find it at the big ones, at Barnes, noble and Amazon, blah, blah, blah. And you can find me mostly on Instagram. It's just my name, johnawrites Facebook. My website is wwwjarstudionyccom. Um. But instagram, I would say, is where I mostly post my stuff. That's where, like my, my portfolio, I would say. You can find me on tiktok, if you're young or pretending to be like me or or pretending Exactly yes.
Speaker 3:And then, in terms of future projects, I have a book coming out next month. It is called October Shadows classic ghost stories for Halloween, and I actually have that. I have a copy of that right here too, which I can show you like the cover of. Can you see that? Oh my God.
Speaker 2:That looks amazing. That's beautiful.
Speaker 3:It's all illustrated on autumn leaves, so I don't know if you can see it let me find it. Oh my god let me find a good one to show you are these?
Speaker 2:are these original stories or are these collected stories?
Speaker 3:no, like this is the fall of the house of usher by edgar allen poe. So can you see? This is that. Can you see that? Yeah, yes so so it's all on autumn, leaves um, and there's 15 stories, 15 different original illustrations. I'm super excited about it. I think it's gonna be really cool.
Speaker 3:That is awesome yeah, so, and it's. The publisher is abbeville press. They're great. Yeah, they're an. They're an art book publisher and they bound it in crushed black silk, like I don't know if you can see. It's stunning, it's like just a beautiful book.
Speaker 2:So if you like.
Speaker 3:Halloween. You like Halloween. You like heirloom book keepsakes, october Shadows, classic ghost stories for Halloween. And then I'm actually working on a new card deck that is all channeled artwork from the mediums cabinet. We didn't even talk about this.
Speaker 2:The mediums cabinet. What is this?
Speaker 3:so the last time I was in Lilydale.
Speaker 2:God bless them like an actual cabinet, like a spiritualist cabinet, like a spiritualist cabinet.
Speaker 3:Automatic drawings from seances that I had in Lillydale. There's still much to talk about. We need to come back for a part two or something. We do I have a deck of cards that is all automatic drawings during those received sessions during those seances.
Speaker 1:What.
Speaker 3:Actually, I don't know that I've told anybody about that yet, so you might be the first to hear about it.
Speaker 2:A Claire Voyaging exclusive. Very cool.
Speaker 1:Oh, no Wait. I feel like maybe it would be fun to have you and Adrian.
Speaker 2:Okay, why don't we get you back on to push the book a little bit, and we'll have Adrian on too, you guys can? Don't we get you back on to push the book a little bit, and we'll have Adrian on too, you guys can?
Speaker 1:And tell us about the cabinets.
Speaker 3:Cool, yeah, I will. It's sort of its own unique story, but also, again, very aligned with what you guys are doing here.
Speaker 2:Oh, so fun. That's awesome. I'm excited about that.
Speaker 1:We'll get a little more spooky.
Speaker 3:we'll get a little more like spooky we'll get more spooky, a little more spooky.
Speaker 2:Yes, it does okay it's funny too, because I was gonna ask you if, like you still, because a lot of times people get into, like you know, more esoteric and and woo-woo stuff and then, um, I, they just stop liking horror and oh, and I think they are the opposite.
Speaker 2:I'm like oh no, I love this stuff Like scare me. But sometimes, especially if I'm watching like like videos on YouTube or something of like, this spooky thing happened, like top five scary things that happened this week, and I'm watching that stuff and I'm half the time I'm laughing. I'm like oh that ghost just wanted to say hi. Sometimes I'm like oh, oh, that's gross.
Speaker 3:But yeah, yeah, no, I'm still still a big horror fan here. You know what it has done. It has made me like when I'm writing a horror script or something, if I'm writing like about tarot cards or like a psychic, I'm like damn, I know that's not real, I know that's not it works. I know tarot cards are gateways for demons. Like I can't use that anymore as like a horror movie trope. Yeah, you know you kind of have a deeper respect for a lot of things that are just very casually tossed around in horror. Um, but no, I still enjoy the genre.
Speaker 2:I will say we've been in like one like writer's room. That was a loose room for writing like a horror script, and we were. I was like, oh, let's give this, let's give the, the big bad like some good motivation here.
Speaker 1:We were bringing, like the, the true paranormal, like element to the, the writer's room.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it was like it was probably what happened to your, your ghost, like he's a demon.
Speaker 3:We were like no, this was a real person who like whatever.
Speaker 2:Exactly, yeah, yeah, it's always trauma. Yeah, john, let's catch up really soon and we'll talk more.
Speaker 3:It sounds awesome. Yeah, I mean, it's my pleasure. Thank you so much for speaking with me.
Speaker 1:Thank you, it was so great to meet you Again.
Speaker 2:Thank you for sending the deck. It's beautiful and everyone go get one. Mindscapes.
Speaker 1:Mindscapes Tarot. Go pick it up today. Thank you, John.
Speaker 2:Thank you both so much. Thank you for listening. Visit clairevoyagingcom for merchandise or to access free resources to help you on your spiritual journey. Subscribe to our Patreon for more content or join for free to chat with us. Claire Voyaging is a fiscally sponsored project of Fractured Atlas, a 501c3 charity. Make a tax-deductible donation to support our mission to foster understanding, respect and curiosity for diverse spiritual belief systems. Claire Voyaging is a production of Wayfeather Media.
