Reader: You can use Tarot cards for more than fortune telling

Connie Lehman has been drawing, sculpting, embroidering and curating in Colorado for decades. But when she say a deck of Tarot cards by artist Rachel Pollock, she found a new calling. The result is Tarot Life Cards: Using Your Birthday to Chart Your Course, a book that helps readers identify...

By Patricia Calhoun

October 18, 2012

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Connie Lehman has been drawing, sculpting, embroidering and curating in Colorado for decades. But when she say a deck of Tarot cards by artist Rachel Pollock, she found a new calling. The result is Tarot Life Cards: Using Your Birthday to Chart Your Course, a book that helps readers identify their Life card and figure out what that means. "From the first time I ever saw Tarot cards, I was very interested in the visuality of it," Lehman says. But Pollock's deck "was very contemporary, and until very recently -- until a lot of us came along that don't follow the rules -- nobody did decks that didn't follow the originals."

The result is a true original, which Lehman and author Irene Clurman will discuss at the Tattered Cover on October 23. But charting your course isn't the only potential use for the cards.

Says grosstarock:

"When the deck is used in a game, these cards trump the rest of the cards." Tarot cards are also used in games! I'm glad to see the media finally recognize that Tarot is also used in games. Most English speaking media reporting on tarot gives the false impression that the cards are only used in fortune telling. Tarot cards first appeared in 15th century Italy and they weren't originally called "tarot cards" The English word "trumps" is derived from "trionfi" the oldest name for the tarot deck!

Thanks for the info, grosstarock. As for future knowledge, it's all in the cards!

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Patricia Calhoun is editor-in-chief of Westword, the alt-weekly she co-founded in September 1977. She’s been inducted into the Colorado Press Association Hall of Fame, the Association of Alternative Newsmedia Hall of Fame and the Colorado Restaurant Association Hall of Fame. She’s also received dozens of local, state and national awards for writing, including first place for feature writing and first place for column writing with the Society of Professional Journalists. Patricia is a weekly commentator on Colorado Inside Out, PBS 12's public affairs roundtable, which has won two Emmys.

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