Starting the Journey

This is the only painting that was done expressly for Lane's Greenwitch Tarot and it is both the back of the cover for both the Guidebook and box.

I was struggling to find something for the card back and none of the existing paintings seemed to work and new attempts didn't quite gel. I actually often have trouble doing paintings "to order" i.e. with a specific image in mind. We even tried a photograph of a Crone mask I love but it was deemed too scary. Then my friend Vivi Tallman pointed to a card I had on the wall called "The Journey" by Jaime Rose.

The Greenwitch is taking the Journey ofLife – magical staff in hand. Climbing the Cosmic or Orphic egg from which all things are born. The hill reminds me of Glastonbury Tor in England but the painting didn’t want the tower to be present so it could be more universal. Glastonbury is sometimes considered to be the Heart of the World where major energy ley lines cross. It is also a center of the Arthurian legends and mythical Avalon of King Arthur days.

I love it that whenever you pick up a card, there is that reminder that you are on a journey, spiraling ever upward. And a cool thing happened fortuitiously when we had the actual decks in hand. Spread out they form a kind of snake that slithers. Sometimes you can even make the stars shimmer.  Magical!

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