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with contr ibutions fr om: writer and editor K Chiucarello Asali of Asali Earthwork Alyssa Hardy of Moon & Crow Samara Kasai, creator of the Tarot for Justice Reader Training Mari in t he Sky, creator of the Gentle Tarot
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How has tarot helped us process and reflect on the events of this year? How can tarot be a tool for us moving forward? Five of us share our thoughts.
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At the star t of ever y new year a dear fr iend and I each pull 12 cards to guide us through the upcoming months, one card per month. We compare our cards and take great care in questioning intentions and coo or roar at any Major s that jolt us back in shock, excitement, or wor r y. If it was a usual year, I would star t this off by telling you what my pulls brought me. But I can only tell you now that my over arching card was The Lover s, duality in a shar p suit. In this year ?s abnor malities, a year that r adically shifted our lives for better or for wor se, my givings were not in a clean baker ?s dozen. They were cr acked in half. I was living in Brooklyn in March. Day after day I would wake to sirens blar ing down empty streets, str anger s sidestepping each other, my bodega boys bar r icaded behind thick plexiglass shaking their heads whenever I would ask if sanitizing wipes were in stock yet. Many fr iends that had rooted me to that City vanished, relocating to parents?homes, moving per manently, going to vacation homes if they were amongst the r ich. We are spread all over the countr y now, coming out of the dizzy spell, recounting the tr auma of living with death at your door step at a constant. Mid- Apr il I made the decision to go Upstate indefinitely. Three days before I left Brooklyn, I went to buy a pack of cigarettes and was pickpocketed. As I stood to purchase my smokes, the man behind me reached into my coat pocket, undid my headphones that were wr apped around my neck, and left the bodega. When I had stepped out of the shop to put my headphones back in, there lay my jack, dangling untethered in the wind. Until the day I left, the bodega boys and I would joke back and for th that that man deser ved my phone. It was too slick for us to condemn. I considered it my par ting stor y. With my phone went my photo I took of my tarot spread that roll called my year. Gone was the habit of checking in on the fir st of ever y month to remember and review each card that would anchor me to the next 30 days. When I came to this realization, I fr antically texted my fr iend to ask if she had taken notes on either of our spreads and to both of our dismays, my year was declared a cleared slate.
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In June I packed my Brooklyn apar tment and moved my life 100 miles nor th. I had been laid off from my job in Apr il and decided to take the layoff to focus on wr iting and editing in a quieter town that cost less. After I settled, I unpacked the things that defined me, cer amics that my gr andfather ?s hands made, linens my father used growing up, records my ex gave to me, seven shelves of books with cr acked spines.
That summer I pull a long line of pentacles ?? I begin with Ace and dip down to the Eight and back up to the Knight and then the King, back to the Ace again. I begin a summer romance and let my Fool pull sit on my desk. I apply for a full- tuition scholar ship to go back to school for wr iting and swim in Judgement before I get on a Zoom call to r amble off my credentials and answer questions as to why I think my voice accounts for anything. I buy a new tarot deck, this one made of shor t stor ies relating to each card. I read each one of them slowly. The Moon, a shor t stor y by Kelly Link star ts, ?A fair ytale. The eldest daughter leaves home. The stupid girl imagines she is headed somewhere better. We would all like to think this. I won?t tell you you?re wrong.? I buy one more deck that doesn?t cor relate to tarot per say but is for matted and marketed in this way, 78 cards stacked in a beautiful brown car ton labeled ?More Stupids?. My favor ite card in this deck reads, ?No one would happen upon me. The world?s mouth opened.?
This year was a year I stopped living by guided measurements. In my past life, I leaned on containment, boxes I could put myself into, volume decibels which to soften my voice, maps to abide by. I created gr ids for the ways I thought and lear ned. My body was str uctured by binar ies in stiff canvas and rough flannels. But this year ?s divide, cr acking in the middle of March and splitting r ight down into Apr il, was a card pulled loose from the Univer se. I think of the before and after of a phone stolen. You can?t really get the time back but you can keep moving for ward in the images that are greased to your palm, in the figures that slice at a realm of possibility.
- K Chiucarello
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Bios K Chiucarello is a writer and editor living outside of the Catskills. Their work has appeared in Hobart Pulp, Epiphany, them., Pithead Chapel, and others. Their favorite card in the deck is The Devil. Asali (she / they) is a Black queer femme writing, practicing, and creating (r)evolution at Asali Earthwork; follow @asaliearthwork on Twitter and Instagram. Alyssa Hardy (she / her) quilts, draws, and reads tarot in rural upstate New York. One of her passions is bringing people together to create beautiful projects such as this zine. Learn more via her website, moonandcrow.net or on Instagram @moon.and.crow. Samara Kasai (they/ them) is a Black, non-binary tarot instructor, breathwork facilitator, and anti-capitalist business mentor living in San Diego, California. Deepen your tarot practice with Samara's free mini-course, Ditch the Tarot Guidebook, and follow their work on Instagram @kasaithrive. Mari in t he Sky - Inspired by our natural environment, indigenous artist Mariza explores issues of mental health and self-love with hopes of advocating care for our planet and ourselves so that collectively we may experience our full potential. You can find her work and links to The Gentle Tarot pre-order on Instagram @mariinthesky
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Published by Moon & Crow Publishing www.moonandcrow.net
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