Covid Weirdness

When COVID hit I got weird, as many of us did. When I got weird I dove deep into esotericism - as detailed in my other blog post. One of the areas of this very deep vein of Western Tradition that stuck with me to this day is the Tarot.

The Tarot

In short it is a grouping of 78 cards which were used to educate and entertain young men in the middle ages. We still see them reflected in our modern day playing cards, the suits changing from pentacles to diamond. Etc. Etc. It wasn't until the Golden Dawn used them as a fundamental part of their kabbalistic teaching that they became more closely aligned with the occult world. The Rider Waite Smith deck by Bro. Arthur Edward Waite and given full art by the talented Pamela Coleman Smith is still sold and used today for divination, kabbalic path working, and games.

Archetypes

I had one daughter born mere 6 months before COVID started and another born in the midst of the pandemic. We spent a lot of time reading books, reading them books, and even playing with cards. I found to good way to translate the meaning of these cards into usable lessons for my daughters. The Major Arcana particularly are directly corresponded to major Western archetypes - useful for anyone who wants to be a informed and understand the undercurrents of myth and storytelling that flow through almost every form of communication. That's when I got to writing.

A lost poem

The poem writing wasn't an easy process. Multiple drafts and reviews, and questions such as - should I include the devil? Would a 4 year old equate hierophant with elephant? But after hitting the keyboard a number of times, I found a version that flowed and made sense.

Art!?

I consider myself at least passable in artistic endeavors. I can move beyond stick figures, but I never really developed a real finger for perspective and the process. Drawing the figures and inking them were out, collage seemed like a possibility, but I was unsure where to start. With the release of Midjourney, I saw an opportunity to both finish the book and test my skills at artistic prompt writing. I jumped full in for the new year.

The Process

The Discord interface was weird to be sure. But being able to add style and specific descriptors to phrases really worked. The results generally had those strange AI artifacts that one can expect - hands with extra digits - legs where they shouldn't belong. But I did grind and I did persist. Relaxed mode so that I could produce and produce, I went thru iterations and iterations until I found them. Near the end of the Major Arcana, I could knock out two or three a day if I was lucky. Cheaper and faster than an actual artist? Sure. And if I was happy with the art - well that's all I needed.

Formatting hell

Kindle Direct Publishing was selected because A) Didn't really want to try submitting and fighting thru a publisher and B) I was anxious to get the book. Amazon lies and tells you what the bleed and margins should be, but their measurements are quite incorrect. It took me a day to fight with Publisher to get it right. But on a snowy day in late January - my book was published!

Takeaways

This was actually a lot more fun than I thought it to be. I feel like I worked and practiced a number of skills that could be useful in the future, especially with AI prompting. If you ever had a project on the back-burner that you just need art for - I highly recommend you jump in. AI art might not be perfect, but learning hoe to use it may be a lot of fun.

The Book