New cards for an old ceremony

Marita's Story

I received my first Rider deck in 1981. Being a visual artist interested in history, I was immediately fascinated by the cards. During the years I collected different decks and books of interpretation. Slowly my own vision of the cards and their interpretations began to take shape. I use the cards as a thinking tool, a visual companion, with whom to reflect on things that are hard to fathom. At a Tarot table I have often had revelations about a perspective that may otherwise have been left unnoticed.

Tarot represents the whole of human life and is a gentle and humorous tool to understand oneself and others. In order to create a Tarot world, one has to live the life and be truly interested in people. I also had to create two large art works on femininity and masculinity (Ambitious Bitch, 1996, and Son of a Bitch, 1999). The research work, requiring ten years, also serves as a background for Tarot.

My work on Tarot started in 1999 and lasted for four years. Marita Liulia Tarot was published simultaneously in several medias – to a modern Witch the new communication methods are a natural interpretation environment. A sneak preview into my Tarot world was offered already in 2000 when Tarot for Mobile Phones was published, and soon translated into several languages. Marita Liulia Tarot product family was released in 2003. The Tarot product family includes printed cards, interpretation manual, a web site, mobile versions and a travelling exhibition of the original art works.

I made some changes to the cards. Number 0 in my deck is the Dreamer, while it is usually known as the Fool. I call the High Priestess the Witch, and the Hierophant is simply the Guru. I hope these names are more understandable to a modern Tarot reader. I’ve also given a new names for the Minor Arcana cards, in order to facilitate the remembering of their meaning; Victory, Withdrawal, Negotiation, Generations.

I have widened the Tarot world by designing a personal Tarot card to each querent, based on the birth date. By using my Love Tarot readings the querent can compare the compatibility of him/herself with another person. My own Tarot character is the Guru, and I like watching how this Guru in me gets on with her environment.

The characters and interpretations of my cards are based on the 600-year-old history of Tarot but they are brought to the present and made understandable to people of today. All cards are digitally manipulated photographs. I have photographed them during several years all over the world. The models are all friends of mine, so the work is also autobiographical.
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