A light in the dark.

An idea, the bright spark

Of new beginnings.

This poem was the thought I had right before deciding to start making this deck. While I consider myself a painter first and foremost, I do a LOT of photography. While I started by taking pictures of pro fighters during kickboxing and MMA matches, I found my passion was in taking pictures of the quiet. Those small, solemn moments made more beautiful by their brevity. I wanted to recreate that feeling.

I thought about making a blog, but that was not quite right. I thought about a book, but that didn’t fit either. Then I thought about my tarot practice and how I use meditation, and making cards just fit.

The design of the cards has also been a journey. I knew from the beginning that I wanted to use Japanese in the cards. I’ve lived in Japan for nearly two decades and that had seriously influenced my approach to art. I also knew that I wanted these to be able to function without a guidebook. So I decided on this: the front of the card has the keyword in English and Japanese, and the back has a haiku styled poem with information on where the photo was taken.

Then another problem arose. I originally had the deck borderless, but then readability was an issue. I then used a black border and put the text on the bottom. It looked okay, but it felt like it was missing something. I put the poems on the front of the cards, then gasped in horror. They looked just like those cheesy inspirational posters that were everywhere back when I was a kid in the ‘90s. No!!!

So it was back to the drawing board. I relegated the poems to the backs of the cards and scanned in some washi paper so it had a fun background. However, it still felt like it was missing something. My good friend then came to visit and started talking about Japanese family crests. That was it! I created a border for my cards utilizing my husband’s family crest in the corners. Yes, we know it’s a triforce. But it’s also his mother’s family crest. And with that, the card design was mostly complete! Stay tuned as I go into the kanji selection for each card. See you next time!