With such skilled execution of such spirited images, Jamie’s cards feel young and wise at the same time. And maybe this is in part because of the close relationship she shares with her mother, Gail Sawyer, and Gail’s very deep and magical influence on Jamie. In fact, the guidebook (sold separately) for the Sawyer Tarot contains intuitive interpretations as channeled by Gail, inspiring the name Sawyer's Path. Gail would meditate on Jamie’s finished illustrations and notes, then write down her feelings of the cards. The result is a unique non-traditional guidebook for us and an extraordinary gift from mother to daughter.
It is also notable that Jamie Sawyer is a practicing tattoo artist of 17 years.
From the looks of her tattoo work and her Tarot art it’s not hard to see that a spiritual nature is behind all of it. There is a real intensity to the art of tattoo, to the design, the procedure and even to wearing them. A similar kind of intensity is also experienced by people who read with Jamie’s cards. They may not be physically as close as her tattoo clients, but the connection is there, and it is strongly felt because the artist behind all the work is present in every work of art she creates.
Jamie was kind enough to agree to answer a few questions for us and here is that interview.
JM: Can you tell us about your mom’s influence on your tarot practice and art?
JS: My mother, Gail (@gingercottage) and I have a very close bond, being able to discuss everything... I truly mean everything. I remember visiting a shop in Salem, Mass with her in 2000, I believe, is where I acquired my first oracle deck... The Faeries Oracle by Brian Froud, I still have it today. We also purchased and later consecrated our books of shadows together that weekend as well...
My mother has always been an advocate to practice what resonates with me, never pushing old rules or ideals onto me or my way of life. She’s also always supported my art, never telling me that to pursue a career in it, would have been a mistake... if she ever had doubts she kept them to herself.
As far as Tarot is concerned, she’s always been a dabbler, until recently when she’s started studying more. I feel that when I started creating this deck, her interest got re-ignited. My mother loved Oracle decks, Runes, pendulums, and other divination tools, yet Tarot wasn’t a big part of her practice. When I completed my deck, I asked if she would write my blurbs. I’ve always loved her writing style and ability to channel just the right words. She’s a true intuitive. I gave her my initial notes from each card, she’d look at my finished picture, meditate a little, then allow the blurb to write itself. (I truly could go on forever about my mom as she’s my mentor, friend, sister, mother and at some times, my student). Here’s her interpretation of the Moon:
"Dreamy old New England Moon, keep her faith in me aglow..."
-Lyrics from a Dean Martin song 1949
No matter who you are, or where you live, we all see and feel the same moon.
She sets the tides in motion, the canines to howling, and whether she be waxing or waning, she influences all whose glow she touches.
How does your life cycle with the phases of the moon? Wild or domesticated?
Which face do you predominantly put forward?
Reversed:
Do those who know you only see your bright side while you keep your dark side hidden even from your closest of friends?
What are you hiding?
What are you reflecting on?
Sometime ya just gotta get out there and run with the wolves - let your imagination and spirit coincide.”
JM: Your Decks, Sawyer’s Path Tarot and Sawyer’s Lenormand are so wildly colorful, so alive and exuberant yet clearly you are skilled with how to use color beautifully. I’ve had a look at your instagram for your tattoo work and you use a lot of color there as well. Do you have a special relationship to colour or something in your background or training that informs your use of it?
JS: I Love color. I love to see the beauty in everything. Life is not black and white, there’s a full spectrum and I intend to use them all! I appreciate black and grey work, but I feel that color just adds a different layer of depth. It evokes happy emotions for me. In my youth, I always had markers, colored pencils, paints, watercolors... you name it I loved using it. Formally, I only have a year of community college in art under my higher education belt... yet I feel I must’ve taken every art class in high school that was offered; as far as I can remember I would choose color over any other option.
JM: Have you had formal art training?
JS: Just high school and 1 year of community college, where I took ceramics, painting, 2 and 3D design.
JM: Have you ever tattooed one of your card designs on someone?
JS: I have! Before my deck was even completed in it’s infancy stages, I tattooed the Queen of Cups on a woman’s thigh!
JM: I notice you depict a lot of crystals in your cards. Do you incorporate crystals in your personal tarot practice? How?
JS: I love crystals probably as much as tarot. They sparkle up both my home and work space. I enjoy using crystal grids for their aesthetic and meditative practice. I personally can feel some of the energy in the stones and love to study about the metaphysical meanings... as far as incorporating them into my practice, they are normally used for embellishments in photos, I keep them for the most part separate.
JM: Do you have any favorite crystals?
JS: Spheres.... I’m a bit of a crystal sphere collector. As far as individual stones, Labradorite is my all time favorite. I also carry an astrophyllite palm stone in my pocket for grounding when I’m working on clients.
JM: Your Sawyer’s Lenormand deck is so much fun. Traditional Lenormand decks can be very beautiful but are typically so sedate and with such muted colors. Your deck is the opposite of that. How do you think your deck might “read” a bit differently from the more traditional Lenormands?
JS: I chose to approach each cards’ name as if someone had asked me for that as a tattoo.... And since I use color in my finished products what you see, is the result! I feel it reads easy due to the subject being larger and in your face... helping put away the tarot mind of wanting to dig too deep into the background images. (Just read the card and keep to the question at hand!
) As for the Deer as the Man, Woman and sippy cup of the child, I wanted to create the deck with a gender neutral tone of sorts.... focusing on the masculine and feminine energies instead- we all embody these energies. I chose to keep the names in the traditional manner to stick with the deck guidelines. Deer are my spirit animal, I was born under the Deer totem and have a deep connection with their gentle observing ways. They show up a lot in my art. JM: You’ve made an interesting choice with the Sawyer’s Path Tarot in that it is borderless and wordless, the emphasis being on the gorgeous bold designs. Can you share a little of your thinking on that decision?
JS: One of my favorite decks, before creating mine, is the Morgan-Greer deck. I appreciate the Smith-Waite deck but never truly connected with it. I loved how the Morgan-Greer deck used the entire card surface without that distracting border. (I trim and edge a lot of my bordered decks if I find the white too distracting.) When I set out to do Sawyer’s Path there was no question that it would be full bleed. The words I didn’t write on there, because I had too much going on in the images, again I didn’t want the words to take away from what one would experience in the card. I realize it may be more difficult for a new reader; having to count the number of cups or wands, etc... but the feeling is what’s important from the card. Leaving the name and number out makes you trust your initial reaction instead of pulling up the index of what you may or may not know about a card. The Majors all have their corresponding Roman numeral on them, and that’s about as much description as they get. Personally, I have a hard time remembering Roman numerals, so I ignore them when I look at them!
JM: Do you have anything in the works that you’d like to tell us about?
JS: I’m constantly creating. My brain doesn’t know how to have idle rest. I can say that there will be an animal deck in my future, I have no idea when it’ll be birthed, but it’s in it’s infancy stage. Note taking, connecting, drawing little thumbnails. I’m allowing the animals to present themselves to me through my daily life, so it’s a work in progress.
JM: Is there anything you would like to add?
JS: I’m so grateful that the expansive Tarot community has welcomed my decks so lovingly into their collections. I’m still blown away with joy. I created Sawyer’s Path because I wanted a copy, I never thought that I would be on my 3rd and final independent printing. They will be back in stock by mid December; bringing the total number of decks to 515 in the world. Self-publishing can get very pricey when doing it without crowd-funding, so I’ve decided that this will be my final printing. (Unless I decide to seek out a larger publishing company) Oh! And I did create another deck that will be published through www.thegamecrafter.com in December as a print-on-demand deck. It’s called ‘“Tarot 33.6” a prelude to Sawyer’s Path.’ It’s all of the red-pencil sketches with a ghosted finished line drawing of the final card. When I draw I use a red pencil for my sketching process, it’s easier on the eyes and less permanent. “Tarot 33.6” is the raw, rough files of what The Sawyer’s path looked like without color and fine tuning. I feel it’ll read differently due to the loose nature and elements that may have been omitted in the finals. It also has the original Queen of Wands that I scrapped and redrew for the final product, so she’s in there as an alternate card, as well as sketches of earth, air, fire and water. I’m excited to receive my copies to see how they are before I press the “publish” button on the website! SO stay tuned!
Here’s the Empress from Tarot 33.6
- Empress
- Original Queen of Wands
- Final Queen of Wands
I am really looking forward to seeing what comes next.
I want to thank Jamie for doing this interview and for sharing her work with us.
You can see more of Jamie’s art at her websites and social media. And by the way, her Henna game is fierce!
jammerdesignz Etsy Shop
Sacred Space Tattoo Studio
instagram links:
Sacred Space Tattoo Tattoos #SacredSpaceTattooStudio
Sacred Space Henna #LostinPaste
JamieSawyer_336 - TAROT and Daily Inspiration from your's truly. #SawyersPathTarot
facebook links:
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Twitter links:
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You Tube (Henna)
