A CoT Group Oracle Deck: Brainstorm

[Joan Marie]

Creating the Button Soup Tarot was such a wonderful collaborative experience. And we ended up with such a beautiful deck.

My plan was always to do another collaborative deck and I had an idea for a theme, though that was about all I had, an idea.

Then COVID19 hit and the whole world changed.

What I am thinking about now is instead of doing another tarot deck, we should do an Oracle. I feel like with all this self-distancing and staying at home, it might be nice to do a project that was less constrained, something that let us sort of cut loose a bit creatively. That’s why I thought an Oracle deck might be in order.

Now, I won’t be ready to start this project for a while, so right now what I was hoping was to do some brainstorming with you all.

Pitch any thoughts or ideas you have, any at all. Themes, colours, card names, tone, whatever comes to mind. Should it be quirky? Serious? Maybe it could somehow reflect these times we are in, maybe not. I don’t know.

This is pre-early stages so everything goes. There are infinite possibilities with an Oracle deck.

I was so blown away last time by everyone’s enthusiasm and creativity. I wonder what we can come up with this time. But I am also aware this may not be a great time to organise a group project. Or maybe it is the perfect time.

Let’s just start here see where this takes us.

[Papageno]

But I am also aware this may not be a great time to organise a group project. Or maybe it is the perfect time.

Let’s just start here see where this takes us.

Only you can make that determination.
There are so many factors to take into consideration.

moving ahead on a positive note...............

Now, I won’t be ready to start this project for a while, so right now what I was hoping was to do some brainstorming with you all.

Pitch any thoughts or ideas you have, any at all. Themes, colours, card names, tone, whatever comes to mind. Should it be quirky? Serious? Maybe it could somehow reflect these times we are in, maybe not. I don’t know.

This is pre-early stages so everything goes. There are infinite possibilities with an Oracle deck.

How many cards would be created? Oracle decks fluctuate in number. Should it mirror a 78 card deck, as some oracles do?

More importantly, in my own mind, what would be the dimensions of the cards?

I was just thinking the other day that it would be wonderful to have a Tarot deck and a sibling Lenormand/Kipper/Oracle deck that could be combined.

Ciro M. published his lenormand/kipper decks with the specific intent that they can be combined, but you can't combine them (seamlessly) with one of his tarot decks, as far as I know.....I might be wrong about that.

I would definitely push for a CoT oracle deck with the exact same card measurements as the Button Soup Tarot.

I suggest that we need an oracle that incorporates both universal qualities with 21st-century relevancy.......we aren't living in the Victorian era.

[Joan Marie]

Sharing some suggestions I'm getting via facebook:

Kristine Gorman: 50 shades of quarantine? Levels of quarantine? Quarantine Epiphanies

Melissa Wotherspoon "The Toilet Paper Oracle - No Shit", Querent-ine Oracle, Each message could look like it's on a square of toilet paper - I'm not totally serious, but you said BRAINSTORM, so here we are

[Nemia]

Let me brainstorm.

What did the situation and the isolation do to us? They sent us to our personal place and our personal fears and our personal resources.

I don't know how many people would participate, but if each of us made three cards:

• my place of retreat (where I am/want to be/feel at home)
  
  my place of fear (what I have to face)
  
  my hidden resource or dream (i.e. where to dig, where to get power from)

wouldn't that give a nice variation? Places of retreat can be physical places - above the clouds, in the library, in the kitchen, but also emotional places - in the arms of my beloved, in the land of dreams, in my memories.

Places of fear is tough, but an oracle that has only sweet positive things is bland. It would be two thirds empowering places and hidden resources, and only one third tough things (fear of disease, of poverty, fear of losing a job or vocation, fear of disease and suffering and death - deeply human stuff albeit unpleasant).

Hidden resources can be inspirations, talents, things to learn, to experience. They're things we don't know yet - my place of retreat could be my mother's garden, my place of fear sitting next to a preemie in an incubator, and my hidden resource the dream of jumping from an aeroplane, i.e., overcoming my fears.

Just writing down what goes through my head. It would maybe turn into a nicely balanced deck. We'd have to talk a lot though - otherwise, we get 10 cards of gardens or forests for the place of retreat....

But that could be three suits, so there'd be structure. Places of Retreat/Strengths, Fears/Challenges, Resources/Potential.

A bit like in a SWOT analysis.

And each suit could be characterized by: places - feelings - activities - knowledge - Interaction. They'd be like the numbers and court cards.

So we'd have let's say a Place of Retreat, a Feeling of Fear, an Activity of Ineteraction....

No no, that would be overly structured. It's enough if we know that there are many kinds of Places of Retreat, of Fears/Challenges or Resources/Potential.

I'm throwing that out, I'm sure many here have better ideas, or ideas how to sharpen and improve such a basic structure that encompasses as many possible human experiences as possible.

Visually, I'd give free hand. Joan Marie's expert hand can bind it together visually through unobtrusive little borders and graphics of card titles.

But the art would have to be to the point. there's no reference like the RWS.

That's why I think some basic structure is important. Just having 50 cards saying: "trust your guts, everything will be alright".... that's not enough.

Oh, and I think I'd like a name that plays with Corona, the Latin word for crown. Corona mundi, the crown of the world, sounds too muhc like Tabula Mundi. Stella et Corona, Star and Crown? Sounds like an old pub but nice. Corona is the threat, but Stella is much higher and in the tarot, the Star is hope.

[Pen]

Please no virus! It's bad enough that one can't even turn the radio on and tune in to a channel that manages to bypass the deluge of media doom and frenzy without having it as a designated part of a theme. I can completely forget all that when painting or drawing and really don't want any creative work to be associated with something so destructive. Call me an ostrich...

[Nemia]

Oh, I'm an ostrich, too, and we have the biggest eggs and nicest feathers That's actually quite a nice motif for a card!

I guess you are right and a year from now, nobody will touch anything with the word Corona on it with a bargepole because we'll all be even sicker of it than now.

It's all just brainstorming now. Though I must say, Stella et Corona sounds so nice and like beer bottles Stella maris et terrae, the star of the sea and earth, doesn't Latin sound fancy?

But I still think that having some kind of suits might be helpful, and the SWOT categories (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats) could be an inspiration. But I'd change it into a SWOF analysis. Fears are less negative than actual threats. There's a difference whether I'm really threatened by loss of home or whether it's a fear I have.

Whatever we take - I hope we won't make a deck that's all positive because that's my beef with too many oracle decks. If it's all positive, then that's an affirmation deck - nice as well but for me, much less useful.

[Joan Marie]

Imma chime in here.

I feel like the virus and moreso the societal effects of it are going to be with us for a long time. For good and for ill.

However, I agree that nailing the deck too closely to current events would lessen the relevance of it over time. (I also promise the toilet paper suggestions are just jokes..we won't be going there.)


I think right now we are all feeling a lot of things and those feelings need an outlet. We all have a lot of ideas about the changes we see and what they mean now and will or can mean in the future. Our values and priorities are shifting along with our behaviours. I think it would be amazing to produce an oracle that reflects those changes. It would be a truly modern oracle.

I think we have a really unique opportunity here. Especially as a group.

Whatever we land on, and we are far from landing on anything yet, there is no way it won't be in some way a reflection of the times unless we would actively work against that, which would also, in some way, be a kind of reflection.

I am kind of fond at the moment of the name The Star & Crown Oracle. It does sound like a pub, more than a virus reference. I would go to that pub. It makes me think of shiny wonderful things and also the "heavy is the head that wears the crown" kinds of things. It's indirect while at the same time direct. That's a kind of feeling to take through the whole project possibly, would make it timeless while connecting to the feeling of a certain time.

[Nemia]

I confess I like that name, too. Stars are high above, crowns can be worn on our heads (and in the kabbalah, Kether, the crown, is actually the beginning of the process of connection between the Divine and Earth).

And this situation right now might be a chance to connect to feelings and dreams. I heard an interview yesterday with a psychologist who said that people dream more now - all those who are at home, sleep more, don't get up in a hectic, do have new worries, and it leads to more colourful, powerful dreams. And people remember them because they don't rush out of the house but sit with their partners or alone and think about them.

If we reach some conclusions about our lives now, maybe we have to put them into some kind of form now.

I know that for my life, some deep connections have been re-forged, and I also feel connected to our human past. We are all the descendants of people who survived waves of disease - or didn't. The hoarding of flour and toilet paper looked pathetic but I see it as an evolutionary reaction - hoard for eating and excretion. Our home became, becomes our castle.

This is not a topic for an oracle but it means that as a collective, we are going through an experience which brings back inherited memories of much earlier generations. And that for me is the most remarkable aspect - that all humans are going through the same crisis, and that they can now understand better what their ancestors went through.

This is just the emotional background, the soil, the compost. Let's see what can grow from it.

[Papageno]

However, I agree that nailing the deck too closely to current events would lessen the relevance of it over time. Our values and priorities are shifting along with our behaviours. I think it would be amazing to produce an oracle that reflects those changes. It would be a truly modern oracle.

I am kind of fond at the moment of the name The Star & Crown Oracle.

basically I agree with the aforementioned.

However, let's take medical science as an example.

As you said: "I feel like the virus and moreso the societal effects of it are going to be with us for a long time. For good and for ill."

First, there was HIV, that's still very much with us. We now have other nasty pathogens, STD's etc that have mutated into drug-resistant strains.
Medical science can't keep up with the evolution of these organisms.
My point being is that going forward in time, I suspect we'll continue to be challenged by these biological threats.

I was thinking about a card or a couple of cards that represent aspects of these late 20th - 21st century health threats along with corresponding advances in medical research. If people don't like the word "threats" we could just say "circumstance".

A card or two with Images of viruses (which are not visually unattractive) with an image of a Staff of Aesculapius, or something along those lines.

This all sounds very Debby downer/doom and gloom but if it's presented from a balanced perspective, the card or cards remain rooted in a tangible reality that resonates with the viewer and maintains its integrity over time.

The imagery doesn't/shouldn't have to frighten people per se, it simply needs to........communicate.

[Papageno]

Whatever we take - I hope we won't make a deck that's all positive because that's my beef with too many oracle decks. If it's all positive, then that's an affirmation deck - nice as well but for me, much less useful.

I second that hands down. Let's not send everybody, or ourselves for that matter, into a diabetic coma.

[reall]

just to say I'm in!:)

Square or circular cards may be interesting & best fit for oracles!:)
(don't mind any other size as long as we get enough space to present our ideas!:)
Also any number is OK by me!:) But if I can choose more the merrier!^^ lol
Interstellar sounds good to me!^^ it gives me idea we are all like tiny dots of stars connecting together to work Constellation Tribe Oracle?!:)

Please no virus! It's bad enough that one can't even turn the radio on and tune in to a channel that manages to bypass the deluge of media doom and frenzy without having it as a designated part of a theme. I can completely forget all that when painting or drawing and really don't want any creative work to be associated with something so destructive. Call me an ostrich...

I secon this!;) it's going to be there anyway just by year 2020 but let's not make it in the face!x,x facepalm lol

& with that said I would go with fav or famous quotes & accompaning illustrations?:) something you would like to start your day or that would make good advice?:)
sorry antianfirmators can go with whatever you think oracle deck should have?:)

[Joan Marie]

I have to confess I'm not a big fan of an affirmations deck. I just think for one thing, it's too constricting for the readers and the artists. Affirmations tend to lose their interest after you pull them a couple of times. And they are too specific.

The reason I wanted to do an Oracle next was too allow us to really try and express ourselves, unconstrained as a counter to how we are all living right now.

Another thing to think about is doing this as a group it might be interesting to not use words at all. Just really strong images. It might make the end product more cohesive overall.

This is just my current opinion.

Please keep ideas coming! Every thought sparks another!

[Nemia]

I agree, the affirmations found on Internet collections are really well-known by now (and often incorrectly attributed). I swapped my Art of Life Tarot because I got tired of the affirmations. I'd prefer a really expressive deck that the reader can project his/her own emotions on and get a visual dialogue. Talking to the right side of the brain, so to say.

Hm. As creators, we need some kind of structure to make a clear, coherent deck. But each card could be very personal. Like a collaboration of Emperor and Fool

[Pen]

Another thing to think about is doing this as a group it might be interesting to not use words at all. Just really strong images. It might make the end product more cohesive overall.

I'm not sure if I actually have an oracle - surely I have?! I must look later, but I like the idea of being wordless...

[Pen]

And another thought, if we go for wordless, how much symbolism will we be able to use? Will that mean the images have to be literal/explicit?

[Nemia]

I like the idea, too. Just numbers of the cards - keywords and a divinatory-exploratory text in a guidebook. That would allow the reader to meet each card without any pre-conception.

[Papageno]

I like the idea of no titles and keywords for 2 reasons:

First:

there's nothing to detract from the art itself.
it's like the thread we have here on CoT, what artworks remind you of tarot cards?
Any image has many "voices" and "faces" and therefore communicates something different to each viewer.

----------------------------

Secondly:

the lack of keywords emblazoned on the card forces the artist to really think outside the box.
Naturally, there will be a preconceived idea, germination always begins with a seed.

however, if the artist doesn't have the "crutch" of a keyword to fall back on, it forces their creativity to flourish and transform unexpectedly into something unexpected.
This adds depth and dimension. It benefits both the artist and reader alike, IMHO.

----------------------------

afterthoughts:

as you all know, when reading any tarot deck, it takes a long time to ignore the given meanings and titles and learn to reach deep within yourself and discover new insights, provided this is the approach you favor, but to each their own.

everything is about evolution and even staunch adherents to established doctrine often (?)/sometimes find themselves on new paths.

The chef, Jacques Pépin gifts us with a famous quote of his own:

“A recipe is a teaching tool, a guide, a point of departure. You have to follow it exactly the first time you make the dish. But as you make it again and again, you will change it, you will massage it to fit your own taste, your own sense of aesthetic,”

[Papageno]

I like structure as much as anybody else, but I suggest we employ structure very carefully, this is a tricky blueprint.

The danger of too much structure is an oracle that ends up like a Mantegna, which is more "instructive" than "oracular".

At that juncture, we have a Thothy 8/swords situation which is counter-intuitive, counter-productive.

[Papageno]

Images from online news articles that have images that are suggestive, implicit/explicit, and thought-provoking:

Communication has evolved dramatically over the decades:

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/20/well ... pe=Article

Intriguing Wheel of Fortune imagery:

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/23/educ ... llege.html

Provocative photograph about disaster prepping:

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/24/tech ... e=Homepage

Notre Dame Cathedral:

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/12/24/opin ... Position=5

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/04/15/worl ... pe=Article

[Joan Marie]

And another thought, if we go for wordless, how much symbolism will we be able to use? Will that mean the images have to be literal/explicit?

i think this would be up to the artist. I don't see any problem with combining literal with symbolic. I think that would make for a really interesting deck.

*So many great and interesting ideas and points of view about this project so far. Really looking forward to hearing more from everyone!

Again, nothing is set in stone, not even close. This is true brainstorming where everything goes.

[Pen]

Quoting myself here:

I'm not sure if I actually have an oracle - surely I have?! I must look later, but I like the idea of being wordless...

I just had a look and found no less than fifteen non-tarot sets, six of which actually have 'oracle' in the title. All very different in style and theme, some so complicated that I'd find it necessary to concentrate on learning and using only one in order to read with it - e.g. Oracle of the Radiant Sun, which is astrological, but I guess one could throw away the instruction book. I just love the images.

Some of the others are Celtic themed, another centres on the Moon (there are many oracles with 'Moon' in the title).

All in all, it seems that as far as oracles are concerned a strong theme is needed to replace the tarot structure -something to grab the interest and hold the deck together - theme might be a good first decision.

[Papageno]

All in all, it seems that as far as oracles are concerned a strong theme is needed to replace the tarot structure -something to grab the interest and hold the deck together - theme might be a good first decision.

excellent point.

prior to this health situation and even more so now, people are communicating digitally.

The Met Opera, NYC just had a telecast of singers, chorus, orchestra all digitally connected through Skype.

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/24/arts ... -gala.html

what are the components of a computer circuit board?

https://www.seeedstudio.com/blog/2019/0 ... beginners/

on a more organic level, how does the brain transmit signals throughout the body?

a neural network, synapses, neurons, etc.

https://advancedbrain.com/neuroscience/ ... rocessing/

https://trends.medicalexpo.com/project-420900.html

[Pen]

I have to say that I prefer the organic images - the circuit board references don't inspire...

[Papageno]

I have to say that I prefer the organic images - the circuit board references don't inspire...

I prefer to focus on the organic, humanistic aspects as well.

But I'm suggesting a synthesis, a fusion of the two. "The Matrix" movie best illustrates what I'm trying to express here.

That screenshot of the Met's "Va, pensiero" reminded me of a scene from "The Matrix" where Neo is talking to the architect of the Matrix universe against a background of multiple screens.

Getting back to Nemia's discussion of attributes such as the conditions of humanity, arts/science, etc., the "Va, pensiero" portion of the broadcast incorporates music and artistry, connecting through technology, human emotions shared via technology.

The very idea of the broadcast itself was a culmination of creative thinking, as Peter Gelb said, necessity is the mother of invention.

We witnessed the commonality of being human through technology, operatic stars, etc., a rare glimpse to see them as human beings instead of icons.

Cell phone cameras, Photoshop, video editors and other digital devices are all part of our artistic reality now, NOT EXCLUSIVELY, but they do play an important role.

Human emotions, sensory perceptions enhanced or aided by technology.

[Pen]

I prefer to focus on the organic, humanistic aspects as well.

But I'm suggesting a synthesis, a fusion of the two. "The Matrix" movie best illustrates what I'm trying to express here.

That screenshot of the Met's "Va, pensiero" reminded me of a scene from "The Matrix" where Neo is talking to the architect of the Matrix universe against a background of multiple screens.

Getting back to Nemia's discussion of attributes such as the conditions of humanity, arts/science, etc., the "Va, pensiero" portion of the broadcast incorporates music and artistry, connecting through technology, human emotions shared va technology.

The very idea of the broadcast itself was a culmination of creative thinking, as Peter Gelb said, necessity is the mother of invention.

We witnessed the commonality of being human through technology, operatic stars, etc., a rare glimpse to see them as human beings instead of icons.

Cell phone cameras, Photoshop, video editors and other digital devices are all part of our artistic reality now, NOT EXCLUSIVELY, but they do play an important role.

Human emotions, sensory perceptions enhanced or aided by technology.

The only thing is that what you're describing seems to demand a digitally produced response and rule out pencil, paint and paper, which is somewhat limiting. I don't think everyone would be comfortable with that approach.