Her first created deck, Tarot of Enchanted Dreams, originally self-published in a small run in 2018, made enough of a splash that it got picked up recently by a major publisher and was re-released. You may have even seen it already in your local bookstore or metaphysical shop.
This self-taught photo-manipulation artist has created a deck filled with dreamy, powerful imagery, that we will learn soon, came from a very dark place but had the power to bring the magic which had been lost, back into her life.
Yasmeen has very kindly agreed to share her story with us here at Cult of Tarot.
-Joan Marie
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JM: Can you share your tarot story with us? How did you first come to the Tarot?
YW: As a child, I grew up with an intense feeling of loneliness, which in turn made me a very shy person and as a consequence, I would spend a lot of time at the library. Books and their imaginary worlds was a place into which I could escape and I think I first came across tarot when I was 11 or 12, when I came across a tarot book in the library, and just fell in love with the images. It felt like I could enter those images into a magical world, where I could be anything I wanted to be.
I started learning about tarot around 13 years ago, when I had my own big Tower moment. It helped me during a time, when I could not make sense of what was going on around me. I am by no means an expert tarot reader – but it was enough for me to understand the cards.
JM: The artwork in your deck, The Tarot of Enchanted Dreams, is just stunning. Can you tell us about the medium(s) you used to create these dreamy images?
YM: I have always loved photography – I do photography for weddings, maternity, etc: and all of my cards in the deck have been created using Photoshop.
JM: What is your artistic background, or training?
YM: I have no training in Art at all. I wanted to do art at school, but it was not deemed a “suitable” career for a muslim girl, so I ended up studying Biochemistry! I have always envied people who can draw, until I realised you can create art using different means. So, I taught myself how to create the images using Photoshop, via YouTube tutorials and that is my training.
JM: I’ve seen from your Facebook page that you love to be in nature. Can you tell us some about how you enjoy nature and if/how it has influenced the art in Tarot of Enchanted Dreams?
YM: Anyone who knows me, know that I LOVE being in the mountains. As, I mentioned earlier, I have always been a loner. I need my solitude as much as people need air to breathe. 13 years ago, I discovered my passion for mountains, when I did a trip to summit Mount Kilimanjaro. That was it! I was hooked! I was lucky to live in Scotland, in a place where there are many, many mountains. When my mind was busy, I could spend 10 hours in the mountains alone with my camera, and come back feeling refreshed. Some people sit and mediate, I cannot do that. For me, being up the mountains with my camera is my meditation. I see magic in the mountains. There is magic in nature and every time I would come back from a trip, I tried to convey that magic through my photos. I have been so so lucky to have travelled around the world – Kilimanjaro, the Andes, Everest Base Camp, Annapurna, Atlas Mountains etc, and each time I would feel as if I was home. The mountains is where I feel a sense of home and belonging.
In the Tarot of Enchanted Dreams, where the cards have a mountain backdrop, those are my photos from my trips. My favourite has to be the Hermit card. The mountain in that card, is a view taken from the summit of a peak in the Cairngorm mountains called Devils Point. The Cairngorm mountains is where I spent a lot of time – I lived about 45 mins from there, and was up a mountain there almost every weekend. The figure in the Hermit card, represents me, and the place where I would hide out and refresh my soul.
- The Hermit
JM: What was behind the creation of The Tarot of Enchanted Dreams?
YW: I didn’t start of intending to create a tarot deck. There is a story to why and how it came about.
In 2015, I moved to Sussex, in England, to be with my now husband – David. It was a huge culture shock for me. From having lived in a quiet, rural location with access to mountains on my doorstep, to a busy, concrete, town was massively different. It played havoc with my mind and soul. I moved down in November 2015, and in Dec 2015 we found out I was pregnant. Another, huge upheaval, especially as I had two other children, one was in her 20s and the other was 16 at the time.
As you can imagine, it was chaos for me. Having a newborn baby in a place where there was noise and lots of people disturbed my mind. Added to that, I did not have my quiet safe place of the mountains anymore. I ended up with severe post-natal depression, which caused me to hate myself, my confidence disappeared and I lost the will to live. I think the worst thing was the disconnect I felt with myself, let alone with anyone else. There was no me. I did not know who Yasmeen was anymore – I had associated myself as the mountain adventurer, and yet, now I was nothing! It was like the lights were on, but no one was home. I lost the magic. There was no magic in the world as far as I could see, and there was no point in me being here. After all, I was just waste of space in this world. I realised I needed help and I was booked into therapy.
Being a very private person, I found it hard to talk about my feelings. I preferred going out to the mountains in the past and talking to the Universe, but I felt deserted even by it. I did not like the therapy as I struggled to talk. Around that time, I heard of the death of someone I had known in my past, and that whole week, an image kept coming into my mind, and I knew I needed to create it, but I had no idea how to do it, as I cannot draw.
That was when I first realised the power of Photoshop and YouTube and somehow, I was able to create the image that was in my head. It was the image which is now the Three of Swords in the Tarot of Enchanted Dreams. That image took hours to do – as I had to learn about layers, blending etc and I noticed that not once had I thought about my depression. I actually enjoyed it and after a very very long time, I found a quiet space, almost like meditation.
- 3 of Swords
- The Fool
After that image, I saw another image in my mind and tried creating that. Again, it took hours, and it gave me something to focus on – that ended up as the Fool card. After about 4 or so images, I realised that they looked like images from a tarot deck and I had this crazy idea that maybe I should carry on and create a full deck. And thus it was born.
I must point out that, I felt as if it was not me creating the deck – even though I was the one manipulating the images - I felt as if I was being told what to create and what should go into each image. It took me 4 months to create the complete deck, which was done when the baby was asleep. A lot of me went into the deck. Each card is healing for me and has a special meaning to me. Some of the cards represent people through my life in some way.
JM: Sounds like creating this deck was an extension of your therapy. How wonderful! So once the deck was complete, how did you decide to proceed?
YW: Once it was done, I then had no idea what to do, so decided to self-publish a small amount and see what happened (I also sent it to a few publishers). I published 100 of them which sold out pretty quickly, and at the same time, I had a few publishers interested in mass producing them, which was a huge shock as I really did not think I had created anything they would be interested in. I decided to go with Schiffer, as I just felt a great connection with them. It felt right to go with them, and I trusted my intuition.
JM: Are there any cards you found easier or more difficult to create?
YW: I struggled with the images for the Kings and Emperor – basically any image which required a male. At the time of the creation of the deck, I had lost all femininity within me and felt like I was nothing. There are no men in the deck, as when I created the deck I was in a very bad place, mentally and spiritually. I had lost connection with the female inside of me, and I found creating this deck as therapy. This was a way, I guess, of trying to connect with the femininity I had lost. I tried to put a male form in the emperor, but it just did not feel "right" and in the end I just went with my intuition which was to have the empty chairs.
- The Emperor
I felt so empty and felt like I was nothing. I struggled with trying to find the feminine in me, let alone the masculinity. So hence, why this deck ended up being a very female deck.
I found it very easy to create the Tower, Devil and Death, strangely as those are the cards most people do not like to see in a reading, yet I was able to create them quite quickly. The Tower card figure represents how I was feeling during the PND, when I felt as if I was breaking apart into a million little pieces.
- The Tower
- The Devil
- Death
JM: The accompanying guidebook offers more than just card interpretations. There are “affirmations and task tools” as well. Can you tell us about those and how they can be used in readings?
YW: I wanted the guidebook to be something more than just a book of keywords and meanings. I wanted an absolute beginner to be able to pick up my deck, and be able to read it without having to learn complicated symbology etc. The affirmations and tasks are there to help people to think about what the card means in everyday life, in everyday simple language. The affirmations and tasks can be used as part of journaling for self-development and for learning the tarot.
JM: You made the design choice to not add the keywords to the cards themselves, but rather to put them in guidebook instead. What was behind that decision?
YW: l read a review where I was asked as to why I had not put the keywords on the card. I genuinely had not thought about doing that at all. In fact, it was too late by the time I read the review for the Tarot of Enchanted Dreams - it had gone to the publishers, but I have incorporated that feedback into my next tarot deck, which will contain a keyword on the actual card itself.
JM: I think without the keywords on the cards is interesting as well.
I know The Tarot of Enchanted Dreams can be used for any kind of reading, but are there situations or occasions where you feel this deck would be particularly well-suited?
YW: l think this deck is very well suited for the complete beginner. I wanted to make sure that anyone could pick up a card, look at the image and be able to intuit what it means. I hope I have done that. I know decks can be used for readings, but with this, I feel that including the affirmations and the tasks will help an individual learn more about themselves and be able to apply the card to their everyday life.
JM: With this gorgeous deck under your belt, you must planning another. Anything you want to tell us about?
YM: So, the first deck unleashed within me a magic I did not know existed. I had NO idea I could do art, and so yes. I have three other projects for which the artwork is complete, an Oracle, Lenormand and a new tarot deck. I have been sharing a couple of images on Instagram. So watch this space for them!
I am also one of the artists on the new 78 Tarot deck based upon the Ecological theme, and I have also contributed the 3 of Swords to the Cult of Tarot Forum, Button Soup Tarot. So am pretty excited about that!
In addition I have created a 2020 Enchanted Worlds calendar full of fairies and magic!
JM: Thanks you so much Yasmeen for sharing all this with us. Is there anything you would like to add?
YM: Someone recently said to me that darkness can be very transformative. How true it is that whilst I was in a very dark, horrible place something so beautiful was created. When I thought I was dying, I was actually being born (hence my Death card with the butterfly!). Isn’t it amazing how the Universe works?
Oh, and I have to add, I am heading back to the mountains again next year – to the Himalayas to climb my first 6000m summit, something that has been a dream of mine for ages!
- Yasmeen Westwood, in her element
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Yasmeen, thank you so much for doing this interview and sharing your story with us. Hearing how your life was so profoundly impacted by the art and the practice of tarot is purely inspiring for all of us.
We are indeed proud to have her contribution to Button Soup Tarot and also to our forum.
Keep an eye out for Tarot of Enchanted Dreams and more decks and other work from her. She is a woman who has found her magic and lucky for us, she is able to shares it.
Yasmeen lives on the South Coast of England, by the sea, with her husband of 3 years, David and their three-year-old son, Arran.
Website: www.enchantedsoulart.com
Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/enchantedsoulart/
Instagram: @Enchantedsoulart
