The Herbcrafter’s Tarot

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The Major Arcana has retained the traditional card names, with two exceptions: XII Hanged One and XX Awakening. The Majors feature a woman’s spiritual journey of connecting with the world plants and the process of getting to know herself better in the process. The guidebook goes on to suggest different ways of crafting with the Adelita of Earth. Create important symbols of your heritage, made from local plant life. There’s also a suggestion to study and learn about the yucca moth, or consider taking up a class about weaving fiber with yucca. The artwork is absolutely stunning. Look at Key 8: Strength, featuring garlic. I love the inclusion of garlic snapes and the detailing of honey-preserved garlic (one of my favorite recipes, by the way). For each of the cards, the companion book provides information on how the plant medicine ties in with the the traditional card meanings. There is also a section on how to use each herb listed for herbcrafting.

Mum was into herbal medicines and the idea of food to heal before these ideas were fashionable. Cold or compromised immune system? In August it will be twenty five years since she passed, yet I can still hear her so clearly telling me to “Take some echinacea Lissa”. Mum was my first thought when I saw the echinacea. That was even before I registered it was on the Three of Swords. HT:I help you support and nourish those in need of healing. I contribute to community building. (Madre of Earth – CREOSOTE BUSH) The Majors show altars or mandalas which I feel really help me connect to the essence of each plant. All the Majors are breathtakingly beautiful and will serve well as focal points for meditation.

Others cards in The Herbcrafter’s Tarot just invoke thoughts that make sense to me. Take the Eight of Air Licorice as an example. My first thought was, some people love licorice, others don’t. And, sometimes what we like changes. When I saw this card it served as a reminder to embrace our right to choose. Often times when we are feeling trapped it is because we feel we do not have a choice. Rarely is that the case. Sometimes it is purely because we are scared to speak our truth.

There’s the exploration of herbs as archetypes and how to tap in to plant spirit magic. And most significant of all for The Herbcrafter’s Tarot, how to work with flora as a divinatory tool.

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It is not solely about the properties of specific plants, but our human connection to them. We focus on the craft instead of the clinical and the art instead of the astrological. The People cards are also the only ones with humans in them, though we only see their hands. It’s an intentional choice and I adore the differences in the hands rendered: brown hands, young hands, lone hands, withered hands, tattooed hands- there’s a fullness of range here that is delightful and it’s not hard to imagine my small hands with their slight tremor hovering over an herbcrafting project; it’s not hard to imagine yours, if available to you.