I created The Dark Wood Tarot as a Shadow Tarot Deck.
The Shadow Self is a term used in analytical psychology representing the hidden and repressed parts of our personality. We stuff icky qualities, secret desires, and squirmy details we would rather not acknowledge including jealousy, anger, sexual desires, etc. into our Shadow Self.
Shadow Work keeps us ON POINT in our tarot readings. We come to the tarot to discover the things we don't know. Shadow Work sheds the light of consciousness in those places we are unaware of.
The Dark Wood Tarot replaces traditional reversals with Shadow Meanings. Shadow Meanings are not the opposite of the card's meaning, rather, they reflects us embodying the darkest qualities of card. Why? It creates an opportunity to examine areas of your personality you might normally skip over or ignore in a reading or in life.
Once we acknowledge our hidden, dark (often creative and empowering) tendencies and behaviors, we become free. We stop projecting fear and desire onto others. We accept and become honest with our entire self, not just the shiny bright part, and thus become fuller and more compassionate versions of ourselves.
2. Abigail Larson is a Hugo Award winning artist.
Abigail Larson had ambitions of becoming an opera singer and joining the circus while growing up, and although neither of those ended up working out too well, she has been able to find a more suitable career for herself in the world of illustration.
Her greatest inspirations are fairytales, folklore and ghost stories. The works of Edgar Allan Poe, H.P. Lovecraft, the Brothers Grimm, and many classic gothic works of fiction, such as Dracula and Frankenstein have always stirred her imagination.
She teamed up with Universal Pictures and Desert Owl Games to create The Huntsman: Winter’s Curse, the companion game to “The Huntsman” feature film!
3. The Dark Wood Tarot is available online or at your favorite brick and mortar bookshop (please don't purchase bootleg copies of this deck).
Yes, you can pre-order books and tarot decks at your favorite metaphysical shop. What's more, it helps keep your local merchants in business!
UPDATE!
The book has a loads of additional Shadow Work material that I couldn't fit into the companion book for Dark Wood Tarot.
Book Includes:
Essential Shadow Work Techniques
Integrating the Shadow
Romancing the Shadow
Shadow Reversal Exercises
Fairy Tales & Tarot
Deadly Problem Spreads
and more...
Added bonus? The Magic of Tarot's cover has been lovingly conjured by the amazing Abigail Larson illustrator of Dark Wood Tarot.
Dark Wood & Magic of Tarot make a perfect set!
For more information on Tarot and Shadow Work see my talk below for the Theosophical Society:
Cast your cards well! xoxo