This can be a visitor submit shared by Niko ___ (they/them or xeh/xem), sharing their creation, the Dimlit Tarot.
“What do you imply no person’s accomplished this earlier than?”
That was my thought after I first started engaged on the Dimlit Tarot.
The concept was so fantastically easy: steep a deck so completely within the aesthetic of mysteries, of midnight messages and refined secrets and techniques, that your designs are naught however spot gloss on black paper. It felt so emblematic of my experiences with tarot, turning over readings in my head, uncovering the connections between playing cards by holding them at simply the best angle till all the pieces fell into place. The metaphor made manifest, the imagined elegant aesthetic – they have been like catnip to my mind, such highly effective concepts that I used to be positive I couldn’t have been the primary to desire a deck like this.
Think about my shock then when, after looking out excessive and low, I didn’t discover a single deck like this.
There have been parts, to make certain: some spot gloss right here, some minimalist designs there, some emphasis on black in others, however nothing so centered start-to-finish on delivering this singular aesthetic. If I wished the deck of my goals, I’d should make it myself.
So I did.
I found pretty shortly that the Dimlit Tarot could be like no different deck, and never simply in its aesthetic.
Whereas my data of tarot was grounded in Rider–Waite–Smith interpretations, most of the playing cards did not resonate with me as an asexual, aromantic, and agender particular person. Why was gender baked into so many playing cards, and what did that imply for me as somebody with out gender? How do I relate to the Lovers when that all-encompassing love—bodily, sexual, and romantic suddenly—was so international to me?
If I used to be making a deck for myself, then I refused to alienate myself with it. Out went the associations of inside and exterior maturity with gendered types. Out went the Christian concepts that held no house for me, the narratives that ended with nuclear households, the catastrophe of change, the false dichotomies. Of their place, I designed tales about why we pursue energy when it causes us ache, the problem of discovering or constructing methods that help us, the affect that perceptions wield over our realities, and above all else: the struggles and joys of discovering our true selves, and selecting to reside as them.
The ultimate result’s a deck about energy, neighborhood, and transformation.
It’s a deck that speaks softly, however strikes deep with its perception. It’s a deck that acknowledges the politics that govern our lives, however remembers that we should battle to unravel the issues they trigger – and we do not need to battle alone. If you wish to learn extra concerning the tales contained inside the Dimlit Tarot, I’ve written a lot about this deck on Twitter. For now, I hope I’ve conveyed simply how a lot of a uniquely queer deck the Dimlit Tarot is beneath the aesthetic, and the quantity of ardour I’ve poured into making it.
I’m crowdfunding to print a limited run of the Dimlit Tarot on Ulule, and sure gained’t print it once more. I selected to make use of Ulule as a result of I refuse to help Kickstarter because it tries to include pointless and environment-destroying blockchain applied sciences into its platform (no, carbon offsets are usually not sufficient). Nonetheless, Ulule lacks the visibility of Kickstarter, so every bit of support & sharing around helps! Thanks for studying, and should good occasions maintain you!
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