Dan: Tell me a bit about Karen
and Ann...where are you from? Where did you
meet?
Ann: Karen and I are
first cousins, born and raised in western
Pennsylvania. Karen lived in Greensburg. I grew
up about eight miles away in New Stanton. My
mother and her mother are sisters and probably
best friends, as well, so we played together as
children.
We come from a large Italian
family. Family bonds are strong, so until we
were adolescents, everything that we did was
with each other.
Our family has always been
religious, but with a hefty dose of superstition
added to the mix. From the very get go, Karen
and I were exposed to stories about the evil
eye, spirits of dead relatives coming back for a
visit or to give a message, real witches that
could curse or cure you, the merits of
astrology, fortune telling, and dreams. Like a
pot of soup made from scratch, with just about
anything thrown in, we were also versed in the
power of prayer, the importance of attending
church, and the reliability of Saints.
Dan: Tell me a bit
about your spiritual development, and how it may
have varied from religious development. Was your
closeness to each other a part of that growth?
Did you "pick and choose" before you found your
path, or did you both "know it?"
Ann:
I was born and raised Roman Catholic. I went to
Roman Catholic school and Roman Catholic Church,
yet because of the way I was raised, as I
mentioned before, I never separated religion and
spirituality. Sometime, during my high school
years, I began to question the policies of the
Catholic Church and why it seemed important to
attend. I started to recognize that people were
showing up on Sunday all smiles and duty, yet
were fighting and arguing among themselves
during the week. I came to the conclusion that
church doesn't make the man. It was the essence
of the religion that mattered to me. Due to work
and a teenage schedule, I stopped attending mass
on Sundays. I never felt guilty, because I felt
close to God and I personally didn't need church
to maintain that closeness.
In college, I took a few
world religion classes and became interested in
all religions. I saw a connection. I saw "the
truth" was everywhere I looked. I became
interested in meditation and yoga, and to this
day maintain those practices. I never made a
conscious choice to "abandon" Catholicism; I
just started to integrate spiritual practices
and principles that worked for me, including
those of the Catholic Church. I didn't concern
myself with labels or boundaries. I just
followed my interests. I kept what worked and
dismissed what didn't.
As a young mother, I wanted
to give my children a foundation. I saw it more
as a spiritual foundation, rather than a
religious one. But we went to church and they
got all their sacraments, all the while, mom's
reading tarot cards, and interpreting dreams.
So, in a sense, I raised my kids like I was
raised.
In the meantime, after high
school, Karen joined the service, later we both
married and had children, but as we "came
together" as adults, we found that our interests
were very similar.Geographically, we were
separated, but our spiritual paths seemed to
parallel with each other. We had both expanded
on our earlier upbringing. Remember, we were
raised with "new age" principles. Thoughts of
spirits roaming the halls, or dreams, predicting
the future were commonplace. So "new age" was
really old stuff to us.
Dan: Tell me a bit
about when and how you discovered the Tarot. Who
first? What led up to it?
Ann: When I was 13, my
mother ordered a set of Time/Life books called
Man, Myth and Magic. I devoured them. It
was there that I first read about and studied
the tarot. Shortly afterwards, I got my first
deck. It was so easy to read cards that I
actually amazed myself. I read everything that I
could find on Tarot, but this was more for my
own entertainment, because when it came to
"reading" the cards, it just happened. I never
referred to books.
Interestingly enough, I did
not start with the Rider-Waite deck. (A first
deck for many, many people) My first deck was a
Swiss deck called Swiss 1JJ Tarot deck. I used
this deck for years. The same deck, over and
over again. I read for friends and myself, and
eventually family. This went on for years and
years and I never charged a dime. I would just
read for whoever asked me to.
It was not until I was in my
early 20's that it started to get out of
control. Apparently, word was spreading that
this girl over in New Stanton does free
readings. People were calling me that I had
never heard of and finally I stopped doing it. I
limited myself to people that were close to me.
I had not thought of charging for it. As a
teenager, I had read a superstition, that said
if money is exchanged the gift of divination
would be lost. I just bought in to that, I
guess. Meanwhile, I was paying to get readings
now and then for myself...go figure.
It
was actually Karen who talked some sense into me
about charging for my services. She was living
in Florida at the time and doing quite well
doing readings in metaphysical stores. I was
working as a massage therapist, but this was way
back when massage was not a household word. I
was doing well with it, but I felt like I still
needed to supplement my income. Karen was
inspiring for me and also made me realize that
services are services and it's all right to be
compensated for them. So I launched a new
business, and the rest is history. As for the
superstition...no, I haven't lost the gift, but
I do believe that there is such a thing as
exploitation and greed. I am appalled at what
some people charge for a reading. And I think it
is important to maintain a heart-centered
intention. To remember why you are doing
the readings, that's the important thing. There
is still a tiny part of me that believes that if
it's only about the money... well, then, you may
be taking your chances.
Dan: The approach that
you took in your cards -- the use of the Saints
-- was at the time a serious departure from the
Tarot, and even other Oracle decks. Can you give
me a broad time-line of its development, and
what was happening in each of your lives (what
you are willing to share), so that we can see
how your own personal lives, and life events,
helped bring about the Saints Deck.\? For
example, when each of your first talked to each
other about the deck‚ there had to be some
fermentation going on already -- what year was
that? What happened next?
Ann: Oh good Lord,
Dan... let's see... I'll just let the rambling
begin...
The deck was copyrighted in
2001 and it took approximately five years to be
birthed. So, we must have talked about it in
1996.
It was Karen's idea. We were
having a phone conversation and it led into
designing our own deck. For years, I had toyed
with the idea and even considered buying one of
those blank decks and designing my own Tarot,
just for me, although Karen didn't know this
until this conversation. My background is in
art, so this idea never seemed daunting. But we
got to talking and she said she had the idea
about doing a deck using saints. Well, I got
very excited... I could see it already! As we
brainstormed, it became a real possibility. I
told her I would do a few sketches and see what
I could come up with. From there on in, it
became our passion.
The illustrations took a year
and a half to complete. The rest of the time was
spent just figuring out how to publish and what
to do next.
We
were pretty green. I knew a tiny bit about
submitting work, because I had written several
children's books and was working on a fictional
autobiography -- a new genre that I invented
(just kidding) -- and was trying to get these
published. So I had a starting point. We were so
passionate about the saint deck and I know
that's what drove us . Little did we know that
it would take five years.
My life at the time was busy.
I was working part time, but I was a full time
mom and took it very seriously, even though my
kids were in their teens at the time. My life
was changing. My kids were getting older and I
was going through a transition period where I
was trying to move from "work for money" to
"laboring with love." I was investing more time
into looking into what I loved and what I needed
and I what I wanted to do. I was spending a lot
of time writing and doing random art. This was
my therapy. Also, at this time, my mother was
facing breast cancer and I was facing the
possibility that I might lose her. It was an
emotional time for me. Lots of issues were
coming up for me to look at, old stuff. It is
not surprising that The Saint Deck is jam-packed
with emotional cards. It also has quite a few
health cards.
From the moment of its
conception, The Saint Deck took on a life of
it's own. Literally, we handed ourselves over to
the saints and let them direct our course. And
they did.
Each Saint revealed
themselves to us along the way. There were
several of our "favorites" that we knew had to
be in the deck, but others would come through in
surprising ways and let us know they wanted to
be in the deck. Each illustration is divined
from that particular saint. I invoked each saint
individually through prayer, novenas,
meditations, dreams, candle work, etc. Many
times, I had an idea in mind as to what the
drawing for a specific saint would be, and I
would be shown otherwise. Believe me, there was
struggle at times. It was a major lesson in
letting go and trusting. All along the way, we
were directed. The right people would show up.
One move led to the next. And the saints
consistently confirmed that they were helping
us. But, it wasn't easy and there were moments
when I doubted. But only moments. You'll notice
Thomas is in the deck. He was the doubter. And
Peter, who nearly drowned. And let's not forget
Jude, patron saint of lost causes! Always, the
very saint that I was working on reflected
issues I was currently dealing with in my own
life. Karen confirmed this for herself as well.
The saints are powerful teachers for anyone who
cars to learn!
Getting turned down by big
name publishers...
Ah... rejection! Well,
it's a hard pill to swallow, but I do believe it
tends to toughen you up! The entire process
of submission is daunting. So much energy
goes into it. And most publishing doors
are closed and bolted tight. It is also a
catch-22 in the way of protecting your
ideas. For example, you have to tell them
the idea, if you want them to consider you (and
they encourage as much detail as possible), but
they can reject you and then use the idea
themselves, with one of their "already
published" authors. This very thing
happened to us...
Armed with the passion of our
project, I first sent out a few query
letters. No bites. Once the drawings
were underway and the deck and book were
assuming a life of their own, I seriously put
together a major query package including copies
of the drawings, the book idea, and an
outline. The whole idea was laid out
perfectly. I sent it out to the biggest
deck publisher, assuming, like all enthusiasts,
that we had a shot. We were politely
rejected. During the next year, as we
worked on completing the deck and book, that
very publisher came out with their own Saint
deck from one of their in-house authors.
That's when we decided to self-publish.
Dan: What is Nanta
Bagg?
Ann: The Nanta Bagg is
the name of our company. The Nanta Bag is
what the Italian Strega witches carried. It
would contain little charms and potions and
such. It is a bag of magic spell
making. We added the extra "g" in "bagg"
because it was auspicious numerically.
Dan: Okay, the bad
question: why do I, the non-Christian, want the
deck?
Ann:
The deck is non-denominational. What that
means is that anyone, from any, or no spiritual
background, can tap into the power and energy of
the saints. No one "owns" the
saints. Just like no one "owns"
angels. They are there to work with any one
who chooses to call on them. This is an
extremely powerful deck. Each saint was
invoked for each card. The illustrations
are a collection of figures, animals, and
symbols. This came as a surprise to me,
since traditionally Saints are represented as
figures. I believe that the drawings came
out the way they did so that all people would be
interested in working with them.
This deck breaks the mold for
saints. It is our belief that the saints
worked through us in this untraditional way, so
that their guidance would reach everyone,
regardless of religious background. For example,
St. Fiacre, who is patron saint of gardeners, is
represented in the deck as two
dragonflies. One of his miracles was that
he cleared a lot of land single-handedly in one
day, and later built a hospice there where many
people were healed. I had envisioned the
card to be of a man in a field clearing it with
a scythe. As soon as I invoked Fiacre for
help with the illustration, which included
prayer, candle work, novenas, and meditations, I
was enveloped with a child like feeling of
wonder and awe. I felt very light and happy
and even whistled a little tune. This
feeling lingered for days as I worked with
Fiacre, yet, I could not come up with a drawing
that was pleasing. At this same time,
dragonflies started to show up every time I went
outdoors. They would swoop around me and
accompany me on walks. Still, I didn't make the
connection. It was not until days later,
when I became especially frustrated with
Fiacres' illustration, that I beseeched him
while I was walking my dogs. Immediately
dragonflies appeared and followed me the
entire time. Like a light turned on, I
realized what I was to draw. That day the
illustration came effortlessly. When the
illustration was finished, the dragonflies
disappeared. There you go...dragonflies
are not associated with any religion. But
St. Fiacre's card can represent, among other
things flying to new heights, new opportunities,
or some burden in your life being
lifted. One woman at a show I was attending
bought the deck because she pulled one card and
it was Saint Fiacre. She had recently
started working with dragonfly energy and was
astounded at the synchronicity (something that
often happens when working with saints). She had
no prior knowledge of saints.
I have had many people buy
the deck just because they liked the
illustrations. One man said to me that when
you buy Tarot or any divination deck, you are
really buying art. I liked that. It
was so important to me to keep the integrity of
the illustrations. I wanted the colors to
remain bright and vibrant. A lot of decks
are very pastel colored. Color is
energy. When you see the deck, you can
feel the energy and power of it.
Dan: ...And I think
that's why I'm glad to have The Saint Deck in my
collection. Thank you for your time, and the
love.
Ann Trump and Karen Prioletti's Saint
Deck is available in the Tarot Garden
Boutique -- click
here for details.
© Ann Trump
and Dan Pelletier
15 December 2004
