The Vege'tarot

Tarot Deck and Book. 78 cards.
All art and interpretations by artist/farmer/philosopher Laurie Goodhart.
Cards printed in Italy, book printed in USA.
Book and card box have "soft touch" finish.

From the introduction:
"Yet another Tarot deck?
Well, the subtitle says a lot, Nature Would Like A Word With You. The Vege’tarot grounds the archetypes and issues of traditional tarot decks in a less abstract and anthropocentric idiom. It turns attention directly to the existing natural world where metaphors and messages for unique moments and querants abound. In fact, the entire world is always speaking to us, as prehistoric and pre-colonial people knew, and the first step to our hearing and conversing with all-that-is is to cultivate familiarity and receptivity.

Though the traditional Tarot has accumulated considerable wisdom, there are also significant cultural biases embedded in it, adding variety to the reasons people may be skeptical of its value or veracity, and whether it can provide any “real” or relevant guidance at all. Vege’tarot widens the perspective. . . . .Regarding value and veracity, humans are the storytellers of the animal kingdom, along with being inventive creators of their lived experience. Is there actually a firm demarcation between oracular messages and our understanding of and living into them? If we and everything else on the planet are all of a piece, extensions of the animating consciousness, then maybe even contemporary humans can access that infinite awareness, one story at a time, regardless of natural psychic ability, shamanic training, or other exclusive avenues, simply by becoming open and attentive.

So here is a deck inspired and guided by tradition, but organized by color and speaking through common entities and experiences. . . . Many people are beginning to feel an impulse to fold themselves back into the natural world. The Vege’tarot may help, reaching between remnants of our received culture and our nascent re-cognition of the voices and wisdom of everyday lifeforms, offering accessible examples of the easily overlooked presences all around us having valuable insights and ideas to share."

Two sample interpretation texts:

"APHRODITE VISITS (aka, The Lovers)
Life Is Ecstatic

The air crackles, colors are brighter, spontaneous singing and dancing erupt in the animal world, irresistible scents and mesmerizing beauty in the vegetal world. Humans of all artistic disciplines receive unparalleled surges of creative inspiration. Compared to the Forest Path, the feeling now is, that you are in exactly the right place.

The energy that is characterized as “Aphrodite” is far more varied, pervasive, and fundamental than the manageable image we’ve been given. It’s Life calling to itself. Life calling to Life to renew, for the vitality to be ever fresh in all beings, even the clouds, the minerals, the elements.

In humans that impulse is present in every form of love and caring, in creative inspiration, and when immobilized in wonder in the presence of any form of beauty or grace. When Aphrodite enters your life She is nourishing your spirit, while feeling Herself in your awe and ecstasy.

Creatively honoring Her is always appropriate.

The paradox of simultaneous duality and unity.

Reversed
Don’t jump straight to Disillusion. Surrendering to Her in a relationship is unlikely to be only pure delight, at least not until you stretch and grow enough to be fully permeable.
No matter the outcome, if you surrender to Her, you will know that you have truly lived.

Note, in contrast to some of Greek myths, Aphrodite — Life — does not animate jealousy; She doesn’t stumble in Her endless dance. She flows in Joy and Beauty."

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"SUN LOVES EARTH
Mutuality

Besides the usual tropes, this Sun card also emphasizes the foundational nature of love and relationships — any sort, not only romantic.

Same as Sun’s gravitational pull keeps Earth from leaving Its sphere of influence and as Its fire confers life-enabling warmth, and just as bountiful Earth’s gravitational pull keeps all untethered lifeforms secured from drifting off into uninhabitable space, so too, when we see our loved ones, we feel our hearts warm and feel pulled to be close, to hug to nourish, to protect. Is there a real difference between these magnetisms, or are they different iterations of a universal impulse? Can we even be certain that planets and stellar bodies are not sentient?

In fact, all the effects that Sun can have on lifeforms here on Earth — e.g., sharing energy, directly nourishing plants, sometimes withering or scorching — are also tangibly physical and metaphorically emotional experiences within human relationships.

And it isn’t only a one way thing. Our Sun would be just another lonely star burning up in cold dark space if it weren’t surrounded by a family of planets and their satellites, whose fundamental natures are determined by those relationships. In the human realm, a “star”, as we refer to some public figures, is not a star in isolation, no matter how accomplished or attractive they are.

This card is affirmation of the authenticity and power of your instinct to love and appreciate, and the gravitational pull of that O, I Love You So Much! feeling. It is older and more natural than breathing, let it flow.

Caring and shining love on others is the truest way to be a sun yourself.

Reversed
Unbalanced or inequitable relationship, or no real connection at all.
Feeling manipulated or tossed around by something so much larger it’s incomprehensible."