Tarot and The World Without End Series

I’m a tarot collector and sometimes reader. I’ve been into tarot for a long time. I primarily use them, however, for meditation and, most importantly, for writing. I find the archetypal images very useful for creating characters, developing plots, writing scenes and brainstorming

Last year I came across a deck called Tarot Z. Written by Jaymi Elford and brilliantly illustrated by Alejandro Colucci (website link), it’s the perfect deck for writing The World Without End Series.

I’m also using another deck for the World Without End series called Omegaland. I came across this deck for a discount sometime back at Half-Price Books. It’s published by U.S. Games and System and was written and illustrated by Joe Boginski and created by Karen Boginski.

What’s interesting about the Omegaland tarot deck is that the description of the cards are written as if the narrator were keeping a journal as he traverses an apocalyptic world. The cards can also be used in a game in case you have some down time during the apocalypse.

Both decks have proven very useful for writing the World Without End Series. The art work of both decks is vastly different and some of the meaning of the cards are also different, but each deck has its own unique take on making one’s way through an apocalyptic landscape.

Here are the High Priestess cards from both decks. Typically, the High Priestess card stands for intuition, higher power, inner voice, feminine wisdom, the subconscious and sacred knowledge.

Here is the description from Tarot Z deck for the High Priestess card.

As for as we know she’s never been bitten. Some of them (zombies) hang near her, soothed by her appearance. She holds a bag in her lap. What’s in the bag? Some say it holds the key to saving humanity; others think it’s nothing. She won’t say; no one has ever heard her speak. It’s a mystery

From Tarot Z written by Jaymi Elford and illustrated by Alejandro Colluci. Published by Lo Scarabeo/IIewellyn

Here is the description from Omegaland Tarot for the High Priestess card.

Hard to make sense of this woman, but trust in the fact that there’s much more to her than meets the eye. I gradually came to see that she’s very good at discerning the hidden traits of people that come in contact with her. She is overwhelmingly intuitive, albeit a little guarded.

                                                                                    From Omegaland Tarot illustrated and written by Joe Boginski and created by Karen Boginski. Published by U.S. Games System, Inc.

I’ll be posting more about both decks as I continue writing the series.