The Magician - Jade's Personal Deck Series

Enjoy this walk down memory lane as Jade gives us the background on what inspired the artwork for her personally made tarot deck. 

In this episode she tells us about the artwork for the back and what inspired her art for The Magician.

Written and Produced by Ashley McAnelly

Featuring the voice talent of Abbey Konzen and Nichole Goodnight

Music by Athan

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Hello again, my lovely audience. I'm back with the next card from my deck that I created. But before I get into it, I saw a few of you are asking about the artwork on the back of my cards and what it meant. The back of the cards are decorated with a protection sigil. Now, before you go thinking you can draw this on anything and be protected, it's not that simple. So no suing me when you draw it and aren't protected. If you want to learn more about this sigil, do your own homework and find out if it would suit your needs. As for the color, I just like purple. And as a teen, I thought splatter art was fun, so I did black patterns over the purple. The sigil was the last thing added. And yes, I hand painted the back of every card. So if you were to look closely, each card is a bit different. As I painted them, I thought about the meaning of each card and tried to give those meanings a little bit of representation, at least in my intention, as I did the backs. So I hope that answers all your questions about the back artwork. Let's get to today's card. The Magician. You'll find a recurring theme in my major arcana was to use people from my life as models for the people in the cards. For the magician, I chose my uncle. He had a bit of a fit when he heard I did this, and will probably be cursing me under his breath if he sees this video. My uncle is not a witch. He is a pastor at a local church. If there's one thing to be said about my uncle, it's that he is a devout Christian man. I won't share his whole life story here, but it was a long road for him to get to where he is today. After bouncing around a few churches in the state, he came back home and built his church from the ground up. So in my mind, he made the perfect magician. He had the willpower, and with the support of the community, found the resources he needed to create his church. It's small, but I find that's where the best communities are. Now, as for the actual artwork, I'm sure some of you have already noticed that I used the writer weight deck as a baseline of modeling as well. Instead of a wand, it's a flaming sword he holds to the heavens, and that pointed finger down to hell. A Bible instead of a pentacle on the table. But the chalice is fitting for both spiritual paths, so I kept it. And I tried my hardest to make his facial expression one of resolve and commitment, but he definitely looks more like he's trying to shit. Sometimes art works out that way, especially when I'm not great with art. That's it for today. Until next time. Bye. Okay, so what did you leave out about Dale? You waste no time, do you?

SPEAKER_01 2:52

I told you this was the new routine. You spill some to your followers and then spell the rest to me. So, spell.

SPEAKER_00 2:59

You already know some of the tea.

SPEAKER_01 3:01

Yeah, since he's the one who taught me the mountain magic ways, I know he's not exactly straight and narrow in his Christian ways.

SPEAKER_00 3:07

I didn't lie, he is devout. He holds no other gods but Christ.

SPEAKER_01 3:12

I didn't mean he wasn't faithful. You know what I meant.

SPEAKER_00 3:16

He doesn't worship traditionally. Neither did his congregation for a time.

SPEAKER_01 3:22

Ooh, what do you mean?

SPEAKER_00 3:24

The main reason I made my uncle the magician was his snake handling.

SPEAKER_01 3:28

I'm sorry, snake handling? Do you mean like those idiots who just go play with snakes?

SPEAKER_00 3:32

I mean those idiots who go play with snakes at church.

SPEAKER_01 3:36

Explain.

SPEAKER_00 3:37

In a very, very niche corner of Protestant Christianity, there are pastors and their congregations that handle snakes. A verse from the Bible inspired the practice, Book of Mark, I think, that those who believe in God can pick up snakes and drink deadly things and come to no harm. So when my uncle finally had his church built in Mountainburg and was starting his own congregation, he decided to try some less traditional styles of worship.

SPEAKER_01 4:04

So Dale would hold snakes while he preached?

SPEAKER_00 4:07

While he preached, while the choir sang, he'd walk through the aisles offering any of his congregation to take part too.

SPEAKER_01 4:14

Does he still do this?

SPEAKER_00 4:15

Not much. Usually only at a desperate altar call or during a revival.

SPEAKER_01 4:20

Wait, what's an altar call?

SPEAKER_00 4:22

Did your parents or Maureen never make you go to church? I guess Maureen wouldn't have, since she's been with the coven since you were born. I forget how young you are sometimes.

SPEAKER_01 4:32

Yeah, no. When she started going to church again, she didn't really tell me or Aunt Roz, let alone invite us. So no idea what an altar call is.

SPEAKER_00 4:40

It's when the pastor at the end of his sermon calls out to his flock for someone to come down to the altar to rededicate themselves to Christ. Could also be a laying of hands, either for something going on in their life, or if they lost their way from Christ and want to rededicate themselves. Those types of things. And the pastor sometimes will not let the congregation go home until someone comes to the altar. When no one came after a few minutes of the call, he'd get the snakes out. Again, not very often. It's super illegal, except for one of the Appalachian states.

SPEAKER_01 5:11

I can see why. Were they venomous snakes?

SPEAKER_00 5:15

Sam, what's the snake best known around here?

SPEAKER_01 5:18

Holy shit, he really handled rattlesnakes?

SPEAKER_00 5:20

Rattlesnakes, copperheads, cotton mouths, go big or go home.

SPEAKER_01 5:25

Was anyone ever bitten?

SPEAKER_00 5:26

No. How is that possible? Because it was a lie. What? He handled these snakes, but the snakes were only as real as he made them. He and my Aunt Beattie shared the same basic power: the power of illusions. My Aunt Beattie could create whole-ass illusions in your head, make you think you were somewhere completely different. My uncle could do illusions for the masses. I was a teen before I could spot the truth myself. He'd create those snakes, make them feel real and seem real for his congregation. He wanted his flock to be reassured that God was on their side.

SPEAKER_01 6:03

To give them the experience without any actual harm.

SPEAKER_00 6:05

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 6:06

Wasn't that a bit of playing God himself?

SPEAKER_00 6:09

I asked him that once. He did not take it well. But after he calmed down, he explained to me that the true test wasn't if the snake bit them, but if they were faithful enough to take the snakes in their hand. So since they thought the snakes were real, the test was real.

SPEAKER_01 6:27

Okay, put like that, I guess I see his point, but it still feels like cheating.

SPEAKER_00 6:31

That it does. Which is why once I found that out, he embodied perfectly the upright and reversed magician to me. There hasn't been another perfect embodiment since I made this card, and I bet there will never be. At least not in my eyes. And don't you dare tell him I told you.

SPEAKER_01 6:50

Oh, of course not. I'll just ask him when's the next revival.