Gaian Tarot Artist's Journal

New Amulets . . .

2009-11-05T09:20:43-08:00

I've just posted more Tarot Amulets on my site, with lovely beaded necklaces by Lunaea Weatherstone. Have fun browsing and shopping! :-)

More on Offering Our GIfts to the World

2009-11-05T07:13:59-08:00

After I wrote yesterday's blog post, my friend and marketing coach Elizabeth Genco Purvis posted this article in her newsletter and on her blog. (She highlighted my successful launch, too.) I'm reprinting it here with her permission. It's for all of you out there who have a dream or a gift or a talent and haven't quite shown up in the world with it . . . I hope you find it inspiring.

Mindset Insights: How Are You Offering Your Gifts To The World?

by Elizabeth Genco Purvis, the Marketing Goddess

"Every one of us has a special gift to give to the world. What's yours? And how are you offering it to the world?"

Reading those words from my client Joanna Powell Colbert (posted on her blog after her successful launch) was an invitation to stop, take a breath and remind myself why authentic, integrity-filled marketing is so important.

As soul-based business owners, many of us have real issues with marketing, promotion, selling our services, and all the rest. Personally, I used to completely tie myself up in knots at the thought of promoting myself or my marketing services. And I'm a marketer! (Hello, irony, hello!)

Here's what I know to be true:

1. We all have gifts to share with the world. Gifts, talents, strengths. (Healers, especially, often have more gifts than they know what to do with. Am I right or am I right?)

2. We have a choice: we can embrace those gifts, or let them die on the vine. And by "embrace," I mean claim them, use them, and value them (and ourselves) enough to charge what we're worth.

3. If you're not doing what you can to connect with the people who need your gifts - also known as marketing - your gifts are dying on the vine.

Embracing my gifts - really owning them and valuing them, and reflecting that value in my pricing - is something that was - and is - very difficult for me to do.

Ultimately, though, it was #3 above that really kicked my butt into action to get the hell over myself and not hide out. Because it really hit me - I mean really hit me - that if I didn't push past all that ego stuff and step up and start offering my gifts, it's not me who misses out.

Ultimately, using your gifts is NOT about you - it's about others. Your clients.

Everyone has a special gift to offer the world, including you. Are you getting it out there? I hope so, because the world needs you and your gifts, now more than ever.

Bright blessings and massive success to you...

Deep, deep thanks

2009-11-04T07:11:53-08:00

Just wanted to offer up a prayer of gratitude, and thank all of you who pre-ordered the Gaian Tarot Limited Edition during the October Special Offer. Just before midnight last night (the cut-off date and time), the 350th order came in. This number exceeded my hopes and expectations.

The success of the Special Offer is due not only to the project itself (the deck and book and goodies that come along with it), but also to the marketing plan. Sometimes I think I worked as hard on crafting the marketing plan as I did on the whole deck! Well, not quite, but sometimes it felt like it. I want to acknowledge and honor the Marketing Goddess, Elizabeth Genco Purvis, for her guidance during this process, as well as the other women who were in the Abundant Business Mastermind Group with me.

And the lesson here, dear Readers, is this: if I can do it, so can you! (Every one of us has a special gift to give to the world. What's yours? And how are you offering it to the world?)

I'm pretty thrilled. And although I was not quite prepared for the mountain of admin work it would take to process the orders, print & sign & package the gifts etc, I am not complaining. What a joy to be able to produce this deluxe package for a group of people who are really going to appreciate it!

The Limited Edition is still available for pre-order and it will be ready by Spring Equinox or sooner. And the Llewellyn mass market version will be out in 2011. So there's something for everyone!

While many of you are working on your novels by participating in NaNoWriMo in November, I'll be writing like crazy this month too. But it will be non-fiction. I'll be finishing up the companion book to the Gaian Tarot, reworking those last few pieces of art and getting the art files ready to go to the printer. Then, I'll be designing the book and getting it ready for the printer. I'm really looking forward to a couple of months of intense creative work.

My heart is very full this morning. Deep, deep thanks.

Blessed be!

A Hallowed Altar

2009-10-30T16:04:44-07:00

There's something very satisfying about building an altar. A deep calm comes into my soul.

I am remembering my Beloved Dead.

A Blessed All Hallows to you.

COUNTDOWN: only 5 days left on the Special Offer for the Limited Edition!

2009-10-30T08:59:30-07:00

I am just sayin'.

Gaian Tarot Limited Edition Special Offer ends November 3rd!

My Autumn Altar

2009-10-29T12:23:20-07:00

The wind & rain created this beautiful altar for me.

Of course, Cleo thinks it's time to rake the leaves off the studio deck. Ya think?

COUNTDOWN: only 7 days left on the Special Offer for the Limited Edition!

2009-10-28T06:40:57-07:00

Just a reminder that there's only a week left to get in on the Special Offer for the Gaian Tarot Limited Edition . . . you'll save money plus get all kinds of extra goodies. All the juicy details are here.

And today Arwen published her interview with me, in which I pulled cards to answer her questions. Fun!

Three of Water - Gaian Tarot Card of the Week

2009-10-26T08:10:29-07:00

Three of Water

Ah now, don’t they look like they’re having fun? Where in the world am I going to find time this coming week to frolic and play with my friends? Perhaps it’s more of an inner attitude, to be reminded to keep a light-hearted attitude as I go about my business this week, and to rejoice in the bonds of friendship. Although there is that Halloween party coming up next Saturday night . . .

And what about you, dear Readers? What does this card say to you?

Interviews, we have Interviews

2009-10-26T07:36:38-07:00

Last week, the esteemed Mary K. Greer, one of the grand High Priestesses of the Tarot world, featured the Gaian Tarot on her blog. Here's an excerpt from her post:

Mary: Is there a particular kind of question or issue that your deck is ideally suited to respond to?

Joanna: It’s designed for people who want to go into the depths of the issue at hand, and is not really a deck for superficial questions. It’s for people who are walking a spiritual path, especially those who find sustenance through their connection with the natural world. I’ve been told by readers who use the Majors-only deck with their clients that it cuts right to the heart of the matter at hand. Because people recognize themselves in the figures on the cards, they also find inspiration in them and can envision solutions to their problems.

It also seems to lend itself quite well to Rachel Pollack’s “Wisdom Readings,” in which we ask about the larger issues of life. Two readers that I know, James Wells and Carolyn Cushing, have developed Wisdom Questions for this deck that focus on what we can all do to heal the Earth in this time of global climate crisis.

Today, the lovely Leonie of GoddessGuidebook.com posted her interview with me. She asked me how I found the Goddess within, which took me back about 30 years. And she asked what my favorite cards were. That was hard to choose! Here's an excerpt from her post:

Leonie: How did you discover the Goddess in you?

Joanna: Oh my. That’s going back a few years. I spent most of my 20’s in church, as a fundamentalist, charismatic Christian. I was married with two small children, a stay-at-home mom with a husband who didn’t make much money. My whole life was circumscribed by the church. I don’t even remember popular music or films from that era. In the late 70’s I had a “feminist epiphany” and realized that the church I attended was not about love, it was about power. The church leadership was interested in having power over the lives of the congregation, and men were taught to have power over women. I pulled my children out of Christian school and left the church. My husband followed, rather reluctantly. [more . . .]

And rumor has it that Arwen may be posting an interview with me this week too, so stay tuned. :-)

New Tarot Amulets w/a Halloween theme!

2009-10-22T07:36:26-07:00

I now have a few new Tarot Amulet necklaces available to purchase. Many of these have an All-Hallows theme featuring the Elder of Fire. I'll have more up on the website in a couple of weeks, but thought some of you might like to wear a sparkly fire-colored Tarot Amulet necklace for Hallowe'en! Check them all out here:

http://www.gaiantarot.com/shop/amulets/

The luscious beading, of course, is by Lunaea Weatherstone.