I did not know that was the beginning of my healing. I began to know who I was
and realized why I had the urge to live there. I found the inner peace that I
had been looking for. I started to love and accept myself as well as the other
people around me. The ancient land of Hawaii, the volcanoes, the rain forests,
the colorful sandy beaches, the sound of the ocean, or the sweet rhythm of the
ukulele, the tall swinging palm trees, the people, the hula…they were all sacred
and dear to me, because they taught me that we are one.” – From the companion
booklet to
Since the tender age of
13, the creator and artist of HazelMoon’s Hawaiian Tarot has had Rheumatoid
Arthritis. However, this painful condition didn’t stop Katalin Csikos from
paying homage to her beloved adopted homeland in the first Tarot deck dedicated
to the Aloha spirit and the islands of Hawaii:
A single, working mother originally from Hungary,
Katalin says she could be at other beautiful destinations right now—Greece,
Mexico, the Caribbean—but it’s the magical land of Hawaii that captures her
heart and heals her soul. In fact, Hawaii’s siren song had been so strong for
Katalin while living in Arizona that she quit her job, sold all she had, and
bought two one-way tickets to the Big Island.
Many years in the making,
HazelMoon’s Hawaiian Tarot
offers a vibrant peek into the mystery, history, lore and lure that fuels
Katalin’s love for the Kingdom of Hawaii. From hypnotic hula dancers to fiery
sunsets, surfing boys to erupting volcanoes, lush vegetation to playful
dolphins, Katalin provides non-natives a sense of “being there” among the spirit
of Aloha.
While most cards gleam with glowing reds, soothing
lavenders, brilliant blues and verdant foliage, Katalin doesn’t shy away from
the harm that has come to both the land and its inhabitants. For example, Trump
XV, often called The Devil, is renamed The Evil in the Hawaiian Tarot, showing
bloodied harpooned whales and smokestacks belching gray debris.
In HazelMoon’s Hawaiian Tarot,
the Minor Arcana suits are Cups, Sticks, Swords and Lava Stones and the Court
Cards follow the Boy, Warrior, Queen and King designation. Measuring
approximately 4 ½ x 3 inches, these sturdy, glossy cards feature a thick border
dotted with primitive Hawaiian symbols surrounding the central image, while the
card backing shows a non-reversible palm tree in colors of cream and brown.
A 108-page companion
booklet accompanies the HazelMoon's Hawaiian Tarot, offering cultural and historical tidbits, as well
as spiritual insights, advice on learning Tarot, individual card interpretation
and both upright and reversed divinatory meanings.
Personally, I had hoped for more background
information on some of the card imagery, especially the ones featuring plants
and flowers. For example, the 8 of Swords depicts vivid vegetation with eight
blue swords, but we don’t know what kind of foliage we’re seeing and how they
may connect to the traditional meanings of the 8 of Swords card (for which
Katalin provides common meanings).
As
such, I don’t think HazelMoon’s Hawaiian Tarot
would be a good beginner deck, only because there lacks an explanation of the
connection between imagery, designation and offered interpretations for some of
the cards.
If
you’re drawn to the magical land of Hawaii, or find Katalin’s bright, beguiling,
rudimentary paintings alluring, I think you’ll find HazelMoon’s Hawaiian Tarot to
be quite the treasure. Indeed, this deck is the first, and only, Tarot dedicated
to the enchanted spirit of Aloha and the Islands.
Content copyright © by Janet Boyer. All
rights reserved.
This review was written by Janet Boyer
This review was written by Janet Boyer
No comments:
Post a Comment