They say a journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step. In this case it began with a simple suggestion during a Skype session between a group of friends that was at the same time goofy, bold, hilarious, visionary, iconoclastic, radical, overwhelming in scope, and (in more ways than one) deeply esoteric all wrapped into one: what if we used famous figures in the history of UFOlogy as reimagined archetypes in a Tarot deck?
Several years and one unexpectedly successful Kickstarter campaign later, we are proud to announce that the idea has finally materialized into our world, and that the 22 cards in the Major Arcana of the UFOlogy Tarot project have been completed.
Here they are, gathered all into a single post for the first time for the enjoyment of Daily Grail readers:
Key 0: The Fool (Whitley Strieber)
Key 1: The Magician (Jacques Vallee)
Key 2: The High Priestess (Jenny Randles)
Key 3: The Empress (Coral Lorenzen)
Key 4: The Emperor (J. Allen Hynek)
Key 5: The Hierophant (Stanton Friedman)
Key 6: The Lovers (Betty and Barney Hill)
Key 7: The Chariot (John Mack, Budd Hopkins and Leo Sprinkle)
Key 8: Strength (Ann Druffel and Philip Klass)
Key 9: The Hermit (John A. Keel)
Key 10: Wheel of Fortune
Key 11: Justice (Karla Turner)
Key 12: The Hanged Man (James McDonald)
Key 13: Death (Al Bender and Betty Andreasson)
Key 14: Temperance (Rosemary Ellen Guiley)
Key 15: The Devil (Philip Klass, Carl Sagan and Edward Condon)
Key 16: The Tower (Hector Quintanilla and Donald Keyhoe)
Key 17: The Star (Elizabeth Klarer and others)
Key 18: The Moon (Gray Barker and James Moseley)
Key 19: The Sun (The Fatima children and Juan Pérez)
Key 20: Judgment (Frederick Valentich, Thomas Mantell and others)
Key 21: The World (Pedro Ferriz, Antonio Ribera, Andrew Tomas and Ken-Ichi Arai)
To explain the relevance of each chosen personage and the rich symbology embedded within each card would take a whole book – which is exactly what we are in the process of finishing up for the backers who requested one.
By the way, each time we’ve posted the progress of the project on social media, we get multiple requests and enquiries regarding how and where to purchase a deck. As a reminder, right now we’re only committed to deliver the cards and other perks to those who joined the Kickstarter campaign a year ago. We are still determined to launch a second campaign next year in order to complete the Minor Arcana of the entire deck *knocks on wood* at which point we will seek ways to accommodate those who didn’t have the chance to participate in the original crowdsourcing effort. By then we hope to have also found an efficient way to sell the cards at large through an online store.
This is also an excellent opportunity to once again thank my colleagues Greg Bishop, Susan Demeter, Joshua Cutchin and David Metcalfe for their enduring encouragement throughout this whole year; as well as all those who supported us either financially or just by helping us spread the word about the project.
This whole endeavor was borne out of a deep love of both the UFO phenomenon and the field surrounding its study, despite its many MANY flaws and shortcomings. Our deepest hope is that different people will find something to enjoy about their cards in their own personal way –either simply as an objet d’art, a novel approach to learn more about the history of UFOlogy and the people who devoted their lives to the field, or even a way to engage with the phenomenon itself using the tools of creativity and imagination.
I am not exaggerating when I say these cards is the work I am proudest of, and I cannot wait for them to be released into the wild to engage in all sorts of experiments of meaning and mischief.
