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d
uring a period of physical and spiritual transformation, a dear
Nikki Jardin is friend bestowed a Motherpeace Tarot deck upon me. Familiar
an Oregon-based with Tarot, and having used various decks for nearly 20 years,
freelance writer. I appreciated the chance to delve into the cards, explore the
When not writing pictures and discover their divination properties. What I wasnt
she enjoys walking prepared for was the feeling of comfort and healing I experienced
through the seasons, almost immediately. I smiled at the whimsical images, enjoyed
traveling to new the roundness of the cards, felt empowered by the written words
adventures in the of the companion book and saw, in these portraits of Amazons,
natural world and Shamans and Goddesses a lineage of strong women that I had
volunteering with only begun to relate to as ancestral elders. This wasnt a simple
her local animal tarot deck created for play and musing this was a history.
rescue group.
These cards bore the faces of
women from many cultures,
instructing other women on
how to use the power divined
within to create, guide and
transform. Unlike the more
traditional decks of Waite
and Crowley (The Rider-
Waite and Thoth), or the
Morgan-Greer that I used for
years, these cards celebrated
woman-as-leader, -healer,
-teacher, and -communicator.
transcended energy
and time, and activism and spiritual
walked seamlessly healing. Coinciding
between the realms with their efforts was
of imagination, groundbreaking work
nature, spirit and by Merlin Stone, Z.
the Goddess. It was Budapest, Marija
an education one Gimbutas, Starhawk
that I wasnt aware and Susan Miller. It
I needed and was in Berkeley that
the lessons inspired Motherpeace found its
strength, confidence birthright, as Noble
and gave me both and Vogels spiritual
peace and nurturing and artistic passion
assurance during a combined to not only
tumultuous period. I am create the deck and
forever grateful for their Nobles subsequent
timely arrival as I walked companion book,
my own path of self- Motherpeace: A Way
awareness and renewal. to the Goddess through
This year, the Motherpeace Myth, Art, and Tarot, as well
Tarot celebrates thirty as Vogels Motherpeace Tarot Guidebook, but also to share
years of providing a tool for healing, that knowledge with their community. Though I spoke separately
learning and expanding the knowledge with each woman, I asked them each similar questions as to the
of matriarchal cultures. Since their creation and legacy of the Motherpeace.
publication, more than 300,000 decks have
made their way around the world. The Nikki Jardin: What were the influences that moved you towards
deck has found a beloved place among creating the Motherpeace Tarot?
the altars and sacred spaces of women,
provoking praise throughout the three Karen Vogel Berkeley in the late seventies was interesting
decades of its existence. Author Alice the whole feminist Witch era had almost peaked. Z. Budapest was
Walker has said, The Motherpeace Tarot going off in her direction and Starhawk in hers. It was starting
has been a wise and loving oracle. A clear to morph into a more shamanic kind of spirituality and that is
mirror, also, that constantly shows the where I think Vicki and I were both being pulled, though without
truest face. really knowing it. Not that we didnt relate to the European Witch
tradition because thats an important part of who we are but
I had the honor to speak with co-creators it wasnt in that sort of formalized way that we felt resonance.
Karen Vogel and Vicki Noble about the When you look at Motherpeace and how we drew on so many
history of the Motherpeace deck early different cultures and time periods, it felt like we were trying
this spring. Their answers were thought- to pull together a shamanic worldview that has really been so
provoking, and embodied the passion, foundational with us and with a lot of cultures.
dedication and humor that created these
iconic representations of feminist history. Vicki Noble Karen and I moved to Berkeley in 1976. I had
read one book by Elizabeth Gold Davis about ancient cultures
The two women met in the early 1970s in who worshipped the Goddess. Karen and I were interested
Colorado Springs, Colorado while studying in researching the Goddess and womens sexuality. I had also
and taking part in the protests and activism gotten sick, and was learning about holistic healing. I said no to
of that time. They traveled together to Western Medicine, and I started to have all these extreme psychic
Berkeley, California, in the latter part openings. You know, weve always felt that our whole relationship
of that decade to continue their studies, was fated to make the Motherpeace cards.
Karen Because of the time and place where we lived, there Motherpeace is their doorway because it is so
female-centered.
were lots of people who influenced the work. One notable person
was Z. Budapest, who had very strong opinions. That influence The creation of Motherpeace was so
from the community was great because there was that way that intuitive. Ive spent years finding the
people can have important influences, even over little things. evidence to document our intuitions.
Sometimes we knew how a card should look, and sometimes we Another thing that I love about
didnt. Take for example, The World and The Fool cards. Vicki Motherpeace is how the cards are so fun
drew the Fool and someone looked at it and said, that character and easy, and you can play with them
isnt the Fool, she looks like she belongs in the World. So I took at a party. They are so non-threatening
the Fool character that Vicki had drawn and turned her into the and healing, but the healing is a quiet
World by putting her into a background I created. kind of healing. Thats a wonderful
Then I made a new Fool character and put her in Vickis Fool card way to disseminate the knowledge we
background. All because of something someone had said. Things were bringing from indigenous cultures,
like this were happening all the time. archaeology, history, art, shamanism and
Vicki There was something about that time that was very
the Western magical traditions.
Karen The deck was the right thing at the right time and
as a result had tremendous influence. It was an amazing time
to be publishing something like this: there was this alternative
culture, full of independent bookstores and womens festivals
to share it with the world. I took the deck to the Michigan
Womens Music Festival that first year, and then to a few other
gatherings, and it only took a couple of years for that first 5,000 to
sell. There was such a strong word of mouth that it didnt take that
long, and the deck has been going strong ever since.
Karen The Motherpeace deck that Vicki and I reincarnated to do this project we were born for it.
A terma is received as a mind-transmission, and it is
co-created thirty years ago has traveled far and deeply articulated in the vernacular of ones time and place for
into peoples lives. It has fostered special relationships the explicit purpose of expressing some aspect of the
with many people Ive met and many more I will never Dharma to a particular constituency. The way Karen
know personally. Im touched by the profound way that and I came together as consorts, the compelling nature
Motherpeace holds people in sorrow and joy, bringing of the work, the visionary aspects of my receiving the
insight and guidance. Ive found that the original inspiration (wisdom), Karens prowess in
cards are not so much predictors getting the images into physical form once we
of the future as much as road had made them (skillful means) all of it
maps of the many directions follows an age-old sacred Dakini tradition
life can take. outlined in Tibetan Buddhist texts.
This past year I returned to painting in a project in Humanity evolved along explicitly matriarchal lines for
which I illustrated a book called Secret of the Missing millions of years with women and the Goddess at the
Crown by Sunday Larson. These recent paintings center of communities and cultures. The patriarchal
highlight my unique surrealistic perspective; the book deviation of the last 5000 years is an unsustainable
(Fall 2011) will be available from a link from Karens aberration. What matters at this time in history is to
Whats New page of the Motherpeace website. simplify our lives and hold close those things that matter
(seeds, practices, languages, herbal remedies, chants, and
Even though I think Vicki and I are very talented the ability to love). It is time to distill out the wisdom
and work hard, the wisdom in the cards is clearly of this epoch and bring it through the needles eye into
beyond simply our gifts and efforts. Im grateful for the the next cycle. May all beings know the Dakini and may
profound joy of connecting to knowledge greater than there be peace on Earth. Blessed be. i
what we possessed and that it has provided guidance to
others. For more information regarding this work, please visit the
Motherpeace website at http://www.motherpeace.com.