Category Archives: The Tarot of Bones

Tarot of Bones 2022 Twelve-Month Readings Are a Go!

It’s that time of year again! While you can get a twelve-month Tarot of Bones reading from me anytime, the New Year is definitely the most popular, and each year I get more and more requests. Because these take a LOT of mental energy as well as time, and because I am extra busy with new creative endeavors this year, please understand that your reading may not be done on January 1st itself, but any not done on that day will be done as close to it as possible (more likely before rather than after.) If you ABSOLUTELY MUST have your reading on Jan. 1, please let me know when you place your order; otherwise I’ll assume you’re allowing me a little flexibility.

You can order your twelve-month Tarot of Bones reading here: https://thetarotofbones.com/product/tarot-of-bones-twelve-month-reading/

(Sorry for the continued silence; I’ve had a LOT of great things happening in other areas of my life this year, but they’ve been taking up a LOT of my time. Thanks for your patience <3 )

Introducing Pocket Osteomancy: A Simple Bone Divination Set

Surprise! I have a new book! Well, booklet, anyway. And there’s a nifty handmade divination set with it, too!

Pocket Osteomancy is a bone divination system that I created based loosely on the Minor Arcana of the Tarot of Bones. It’s a bone casting method using a casting cloth divided into four quadrants. I first released it to some of my Patrons on Patreon last year so that they could try it out, but they only had a single instruction sheet to work with. Now I’ve fleshed that out into a 24-page booklet available as a paperback or ebook, and you can purchase the casting cloth and bones as well!

Divination with bones doesn’t have to be complicated! Pocket Osteomancy: A Simple Bone Divination Set is a simple but effective system for using animal bones to focus your intuition and explore possibilities in your present and future. It’s great for both beginners who may feel intimidated by more complex systems, and also provides a basic structure for more experienced practitioners to build on and explore.

I’ve ordered paperbacks and they should be here within the next week to week and a half, so you can go ahead and place your orders now. I will fill ALL orders once the paperbacks have arrived. You can make your purchase here at https://thegreenwolf.com/pocket-osteomancy/.

Tarot of Bones Wholesale Now Available!

Are you the owner, buyer or other representative of a brick and mortar store, website, or well-established vending booth? Would you like to carry the Tarot of Bones deck and book in your inventory? Wholesale is now available! You can find more details and ordering information at http://www.thetarotofbones.com/wholesale-ordering-information/

(If you don’t own a shop, do feel free to pass this information on to any shops you feel may be interested.)

Limited Time Offer: Free Tarot of Bones Deck and Book!

Hey, folks! Join my Book of the Month club on Patreon, and you can get the Tarot of Bones deck and book for free! Here’s how it works:

*Go to http://www.patreon.com/lupagreenwolf

*Become my Patron at the $25 Book of the Month level (or the $40 International Book of the Month Club for non-US folks)

*Spend the next eight months enjoying one of my previously published books sent right to your door, plus my exclusive Patron-only feed and the Monthly Totem Profile

*At the eight month you’ll not only get the last of my previously published books sent to you, but you’ll also get a brand new Tarot of Bones deck and book sent to you at no extra cost!

This offer is ONLY good for Patrons who join the US or International Book of the Month clubs through my Patreon between now and June 30, 2017. Your card must be successfully charged all eight months; books will not be sent each month until the charge goes through. Your monthly pledge includes shipping and handling costs for your books.

This is the only time I will be making this special offer, so get in on it now! Head to http://www.patreon.com/lupagreenwolf and become my Patron today!

Want to Win a Free Tarot of Bones Deck and Book?

Hi, folks! Not only has the Magical Buffet written a lovely review of the Tarot of Bones, but they’re also offering up a deck and book set as a free giveaway! All you have to do is head over to the review, and at the end there’s a Rafflecopter form. It only takes a moment to enter, and anyone 16 or older worldwide can have a chance to win! The giveaway ends at 11:59pm EST on Friday, May 19, so go check all the awesomeness out at http://themagicalbuffet.com/blog1/?p=12642

A Thank You To Everyone

It’s been an incredibly busy few months here at the Green Wolf! Since April, I’ve moved my studio to the Washington coast, been to two Midwest festivals that required me to be away from the studio for a week or more, and tried to adjust to bouncing between two separate homes (Portland, OR and Long Beach, WA) while maintaining a foothold in each. Along the way I’ve made new friends and business contacts, fallen in love with new lands and spoken with their spirits, and discovered strength I didn’t know I had that can balance out my all-too-human challenges.

Thank you to those who have supported my work along the way, whether that was boosting the second Tarot of Bones IndieGoGo campaign, coming to Still Death sessions in Portland, buying art and books online or at venues, coming to my workshops at events and elsewhere, supporting me on Patreon, and otherwise making sure I could keep the lights on in my homes. I know I’ve sometimes been a bit tough to get in contact with because of the busy-ness (and occasional internet blackouts thanks to poor cell signal.) Know that I will always try my best to get caught up once I’m back to a more settled location, and I intend to keep working hard to create awesome things and get them out to y’all.

So what’s on tap next? Well, after a long weekend of vending and doing a serious overhaul to the Portland apartment, I am back in the studio getting caught up on sending out orders and finishing Patreon goodies for the month. I’ll be announcing the next few months of Still Death sessions soon, and getting the ball rolling on Curious Gallery 2017. I should have the layout for the Tarot of Bones companion book done soon and can send the file in to create a test copy (no, the book won’t be released til the deck is later this summer.) And, of course, artwork. Lots and lots of artwork!

With great appreciation,

Lupa

Four Days and a Thousand Bucks to Go!

Hey, folks–there are only FOUR DAYS LEFT on the Tarot of Bones IndieGoGo–and we still have a thousand bucks left to hit the goal! If you’ve been thinking about backing it, now’s a great time to do so! As a reminder you can get the deck and book pre-ordered, as well as Tarot of Bones prints and t-shirts, a handmade leather pouch, even an original assemblage from the Tarot of Bones. And if we hit that $5000 goal I’ll be offering an exclusive online class on how to use the Tarot of Bones only for backers of this campaign.

So what are ya waiting for? Click here to back the Tarot of Bones Spring 2016 IndieGoGo Campaign! And tell folks you know who may be interested–share the link, reblog this post, etc. 🙂 Thank you!

The Tarot of Bones Spring 2016 Campaign is LIVE!!!!!

Great news, everyone! The Tarot of Bones Spring 2016 IndieGoGo Campaign is LIVE!!!!!! You’ve got 60 days to back the campaign and get all sorts of cool perks–prints, a Tarot of Bones reading, jewelry made from bones left over from the assemblages, and of course the Tarot of Bones deck and book when they come out later this year.

Why a second campaign? Well, I had a LOT of people miss out on the first one last year, either because they didn’t have the funding to chip in or they didn’t hear about it until it was already over. This is a chance for them to back the project and help bring it to fruition. And although last year’s campaign was incredibly successful, covering the materials for the assemblages and other associated costs, this campaign will help with the substantial costs of printing and shipping the deck and books once the design work is all completed.  It’s not my only source of funding, but every contribution helps!

Here are a few very important things to keep in mind:

–Since last year, IndieGoGo has implemented the ability to add shipping charges to physical perks that will be mailed to contributors. This means that, unlike the 2015 campaign, shipping is NOT included in the contribution amounts on the campaign page–they’ll be added during the checkout process. I apologize in advance to non-U.S. backers for the higher shipping costs: earlier this year the post office raised international postage rates significantly higher than they were before.

–Some of the new perks, like bone jewelry and readings, are offered on their own, as well as in packages with the Tarot of Bones deck and book. This is so that backers of the 2015 campaign can get in on them if they so choose, without having to get a second deck and book. Please read all perk descriptions carefully before making your contribution! You CAN get more than one perk package, but you will need to make one individual contribution per perk package (and yes, that means going through the entire process each time–thank you for your patience!)

–Can’t contribute right now? That’s okay! You can still help by spreading the link around; here’s a convenient shortened link: http://igg.me/at/tarotofbones2016

Many, many thanks for your generosity and help, both last year and now! Let’s make this happen!

I Have Another Reason to Celebrate!


As of this afternoon, with the creation of the Lovers assemblage I have officially completed all 79 assemblages for the Tarot of Bones! You can read the official announcement here, and you can find out more about the Tarot of Bones, my HUGE art and writing project, here.

Now excuse me while I go play some video games before leaping into my next project.

How to Reconcile Tarot and Non-Human Nature

I’m taking a bit of a break from working on the last few assemblages for the Tarot of Bones, and I had some thoughts regarding working non-human animals into the very anthropocentric symbolism of the tarot. See, my deck has no humans in it whatsoever; it’s all made from the bones of other species of vertebrate, and draws heavily from natural history in design and meaning. This is very different from the majority of decks out there; most are based in one way or another on the Rider-Waite Smith deck, itself derived from even older decks.

With the exception of the Seven of Wands and the Three of Swords, all of the RWS cards include a human, humanoid figure, the Moon’s human face, or in the case of the Aces a disembodied hand popping out of a cloud. Where there are non-human animals, they are largely symbolic of human interests and biases; the Knights ride horses as is appropriate, the depths of the psyche are symbolized by a crab or lobster in the Moon card, and Strength shows the taming of a lion. Even some animal-themed tarot decks are essentially the RWS in fur, feather and fin. We reign supreme, and the other animals are merely bit players in our archetypal dramas.

This is, of course, to be expected. While tarot readings for pets and other animals certainly exist, for the most part we’re pretty self-centered, wanting to know what’s going to happen with us and our fellow human beings. Unfortunately this anthropocentrism has contributed heavily to our current environmental crisis; whether through necessity, malice or apathy, we have all contributed to one degree or another to the poisoning of the land, water, sky and their inhabitants.

One of my goals as a pagan, author and artist is to help people break out of that self-centered perspective. The Tarot of Bones is one tool I’m using to that end. While I, too, have drawn on the RWS deck for inspiration, I also rely quite a bit on the behaviors and other traits of the animals whose bones I’ve worked into the assemblages for the card art. This is especially true for the Court Cards and Major Arcana, all of which utilize the skulls of species specifically chosen for each card.

But this isn’t just a “this animal means this, that animal means that” deck. I’m trying to show the parallels in our behavior. I want us to internalize the ways of other animals so that we recognize them as kin. We may not want to acknowledge our inner sloth, but my Hanged Man draws on how that animal has used its slower lifestyle to survive and thrive over thousands of years–and how we can learn to do the same. And anyone who thinks we’re the only ones who fall in love have never seen two red foxes playfully courting each other! (Okay, so we’re less likely to run around peeing on our territory in the process, but you get the idea.)

The thing is, a lot of the lessons in the tarot are universal, not just for us alone. Every male ungulate has had to fight to the top of the mountain and hold his place like the Seven of Wands, and eventually even the King of the Mountain must fall, a la the Five of Swords. There is the feasting time of the Three of Cups, and the famine of the Five of Pentacles. Some cards may seem a little too abstract for our non-human kin, like the Magician. Consider that that card’s figure relies on making use of the resources available to him at any time, though, and we quickly see how every other creature survives doing the same.

In the end, there’s really not a whole lot that we humans can claim as our own without exception. Our technological skills are just a result of tool-making instincts coupled with a ridiculously large and complicated brain; our wars are no more than territorial squabbles writ large, and our peace is the baseline sought by every creature (except, perhaps, curmudgeons like the sarcastic fringehead).

So for you tarot enthusiasts out there, the next time you break out a deck for a reading, consider how the outcome might affect a coyote, or a monarch butterfly, or a giant squid. How might you read for the other creatures of the world?