My interest in tarot began in the 1970s when I was just 13 years of age. It was however, relatively short lived due to the appearance of the Death card in my very first reading! Literature of the time attributed many superstitions to the mysterious deck of cards and as a result, my newly aquired deck, a somewhat garish coloured Waite Smith pack, was banished to the back of a drawer – where it remained – unfairly neglected – unjustly condemned.*

About 15 years later, my interest in tarot rekindled and by this time tarot books were flooding the market. I studied a lot – took classes – and my passion for tarot grew.

During the early 2000s I was heavily involved with TABI (The Tarot Association of the British Isles). I worked as a reader, mentor, and tutor for around two years. At the same time I taught tarot classes at a local high school and ran classes from home.

In 2004 much of this work took a back-seat to make room for the role of co-orgniser of the arcana tarot event (Auckland, New Zealand). Two years in the making arcana was an ambitious project – the first of its kind and a great success. arcana ignited a creative spark within me, and tarot art projects of my own got underway allowing the concept of tarot-ART to come to fruition.

In 2007, Museo dei Tarocchi, the tarot art museum in Riola, Italy, had its official opening and by invitation, I along with fellow tarotist and friend Fern Mercier, delivered 16 pieces of NZ tarot art – destined for permanent display – and took part in the inaugural festivities.

In 2007 and 2008 Fern and I co-ordinated artists from New Zealand and Australia who took part in the Museo’s Literatarot Project. What eventuated was a limited edition collaborative deck celebrating the theme ‘great classics of literature’.

Developing the tarot-ART website in 2009 was another somewhat ambitious project (having had no previous web design skills) – but it again allowed me to indulge creatively in my tarot passion.

Happy Taroting!

*For the record - I 'found' that original tarot deck some 25 years later. It had survived a number of moves tucked away in a box of items marked 'don't throw out'. As for the death card ... it is of course a card I now welcome in readings. Lyn Howarth-Olds