The Rider-Waite-Smith deck has been known as the preeminent Tarot deck that first illustrated the entire Minor Arcana along with a re-imagining of the Major Arcana that has influenced hundreds of deck on the market today. This podcast interviews Weiser author and editor Judika Illes and researcher/artist/designer Kathryn Sky-Peck about their recently released Weiser Tarot that features Pamela "Pixie" Colman Smith's original line art with freshly watercolor painted cards. The Weiser Tarot presents a fresh face that embraces figures on a varying spectrum of skin tone and gender orientation. The creators' process with this landmark deck inspires all of us to come to this antiquated deck with fresh eyes and to "examine each card one by one, prior to considering the interpretations of others." The 78 pieces of art, originally drawn by Smith, "open our intuition and imagination to explore our hearts and minds" (Illes 2022). More about Judika Illes: Born in New York City, Judika Illes is a lifelong lover, student, and practitioner of the magickal arts. She is the author of numerous books devoted to magic spells, witchcraft, saints, spirits, and the paranormal including the best-selling Encyclopedia of 5000 Spells and Encyclopedia of Spirits. Her other books include Pure Magic: A Complete Course in Spellcasting, Magic When You Need It, Encyclopedia of Witchcraft, and Daily Magic, a perpetual calendar of spells, rituals, and feasts. Judika is also the curator of two books of occult fiction. Someday she will publish some occult fiction of her own. Judika is a certified aromatherapist and has been a professional tarot card reader since 1988. Judika has worked as an editor for Weiser Books since 2015. Before that, she worked for The Witches’ Almanac. She teaches about spell-casting and other topics in the US, internationally, and virtually. Her website is under construction, but Judika is easily found on-line at Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AuthorJudikaIlles Instagram: @judikailles and Twitter: @JudikaIlles More about Kathryn Sky-Peck: Kathryn Sky-Peck has been a life-long student of the esoteric arts. Currently Creative Director at Red Wheel/Weiser, she has been with Weiser books off and on since 1981 when she first began working with the publisher. She is an award-winning poet, a fine artist, and—when the grace of youth allowed it—a modern dancer. She sees all these art forms interconnected, finding color and movement in words and music in poetry. She has been the sole proprietor of Sky Peck Design for the last 27 years, where she maintains a select group of clients, most notably The Witches Almanac and Ibis Press. In her role as book development director at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, she authored Who Has Seen the Wind? and The Poet’s Delay, both compilations of poetry based on the museum’s art collection. She loves the anonymity of being in the background, from where she’s had the honor to work with, support, and learn from some of the occult world’s best-known authors. Not on social media, she lives at the edge of a New England wood with her cat Milo.
