Soul Cards by Deborah Koff-Chapman is a tarot deck I stumbled on during a writing retreat in Oregon. The deck was laid out face-down and writers were asked to randomly pick a card. I selected the sun-looking image above and thought, "Boy, the sun looks tired." In subsequent days, I couldn't shake off the image, so I wrote a poem about an exhausted 4.6 billion-year-old sun that can't take a "day off."
The images are surreal, terrifying, hopeful, and a mix of other extreme emotions. I bought a deck for myself to serve as writing prompts. I feel that some of this artwork is inspired by my nightmares, while others images offer solace. Regardless, I going to write a poem per card and see if there is anything usable.
Deborah Koff-Chapin uses a process she calls Touch Drawing, which looks incredibly intimate and introspective. Watch her talk about her process in the video below, where she also explains how Soul Deck came to be.
Video: Trusting the Impulse Within
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