Pre Raphaelite Tarot Valeria Menozzi Artwork by Giuliana Costa

The Pre Raphaelite Tarot Deck. From The Little White Book: The art and life of the Pre-Raphaelite painters were wholly devoted to the pursuit of beauty in the sense of the divine essence intrinsic in every aspect of creation. With their ability to transport us to distant worlds and through their symbolic language, these incredible artists still manage, even today, to fascinate us, arouse profound emotions within us and put us in touch with our intuitive side.

Pre Raphaelite Tarot

Pre Raphaelite Tarot

Archetypal Life Cards

Archetypal Tarot by Mary Greer : What Your Birth Card Reveals About Your Personality, Path and Potential. From the Back Cover: Who are you in the tarot? The tarot cards associated with your birthdate and name form a pattern of personal destiny. They describe the theme of your life - the challenges and the gifts. In Archetypal Tarot, tarot scholar and teacher Mary K. Greer connects astrology and numerology to the tarot to create an in-depth personality profile that can be used for self-realization and personal harmony. Archetypal Tarot is a valuable tool to learn how to use the tarot to interpret your strengths and challenges. This is a fascinating book that allows you to go into a deeper study of how the tarot can be used for further exploration.

Otto and the Secret Light of Christmas by Nora & Pirkko - Liisa Surojegin

Children of the Northern Lights by Ingri & Edgar Farin D’Aulaire

The Christmas Eve Tree by Delia Huddy illustrate by Emily Sutton

Here are three lovely children’s books for you to track down at your library or in a bookshop. I am a great lover of children’s books. I have saved some books over the years from my daughter’s growing up days. However, I still do occasionally purchase children’s book because they are beautiful. These three books are magical and you might enjoy sitting down in a quiet moment to read them this week. I hope you love them!

Lisbeth Zwerger Artist - Library Books

Lisbeth Zwerger is one of my favorite artists. Lisbeth Zwerger is an Austrian illustrator of children’s books best known for being a recipient of the Hans Christian Andersen Award due to her exemplary contribution to the field of children’s literature. Born on May 26, 1954, in Vienna, Zwerger studied at Vienna’s Applied Arts Academy from 1971 to 1974. Though she left before completing the course, her first illustrated book was published in 1977.  Zwerger has worked as a freelance picture book illustrator in Vienna, specializing in fairy tales and classic stories. Zwerger is considered one of the most accomplished illustrative artists in the current century.

Here are some of her books that I got from the library. A local patron donated a pile of her books to our library. I myself have owned a number of her books which are scattered about here and there. Another one of my favorites is her Gift of The Magi - this is the edition that we have. When I got married to my now husband - we each gave one another gifts on our wedding night. He gave me combs for my long hair and I gave him a pocket watch. We both love that story. Lisbeth Zwerger has many other books and art that you can find as well. I hope you’ll search a few out to enjoy. Sitting down with her books is a magical world filled with beauty and wonder.

The Nutcracker illustrated by Lisbeth Zwerger

Aesops Fables - Illustrated by Lisbeth Zwerger

The Selfish Giant - Illustrated by Lisbeth Zwerger

The Selfish Giant - Illustrated by Lisbeth Zwerger

The Canterville Ghost - Illustrated by Lisbeth Zwerger

The Canterville Ghost - Illustrated by Lisbeth Zwerger

Till Eulen Spiegel’s Merry Pranks - Illustrated by Lisbeth Zwerger

Till Eulen Spiegel’s Merry Pranks - Illustrated by Lisbeth Zwerger

The Legend of Rose Petal - Illustrated by Lisbeth Zwerger

The Legend of Rose Petal - Illustrated by Lisbeth Zwerger

The Legend of Rose Petal - Illustrated by Lisbeth Zwerger

Lisbeth Zwerger has said that the most difficult task for her now is choosing material to illustrate; at first she gravitated toward childhood favorites, but later she tired of traditional fairy tale end­ings, which often seemed sexist or overly moral­istic. Her work has continued to be published in Austria; in addition, she is published in more than sixteen other countries, and her work has been exhibited worldwide. Zwerger has been honored several times at the Bologna Interna­tional Children’s Book Fair, at the Biennial of Il­lustrators at Bratislava, and by library organiza­tions and literary publications in the United States* She is among the best illustrative artists to have emerged in this century.

the Unwinding by Jackie Morris

The Unwinding and other dreamings by Jackie Morris is a book for dreamers.

This book is not meant to be read from cover to cover. It is a book for dreamers. Slight of word, rich of image, its purpose is to ease the soul.
The paintings between these covers were worked on in the between times, an Unwinding of the soul, when the pressures of were were too much. Dreams and wishes are the inspiration at times like this. Threaded through the curious world of The Unwinding are words, slight and lyrical. Their aim is to set the reader’s mind adrift from the troubles of our times, into peaceful harbours where imagination can stretch, where quiet reflection can bring peace.
The Unwinding is designed to be a companion, a talisman to be turned to again and again, a place of respite from an increasingly frantic and complex world.
(From The Inside Dust Jacket)

the keeper of lost dreams

Does she have a name, this woman? If she does, it is known only to a handful of people. The bear knows. He is the only creature of the earth she would call her friend. Between them there is trust, love. Her world is between the dusk light and the dawn light, the time of the moths, of the owls and the bats. (the beginning One)

myth

All she ever wanted was to escape from the ground. Earth-bound, landlocked, gravity her enemy. All she ever d reamed was to lift light into flight, to soar upwards, take to the skies with winged things.
And bird. She loved birds - loved how even a fallen feather, held between fingers, would pulse and turn in the hand and reach skywards as if, like her, every feather longed to be back in the air. (from myth - the midnight fish)

harbour - a strange boat

The women love to see the light of the full moon in the daylight sky, how it seems so slight, almost transparent, a tissue-paper disc in the light of the sun, And they love to dance.
White bears guard their journey, Dark-eyed owls watch the waves. They are dreamers, these women, these bears, they are seers and speakers of truth, dancers of time, travelling the world, gathering stories, For now, for a while, they rest on the water.
Stand on the shore and watch. As the moon sinks towards the edge of the sea you might see her open her wings wide in the twilight and rise to the sky, away from the skin of the sea, into the ocean of stars.
(from - harbour - a strange boat)

rest - Bear And The Nightingale

Wind in the trees, rattle branch. Can they hear the stars, here where they lie in the hollow? Head in hands, head on paw, each rests in silent trust of other, while daylight moths whisper night songs and nightingale, the bird of summer threads his song of love through winter’s dark.
Hare love the moon, misses her bright gaze, knows that she will come again with a wild certainty.
(from rest- Bear And The Nightingale)

“Rest now, in the peace of the wild things. May the swan be your pillow, may teh gold owl bring you visions. May the red fox give you cunning, and the wolf bring you courage. And may the while hore lend her strength to all your days”

— Jackie Morris

Please support this artist and her gorgeous books of beauty and poetic stories. You can find her at Jackie Morris. She lives in Wales in the UK. This particular book as it was mentioned is - a talisman to carry with you as you seek.

After The Forest by Kell Woods

Fairytale Ways is an enchanting way into living an intentional life. The metaphor and poetry available to our imaginations in a long luxurious read of a winding tale - allows a flowing rhythm that builds along with our own heartbeat. When I am immersed in a fairytale or a folk story, my mind begins to see signs of incredible synchronicity all around me. It is a very satisfying feeling. I begin to feel deepened connections to the outer world that trails what is happening in my reading life as well as my own interior world. This is all to say - a comforting sense of ancient threads that are raveling along the edges of my skirts.

Fairytales in the richest and true sense of a tale is really a book to live by. The messages found in such a story are profound if you remain a student to wonder. A curiosity of exploration enlivens how the world is unfolding to you at any particular moment. It is a sort of warp and weft of veil that you are engaged in. As though you take a piece of colorful silk - lift it up gently as if loosely about to shake a blanket - let it fall back down to cover your imagination and everyday life. It is nothing short of pure loveliness.

Reading a fairytale takes me on a journey that I would not otherwise go on. Surrendering to an ancient tale or a more modern fairytale written by a current author brings me gifts to treasure. Usually this sort of read is a slow going type of experience. These stories are filled with rich and satisfying imagery. It allows me to live in a world of magic while I am engaged with the storybook. I find myself embracing a more generous way of thinking while in the midst of such a tale. It is a guide of wonder-making.

Pathways in my mind begin to open. Brain neurons seem to feel richer and bathed in all the good chemicals that give a sense of enrichment and contentment. A fairytale allows me to bring new ideas to my everyday life with a veil of enchantment surrounding the world in a bit of a fairytale mist. Have you felt this way while reading these kinds of stories? It is being cloaked in the authors imagination - come to life within you. The sharing of this exchange is such a generous and abundant gift to me as the reader. Dare I say - it is a bit of suspension of the real and harsh ways of the world. I think when we are able to detach a bit from the rough world ways - a replenishment comes over us - allows us to move on again. A steady walking forward after a rich nourishment.

I am able to take on the hard work of living with a bit of a clearer mind after reading and engaging with a fairytale journey. I feel as though fresh new ideas seem to drip slowly toward a movement of colorful. Pieces of the story resonate more strongly than others. This is of course because these are the layers of understanding needed in a particular moment in a life biography. A bit of wisdom tale. It is uncanny how the stories I pick up to travel with always bring a magic resonance to understanding and reflection in the wrestling of the moment. Fairytales are medicine ways. A remedy for the ills and woes of a life overcome with challenges - highs and lows of living ways.

After the Forest brings all of these delicious feelings into view. Themes of the witch, a gingerbread house, struggle to get by, death, grief, countryside in ruin after war. Greta carries a secret - how this unfolds is creative and unique in the telling. In a village of superstition - gossip and superstition rein. Isn’t this true in our modern everyday lives as well? You see the deeper resonance of fairytale stories and how they mirror our mundane lives. This carries throughout with the theme of the dark forest and where we might be struggling to understand in our own lives. Fairytales are the very stuff of life! If we choose to learn from these stories - not only will we grow and expand in our understanding - we will find the pathways we may need to explore next. Fairytale’s are the remedy for modern day ills. Stories have always been told around the fire with friends and family. Embracing an inner rich exploration of these sorts of tales provides a wide view of ourselves and the world. Navigation becomes the river compass needed to grow into richer humans.

A child lost in a village draws kindness like a swarm of bees: mothers young and old flock and fluster, their wombs tightening in sympathy. Cries are taken up and the child kept in safety until the mother arrives, face ashen, arms reaching.
The cries of a child lost in a vast forest are very different. There is no one there to hear, and the threat of the wild is there in every old tree’s creak, every scratch and scurry in the undergrowth. Alone in the forest there is real fear. Once felt, it is never forgotten.
~After The Forest by Kell Woods