Publishing Monday: The Goddess Tarot app…

…was approved by Apple! It’s now available on iTunes’ App Store to anyone with an iPhone or iPod to download it onto.

As I mentioned earlier, the Goddess Tarot app is available as a free Lite version and a paid $3.99 Full version. The Lite gives a one card oracle reading; the Full version delivers the choice of four tarot spreads, including a never-before-published Goddess Circle reading. It also allows users to browse art and descriptions for all 78 cards and 22 goddesses in the deck, and save multi-card readings for future reference.

Anyone who’s been following this blog knows that I’ve put a lot of work and love into developing The Goddess Tarot app. This is my first major digital publication. (Yup, I have a few books available as e-books, but this is very different.) I personally designed each and every screen in it, trying to make it the most beautiful and inspiring app possible.

Now it is out in the world — along with my hopes that the app will be well received. (Yup, some nail-biting here.)

Learn more about The Goddess Tarot app at www.GoddessTarot.com. You can download either the Lite or Full version on iTunes here.

• Filed under creativity, goddesses, publications, publishing, tarot and oracles | 3 Responses

Creativity Friday: Interview with Women of Wisdom founder and author Kris Steinnes ~ and book giveaway!

I’m very pleased to have Kris Steinnes as my guest for this edition of Creativity Friday. Kris has accomplished some amazing things to further the empowerment of women everywhere. She’s the founder of the Seattle-based Women of Wisdom foundation, as well as an author and editor of a new book which bears the same name. In Kris’s involvement with WOW, she has brought together women leaders from many fields to share their experiences. Their ultimate goal is to build a world in which women’s voices are heard and feminine wisdom can be lived to its fullest.

(Full disclosure: I was fortunate to be a workshop presenter at Women of Wisdom a few years ago. It was a wonderful experience!)

Women of Wonder: Empowering the Dreams and Spirit of Women reminds me in some ways of Judy Chicago’s The Dinner Party, one of my favorite works of art. Just as The Dinner Party showcases the contributions of women throughout history, Women of Wisdom showcases the art and words of the numerous inspiring women who have presented at WOW. Besides Kris, these steller contributors include Isabel Allende, Marion Woodman, Brooke Medicine-Eagle, Nicki Scully, Frances Moore Lappé, Angeles Arrien, Jean Shinoda Bolen, Barbara Marx Hubbard, Judith Orloff and Riane Eisler. Their essays and poems are interwoven with beautiful art and design.

My interview with Kris is all about her experience working on Women of Wisdom; ways women can carve out sacred space to nurture their creative spirits; and her hopes for the future of the Divine Feminine in our society.

You can purchase the WOW book at www.wisewomanpublishing.com. Heads up: some bonus gifts may still be available when you purchase from the Amazon link on their website.

———————–

Kris Waldherr: One of the things which interests me is women’s creative processes, especially when it comes to making books and art. I read that you worked on Women of Wisdom at two writers’ retreats, one of which was in Sicily. Can you tell me about your experience? Were there specific inspirations which arose out of this situations which wove their ways into Women of Wisdom?

Kris Steinnes: I went to Sicily for a sabbatical from Women of Wisdom, and my life in Seattle! I planned to start writing the book and I did begin there. It was inspiring to just be away from everything where I could start to focus on the project. I transcribed a couple of the talks, and I also wrote some beginning pieces about how Women of Wisdom started, etc. It was a place to wind down and look out my kitchen table at the ocean, walk the beach and plan the book. I can’t say anything I wrote there is in the book – it was more what I call pre-writing. Nine months later I attended Christina Baldwin’s writing workshop on Whidbey Island, Washington. That was very inspirational to be with thirteen women writers and Christina is so good at creating sacred space and doing circle work. We met each morning and evening and did writing exercises, but the best part was having 36 hours of silence where we all worked on our writing pieces. I wrote the first chapter there which shares the experience of entering into Women of Wisdom and it just flowed from that sacred space inside of me. I have to say it turned into two-three chapters when the book was actually finished but it felt so good to complete that at the retreat. The last day we each had thirty minutes to share our writings and get feedback from everyone, which focused on the positive aspects of the writing, not a critical critique so we were all validated for our work. Amazing work was completed by everyone in those five days.

KW: A follow up: For women who perhaps don’t have access to writers’ retreats, what advice can you give on creating a sacred space to nurture their creative endeavors?

KS: After my writing retreat with Christina Baldwin life got busy again as it was Women of Wisdom conference time. So I knew I needed to create some space for me to write and get out of my house. I rented a space that was available from a friend and it was in a complex that had gardens around it, so when I took breaks I could be out in nature. I could go just for four hours a day and be away from home, phones and internet so I could really focus on the work. That’s what I knew I had to do. I know not everyone can, so I suggest you find a place in your home away from phones and anything that will disturb you. I’ve heard some advise to do it first thing in the morning before the day gets started. I’m not a morning person, but I know I don’t make it to the gym unless I do it first in my day, so I think writing can be like that. Some people it’s best late at night – it can be quiet then too. Create a place that’s for writing only and create an altar in the room. Turn off the phone if you have to, shut the door, whatever you need to do to focus. I called on the spirit of the Goddess Sophia to be with me and felt she guided me. It took discipline and it helps to have deadlines!

KW: Though your writing is featured in Women of Wisdom, you also shaped the book as editor. The book includes contributions from some major women authors, experts, and leaders, such as Riane Eisler, Isabel Allende, and Jean Shinoda Bolen. What was involved in editing such a stellar group of women?

KS: They were presenters at the Women of Wisdom conference and I chose them to be in the first book as I knew they had powerful messages for women. First we had to transcribe their talks, and then edit them to be the correct length for a chapter in a book, and to take out all the aside comments – people don’t talk as they would write. So I had to focus on what their message was and take out extraneous stories that didn’t support the message, while keeping the essence of their talk intact.

KW: Was it hard to decide what to include in the book? Was there anything you had to leave out because of space constraints that you wish you had been able to include?

KS: It wasn’t hard, but I did have to choose who would be in the first book. Some people I had been in touch with and knew they would want to participate. There were three that didn’t get in that I would have liked to have had, but they weren’t able to edit or approve their chapter in time. They will be in the second book. In the end the book got so large that the ten I have was just enough.

KW: Do you have a favorite contribution in the book? If so, which one and why?

KS: I think they’re all good. They all have a different perspective of the Divine Feminine. I love Angeles Arrien’s talk about finding meaning, magic and enchantment in our lives, and Jean Houston is always so inspiring, I love her work. Jean Shinoda Bolen’s work on the importance of circles is great, and Riane Eisler and Barbara Marx Hubbard give us important information about partnership and co-creating our world. They’re very thought provoking. And one of my favorites is Marion Woodman, who is such an inspiration and spokeswoman of the feminine.

KW: As a book designer myself, I appreciate how seamlessly your book’s text is integrated into its art and design. It’s a real outpouring of creativity and inspiration. What was involved in shaping the book’s design and art? Did you go into this with a clear vision of how the book would look? Or did it evolve gradually?

KS: I wanted it to be a full experience of the feminine and art, poetry, stories have always been an important aspect of Women of Wisdom conferences that I knew I wanted to include that in the book. All these artists, musicians and writers have been involved in the conference, whether a presenter, a participant, or a market vendor and I’m so glad they are a part of the book. It was very synchronistic how I found the book designer, as I received an email from someone from our community recommending Drai just when I knew I needed to find someone to do the book cover. I looked at her website and liked her work, so when I contacted her, I found out she actually had been to Women of Wisdom before, even though she lives in Denver. So she understands who WOW is and was able to create a book that reflects that. I chose the art and poetry to go with each writing so that it fit with the theme of that chapter.

KW: I understand that Women of Wisdom is the first of three books underway from the WOW foundation. What can we expect to see in future books? What role will you take in creating them?

KS: I hopefully will start the second book this next year. I’m getting inquiries from people who have read the book and want to submit their writings on the feminine, which is great. So I see it being more talks from WOW presenters and again art and poetry, and I’ve had experiences since writing the first book, that I’ll write some chapters as well. It will be like the first one, but probably less about the conference and more about the Divine Feminine and our experiences with Her. I’m open to people submitting art, poetry, songs and their stories of the Divine Feminine in their lives to include in the book.

KW: This book is a real labor of love, reflecting your many years of involvement as the founder of the Women of Wisdom foundation. The roots of WOW were founded in a women’s spirituality conference that took place in 1993. To say the least, both the foundation and the conference have grown considerably since then! In your book, you write that Women of Wisdom is “a path of experiences linked together through the commonality of women and spirit on a journey seeking the Divine.” What do you envision to be the future of the Women of Wisdom foundation? How does your book support and play into this vision?

KS: I have always envisioned WOW circles in other cities, and would love to consult with groups in other cities to put on a WOW conference there, perhaps license the conference to others. We receive emails from people who ask where is there a group like yours in my city. The book is supporting this, as now after the Amazon campaign women from all over the country are reading the book and are finding out about the WOW conference. We even have people in Europe who have the book now. That’s just thrilling for me to know this important work is going around the globe. I hope many of them will come in February to the conference. If anyone wants to apply to give a 3 hour workshop they are welcome to. The deadline is August 15th and they can download the application and information from our website – www.womenofwisdom.org. We can’t pay travel for these presenters, but it’s a great way to come to the conference, bring your work to Seattle and share with other women.

KW: My experience has been that our creative endeavors transform us as much as we hope they will transform others. How did working on this book transform you as a creative woman? How do you intend for your book to transform the world?

KS: I’ve been transformed and continue transforming through Women of Wisdom. I find as she grows, I grow and visa versa. I’ve learned so much about myself, the Diving Feminine, the power of a women’s community, women’s circles. I created a circle form of leadership and that’s how we run the organization, through our council circle. I’ve always been creative as I used to work in clothing design but now my creativity is moving in other new directions – being a speaker, consultant, writer, workshop leader, not just an organizer of a conference, so I’m going through a big growth phase with this book. My intention for the book is to bring the feminine consciousness to the forefront in our world so there’s a balance between male and female energies (I’m not speaking about gender here). I want to empower women to find their voices and to lead the life they’ve always dreamed of.

KW: Finally, what is the message you hope women take away from your book?

KS: My wish is for women to feel empowered to speak up and become leaders as we need more women leaders. But most importantly they’re the leaders of their own life so I hope women will take the time to rediscover what their dreams are and realize that they can still achieve them.

Also I feel the most important message is honoring and respecting our feminine gifts. I give workshops for women to find the places inside themselves where they aren’t honoring the feminine within them. We’ve been brought up in a world that doesn’t honor the feminine, and it’s up to us to change that as it begins within. So my hope is women learn to respect and honor their own feminine and know that it’s okay to express it because the world needs it now, our young women need to know the feminine is valued. When we do that we’ll begin to see it reflected in our world, and others will show the respect and honor that the feminine deserves. It’s important to explore when we silence Her and to create a safe place for Her to come forward. We need to share our gifts and our wisdom, and we are more able to do that when we feel validated and honored for our feminine gifts. When that happens we truly will find the freedom to live fully and then there will be the balance that is so needed in our world now.

————————

Kris has generously offered to raffle off a beautiful copy of Women of Wisdom to one blog commenter—thank you, Kris! To enter the giveaway, the rules are simple. Just leave a comment below by midnight August 2, 2009. The winner will be announced on August 3rd on this blog. Good luck to all!

In addition, here’s information about the upcoming18th Annual Women of Wisdom Conference, which takes place in Seattle Feburary 11 – 15, 2010. Special guests include Joan Borysenko and Donna Eden. Learn more or sign up for their enewsletter at www.womenofwisdom.org. If you have any questions for Kris, contact her directly at her blog or via e-mail: ks [at] wisewomanpublishing dot com.

• Filed under creativity, friends and colleagues, giveaways and raffles, interviews, mythic living | 18 Responses

Tarot Salon returns Friday, July 24th, 7-10 pm

For those of you in the NYC area, we have a busy weekend planned at the gallery. This Friday from 7 – 10 pm features the return of the Tarot Salon at Kris Waldherr Art and Words gallery — our most popular event! Previous salons have been featured in Time Out New York, CNN.com, Yelp’s “On the Radar”, Brooklyn Based’s  “Tip Sheet”, and internationally in La Libération.

This month, we’re featuring readings from:

~ NYC’s urban shaman Mama Donna Henes;
~ Local tarotist Rene Collins;
~ Massages from Fran Dunston of Fusion Therapy Spa.

I’ll also be on hand to offer readings. Readings are available at a variety of prices on the question of your
choice. Refreshments will be served. Free admission. Kids-in-tow welcome.

Also, we have a new exhibit up:

BROOKLYN: THROUGH A CHILD’S EYES
art and paintings by children

ABOUT THIS EXHIBIT: For a period of seven hours on June 14, 2009, the gallery was taken over by twenty-one children, ages three to nine, who created over seventy pieces of art. These paintings and drawings became the basis for this art exhibit, which was curated by the children themselves.

So come by, check out the art, have a glass of wine, and rejuvenate yourself with a tarot reading and a massage!

Can’t make it? The gallery is also open to the public for art viewing and book perusing this Saturday from 1 to 5 pm.

We’re located at:

Kris Waldherr Art and Words
1501 Newkirk Avenue
(entrance on Marlborough Road)
Brooklyn, NY 11226
347-406-5811
subway: Q or B train to Newkirk Plaza

—————————————-

I know I’ve been a bit amiss on this blog since my return from France —between travel, work, having Thea off from school, and family visits from places faraway, it’s turned into an intensely busy summer. But here’s a heads up on something special.

For tomorrow’s Creativity Friday, Kris Steinnes, founder of the Women of Wisdom Foundation, will be interviewed by me about her empowering new book. She’ll also be offering a giveaway of a book to one blog commenter. I hope you’ll stop by!

• Filed under creativity, events, friends and colleagues, giveaways and raffles, studio and gallery, tarot and oracles | 2 Responses

The most beautiful app in the app store?*

Short update: The Goddess Tarot iPhone app is ready to go, and has been submitted to Apple for approval. Generally speaking, it takes about a week to ten days to get a response. Right now, I’m a bundle of nerves as I wait to hear back. Frankly, it’s a bit like publishing, except that the likelihood of being approved by Apple is far higher than the probability of getting a book offer from an unsolicited submission.

Nonetheless, it’s easy to obsess over What May Go Wrong in these situations. This is despite the fact that I did everything I could to create a great app:

~ I studied Apple’s Human Interface Guidelines to the nth degree.

~ Hired a good developer to code it;

~ Worked and worked and worked;

~ And, most of all, tried to make something really special and beautiful that people would want to have on their iPhones and iPod Touch.

In the meantime, I’m working on getting ready for the app launch, which is set for August 1, 2009. As part of my preparations, here’s a video showcasing the many properties of The Goddess Tarot app. The music is by Altri Stromenti from an album entitled Italian Music of the 17th Century. Enjoy!

(*My developer suggested that I position The Goddess Tarot app as the most beautiful app in the App Store. I hope it will be!)

• Filed under goddesses, new projects, publishing, tarot and oracles | 5 Responses

Doomed Queens bitter wisdom: Sarah Palin revisited

I don’t know about you, but the latest adventure of Sarah Palin has me shaking my head in bemusement. Even if filtered through the distorted perceptions of jetlag (yup, still have it), her behavior seems erratic at best, self-destructive at worst. If she’s planning for a 2012 campaign, is quitting the best way to do so? Or, is there some bigger scandal about to emerge?

Tom, who has been following her on Twitter, is always sharing her latest Tweet with me. Here’s one recent example:

Critics are spinning, so hang in there as they feed false info on the right decision made as I enter last yr in office to not run again….”

Okaaaay. One wonders whether she’s in search of a bigger realm to rule. Or tired of getting kicked around by pundits. (Shades of “You won’t have Nixon to kick around anymore.”) Only time will tell.

In any event, it reminded me of a post I’d written way back after Obama won. Seems appropriate to resurrect it in honor of Sarah’s stepping down from her Alaskan throne.

——————-

Here in NYC, we’re basking in the aftermath of an Obama win. No offense to McCain supporters, but the past eight years have proven that the politics of fear and violence only compound global disharmony. McCain’s resounding loss was accompanied by the defeat of Sarah Palin, his running mate. Like her or loathe her, one can’t help but wonder whether Palin is a Doomed Queen.

My answer: Yes, yes, and yes. And I knew Palin was one from the start — though of course, it’s easy to say so in retrospect. Even when Palin’s approval rating was through the roof (ie: pre-Katie Couric interview or Tina Fey’s devastating SNL impersonations), the signs were all there. While women aren’t forced nowadays into dynastic marriages or trapped in the Tower of London as they once were, the cautionary example of the Doomed Queen still lives and thrives, despite Hillary Clinton’s “18 million cracks in the glass ceiling.”

Here are five ways Sarah Palin is a Doomed Queen:

1. Palin is the product of an arranged political marriage; she met only once with John McCain before he popped the question. Many Doomed Queens’ dynastic marriages ended unhappily due to inbreeding, incompatibility, even murder. In the case of Catherine of Aragon, Henry VIII’s starter wife, the demise of their union signaled the start of a new religion in England — one way to dump an unwanted alliance.

2. McCain was in love with someone else. It’s rumored that McCain desired Joe Lieberman as his running mate, but was pushed to accept Palin to protect his claim for the “throne.” McCain’s situation reminds me of Regency England’s George IV, who ruled England after his father George III lost the colonies along with his mind. George Junior was pushed to marry Caroline of Brunswick, his eccentric first cousin, though he was in love with another woman. When George met Caroline just before the wedding, he called for a stiff brandy and stumbled through the ceremony falling-down drunk. I don’t know if John McCain drinks, but one can imagine him in a similar choleric snit after learning that Sarah’s daughter Bristol was five months pregnant (though he claims to have been aware of it).

3. That written, McCain initially embraced his running mate despite the scandale. At first, Palin was more popular than him—just as Princess Diana proved to be after her glittery public wedding to Prince Charles. For Charles and Diana, jealousy became a destructive force in their royal alliance. But now that McCain has lost, the gloves have come off and Palin is being used as a scapegoat. As an unnamed source from his campaign leaked to the press that Palin is a whack job and was the one responsible for burning up the credit cards in Neiman Marcus a la Marie Antoinette.

4. It’s an old story. Like other Doomed Queens through history, Palin was used as a chess piece on another’s game board to woo a target demographic. Only this time, the powers-that-be got more than they bargained for. Palin wasn’t fully vetted, allowing for scandals to surface like poisoned fish in a pond. Federal funds for the Bridge to Nowhere were never refunded. Her friends were rewarded with cushy inappropriate appointments while her enemies were stonewalled. Rumors of book banning, anyone?

5. Biology is destiny. For many Doomed Queens, childbirth and infertility led to their loss of the throne. In the case of Palin, she’s used the fertility of herself and unwed pregnant Bristol to present herself as a pro-life candidate, appealing to the religious right. However in doing so, Palin has thrown her teenage daughter to the media wolves to further her political ambitions — not a sympathetic move. After all, even hard-core conservatives like to see mothers nurture their children, instead of hung out to dry in People magazine.

So is Sarah Palin’s story over? We won’t know for some time, but even if she does run in 2012, I’m sure she won’t be marched like other Doomed Queens to the guillotine. After all, the guillotine was last used by the French in 1977.

Instead, Palin might instead want to follow the path of another powerful Alaskan woman, Sinrock Mary, better known as the Reindeer Queen.

During the Alaskan Gold Rush, Sinrock Mary was an Eskimo who became the richest person in Alaska by raising reindeer for food and pack animals; Sinrock was an outpost of Nome. Gold miners were dependent on Mary for their very survival — and grew covetous of her power. To undermine her, they tried to seduce her with liquor and promises of marriage. When that didn’t work, they threatened violence. Though Mary could have used them to further expand her empire, she was no Doomed Queen.

To avoid the miners, the Reindeer Queen moved from Nome into the wilds of Alaska. She spent the rest of her life there in royal comfort — though no one knows if she owned a tanning bed, like Wasilla Sarah.

• Filed under be-mused, queens | One Response