the blog of author, illustrator and designer Kris Waldherr » 2010

02.10

Ruth Ann Amberstone guest post: A Date with the Devil

I’m thrilled to have the acclaimed tarot authority Ruth Ann Amberstone as my next guest for the “Most Romantic Week on the Blogosphere”, featuring the Love Tarot app. Ruth Ann Amberstone and her husband, Wald Amberstone, are founders of The Tarot School as well as the authors of The Secret Language of Tarot and Tarot Tips: 78 Practical Techniques to Enhance Your Reading Skills. They are also the creators of The Readers Studio, an annual international conference for tarot enthusiasts.

In this post, Ruth Ann writes about The Devil, the sexiest and hottest card in the tarot. Yup, The Devil often gets a bad rap. But, as Ruth Ann points out here, he (or she, as the case may be) can be a lot of fun. On top of that, we’re giving away a MP3 of the Tarot School’s famed teleclass on The High Priestess and an autographed copy of The Goddess Tarot to one blog commenter. Details at the end of this post.

Tomorrow’s post: Mama Donna Henes offers sage advice on how to romance the most important person in your life — you!

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Ruth Ann Amberstone

If you were to name the tarot cards that are most associated with relationships, chances are The Devil would not be at the top of your list. But a closer look reveals that this “bad boy” can have a lot to say in a relationship reading.

The most common interpretation of The Devil, as it might relate to partnerships, is that of a dysfunctional or co-dependent relationship — often where one person has an addiction of some sort. The bondage that’s depicted in the image can refer to the addictive behavior, or perhaps to a taste for kinky sex.

But there are things about this card that are less obvious. In the Rider-Waite-Smith deck, take a good look at the two people and The Devil himself, and you’ll notice that none of them are looking at one another (unlike in The Lovers). This might indicate that there is a lack of communication in the relationship and/or that at least one partner is totally self-involved.

devil

It’s a common observation that the chains around the necks of the two people are loose. The standard approach to interpreting this symbol might suggest that one or both of them could easily leave the “relationship” with The Devil and/or each other by simply slipping out of the chains. A less familiar understanding of these chains, however, is that they are not bonds, but links — these links connect the three figures and hold them together. In this context, The Devil makes it possible for people to stay together and function together, even when they are each essentially in their own world.

The Devil is the perfect date! With his power over appearances, he can look whichever way you personally find most attractive and sexy. He knows how to dance, how to choose a fine wine, and he can dazzle you with his sparkling wit and intelligent conversation. The Devil is a real smooth operator! He’ll promise to fulfill your every wish, but it’s all a scam to get you into bed. And if you fall in love, he’ll drag you through hell as he charms the pants off partner after partner, caring nothing for your jealousy or suffering.

On a lighter note, one of the most useful things to know about The Devil is that the esoteric function of this card is laughter. The Devil laughs at just about everything. And while that may not seem funny on a cosmic level, using this esoteric function in a reading may indicate that what’s really needed is to lighten up! Watch a funny movie, go to a comedy club, or hang out with friends and simply have a good time.

When this card appears in a relationship reading, don’t let it be-devil you. One way or another, it has something valuable to say about the situation.

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TODAY’S GIVEAWAY: We have a MP3 of the Tarot School’s wonderfully in-depth High Priestess teleclass and an autographed copy of The Goddess Tarot! (Find out more here.) To enter, simply leave a comment for this post. For a double entry, tell us about your worst — or funniest — date ever. I’ll start: Mine involves a guy spending the whole night telling me about his ex-girlfriend and how great she was, that no one could measure up to her. At the end of the night he asked, “So, will I see you again?”

The small print: You have until midnight EST on February 14 to leave your comment. Winner will be chosen at random and announced on this blog Monday, February 15, 2010. Sorry, but the giveaway is limited to U.S. and Canada only.

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Top art: Paolo and Francesca from the Love Tarot app by Kris Waldherr.

More about the Love Tarot app: Considered to be the most romantic app in the App Store, the Love Tarot app offers gorgeous tarot readings inspired by famous love stories, such as Tristan and Isolde and Cupid and Psyche. This five star-rated app was recently relaunched to include a tarot journal for users to save their readings and other inspirations.

Available in Lite and Full versions, learn more here. Or download the Full version on iTunes now.

Filed under be-mused, friends and colleagues, giveaways and raffles, iPhone apps, lover's path, tarot and oracles | 13 Responses

02.09

Holly Tucker guest post: The Facts of Life, 17th Century Style

Next up for my “Most Romantic Week on the Blogosphere” featuring the Love Tarot app, is a guest post by historian and novelist Holly Tucker, Ph.D. History geeks probably know Holly from her delightful website Wonders and Marvels. Holly is an Associate Professor at Vanderbilt University. Her upcoming book Blood Work (under contract with W.W. Norton) is about the politics of early medical experimentation in seventeenth century France and England.

Here, Holly offers us the other side of seventeenth century love to Sandra Gulland’s uber-romantic entry about love letters yesterday. Instead, she writes about the baroque era’s favorite sex manual (complete with a randy illustration from it). On top of that, today we’re giving away a copy of my illustrated novel The Lover’s Path to one blog commenter. Details at the end of this post.

Tomorrow’s post: Ruth Ann Amberstone writes about the sexiest card in the tarot.

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holly tucker

Forget Cosmo. Forget Maxim. Anyone looking for sex advice in the seventeenth- and eighteenth-centuries would head straight to Nicolas Venette’s The Mysteries of Conjugal Love Reveal’d.

Take a look at the two cupids uniting their hot torches to one another. That gives you a sense of the titillating tips that Venette’s books contained–all for the purpose of making babies, of course!

So where did babies come back then?

Until the late seventeenth century, humoralism was the primary way of understanding conception. Humoralism is associated with Galen, a second-century ACE Greek physician who lived in Rome. His work was substantially influenced by his predecessor Hippocrates.

Galen held that the body was governed by a system of fluids, of “humors”: blood, phlegm, yellow bile, black bile. Each body had a “complexion” that was specific to the individual–and reflected a greater tendency toward one of the four humors. This complexion helped determine the overall health of the person, as well as their character. “Sanguine” folks were upbeat and energetic. “Phlegmatic” folks were lethargic and sad. Yellow bile led to “choleric” folks who flew easily off the handle. And depressed “melancolics” suffered from an over-abundance of black bile.

Men and women were very different from one another. Men were hot and dry; women cold and wet. (This helps to explain why men have private parts outside their bodies, more on that another time.)

For Galen, both men and women contributed “seed” in the sex act. The seeds mixed–and their overall quality of the mixture would determine whether a girl or a boy would be born. The birth of a boy was proof of the father’s virility (his seed won the battle). The birth of a girl called the father’s macho-ness into question.

In fact, the birth of a girl was frequently associated with marital sterility in the early-modern era.

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TODAY’S GIVEAWAY: We have a copy of my illustrated novel The Lover’s Path, which inspired the Love Tarot! Set in sixteenth century Venice, The Lover’s Path is based on a true story of two sisters — one of which just happened to be the most famous courtesan of her time. (Learn more about it here or watch the YouTube video.) To enter, simply leave a comment for this post. For a double entry, tell us about your favorite love story from history.

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Top art: Tristan and Isolde art from the Love Tarot app by Kris Waldherr.

Available in Lite and Full versions, learn more here. Or download the Full version on iTunes now.

Filed under be-mused, blogs we read, friends and colleagues, giveaways and raffles, iPhone apps, lover's path, tarot and oracles | 20 Responses

02.08

Sandra Gulland guest post: On the Writing of Love Letters

To kick off my “Most Romantic Week on the Blogosphere” featuring the Love Tarot app, I am fortunate to have Sandra Gulland as my guest. Sandra is the internationally acclaimed author of the bestselling Mistress of the Sun and of the Joséphine B. trilogy, which has sold over a million copies worldwide and been translated into thirteen languages.

In this post, Sandra offers a very touching history lesson about the writing of love letters in seventeenth century France. On top of that, we’re giving away a copy of Mistress of the Sun to one lucky blog commenter. Details at the end of this post.

Tomorrow’s post: Historian Holly Tucker spills about the seventeenth century’s favorite sex manual.

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sandragulland

In times past, a girl was told never to open a letter from a boy. A virtuous girl was expected to hand it over unopened to her parents. But of course lovers always found ways around such strictures. Josephine, who had received ardent love letters from Napoleon when he was courting, was strict about her daughter not receiving letters. Josephine had been an adult when Napoleon came courting, and living in the unsettled period after the French revolution. Ironically, it was that very daughter who, in later life, published the letters Napoleon had written to her mother after they had married — but she made sure to edit out the erotic lines.

In my novel, Mistress of the Sun, the King slips or writes notes into the margins of books he sends Louise de la Vallière, the young woman he courts. In truth (for this great love is a true story), they exchanged poems. They each enlisted the help of one of the King’s Gentlemen of the Chamber to carry the poems back and forth, but also — perhaps feeling inadequate to the task — got him to help in the composition of the missives. I changed this account somewhat for the novel, but I am charmed by the story.

Someday, perhaps I will write a story about a go-between between lovers. In the 17th century, public scribes could be hired in the Cemetaire des Innocents in the heart of Paris, and some of these, no doubt, were called upon to write letters of love.

Imagine: a young man in love, venturing into the stinking cemetery, stepping around open graves, wending his way around the statue of Death, thinking only of the love he feels, the words he wishes to compose.

Shyly, he sits across from the old scribe, stutters out his need.

If only we could overhear him … and read the lavish, embellished words that the scribe scratches out. Will it read, simply: I love you? No, these words are too powerful! (And too, the scribe is paid by the word.) No doubt the scribe will suggest flowery images to express the young man’s emotion, describe his sighs and tears, his unimaginable torments, sign him as a slave, ready to follow his beloved’s every request.

The young man leaves with a letter — a scrap of paper which he will (somehow) put into the hands of his beloved, and thus change his life forever. For in spite of the flowery language, she will read, simply, in his eyes: I love you.

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TODAY’S GIVEAWAY: We have a copy of Sandra’s wonderful novel Mistress of the Sun! (Read my full review here.) To enter, simply leave a comment for this post. For a double entry, tell us about your favorite love letter!

Maybe this love letter — or e-mail, if you’re the modern type — was one you happily received from a beloved. Perhaps you were its enthusiastic author. Or it was a letter from literature or history? Personally, I find Napoleon’s letters to Josephine to be rather hot stuff: “A kiss on your heart, and one much lower down, much lower!”

(I wonder if these are the edited versions mentioned by Sandra. If so, I’m blushing to imagine the original letter….)

USMistressoftheSun

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Top art: Cupid and Psyche from the Love Tarot app by Kris Waldherr.

Available in Lite and Full versions, learn more here. Or download the Full version on iTunes now.

Filed under events, friends and colleagues, giveaways and raffles, iPhone apps, lover's path | 17 Responses

02.07

The Most Romantic Week on the Blogosphere begins….

As I mentioned last week, this upcoming week is going to be special for this blog. From February 8th through 12th, I’ll be having some very lofty guests here:

sandragulland
Best-selling author Sandra Gulland (Mistress of the Sun).

donnahenes
Urban shaman Donna Henes (Queen of My Self).

ruthannamberstone
Renowned tarot authority Ruth Ann Amberstone (The Secret Language of Tarot).

And, finally, acclaimed historian Holly Tucker (Wonders and Marvels, Blood Work).

These amazingly talented and inspiring women will be joining me for a week of love-themed posts and special giveaways. It’s all to celebrate Valentine’s Day — and the relaunch of the five star-rated Love Tarot iPhone app, which was recently updated with a tarot journal for saving readings and other inspirations.

The week will be kicked off tomorrow morning with a wonderfully romantic piece by Sandra about the writing of love letters. (Side note: I’m extremely flattered that she writes that her post was inspired by my illustrated novel The Lover’s Path.) On top of that, we’ll be giving away a copy of Sandra’s bestselling book, Mistress of the Sun. To enter the raffle, all you need to do is comment.

A huge bouquet of thanks to these illustrious ladies for participating in what I hope will be the most romantic week on the blogosphere. And I hope you’ll to “see” you here beginning tomorrow!

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PS: To learn more about the Love Tarot and my other iPhone and iPod Touch apps, please visit my new-and-official app website here.

lovetarot

Filed under be-mused, creativity, events, friends and colleagues, giveaways and raffles, iPhone apps, lover's path, queens, tarot and oracles | 2 Responses

02.04

Children’s Picture Book workshop update

springworkshopposter

This Saturday’s workshop is officially filled. It will be offered again in Fall 2010. In the meantime, I’m happy to announce that I’ll be offering a Publishing 1010 workshop at the end of March. Spaces are limited to ten participants — I’ve already had a few sign ups.

Here’s the information:

Saturday, March 27, 2010 – 1 to 3 pm

PUBLISHING 101
$25. Includes materials fee.

This entry level class offers a comprehensive overview of the publishing industry. Topics covered include manuscript submissions, book proposals, literary agents, self-publishing, book acquisitions, and marketing.

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These workshops are personally taught by me, a publishing professional with two decades experience. Interested in registering? You can do so here.

Also, I’ve posted our other gallery events for February and March. They range from the ever-popular Tarot Salon to the return of our Winter Film Series. This time we’re showing the film Helvetica for all you design geeks!

Filed under events, studio and gallery | No Comments

Ruth Ann Amberstone guest post: A Date with the Devil

Holly Tucker guest post: The Facts of Life, 17th Century Style

Sandra Gulland guest post: On the Writing of Love Letters

The Most Romantic Week on the Blogosphere begins….

Children’s Picture Book workshop update

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