Jillian Sandell | Image Credit

Performance by Adriene Jenik

Climate Future readings with the ECOtarot deck

Kayrod Gallery
during opening Friday, May 31

Since November 2017, I have been offering free “climate future readings” in public settings utilizing my custom deck of ECOtarot cards. The cards of the ECOtarot deck update standard archetypes and interpretations from the original “tarocchi” to reflect contemporary actors, values and symbols from our climate drama. The ECOtarot deck’s beauty and power is derived from original artwork printed on handmade, plant-based paper (agave and recycled cotton and linen), and hand-painted with natural pigments.

In every venue in which I have presented (from Joshua Tree and Berkeley CA to Phoenix AZ, Atlanta GA, New York City, Finland, Mexico, Portugal and Chile), I have been greeted with a line of seekers. Most have never had a tarot reading before. The technology of the ECOtarot cards and my custom spreads catalyze a series of intimate speculative exchanges that tap into the rational and irrational thoughts and feelings of a wide range of people struggling to make sense of how to live in our world. Climate Future readings tap into strong, often contradictory emotions, including ecological grief and the optimism underlying natural cycles. In aggregate, the exchanges form a fascinating snapshot of our human culture at this moment.