There is a Yeti in the back of everyone’s mind; only the blessed are not haunted by it. ~ old sherpa saying

Wednesday, October 10, 2012

Monster of Boggy Creak Tarot/Oracle Card

My brother-in-law, now deceased, designed his own Tarot/oracle deck in 1979. He called it The White Goddess deck. He was an astrologer, and as you can see, incorporated astrology into his deck. He didn't do the drawings himself -- those were done by an artist he knew at that time, Ida Foreman.
White Goddess oracle deck, Michael Bear, creator, artist Ida Foreman

I hadn't looked at this deck for several years. I had forgotten that Michael used a number of cryptid, creature type images in his deck. I don't remember Michael Bear being particularly interested or knowledgeable about the topic, especially Bigfoot stories. Here's The Monster of Boggy Creak, and yes, he spelt it creak, not creek. I don't know if the misspelling was intentional, but he was a notoriously awful speller, so who knows.

I noticed in the booklet that came with the deck that there is a Bigfoot card listed, but it isn't in the deck. Maybe it got lost, or it could be it just never made it. I don't remember seeing the card, but again, I don't remember much about the deck overall. Here's how the card is described:

Conscious awareness of, not only, your own beliefs, but those of others.
Reversed: Having to be aware, consciously, of the universal subconscious.

The card is given the number 9, "relating to Neptune, the subconscious, daydreams and nightmares, drugs, alochol, habitations of all kinds." (The missing Bigfoot card is also given the number 9) and placed in the suite of spades. He has astrologically assigned "moon square retrograde Neptune" to the card.

 An interesting piece of family history. As to the aesthetics of the deck or its usefulness -- I've never used it and doubt very much I ever will. I'm too involved in family history, including some of what went on in creating the deck.

4 comments:

Terry the Censor said...

I would assume the Boggy Creek monster would be classed under Bigfoot.

Regan Lee said...

I should have been clearer: he has a listing for the Boggy Creak card, then a different one in a different place for Bigfoot. I'll have to go back and look at the deck to see if one is missing from a suite.

Unknown said...

Wow I would love to get this deck. Is there a way to get the cards? or scan them and have them created?

Regan Lee said...

Aiwen,

Thanks for the interest, but I don't think so. The cards belong, technically, to my husband, and I don't know if the artist is still alive or how to contact her. I wouldn't feel comfortable, at this time anyway, releasing the entire deck.