The Native American Tarot is drawn from the four corners of North America: Eastern Nations, Plains Nations, Southwest Nations and Northwest Nations. The cards are informed by a variety of Native American tribes including Apache, Arapaho, Cherokee, Cheyenne, Chippewa, Comanche, Hopi, Huron, Inuit, Iroquois, Kiowa, Navaho, Papago, Pima, Pueblo, Shawnee, Sioux, and Yaqui. This deck is not limited to the standard interpretations of traditional illustrations, but reflects the spirit and meaning of the Native American Way. Inspired by the fusion of European and Native American ideals, the card titles and illustrations are modified in both obvious and subtle ways. Comprised of 78 cards, divided into 22 Major Arcana and 56 Minor Arcana. The four suits of the Minor Arcana are Blades, Pipes, Vessels, and Shields. What are traditionally the court cards are represented in Native American Tarot with tribal figures that project powers of personality. The four basic power essences are: Matriarchs Power within Spiritual Chiefs Power Potential Intellectual Warriors Power Activated Material Maidens Power Flowing Emotional The 108-page Guide includes instructions for the Medicine Wheel spread, the Native Cross spread, the Shining Star Spread, and others. Magda Weck Gonzalez became Star-Spider Women after 22 years of studying to become a Shaman. It was her third quest of five when she received her Shaman’s name Star-Spider Woman and was told to go out and teach. That was 27 years and two quests ago. She is a metis elder and she honors all four ethnic groups and what they taught her. She started learning as a small child from her mother, her father and her father’s mother. She works with the energy of the moon and walks the Middle Mist. The Middle Mist is the place between the physical world and the spiritual world. In the Middle Mist there are no black or white only hundreds of shades of gray. Think of the pale morning mist when sunlight hits the dew drops. And go deeper and deeper to the dark deep gray of fog rolling off the sea before a storm. There are portals in the Middle Mist that go to the worlds of the Animal People, to the Elementals, The Fey and the Star People. She learned to walk this road when she was still a child. She was taught by her Spirit Guides and Totem Friends. She designed the Native American Tarot Deck that was illustrated by her late husband J. A. Gonzalez in 1982. She then wrote Star-Spider Speaks: The teaching of the Native American Tarot, it was published in 1990. These were the first manifestations of her desire to blend the four aspects of herself: Shawnee/Cherokee, Celtic, Dutch & Romany.
