24. Creating Representation in Tarot with Courtney Alexander of Dust II Onyx

This episode is a Wild Soul Interview with Courtney Alexander, the creator of Dust II Onyx: A Melanated Tarot! The cards feature 78 mixed media collage paintings accented with metallic and holographic foils, featuring cultural myths, symbolism, history, and icons within the Black Diaspora. The guidebook features multiple keyword lists (numerological, elemental and astrological) and full color images of the artwork with titles and art descriptions. Each card has been carefully researched, with nearly 75 resources cited, providing a wealth of educational material. The entire deck, from the paintings to the research to the design was created and birthed by Courtney. In her Courtney’s own words, here is what this deck has meant to her: “Dust II Onyx...uses tarot divination to merge the multitude of intersections within black culture. I was inspired by my own spiritual journey deconstructing, decolonizing and disconnecting from my Christian heteropatriarchal foundations. As an African-American unable to trace my ancestry beyond a few decades, this work has helped me gather the shards of my identity that once felt scattered. I felt conflicted about jumping into other African spiritual traditions within the diaspora to find myself. I wanted to be conscious of my desire to appropriate traditions without forethought to how they connected to my own cosmology—considering the thousands of ethnic groups that exist within this expansive continent that is my soul's original home.” In this conversation, Courtney and I dive into: • Courtney’s search for Tarot decks that represented her as a person of color, and how that fueled her journey to creating her own: the Dust || Onyx: A Melanated Tarot (8:00) • The EPIC story of how Dust II Onyx Tarot came to be, and how Courtney went on a profound experience of soul death and rebirth on the way to making it (20:39) • Working on the Death Tarot card and working through fears surrounding death (31:12) • Some astrology talk + the placement of some of Courtney’s planets (44:21) • Creating a Kickstarter campaign for the Dust || Onyx Tarot deck + the creation & production process (46:55) • Where the name Dust II Onyx came from (1:04:57) • The second edition of Dust II Onyx + the sponsor a deck program (1:08:45) Follow Courtney at: https://dust2onyx.com/ To sponsor a deck: https://dust2onyx.com/collections/decks/products/sponsor-a-deck _________ ABOUT THE PODCAST Tarot for the Wild Soul Podcast explores the cards through an inclusive, trauma informed perspective, rooted in compassion, common sense, and critical thinking. Through a weaving of intuitively channeled downloads, answers to listener questions, and lessons around the cards, Tarot for the Wild Soul offers ways to view the Tarot as helpful, applicable medicine that can provide nourishment and clarity to us in our day to day lives. ABOUT LINDSAY Lindsay Mack is a queer intuitive Tarot teacher, and the host of TFTWS podcast. Lindsay is the creator of Soul Tarot, a reinterpretation and intentional utilization of the Tarot as a non-predictive healing tool, one that is can assist us in differentiating the noise of our mind from the truth of our soul. Through her regularly sold out workshops, retreats and online Tarot courses, Lindsay has had the profound honor of teaching Soul Tarot to thousands of people from all around the world. Honoring and acknowledging that this podcast is recorded on the unceded land of The Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde, currently called Portland, OR, with the deepest respect to the Kalapuya Tribe, Cowlitz Tribe, and Atfalati Tribe. WEBSITE: www.tarotforthewildsoul.com FOLLOW US ON IG at @wildsoulhealing PODCAST EDITOR: Chase Voorhees PODCAST ART: Rachelle Sartini Garner