TAROT TUESDAY with Juli D. Revezzo

TAROT TUESDAY-
my October blog series was a success!

Today we continue the series with my 
fellow October Frights Blog Hop Author,
Juli D Revezzo,
who explains how the cards played an important
role in her new book -
LADY OF THE TAROT!

How history hooked a tarot newbie...

Though tarot has been around a long time, and I've been aware of it for decades, it wasn't until I began writing in earnest that I learned much about it. Six or so years ago, I sat in on a writers’ workshop on using the tarot as a manner of plotting. I have since chosen cards when stuck on a character, or situation needed for a story. 

That venture was helped along by a deck of the major arcana-only I received from another author. I'd had a few tarot readings over the years but never really understood the ins and outs of the practice.  When I sat down to write my latest novel, LADY OF THE TAROT I began researching the history of tarot. If you know anything about me and my writing, then you know I like the little Rabbit holes research can lead me down.  This research quest led me down a pretty big one. And to a few dead ends. While we, today, have hundreds of different decks to choose from, while we know and discover more all the time about the history of tarot, I set myself the monumental task of finding out the where tos and whyfores of tarot in the 18th century. 

I can hear you saying ugh, already. Yes, a sane writer would've chosen the late 20th century but not me.

In the end, though, my research led me in some interesting directions. Was the tarot really invented by the Egyptians? Well, we know now that they most likely had nothing like tarot (according to some sources), but would a character from the Revolutionary era even question that assumption?  What decks might my tarot reader be able to get his hands on?  All these big questions just for little details in a novel. The more I worked on, the more I began to think about how a tarot novice (like me at the time) might be able to decipher the imagery. During the French Revolution, it goes without saying that our ancestors didn’t have the same access to information we have today. Where would the heroine turn in her quest to answer her riddles? 

Given the nature of what became LADY OF THE TAROT, I was able to provide her a wee bit of help. Yes, even then in the middle of such turmoil, I couldn't help but wonder if the turbulence of the 18th century meant tarot card readers weren't having a business boom. So, it seemed natural to mix the two for LADY OF THE TAROT. 

Thank you for inviting me here today Debbie!

WHAT THE CARDS FORETELL MAY BE REAL, AFTER ALL

1793: Having escaped the Reign of Terror, Emilie Maigny took refuge in England, trying to come to grips with the life and loss she left behind. When her brother, Sinjon, returns, a terrifying evil swoops down upon her. Nightmares plague her now, providing strange clues ... but to what?

Scottish-born Linton Morrison spent his entire life in luxury, whiling away the hours in intense study of the tarot and the cards' hidden meanings, but until he met the lovely Emilie Maigny, he would never have guessed how important his study might be--to his life and Emilie's survival when terrible evil strikes.

A Cypher is all Emilie needs, but what is it? Is Linton the key? He may charm her heart--and he may be her only salvation.

LADY OF THE TAROT is available at Amazon in Kindle and Paperback formats at: http://hyperurl.co/qti14j

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Juli D. Revezzo writes fantasy and romantic stories filled in with elements garnered from a lifetime love affair with magic, myth, witches, wizards, and fated lovers and legend. She is the author of The Antique Magic series and the Paranormal Romance Celtic Stewards Chronicles series, Gothic paranormal romance LADY OF THE TAROT, and short stories published in ETERNAL HAUNTED SUMMER, LUNA STATION QUARTERLY, among others. She is also a member of the Independent Author Network and the Magic Appreciation Tour. 
For more on these and other books visit Juli at: http://www.julidrevezzo.com/
And Juli’s Amazon page: http://www.amazon.com/Juli-D.-Revezzo/e/B008AHVTLO/

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