Desert Illuminations Tarot by Lindsay Williams

My daughter Isabel gave me a copy of this tarot deck, created and made in Truth or Consequences, New Mexico!

I was very excited, loving its psychedelic Southwestern appeal.

Here is an interview with Lindsay Williams about her deck.

Miriam’s Well: It seems like making an entire Tarot deck is a huge undertaking. What inspired you? I love the Southwestern themes.

Lindsay Williams: Making a tarot deck is a huge undertaking for sure! The Desert Illuminations Tarot took about half of a year to create. This is an artistic and spiritual endeavor that I have been wanting to take on for many years but never really had the proper time to execute it. I decided that the year 2020 was the time to do so since I had so much downtime during the pandemic. It certainly helped with my sanity during such an isolating and uncertain time.

Living out in New Mexico and my love of the desert landscape and its themes are what inspired me to create this deck. The vibrant colors of the sunsets, the unusual architecture, animals, plants and ancient culture are something I wanted to make sure came across in the cards. I wanted to create a deck that invoked all the visual aspects together to create this unique theme for tarot. I knew that other desert fans and dwellers would love the idea of Southwest Tarot as much as I do. I personally have never seen a deck out there with this particular theme. I thought why not create something that I wanted to see exist in the world?

MW: What was the hardest part?

LW: The hardest part of the project was trying to consistently stay on theme with colors, motifs and translating the cards to be easily read by all levels of tarot readers.

MW: Are there other decks that were part of the basis of your understanding?

LW: I am well versed in reading the Rider-Waite-Smith system of Tarot so I used that system to re-invent the Desert Illuminations Tarot in my own way. I now use this deck all the time because I put my own spirit into it. While creating it, I really was channeling and hoping that folks who purchase it have a transfer of my spirit to them when reading the cards that invokes a sense of creativity, individuality, acceptance and positivity.

MW: How did you produce the deck? Is the technology getting more accessible?

LW: These days it is certainly easier to DIY your own tarot as there are plenty of resources available on the internet to help. I made sure before I tackled this project that I did enough research so the process went seamlessly. I encourage any artist to explore this idea in their own unique creative voice. It not only helped to give me a tremendous body of artwork but it helped to stretch my creative muscles, make me a better problem solver, make me more organized and of course build a community of like-minded individuals who celebrate visual art and reading and collecting tarot cards!

Reader–you know YOU want one of these decks. I loved it all, from aliens to cowgirls. I felt a connection to “home” with these cards–I’m in New Mexico’s magical landscape.
To order: https://www.lindsaydwilliamsart.com/tarot-deck