Closer Look: Divination Diary, Casting Cloth & Carrying Case
over 1 year ago – Wed, Oct 26, 2022 at 05:32:11 AM

Hello everyone! We're coming up on a week left of the campaign, I can't believe it. It's so exciting to see how far it has come in these few weeks. Thank you all again for your continued excitement and support!!

I wanted to do a Closer Look on some of the items in the collection that we haven't really talked about yet but have been here since the launch: The Divination Diary, The Casting Cloth, and the Carrying Case. 

The Divination Diary is a faux leather-bound journal for keeping track of your readings. I created it to be useful with any of the Green Glyphs decks as well as the Green Glyphs Hybrid deck. I really love the quality of this book. 

The diary measures about 6” x 7.5 inches and is filled with 200 designed pages (100 sheets) and finished with a place-saving ribbon. I’m really excited about the quality of the sample- It’s sturdy, well-made, and fits beautifully with the rest of the collection. The diary can be added to your pledge in the add-on menu for $15

The Casting Cloth is made from faux suede and is finished with stitched edges. It measures 14" x 14" and can be used in a variety of methods. You can use the cloth as an altar cloth, use it for doing card readings and it can be used with the rune dice. If you are familiar with the Cosma Visions altar cloth it is the same fabric material. The image on the cloth is screen printed and features the ouroboros from the Runes deck. The casting cloth can be added to your pledge in the add-on menu for $15

Lastly, we have the Carrying Case. I designed this item before the satchels were introduced into the campaign. I wanted to do something different from the usual but the satchels were highly requested and so I obliged. I do have to say the prototype I made for this case looks and feels amazing in person. I am still working on the specifics of this product, but I am looking into a way to include 3 dividers so that you can use this and keep each deck divided when carrying. I think that if they are moveable thick cards that can slide around and be removed then it would work well. The carrying case will also be embossed with a simple design on the exterior. The carrying case will be updated in size to include any extra cards that were added to decks during the stretch goals of this campaign! The carrying case can be added to your pledge in the add-on menu for $25

If you're unsure how to add items to your pledge here is a quick rundown:

We've got 8 days left in the campaign! Please keep sharing the project with your communities so we can hit upcoming stretch goals: 

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/jamesreads/green-glyphs-tarot-runes-oracle-and-lenormand-decks

Thank you again, 

James 

Closer Look: Glossary and Box Set
over 1 year ago – Thu, Oct 20, 2022 at 01:18:45 AM

We're a little over halfway through the campaign! Time is flyingggg by. I loved the discussion on the rune dice in the last update, everyone provided such wonderful feedback. I will be taking it all into consideration :) 

Before we continue the Closer Look series I should mention that we just announced a giveaway on instagram! We have a couple of advanced copies of the Box Set left from our sample production and rather than keeping them, I figured we could give them away to a few lucky people.

Everyone is eligible to enter. The giveaway is happening on my instagram as well as the prisma visions instagram!

This Closer Look covers the part of the collection that ties it all together. The Green Glyphs Glossary contains the entire Green Glyphs universe in one place in a beautiful hardcover book with prismatic gold edges to match the cards. It includes the information from all four guidebooks, along with an extra section on using the four decks together to create a nearly 200-card hybrid deck. I love how it turned out. It feels so elegant. 

Green Glyphs, is, to me, a meditation. It’s an anthology of magical forms of divination. It’s realized, and yet simple and light. It doesn’t scream, it doesn’t take you to dark places. It’s welcoming. It’s familiar. It’s the quiet negative space that you don’t yet know you rely on. It finds itself in your daily life. A yellow butterfly. A day-old cup of coffee. The Sun. The Moon. You. Me. It’s all there, woven into Green Glyphs like old friends. 

The Green Glyphs Glossary is organized into five parts, and each part has different color-coded borders for an easy flip-through experience when doing hybrid deck readings. The Glossary begins with Tarot and is followed by Lenormand, Runes, and then Oracle. The final fifth section “All Together” explores different possibilities for using all four Green Glyphs decks in tandem.

My intention in creating this collection was to create a giant hybrid deck that bridges four different methods of divination together. If you opt-in for multiple Green Glyphs decks you can combine them into a larger deck. Mix and match to make your unique hybrid deck. Perhaps there are a few Runes you connect with and you want to shuffle them into your Tarot or Oracle deck. Consider these Runes as markers for something important - almost like their own major arcana. When you conduct a reading and out of all of the possible cards in the deck, if these few from another deck still appear, it can be significant. What are they trying to tell you?

I made the backs of each card deck similar, so as not to draw cards with a bias. You’ll notice that the glyphs on the back of the cards vary from deck to deck, but since it is subtle you will hopefully not draw cards and immediately know which deck they come from based on the back of the cards.

Now, keep in mind, once you alter the original intended set of cards you are creating an oracle deck, as it deviates from the traditional systems of divination. While there is an intentional balance to the systems of Tarot, Runes, and Lenormand, it doesn’t mean that you can’t break the rules. Once you start developing your own unique readings, that is when a diviner truly starts to shine. 

This Closer Look is mainly about the glossary but I just want to take a moment to talk about the exterior box that holds all of the Green Glyphs Collection. At first, it was just a box, but that didn't feel exciting to me. I wanted something to be revealed when the decks are removed from the box. I was inspired by my childhood making dioramas and I wanted the exterior box to feel like it can exist as a piece of art on its own. It can be displayed on your shelves while the decks are being used. I would love for us to hit some stretch goals that expand on the display with custom removable backgrounds and figures... we'll see! 

First Look at New Rune Cards!
over 1 year ago – Tue, Oct 18, 2022 at 05:17:32 AM

Hi Everyone, 

Sorry for the silence the past few days, I was busy prepping for my show and then desperately needed a day of rest after. 

We're coming up on our next stretch goal at $400,000, which I know a lot of you are excited about - 9 extra, well maybe 10, extra rune cards!

These 9 additional runes are traditionally a part of the Anglo-Saxon or Northumbrian runes. After doing a lot of research and reading about them I am very into the idea of adding them to the set. There is a lot of depth in these cards and they cover concepts that aren't addressed in the original set of 24. 

I've been working on these new runes and wanted to share a sneak peek of 3 of them to get you excited for what's to come:

Stan is the stone rune, it represents the center of the problem, the unavoidable thing, and the foundation. 

Os is the rune of the bard, it represents poetry, song, sagas, and the power of words and the change they can bring.

Ear is the rune of the grave, it represents dust, loss, letting go, and the impermanence of all things. 

For those who are familiar with runes, would you want something on the cards to signify that they are a part of the Anglo-Saxon/Northumbrian runes? I was thinking of some small marker in the corner, but now I'm not sure if that would even be necessary. Would you ever want to separate these 9 out in readings, or would you just use all 33?

I am also going to include a 10th rune card - which will be blank. This is often known as Odin's rune or the blank rune, and when it shows up in a reading it suggests that the answer is not for you to know at this moment. 

Lastly, the dice... I never intended to include these extra runes on the dice but I can see that may have been an oversight. Unfortunately, we can't just add a 4th die because there are 9 runes, not 8. So the only remedy to this would be to change the dice to three d12 dice which would give us 36 sides. 33 would be used by the runes and then a blank side on each die for the blank rune. I really enjoy the shape of the d8 dice but I may have to let that go. Would you miss these extra 9 runes if they weren't included on the dice? Thoughts? Let me know below!

PS I'm doing a live unboxing of Geomantic Visions on instagram at 3PM PT today (in a few minutes)

Closer Look: Creating the First Tree
over 1 year ago – Sun, Oct 16, 2022 at 04:39:38 AM

If you watched the project intro video you would have noticed a massive installation that acted as the stage for the cards. I call this piece "The First Tree". 

When we moved into our new studio space last summer I envisioned turning an entire room into an immersive installation. Last July we set out to make it a reality. I art directed the project but it was fabricated in its entirety by Allison Young.

"The First Tree" is inspired by one of the cards in the Green Glyphs Rune deck, "Othala". Othala translates to the homeland or ancestral lot. I wanted to create something that had an old Nordic vibe, almost like a snapshot of a long-forgotten land from the beginning of time.

It was a very labor-intensive process and we had to make a lot of mistakes through trial and error, but I'm super happy with how it turned out. 

For the installation, we wanted to use as many recycled and found materials as we could, so after collecting all of our used boxes, Allison began assembling the ridges of the rolling hills with a combination of cardboard, tape, and paper mache.

Once the hills were mapped out and created, Allison began assembling the rock formations with cardboard, glue, and tape. The rocks were then covered in tinfoil to give them texture and painted to look like faux rock.

The tree was then assembled with a combination of tin foil, tape, and paper towels.

We then found some bouquets of faux foliage at the craft store and used that to create the leaves of the tree in a pattern that made it look like it was exploding outwards.

We then began painting the moat, covering the hills in moss rolls, and installing LED lights behind the hills to make it look like a sunset.

A thin layer of resin was poured into the moat to imitate water and the small detailing then began. We laid down coconut husk on the pathway as one of the final steps before working on the lighting and ambiance of the room.

If you want to see the installation in person, it's on view in my Los Angeles studio by appointment.

ALSO, this Saturday, October 15th from 1-5 PM I will be having an opening reception for my new show of work titled "EVERY LIGHT IS ON (but still it gets dark)" and the installation will be on view all day. We will also have a display copy of the Green Glyphs collection to browse through. So if you are in the Los Angeles area come on by!   

New Add-on: Geomantic Visions!
over 1 year ago – Sat, Oct 15, 2022 at 08:37:31 PM

Heads up - we just released Geomantic Visions 2!! 

It's not completely related to Green Glyphs, but we've had a lot of people requesting this as an add-on for this campaign. Geomantic Visions was a stretch goal in the Cosma Visions Kickstarter. The first edition sold out earlier this year and it's been out of stock since. 

I decided to completely reimagine the design resulting in a condensed, smaller box containing two layers of coins. With the colorful cover, magnetic closure, and a more travel-friendly guidebook, the new set offers a much more practical and refined presence. I'm so happy with how it turned out and definitely prefer the overall look and functionality.

If you're itching to get this set we would recommend ordering through our shop since those orders will ship as soon as tomorrow. But if you can wait, we are offering a backer-exclusive incentive: $10 off and no added shipping cost. The catch is that it won't ship until the rest of your pledge ships in June 2023. 

You can now find it as an add-on item in the add-on menu, or in our online store!