Phantasmaphile

Dave McKean's Vertigo Tarot Set Re-Release

Oh, YES!  I just read on living legend Neil Gaiman's blog that Vertigo is re-releasing the Dave McKean designed Tarot Card Set.  Dave McKean is a one of the pioneers of digital art and color copy compositing, and is the genius behind every jaw-dropping cover of the hallowed Sandman comics series.  He's since gone on to bring his vision to many other projects, including illustrating children's books, creating his own comics, and heading up the design for the Henson/Gaiman film, Mirrormask.  This new edition of the tarot set is being released to celebrate the 20th anniversary of Sandman (can't believe it's been that long...):

"This new anniversary edition features:

Seventy-eight cards with art by Dave McKean, a softcover 128-page book (with a four-color cover by McKean, black and white interior text by tarot expert Rachel Pollack, and an introduction by New York Times best-selling SANDMAN author Neil Gaiman), plus a black velvet-like drawstring bag to hold the tarot cards. The book cover, box front, spines and velvet-quality bag are gold foil-stamped with a special Sandman 20th Anniversary logo."

Can't wait til November 5th!

R.I.P. Maharishi Mahesh Yogi

                  

His Holiness Maharishi Mahesh Yogi passed away on Tuesday.  He was the founder of Transcendental Meditation, and guru to such luminaries as the Beatles, the Rolling Stones, and David Lynch.  This news resonates on a particularly synchronistic level for me personally, as I very recently finished reading a small gem of a book by Lynch entitled Catching the Big Fish: Meditation, Consciousness, and Creativity.  In the book, Lynch discusses the impact his practice of Transcendental Meditation has had on his life and his creative process, saying that it has allowed him to gain access to more vivid, potent ideas:

“Ideas are like fish. If you want to catch little fish, you can stay in the shallow water. But if you want to catch the big fish, you’ve got to go deeper. Down deep, the fish are more powerful and more pure. They’re huge and abstract. And they’re very beautiful.”

In a further twist, my pal Joanna and I had been planning on going to our local Transcendental Meditation center today, to learn more about the practice ourselves.  May Maharishi Mahesh Yogi rest in peace, and with the knowledge that his legacy is spreading day by day. 

Horoscope dork

Yyyyeah, so I really like horoscopes.  GOOD ones.  For a weekly forecast, I throughly enjoy Rob Brezsney's Free Will Astrology.  I like the entire web site, actually, along with his book, Pronoia Is the Antidote for Paranoia.  For a monthly forecast, I go to Astrology Zone.  You know, in case you were wondering.