YANKEE INGENUITY Bringing Psychology and Artistry to the Ancient Practice of Tarot

PULL QUOTE: What does 'Yankee Ingenuity' Mean to You?"Around here, people have to carve out a life for themselves — it isn't just given to them. Here there is a kind of freestyling; people keep reinventing themselves. This is one thing that attracted me here." — Patti Newton Patti Newton is a woman of many talents and gifts. &emsp;&emsp;A long-time resident of Brattleboro, Vermont, her newest creation is The Dreamland Circus Tarot deck. This tarot deck joins another tarot deck, as well as two oracle decks: the Sanctuary Garden Flower Oracle and the Time Temple Oracle. &emsp;&emsp;All of her decks are meticulously handcrafted and beautiful to behold. In fact, the cards from her Dreamland Circus Tarot are now on display (in an enlarged size, of course) at the Latchis Gallery, 50 Main Street, Brattleboro, Vermont, through the end of March 2023. &emsp;&emsp;If you go on Saturday between 11 am and 1 pm, you can catch Patti there.If you go, you can be sure that Newton will greet you with a generous smile and a good conversation. She will probably teach you a thing or two about tarot cards and life — for she has that cultivated and compassionate personality. &emsp;&emsp;For many years she ran Silver Moon Adornments in Brattleboro. From that storefront, she sold beautiful, one-of-a-kind items and offered classes in tarot and Feng Shui. &emsp;&emsp;Newton was 12 years old the first time she saw a tarot deck. Immediately, she felt as if she was meeting a familiar friend — even if she could barely understand the deeper meaning of the cards back then. She has been studying the tarot ever since and considers herself a kind of scholar of the tarot. &emsp;&emsp;In our conversation, we discussed the ancient origins of tarot and wondered what were their original source. Together we pondered their timeless wisdom that is graphically encoded in archetypal symbolism. Newton also lamented how tarot cards are often misunderstood as some kind of fortune-telling device — which was not their intended purpose.Newton has been offering her unique brand of tarot card readings for many years. These days, she books readings at her newish studio in West Brattleboro or by phone. &emsp;&emsp;Newton brings to a tarot card reading her training in psychology and approaches a session as a way to help empower a person to move forward in their life path. The tarot is a tool of insight, guidance and motivation for her. &emsp;&emsp;"People often leave a reading in a more positive frame of mind than when they came in, which is the intention," she notes. &emsp;&emsp;Newton is a flowing kind of person in appearance and temperament. Her silvery hair waves down her back, and she dons clothes that wave around her tall frame, which she inherited from her Scandinavian ancestors. Her eyes are the color of the sea — on a calm day. And with those eyes, she sees the world through a mystical lens. &emsp;&emsp;Newton is a trained artist. She studied art education for five years at the Tufts Museum School, in Boston, from 1980-1985. During those years, she was exposed to a wide variety of artistic mediums. She brings these skills to her work with her card deck creations, doing the photography, graphic design layouts, and booklets on her own. These days, she enjoys working with portable card decks because they are easier to move around than stained glass or large fabric designs — which she used to do more of. &emsp;&emsp;The Dreamland Circus Tarot deck was inspired by Patti's idea to create a deck that showed real people in real lived human experiences and possibilities — rather than the more fantastical images of many tarot decks. She wanted to portray in the cards themselves the truth that the tarot is ultimately about our human experiences and choices — with each of the 78 cards representing different possibilities and realities. &emsp;&emsp;She decided to use amusement parks and circuses as the theme because, as she explains, "the old-time amusement parks with their merry-go-rounds and Ferris wheels offered a chance for everyone to experience what tarot cards illustrate." &emsp;&emsp;One day, she went to Six Flags to find out if her hunch was on target. With her camera in hand, she wandered around the amusement park, searching for images related to the 22 cards of the major arcana. As she looked around the park, she was surprised to discover statues from the original amusement park known as Gallop's Cove still there. By the end of the day, she had found all the images she was looking for. And her tarot deck was born. &emsp;&emsp;Newton has lived in this area for 35 years. When asked how she would define Yankee Ingenuity, she answered, "Around here, people have to carve out a life for themselves — it isn't just given to them. Here there is a kind of freestyling; people keep reinventing themselves. This is one thing that attracted me here." &emsp;&emsp;As we wrapped up the interview, I got to wondering what would be the next thing Patti would undertake in her flowing process of reinvention. &emsp;&emsp;Learn more at silvermoonvt.com.