LXXXI - The Quareia Magician's Deck

LXXXI - The Quareia Magician's Deck is a unique magical tool for 21st century magicians. LXXXI is a collaboration between magical artists Stuart Littlejohn and Cassandra Beanland, and magical adept Josephine McCarthy. All of the paintings are original works of art in oil, acrylic, or water colour, and are the result of three years painting and collaboration.

The deck has 81 cards, a mystical number that relates to completion, and it is divided in to four realms: the Divine Realm (red borders), the Inner realm (blue borders), the physical world (green borders) and the realm of death and the underworld (black borders). The further away from humanity a being or place is, the less human it becomes. This is reflected in the deck, and can teach a magician a great deal about how beings function and why.

LXXXI - The Quareia Magician's Deck  is not based upon any tarot system, but rather it draws upon the mythic, mystical and magical powers that underpin the magical systems that tarot eventually developed out of. It is based upon real inner realms, real inner contacts, beings and forces that the practitioner of magic is very likely to involve themselves with. 

Because of this approach, the deck works as a contacted deck, i.e. used magically the images can act as gateways to inner realms, inner beings and magical patterns. It can be used for magical or mundane divination, or as a direct connection to inner contacts, as gateways for meditation, magical visionary work , soul exploration, or contacted ritual work. To ensure that the images do not become entangled in magical misconceptions, we have moved away from the relatively modern use of set ‘names’ for the beings in the images, and instead we have reverted to a very ancient way of presenting inner beings: wename them according to what they do. That way, there is no ambiguity about what a being actually is. 

Magicians from most magical systems will recognize many if not all of the beings in this deck, not from their images, but from what they do, where they are from, and what power they operate through. This approach enables magicians/practitioners from many different magical and spiritual traditions to be able to recognize the powers in this deck, and to work with them within their own magical system. 

The deck is arranged into four main realms: The Divine Realm, The Inner Realm, The Physical World, and The Realm of Death. Each Realm has various powers, beings, places and people who operate within their own realm, and who are represented in the deck. The deck does not have every being in it that a magician may meet or visit; rather it has the ‘main players’ in the fate of humans and magic. Each card represents a Divine Power, an angelic power, an inner contact, an inner or outer place, a spirit, being, or a specific quality of a person.

The cards also have various layouts - or card spreads - that work with them and they can be viewed on the layout page. We will add more layouts over time.

The cards themselves can be used in many different ways. Besides using the cards with the layouts, they can also be worked with in meditation and magic. The cards, which are inner contacts, spirit beings, places and powers can be worked with in a ritual, visionary or meditation setting in order to connect with those powers, or to bring the power into a ritual work space. 

If selected cards are placed on the directional altars, they can be worked with to build up thresholds for inner contacts, or placed upon a central altar as the main focus for the magician to connect with that power or place. 

Similarly, if the magician wishes to work in vision in a certain inner place or realm, or connect in vision with a specific contact or being, placing the card as a certain point of focus can create a threshold where the magician can pass into the card. As a passive form of contact, carrying a specific card around, or having it close to where you sleep can enable the bridge of connection between you and the place/contact. The more the magician works with the cards and gets to know them, the deeper the connection with be. This is because all of the inner contacts, spirits, places and beings in this deck are real, and are powers that many different magicians have worked with throughout time. 

The people of the human realm are different: they are based upon certain qualities of humanity that tend to arise in magical communities or around the magician. They are indicators that tell you what sort of personalities you are dealing with behind the everyday masks that people present to you.