Sad news, my friends: two of our most popular decks will soon be disappearing from our shelves.

Ellen Lorenzi-Prince, creator of the Dark Goddess Tarot and Tarot of the Crone decks is retiring these much-loved creations to make room for new energy, inspiration and projects in her life (including a new tarot deck currently in the works!)

I asked Ellen if she had any words to share with Little Red Tarot customers who enjoy her work, asking particularly about how she gave herself such much-needed permission to evolve when it would mean putting down such a beloved and meaningful project – something I think many of us struggle to do, even when the calling is strong.

Ellen offered the following words:

“Permission to evolve.” I love those words of yours, Beth. I gave myself this permission a year and a half ago, and there has been pain and struggle since. But also freedom from misery. What I had to be brave about then was leaving a 36 year marriage to someone who did not want me to go nor want me to evolve. It meant leaving a home I loved and wondering how I’d make it on a tiny pension and inconstant deck sales.

So far, I’m making it month by month. I have a new place to live and it’s mostly furnished. I alternate between learning trust and freaking out, between a fierce joy and a dreadful loneliness. Now my Crone and Dark Goddess tarots are running out and I decided not to reprint them. No more deck sales! This is my next thing to be brave about, to let go of what has been sustaining me until now. Because they are self-published, the decks take energy to manage. In order for me to fully dive into a new work, to give my psyche room for it to even come into being, I need to let go of the others. Yet another decision made by trusting flow. And again by saying to myself, if I won’t follow the call of my soul by now, what the heck is this time of my life for?

Giving myself permission, then making space, allowing time, allowing emptiness, and sitting with myself through it all… it worked. Last dark moon I started a new full length tarot deck. This new moon, I have 8 cards done. This the project I’ve been yearning for since completing the Dark Goddess Tarot drawings 6 years ago. It’s the one that has a life of it own like the DGT, where I feel I’m revealing the images more than creating them. In finding this, in making this, I am continuing to fulfill my purpose. I followed that little silver thread of my soul through the labyrinth, and I found my heart’s desire.

May it be so for you all. Maybe without all the drama and tears! But it takes what it takes. Give yourself permission for it all.

On a personal note, I’m particularly sad that the Tarot of the Crone will be leaving us – this is one of my very favourite decks, dark and ruthless as it so often is. It’s a deck I resisted for a long time, always sensing that I needed the Crone’s energy in my life. I would hover around the deck, but was never quite ready to embrace her. I was afraid she would figure me out, leave me with nowhere to hide from the fearsome power within me.

Ultimately, that proved true. When I finally felt ready for her, I took her on retreat, where she delivered an incredibly powerful reading on leadership and ‘stepping up’. I have been turning to her for wisdom ever since and she has guided me through many moments, both huge and mundane. It was in part the Tarot of the Crone that helped me claim my own ‘permission to evolve’ earlier this year.

If you’d love a copy of either of these decks, don’t panic! We have stocked up our shelves with both decks to ensure that they are available for as many people as possible.