A project to raise money to fund cancer research started with a simple idea. 

First, get a bunch of people to contribute art to a tarot deck whose focus is the celebration of life. Make it as inspirational and life affirming as possible without denying the hardships we might face a long the way.

Each artist would strive create a card that answers the question “How does this image help us get from a place of loss and suffering to a place of joy and remembering?”

Second, print up the deck and sell them.

Third, take the profits and donate them to cancer research.

So 72 artists came together and made it happen.

Click here to join the fight on the Game Crafter website. 

The story of the Triumph of Life Tarot Deck

Cancer sucks!

It can take away everything from somebody’s life starting with their quality of life and ending in their death.

Four years ago my godmother’s cancer came back after a remission. Despite having endured surgeries and chemo it found another route and took her life on my birthday. A few months later another friend lost their fight too.

Out of my grief, which was fed by school shootings, and other horrors, I realized something profound.

Life needs our help.

It needs us help to fight against all the forces that seek to end it.

So I vowed to join the fight.

The idea was simple. Get a bunch of artists together, make a tarot deck to raise money for cancer research and let it inspire people in their personal struggle.

Each artist was asked to answer the question “What in this card takes people from a place of loss and suffering to a place of joy and remembrance?”

I’ve chosen the Terry Fox Foundation as the charity because his story and his legacy both raise money for research. They run events focusing on supporting those who fight and remembering those who have fought. Terry Fox was truly a champion for life. After losing his leg to Cancer, and instead of giving in, Terry decided to run across Canada. Not just a little at a time but a full marathon every day on one leg. His cancer returned before he completed his trip.

Since then annual runs are held in schools and cities across Canada to help finish what he started. Participants wear stickers naming the people they are running for. I ran in these events when I was a child and my kids run in them now.

Knowing we are all in this together, the tarot community came together to make this happen. All 72 artists have donated their work. Many people have donated hours of their time working to get it to press. When you buy this deck all the profits will go directly to charity. Only life is profiting.

The deck, like life, is diverse and created out of love, grief, hope, healing, activism, optimism, and magick. It is a powerful ally in whatever struggles your life brings your way.

To quote Jack Layton, another valiant Canadian who was taken by cancer, “Friends, love is better than anger. Hope is better than fear. Optimism is better than despair. So let us be loving, hopeful and optimistic. And we’ll change the world.”

It has taken years but now this vision is a reality. You can hold the deck in your hand. Thank you for buying it. 100% of the profits go to charity. Thanks for being an ally of life. Thanks for saying screw you Cancer your days are numbered!

~Andrew McGregor and all the artists 

If you’d like to learn more about tarot, grab my free book, or see what I do in the rest of my tarot life please go to my website.

Water Image by Nick Hang used under Creative Commons License.