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The Flotsam Tarot and Training Deck is an assemblage art tarot deck being created by Jenny Brewer. Jenny is receiving coaching as she works towards launching a Kickstarter for this project. The Flotsam Tarot and Training Deck is two decks-- a training deck and a reading deck.

Jenny is an assemblage artist and has accumulated decades of "flotsam:" knickknacks and trinkets and various found objects which are sorted in tubs that are stacked to the ceiling in several rooms of her home.

Jenny's flotsam collection got a massive infusion when her mother-in-law died. Her garage yielded such a high quality of flotsam that Jenny was tempted to embark upon an incredibly ambitious project: she decided to create a Cornell-style box assemblage for each card in the Tarot deck.

Then she decided to add a second layer...

Many seekers who are interested in tarot are intimidated by the need to memorize the meanings behind the different cards, especially considering that each may have at least two meanings, upright and reversed. The Flotsam Tarot Deck is accompanied by the Flotsam Training Deck. The Flotsam Training deck is a deck of flashcards, each associated with a single found object from Jenny's collection of flotsam.

Within the accompanying booklet, there is a corresponding story for each object that seeks to create a mnemonic that will be triggered by said object's presence in the card's associated assemblage. To further cement that association, the cards in the training deck bear an isolated image of the object on one side, plus keywords associated with the object's intended interpretation on the other.

Aspiring Tarot readers can use the flashcards to learn each card's meaning. Once they start reading with the Flotsam deck, they will be able to do so with confidence and without needing to refer to the accompanying book.

So far, Jenny has completed the Three, Four, Five, Six, Eight, and Nine of swords. The Five of Swords is represented by a rhinoceros, while the Eight of Swords is represented by a snowman. The narratives associated with the rhinoceros and the snowman are pasted below:

5-0 Rhino

This Rhino is on the force. This rhino is packing a concealed weapon, although you cannot see it. When you picture it, imagine one of the Romeo and Juliet guns, which were given the brand name “Sword.” This rhino is associated with the number five, as in “5-0.”

A rhino represents the Five of Swords.

When our rhino is upright, she wants to win at all costs. This attitude can be counterproductive, and end in conflict, tension, loss, defeat, and betrayal. Catching her upside-down means that today is a day when she is open to change and moving past resentment.

Snowman of Swords

Sometimes a snowman is made of three stacked snowballs, sometimes a snowman is made of two stacked snowballs, like the numeral eight. Sometimes it gets so cold when it snows that each breath you take is like a blade stabbing your lungs.

A snowman represents the Eight of Swords.

Our snowman is solitary, existing in a self-imposed isolation, imprisoned within his mind. Sometimes he does a handstand on his little stick arms, however, and this brings him release and opens him to new perspectives.