Note: Last night, an earlier version of my post announcing the decision to close the Genius Garden was accidentally published. In this version, I mentioned that “I lost my passion for this work” and the passion I was referring to was my calling to read tarot professionally–NOT to work in the tarot industry at large. Since I never intended on publishing that post, I never edited it for clarification. I wanted to make this distinction so that the following announcement isn’t confusing to you! Much love <3

My Dearest Beauty,

When I closed the Genius Garden two weeks ago, I fully intended on stepping back from the tarot world for at least a year. I’d finally accepted that my calling to read tarot professionally had waned and that I didn’t want to publish another tarot or oracle deck completely solo. I’d also been offered a trial position at an academic publishing company, so it made sense to focus as much energy and attention I could towards doing well there.

On Friday, October 20^th, however, I received an email that would torpedo those plans and change my life forever. Serefina Mesa, the radiant creator of The Wisdom of Pooh Tarot, shared that my announcement had moved her deeply and wanted to know if I’d like to assume a leadership role at Rue & Vervain Publishing.

Life is weird. We live day to day making plans, keeping plans, and doing our best to be kind and to get by. Every once in a while, a boon arrives like a bolt from the blue that gives us the opportunity to completely rechart our course. In these pivotal moments, we’re asked to rise up and meet our destiny. In these pivotal moments, we’re asked to muster the courage and become who we’re meant to be.

I sincerely believe that Serefina’s invitation was a call to adventure, and that I’d be a fool not to answer it. That’s why on Tuesday, October 31st, I signed on as an Executive Director at Rue & Vervain Publishing!!!

In this role, I’ll lend my wisdom and experience to any and all operations, including deck development, social outreach, and general management. This means that I get to work on The Wisdom of Pooh, Tigger Too, the Day, Night, and Twilight Tarot, and all of the other outstanding and exciting projects that Rue & Vervain are cooking up for the future.

I’m still pinching myself. This was the last thing I expected to announce to you, and I couldn’t be happier that I’m doing so. I feel grateful and blessed and pretty freaking lucky, frankly, and I can’t wait to hit the ground running with Rue & Vervain!

In my last announcement, I said that I wouldn’t be creating tarot-related content for the foreseeable future. I think it’s safe to say that I will be making tarot content, but in a completely different way than I’d anticipated. And that “raw and personal, literary and dreamy” newsletter offering I referred to in the last missive I sent you? I still have plans to develop it, but I may have to put it on the backburner while I’m onboarding at Rue & Vervain!

I know that the past few weeks have been a bit of a whirlwind, and I want to thank you for keeping pace with all of these developments. So much love to you, Beauties, and I can’t wait to share everything that the future holds with you!

xoxo Jessi