Thanks for your interest in the submission guidelines. Ideally, we look for articles in journalistic style (news or feature), but have been making exceptions as the content warrants. We reserve the right to edit for length, clarity and content, and we reserve the right to determine when a particular submission may appear (it might not be used for an immediate issue but for an upcoming issue - up to a few issues away). If a submission is not going to be used immediately, we will notify the author. We publish around the 5th of every month and prefer to receive submissions no later than the 20th of the month before publication in most cases. Authors retain all rights to their submissions.
As we publish to a website, length is not as important as in hardcopy print (within reason, of course).
As the official stance of the ATA is to neither encourage nor discourage certification, but rather support education, we don't publish articles that are written to support certification over not being certified or vice versa.
Submission Suggestions:
Tarot Book and Deck Reviews
Foreign decks
Creating Tarot Decks
Non-standard Tarot Decks
Different uses of Tarot - spells, rituals, and meditations, arts/crafts, decorating, etc.
Tarot for special occasions
Tarot and other oracles
Tarot art/pictures/graphics
Tarot around the world
Methods for spread reading
Interviews
Events and community
Business
Cartoons, games, and other fun things
ANYTHING spiritual/metaphysical
Please double-check grammar and spelling before submitting. Graphics should be JPG images.
Deck Review Basics - 300 words and up
Try to include the author, the full name of the deck/software, the publishing company, date of publication, and ISBN number, the illustrator/artist if separate people were involved - if possible. Include the names of the suits, the titles for the court cards, the numbering for Strength and Justice, and the titles for the Trumps, if they are non-traditional.
Many decks come with companion books, and the book and deck are included in the same review. The book needs to be reviewed on its own merits, including the theme of the deck, how the author presents the information on the cards, and any spreads/sample readings that are presented.
Try to include the following information on the cards themselves: size, quality (laminated, sturdy card stock, flimsy etc), a description of the back of the cards, whether the back are reversible (i.e. would the reader know if a card was drawn in the upright or the reversed position simply by looking at the back of the card), a description of the card face, whether borders were used or not, any text that appears on the cards, art style and predominate colors.
Try and discuss a variety of cards from the deck, maybe one or more from the Trumps, a representative Ace, one or more Pips, and a representative Court card. Try to talk about style, color, and whether the card truly brings out the traditional Tarot concepts - or what makes it different. It is not unusual for some cards in a deck to work, and for some not to. Mention both in your review - it will give the reader a more balanced perspective of the material being reviewed. Talk about what you like or don't like about the deck in an objective way.
Aim to express yourself in an objective manner, put a bit of your personality into the review, and have some fun! One added thought - if the author has a website, it might be good to mention it in the article, especially if the product is an Indie (independently published). Sometimes the only place the reader can purchase the product will be from the website.