The Dream

ALQQAMAR is a platform dedicated to exploring the language of symbolism — and all six of our senses — through tarot, art, dreams, and sensorial encounters.

The site features a library of symbols where you can explore different tarot & oracle decks, a boutique where you can acquire your first or next deck, and a space to explore two types of tarot readings with me.

As I considered the idea of creating a space to explore tarot through the lens of art and the symbolic mind, I knew I wanted a unique name. After weeks of searching, I had a dream that told me to remember how to say the moon in Arabic. I woke up and found the phrase: “al qamar.” I loved how it sounded — and that the verb amar (meaning to love in Spanish and Portuguese) could be seen in the word. I played with the sound and look, joining al (“the”) and qamar (“moon”) with a q to create one word: ALQQAMAR.

Why did starting with the word for moon make sense? The Moon is both a celestial body and one of humanity’s most ancient symbols. It has many levels and aspects of its symbolism — the feminine principle, phases of transformation, and revelation through receptivity. It is linked to our symbolic mind and symbolic language — the language of tarot and our dreams.

I also see the moon as an invitation for each of us to begin, continue, or deepen our own process of transformation by engaging our symbolic mind and exploring its wisdom. Tarot is a tool that speaks to our symbolic mind and helps each of us explore and strengthen our own symbolic language and intuition.

A naming theorist would say that ALQQAMAR is a fanciful proprietary neologism — a semantic palimpsest built through orthographic coinage. I created something that did not exist before: a unique spelling that carries the meaning of the moon without losing the traces of the Arabic phrase that came to me in my dream.

The ALQQAMAR boutique offers a selection of both tarot and oracle decks that I have personally curated; the selection will be expanded in the coming weeks, months and years.

There are two phases to my curation process; first, I evaluate each deck for beauty, physical quality, coherence of its symbology, and energy. All of the decks that pass this first phase are then tested in several actual tarot readings and the final test is whether the deck supports a transformative process.

The first question I am asked when introducing tarot & oracle to someone is what the difference is between the two.

A tarot deck has a specific structure: 22 Major Arcana cards and four suits of Minor Arcana cards comprised of 14 cards. Some tarot decks have bonus cards or several variations of a particular major or minor arcana – which doesn’t disqualify them as tarot decks as they are built on the foundation of the Major & Minor Arcana cards. A tarot deck may or may not be accompanied by a book or booklet to give greater insight into the meaning and choice of symbols of each card.

Oracle decks have no set structure, which allows for complete freedom of design for the creator. However, the deck’s structure and design must be coherent and meet all of my curatorial criteria. An oracle deck is almost always accompanied by a book of interpretations or messages for each card. Generally an oracle deck has between 30 and 50 cards. As with each card in a tarot deck – each card in an oracle deck must have a message conveyed through symbolism.

I was lucky enough to grow up in a household with a multitude of languages and flavors and where the previous night’s dreams were discussed over breakfast. I loved fashion magazines for the visuals and the horoscopes. I first encountered tarot after the death of my maternal grandmother when we found a Marseille style deck in her belongings. A few years later, when I was fifteen, a dear friend’s fabulous aunts gifted me my first tarot deck (and official natal chart reading) and I was instantly obsessed.

I learned by reading books on tarot & symbols and doing tarot readings for myself, my family and a few friends but it remained a fairly secret hobby for most of my adult life. I studied French Literature & Art History in college and upon graduation received the advice of a serious art collector to not worry about buying anything and to focus instead on developing my eye along with a list of galleries in New York City with the ones he found to be particularly worthwhile highlighted in bright blue.

My professional career, the immersion into contemporary art in New York City and my secret hobby continued throughout my twenties and I began to read for more people after I moved to Mexico City to work more closely with agricultural commodities finance.

Over time I became more confident in my abilities as I began to successfully read for complete strangers. I began to consider pursuing tarot as a professional path after completing an immersive tarot course; I have had one formal and one informal teacher in tarot and I will introduce them both in the future.