THE STAR
THE LIVING TAROT
Artistic Director
Cheryl Flaharty
Dancer
Elizabeth Grote
Production Assistant
Brian Gustaveson
Creative Assistant
Dack Quigley
Costume and Set Design
Cheryl Flaharty
Lighting
Janine Myers
Video Editing
Neal Izumi
Creative Team
Rey Lopez, Karen Kiefer, Mo, Dee Laris, Carlyn Wolfe, Mike Pryor, Amanda Sims, April Mae Bartelme, Rose Wolfe, Ginger Royal, Trish Brubaker, Chris Barreto, Aaron Lowe, The Dancers.
Supported by the Hawai`i State Foundation on Culture and the Arts, through appropriations from the Legislature of the State of Hawai`i or grants from the National Endowment for the Arts, the Cades Foundation, and Jean Rolles.
Photos: Darren Miller, Bryan Gustaveson, Mike Pryor, and Sergio Goes.
ABOUT THE TAROT
One of the most ancient studies of enlightenment and discovery of the authentic "Self”, Tarot images– linked to ancient beliefs, mythologies, and religious systems– form the seeds of fundamental psychological and spiritual experiences. Often associated with magic and the occult, the deck is the precursor to our well known playing cards.
ABOUT THE SHOW
Originally created and performed in 2007, ‘The Living Tarot’ was the fourth interactive production of IONA’s diverse Salon Series which offered audiences a once in a lifetime provocative interpretation of eleven of the Major Arcana Tarot cards. The show took place in a century-old house located on Oahu's Pali Highway (dubbed, 'The House of the Living Tarot'), in which the living installations became personal encounters as audience-members roamed from room to room to experience the cards they were dealt as they walked in the door. The audience experienced each of the 5-minute tarot card performances in their own unique order. The dancers performed their pieces ten times each evening - a total of 60 times through the run of the show.
ABOUT THE STAR
The Star is the 17th Major Arcana card in the tarot deck. It shows us a naked woman kneeling by a pool of water; one foot in the water, and one foot on land. In each hand she holds a jug – one pours water back into the pool, the other onto the land. Above her head eight stars shine in the sky.
This “nature priestess” initiates the task of discovering in the events of terrestrial existence a pattern corresponding to that of the heavenly design. As above, so below – one feels that she is in tune with the cosmic dance of the universe.
She appears at the point where the living water of the collective unconscious touches the earth of individual human reality. Cosmic inspiration of the highest nature is received and made manifest on the material plane. She is fully open to the input from spirit, and passes it on in full service to the highest good. She is the channel used by divine energy to manifest on earth.
IONA’s Star shines from one of the second floor bedrooms of “The House of the Living Tarot”. She is guided by the stars on the walls through thin silver lines attached to her body. She dances on a mirrored floor, representing the water reflecting the stars above.
BRING THE STAR INTO YOUR LIFE
A new, crystal-clear vision lends form and purpose to that which a moment ago was only a vague impression. You are gaining a more penetrating view into the boundless potential of your development. The power of inspiration you are receiving gives wings to your soul and lets the apparently impossible become manifest in marvelous ways. A better future is waiting for you but in order to reach it you must trust that it is indeed possible.
