Afro Tarot Cards

Here are two cards and explanations of them from Wayne May and Madilynne Mulleague's Afro Tarot Card deck which appeared in the 1978 "The encyclopedia of tarot Vol. 3" by Stuart Kaplan. I ran the black and white shots through a colorizing app to give an approximation of what they look like. 

I believe that Madilynne passed away a year or two ago and probably was one of few people who actually owned a deck.

SRO for Witch's Visit

 

Halloween! There's something in the coven

Amid Gundella's controversial appearance at the Plymouth-Canton High School around Halloween of 1985 she was still going about her perfunctory witchy duties. I've mentioned her involvement in one of the three witch covens in Michigan during the latter half of the 20th century and this article from The Bay City Times gives some more details about those coven meetings and the inner workings during the Sabbats. Not to mention that it confirms her mother was the high priestess of the Au Sable coven. 

Oscoda resident, 71-year-old Fritz Lockhart, remembered at the time those very meetings. He claimed to have seen the witches going to their meeting near a cemetery where one of the host witch's family resided and that they flew a lit jack-o-lantern on the tail of a kite over the graveyard. Now, I'm no physics expert but that must have been one hell of a sturdy kite.

The Gundella Letters #550

April 2, 1972 

Dear Gundella, 

I read the article about you in the Detroit Free Press and I am very interested in your offer of a free spell. I'm trying to become a witch right now, but it very hard to start since no one knows anything about witches, except by reading books (which aren't always true). I think it's fantastic that you only cast good spells.

If you could I would like a love potion spell for my non-believing boyfriend. Although we like each other, we have some differences (like our ages; I'm 18 and David's 15). Oh well, I'd really be happy with any spell you can give me and any information you would have could help a lot. I am sincerely interested in becoming a witch.

Thanks for reading my letter and I'll understand if my spell doesn't come right away. I'm sure your [sic] very busy with a lot of other requests. Thanks again. Sincerely Cathy ______

A Press Photo of James Mulleague as Oliver Hardy

 And the original:

Audiences Bewitched

Detroit News, October 22, 1970 (enlarge)

There's a lot to discuss here but thankfully much of it is rote for the blog and thus, I can hit on the banal points with great satisfaction. Mainly, that Gundella was sipping on a Pink Squirrel at the Dearborn Inn on the occasion of her October 1970 talk to a woman's groups there.

On the matter of separation of church and state she is grossly misinformed. The entire focus of that clause is organized religion and not religion itself. It's not verboten in school or any public setting but also cannot be a requirement for participation. Though, in her situation, I don't think it would have been prudent to say, "Hey kids, does anybody want to learn some witchcraft magic?"

*    *     *

"People who think we eat babies have the wrong idea about witches," said Gundella with a smile as she sipped a Pink Squirrel at the Dearborn Inn.

Filling the booth and clad in an enormous robe, Gundella say she traces her lineage as a witch back to a 15th century Scottish cult - was relaxing after lecturing to a woman's luncheon group.

Since she agrees with the separation of church and state, Gundella - sometimes known as Mrs. Marion Kuclo, of Garden City - has refrained from teaching magic during her 23 years as a grade school teacher in western Wayne County.

But she's taken a leave of absence this year to crusade against the "slanderous rumors and misconceptions" she says have plagued witches for centuries.

"People are mistaken in thinking that witches claim to have special powers," she said. 

"Actually witches are trained, not born, to use the psychic powers we all have within us.

"Another misconception is the idea that a witch must be a woman," she said, pointing out that her Ann Arbor coven - the name for the traditional 13-member organization of witches - has members of both sexes. 

But for Gundella the most bothersome misconception is the one that equates witches with satanism, wild orgies and evil potions.

Television viewers may remember commentator Lou Gordon challenging Gundella to "make me shrivel up and die," during a recent interview. 

If acted upon, Gordon's suggestion would have created a television spectacular, but Gundella explained that her specialty is improving people's lives, not turning them into toads.

Gundella says witches believe in an overall structure of natural order, and that magic is simply what science has not yet explained. 

"Just because science has measured radio waves doesn't make them any more real to me that thought waves," said Gundella, who claims she sends messages with or without the use of her telephone.

Gundella believes in spirits, but thinks they visit humans only on rare occasions. 

"Seances and Ouija boards may sometimes contact recently departed friends or relatives, but don't expect Napoleon writing love letters to Jospehine," she said.

True witchcraft, Gundella says, is part of the "Old Religion" - known as Wica - that witches have practiced for thousands of years. 

She claims warlocks, wizards and sorcerers are various types of heretics who have managed to acquire the skills of witchcraft without living up to its religious obligations.

Since Gundella is a "green witch," Scottish cult tradition requires her to dye herself green from head to toe on important witches' sabbaths. 

For the Halloween season a bottle of food coloring transforms Gundella into a green giantress.

But don't expect to find her on your doorstep. Seasonally conscious witch hunters might expect October to be the peak season for witches. 

But Oct. 31 is a holy day - not a holiday - for orthodox witches who spend All Hallow's Eve at secret coven meetings. 

And Gundella, who operates on the tight schedule of a modern witch, usually is too busy with lectures, children's shows and television appearances to indulge herself in trick-or-treating and joyrides on brooms.

WANTED - Vacant house to rent for 1 night, Oct. 30. The older and spookier the better. Call Gundella, 427-1072

Detroit News, September 28, 1971

WANTED - Vacant house to rent for 1 night, Oct. 30. The older and spookier the better. Call Gundella, 427-1072. That's the full text of Gundella's want ad from September of 1971 in the Detroit News. Whether or not she found that perfect spooker [sic] house is not known at present. I took the liberty of correcting spooker to spookier.