#bridgewitches

Ace of Cicadas

This suit replaces the pentacles from other decks and evokes themes of summer and earth while featuring southern neighborhoods. 

Cicadas live underground emerging only for a few weeks to mate and then return to the land in death. This cycle ensures there is a wealth of noise in summer evenings during the last gasp of the dog days in July and August. We use cicadas here to symbolize material wealth and thriving creative economic success. While Pittsburgh as a whole is a city with a strong and vibrant small business community, the South Side, the Slopes, the Hilltop, and the South Hills neighborhoods are a maze of mom and pop shops and single proprietors who thrive in tight knit communities.

This suit features people from around the world who have brought their success to Pittsburgh. While it mostly focuses on monetary success that wouldn’t be possible without a strong sense of individual identity and community support. 

Generally this is a happy suit that reminds us of what things can be when we feel welcomed and have the room to flourish. This being said, it’s important to remember that many people who have done well here have also been victim to threats, vandalism, and deportation. It must be stressed that communities are strongest when we come together and support one another. Our individual success is meaningless when we work alone or against each other.

Positive aspects: Burgeoning financial success, immeasurable social and monetary growth, a new “it” neighborhood

Negative aspects: Loss of an opportunity, exclusion, mismanagement, inability to connect, instability

Key elements: When initially planning this deck we always wanted to feature a bright and busy bouquet of things that grow in this region. A happy garden makes for a happy looking house and this wild bunch of plants is thriving.

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The Hermit

The introverted of introverted—the hermit card celebrates isolation and treasures thinking time. In a world that demands we put ourselves out there at every turn and share our thoughts with the world, the hermit turns inward and keeps their thoughts to themselves before putting things out into the world. 

This is not the same as isolating. It is possible to be actively extroverted and still emotionally isolate oneself from friends, family, and community. The Hermit card is about thoughtful reflection, thinking things through, and self-care. This image is based on a person locally who vibes strongly with this card but obviously treasures their privacy. This “selfie” reflects their fascination with the world and the warmth they chose to share with others in their own way.

Positive aspects of this card: Self-refelection, self care, privacy, thoughtfulness

Negative aspects: Neglect of oneself and your needs, denial of feelings, isolation from one’s community

Ace of Fences // The Suite of Fences

The suit of fences features the winter season and draws inspiration from the northern neighborhoods and outlying areas of Pittsburgh. 

Fences are this deck’s replacement of the suit of swords in the Rider-Waite. Traditionally, this suit is one of power, violence, and suffering. We have expanded upon these themes to include institutional oppression and the ways in which Pittsburghers isolate individually—freezing out the “outsiders”. The types of fences and gates in the city and beyond range dramatically from beautiful wrought iron fences of former grand mansions, to basic chainlink and wooden plank surrounding postage stamp backlots. Regardless of its construction, a fence is built to keep certain things out and other things penned in.

Moving to Pittsburgh for the first time, the neighborhoods can be charming and offer a sense of belonging to those with the privilege of assimilating easily. For others, there is an assumption of outsiderness that is never completely shaken. 

This isn’t to say it’s not “friendly”—but there is a difference in being treated as a guest rather than as a member of community.

This region saw a surge in development in the early 1900s by predominantly (but not entirely) white migrants and immigrants who came looking for work and the promise of something more for themselves and their families. The things they built where monuments to the region’s capacity to grow and manufacture. When industries folded and white flight drained the number of residents, the land began to retake what wasn’t being used. The people who stayed, established lives here and slowly the economy has been reborn but that doesn’t equate to a rising tide lifting all boats. Low-income Black communities especially have been pushed and relocated and scattered to wherever landlords will rent to them. As money has come back into the economy and the quality of life as increased, low-income families are paid the same and therefore unable to keep up with the change.

What does this have to do with the Fountain of Youth? This spot is likely familiar to people who grew up near Allison Park. Once a source of natural spring water, it was sheltered in the 1930s but abruptly closed due to contamination in the 1950s. While the exterior has been restored in the late 2000s, it sits alone, a random relic that people from here will mention in passing but overall is neglected and it’s story buried. It is a reminder that there is more to learn fro each other if we care to show up and listen. Things do not bode well for the suit of fences but knowing is half the battle. The rest is up to us and how we choose to mend or dismantle them. 

Positive aspects of this card: Raw energy, a full and meaningful interaction, a history revealed.

Negative aspects: Lack of discovery, loss of time and history, unclear, uselessness

Key features: A monument to something that means something to someone. This place was restored because someone cared about it and that story is somewhere but we don’t know what that is. While there is something to be admired here, it’s missing pieces as well. It’s also hiding, tucked away both physically and in our collective memories.

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Four of Fences

There can’t be a deck about Pittsburgh without referring to the parking chair. Whether you use them or not they are a part of the culture in a snowy region. The veracity of these chairs is not relevant to this card but is a great prop.

The winter settles (entombs?) everything including us no matter who busy we wish to keep ourselves. It takes longer to dress and moving through the world requires alternate strategies. We have to accept this. There is no getting around snow. In that cold and the quiet it can bring we have time to think and take in a different looking Pittsburgh. A forced hibernation can be a time to rethink things.

Three of Cicadas

While Cicadas as a suit is focused on work and material wealth, threes are about balance. We can’t do our best work if things on the home front are shaky and vice versa. We are at our best when our home is filled with what fulfills us, (examples: a family of fur babies, a partner, and/or a room filled with green and growing things, a vast record collection etc). When things are settled then we are living our best life and focusing on the task at hand.

This could be taken literally to mean that we must put balanced days together to maintain order or to achieve greater goals. It’s not uncommon to get disillusioned with the daily grind but the larger perspective is greater peace. Don’t have a goal? Reevaluate. What needs to change in order to feel like you’re working towards something?

Judgement

So this card diverges heavily from the traditional Judgement card. The whole “naked men and women being judged before an archangel” just felt a little... one sided in its use of a specific religion to talk about this topic. 

Instead, we decided to get a little cheeky. Our Judgement card features the zombified head of a teenager who even in underneath must roll their eyes at you as if you are the biggest idiot in the room. You will never “get it”.

Their head sits upon the Squirrel Hill Tunnels which are known to feel so constrictive by many drivers that they slow down upon entering and traffic backs up at all times of the day. As your car is swallowed into their darkness, you begin to question every driver on all sides and “can’t see the hold up”.

To say driving in Pittsburgh is a pain in the ass is an understatement. No one wins here and everybody knows better than everybody else. 

After getting through the tunnels however, (as long as you haven’t caused any major damage) you feel amazing that you are free. 

The harshest critics are usually the harshest on themselves. They lack perspective to their own problems and can’t seem to accept things as they are and adapt. Acceptance of our frustrations is learned (or it’s not...). There is a freedom that comes from this acceptance however. If we can let go of our inner zombie teenager and take the time to stop rolling the jaded eyes of our soul then judgement becomes self reflection and growth.

Positive aspects of this card: When you start to believe that acceptance is the answer to every problem and inner disturbance then you’re on the other side of judgement.

Negative aspects: Lack of self examination or perspective, jaded, blaming others, you probably suffer from terrible road rage.

Key features: To be fair, the Squirrel Hill Tunnels are the fucking worst and we here at BW avoid them at all costs so who are we to tell you what to do? Zombie teenager head came to us in a vision of our inner critic being a girl we went to high school with who was intolerably rude to other teens and adults alike.

Three of Trees

It’s more talk of balance with the Three of Threes. Instead let’s talk a little bit about spiritual balance. While a tree has a general growth plan, it’s going to have to overcome different challenges. It’s roots need places to spread, it’s leaves need light, and it hopefully doesn’t suffer a great trauma that it can’t overcome. Our souls aren’t that different. 

We have / will experience varying levels of suffering. Our connection to a spiritual practice (of any kind) can be the helping hand that guides us.

Three of Cups

Teamwork makes the dream work. This is the basic principle for this card. Community gardening is the best example of this in our communities at the moment. When fall starts and the season begins to come to a close neighbors come out to gather and turn everything in for the year. These spaces aren’t ones that are super googlable. Just wandering around Pittsburgh you can spot wooden signs marking a once empty lot or tract of land that has been cultivated. 

Cups are synonymous with water, the management of which determines the success of your plants. It’s the same with communication amongst the team. Without it things can get dicy and too much nit-picking can put a wrench into things. The three of cups celebrates an even flow of creative energy that leads to everyone prospering.