San Antonians might recognize several local figures represented in the new Lotería Remedios oracle cards set by author Xelena González and illustrator Jose Sotelo Yamasaki, which will be sold around the world by publishers Penguin Random House.
Roma Villavicencio, host of Great Day SA on KENS 5, is a poised and confident La Dama. Los De Esta Noche bandleader Julio Lopez is El Músico, with a brief transcription of one of his songs on a scroll next to him, and visual artist Kat Cadena is La Chalupa for the abundance in her artworks, Sotelo said.
The cards draw on traditional lotería images but expand the game by offering healing advice from generations of curanderas in González’s family.
The publication of the 54-card set will be celebrated on Saturday with an exhibition in the Spirit Waters Gallery at the American Indians in Texas at the Spanish Colonial Missions headquarters on East Commerce Street.
González and Sotelo will be present for the free reception from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m., with lotería games and remedios readings at 7 p.m. and a lotería-themed costume contest at 8 p.m.
‘A little more serious’
Lotería is a deep tradition among Mexican and Mexican American families, González and Sotelo said. González drew on family legends of her great-grandmother, Mama Cunina, a Mexican curandera, for inspiration in crafting the writing for each card in the set, and Sotelo said the characters in the traditional cards such as ElBorracho, La Dama and La Sirena were often compared to a tío or tía in the family.
In the new Lotería Remedios set, Sotelo takes the fall for the traditional borracho, depicting himself as drunk and fallen over inside a bottle. One artist friend told him the image was saddening, which Sotelo admitted.
“I really drastically changed [it] to the opposite” of the original card image, he said. “It’s not comical anymore, it’s a little more serious” because alcohol dependency can be a serious issue.
Though lighthearted overall, his artistic takes on the traditional lotería images are meant to resonate with deeper meanings that elevate the set beyond game-playing. For example, La Campana card references the symbol of liberty used by abolitionists in U.S. History, and the card featuring El Pino includes a cut stump next to the growing pine tree, which might refer to deforestation or the misuse of natural resources.
Self-healing and self-love
In writing accompanying the card, González draws upon the evergreen as a symbol of strength, vitality and assurance, and includes potential health benefits of pine such as its anti-inflammatory and air-purifying qualities.
Though the Lotería Remedios set is not directly related to tarot cards, it is categorized by the publisher as oracle cards and can be used for divination, prediction, help in decision-making or reflection, González said.
Using the cards as remedios is “a self-reflective practice, and that’s my greatest hope for this is that it allows people to tap into their own source of self-healing and self-love,” she said.
The booklet included with the card set features a specially designed reading method crafted by González. The Crossroads Spread employs five cards representing the four elements — air, earth, water and fire — surrounding a soul card, a method to be used “when you have reached a crossroads,” as González writes in the introduction.
But the book and card set are meant to be used in any way its users prefer, she said.
To appeal to game players, González and Sotelo have made a tabla which will be available separately at the Saturday event.
No matter how the cards are used, whether admired as artworks, used lightly like fortune cookies or to help inform major life decisions, “I believe strongly in the medicine that we’re putting out there,” González said.
The Lotería Remedios set will be on sale for $24.99 at the event, and after available for purchase at The Twig Book Shop and online through Penguin Random House. González and Sotelo will present the set again at the Novel Ideas Art Book Fair at The Contemporary at Blue Star Aug. 2-3.
