We were lucky to catch up with Ana Cortez recently and have shared our conversation below.

Ana , appreciate you joining us today. Learning the craft is often a unique journey from every creative – we’d love to hear about your journey and if knowing what you know now, you would have done anything differently to speed up the learning process.

I learned the art of cartomancy through a combination of personal exploration and the profound influence of my father’s art and ideas. Growing up I was surrounded by otherworldly and very esoteric influences. My father’s paintings for playing cards were enigmatic and rich with mystical symbolism, but it was never pushed on me. I was just soaking in it, and I think this kind of exposure at an early age was key for me, but it took a ripening, of sorts. My own curiosity needed to awaken. It wasn’t until I hit my Saturn return and life really fell apart that I began to pursue my own studies into these worlds of my father’s.

Ana , before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

My journey into the art of card reading with playing cards has been anything but conventional. As mentioned, I was deeply influenced by my father’s artistic vision and his very eccentric approach to pretty much everything. This exposure ignited a passion within me to explore the mystical and the unknown. Over time, I discovered that what my father had done was access another world, using playing cards as portals into an invisible reality. Like the movies only real life! And within this invisible reality lies the potential for deep personal understanding and life altering transformation.

So eventually my father and I began investigating these mystical spaces together, and documenting all that we were discovering. That led to our first book and card set, “The Playing Card Oracles.” But that was back in 2002. Now, in 2024, we have three books and three decks published – written by me and illustrated by my father. For people who are interested in card reading, there is nothing like these. Very deep and very profound, incorporating many alchemical elements. There is also a new online Academy (“The Black Ace Academy of Cartomancy”) that I am really excited about.

It is very satisfying to me that now our books and cards are all over the globe, and are opening people’s eyes to new ways of looking at the world and at cards. My dad passed away in 2010, but I know he is still hanging out in the ethers, participating in all the new developments.

Learning and unlearning are both critical parts of growth – can you share a story of a time when you had to unlearn a lesson?

I had to unlearn a lot of things about what it means to be an adult and have a career. I really struggled as a young person, dropping out of college and not knowing what I wanted to do with my life. I was always looking for a job title, and something already established with which to define myself.
For me, absolutely nothing fit. It was very disheartening. I worked a lot of random jobs just trying to get by, hoping that eventually I’d figure it out. Most of the adults I knew were telling me, save your passion for your hobbies. Grow up and get a job that pays the bills like everyone else.
I think times may be changing a bit in that regard. But always remember, your career path can be completely your own. It doesn’t have to look like anything else out there, and if your passion isn’t in it, it’s not worth your time.

Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?

At about 30 years old, I became a single mom of two small children, working miscellaneous jobs and with only a high school degree, just trying to get by. Times were hard, and we were living in a rented trailer in a sketchy part of town. This is about the time I started working with my father, and writing about the playing cards and these fantastical worlds that were opening up for us. I would write in the morning at the coffee shop after dropping the kids off at school, and turn my stack of handwritten notebook pages in to my friend, who was a typist, at the end of the month.
It took seven years to write the first book, with a lot of ups and downs and a lot of faith and good luck along the way.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://anacortez.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/anacortezoracles
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/c/AnaCortez
• Other: https://blackaceacademy.com

Image Credits

Tree Stoddart