Spotlight On: KIM KRANS
ABOUT this week’s podcast guest + radio hour featured interview:
Like many folks, I first got to know the name Kim Krans through her incredible visual art and deeply insightful writing in The Wild Unknown decks and guidebooks. For newcomers, a simplified definition of tarot decks and oracle decks is a set of cards that are used for personal exploration and ritual. And The Wild Unknown is a series of four hand drawn decks by Kim Krans: The Wild Unknown Tarot, Animal Spirit deck, Archetypes deck, and 2022’s Alchemy deck. She has also published children’s books, an illustrated journal, a graphic memoir, and most recently, a board game called Renunciation, released last year. Her bio as it reads on her website says:
“Kim received her BFA in drawing at Cooper Union in NYC, MFA in Mixed Media at Hunter College, and an MA in Jungian Depth Psychology and Creativity at Pacifica Graduate Institute in California. Her seeker's heart has brought her to study in-depth practices of classical hatha, kundalini yoga, and classical shamanism in India, Africa, Europe, and the UK. Kim teaches events and workshops that activate the forces of creativity and radical transformation through art, meditation, mysticism, and movement. Though revered for her drawings and publications, Krans is also a multi-media artist, filmmaker, and musician.”
This last word of her bio - musician - in a sense, should have been the first. Prior to creating The Wild Unknown Tarot in 2012, Kim Krans was part of an indie rock project called Family Band, who put out their debut EP in 2008, followed by two full length albums, one in 2010 and the second in 2012. They were gaining critical attention and touring, opening for bands like Warpaint. 2012 was also the year that Kim Krans self published The Wild Unknown Tarot. As it turned out, The Wild Unknown became a global sensation. Kim left the band, and the deck and guidebook were released with Harper Collins in 2016, landing on the New York Times Bestseller’s list, and today The Wild Unknown Tarot is available in over ten languages. But as Kim tells it, even with all this success there was a heartbreak around leaving music behind. In today's episode, we’ll hear Kim Krans share her decade long SHERO’s journey to finally opening the door once again to writing, recording, and releasing her first solo album, MIRRORMIRROR.