What Is It?
The Doors of Somlipith is a book and card set that brings the 52-card deck to life with a roar. It’s not Lenormand, Cards of Destiny, Tarot, nor anything else you’ve seen.
Within it, rich and unexpected imagery unfolds as you are guided by the luminous and very mysterious Somlipith. You may know him as the Ace of Clubs. This you see, is how we view this creature from our world, but in the new deck and card set by CJ Freeman and daughter, Ana Cortez, we enter another reality.
Any question may be asked of Somlipith’s cards. But ready yourself as answers leap forth in stunning detail. Realms of sacred knowledge are set into motion by the simple shuffle of Somlipith’s Doors. The moon, the sun, and even the stars spill forth long held secrets as you unlock their codes of natural time- hidden for centuries until now. Answers received include specific dates.
Practical application for the 4-Elements, numerology, geomancy, and pyramid knowledge await as you embark on your ever expanding journey. Card layouts, from simple to complex, along with practical examples, give structure to your explorations. Secret language, archetypal story, poetry, magical talismans, charts and rich illustration immerse you in an ever deepening enchanted world.
How it Came to Be
The history of The Doors of Somlipith begins a full 40 years ago. It was the late 70’s when CJ Freeman took on the self assigned task of illustrating the Playing Cards. He wasn’t a trained artist. In fact, his only previous art experience was High School. But he felt compelled to illustrate the cards. He loved the “card people” since a child and felt that modern day playing cards had become sterile and generic. He wanted to bring them back to life. And that he did.
What came through in CJ’s paint was bold, intense, and surprised even him. What began as weeks and months turned into years. While working as a professional detective by day, he led a secret life in the basement by night, giving otherworldly Realms life on canvas.
Impassioned by his discoveries, he took photos of “the paintings” by foot around New York City, only to receive a speedy publishing offer for this mysterious deck. But after returning home to Denver and contemplating the terms of the contract, he ultimately turned it down.
Portrait of CJ by Ana Cortez, from Doors of Somlipith (D.O.S.) Book interior.
And although the images escaped publication (at that time), they led CJ (“Charles”) down a rabbit hole he never quite emerged from. It kicked off an obsession with the 52-card deck that lasted the rest of his life. Eventually his daughter, Ana Cortez, became involved, and through their many years of collaboration they evolved the initial discoveries into ever widening potentials for a unique card reading method as powerful as the original images themselves.
Sadly, CJ passed away before ever seeing these images published. It was his life’s greatest heartbreak. He illustrated subsequent decks, in pen and ink, but the oil images and the great spirit behind them that had taken him by storm in the basement so many years before remained his first and deepest love.
CJ was a man ahead of his time. But the time for his discoveries has come. They open another world that we are only now prepared to enter. It is a place of re-connection with harmonic, cosmic realities – existing only behind our world of dense form. It is a place of shimmering possibility, and yes, real magic.
The Doors of Somlipith, a New Dimension of Card Reading by Ana Cortez and CJ Freeman is published by Schiffer Red Feather and available now. Check out the Launch Event in Santa Fe, NM, April 22nd and 23rd.
