Talking Tarot-Inspired Fiber Arts with Cindi Glinski of The Crone and Her Rabbit

Cindi Glinski is a fiber artist with roots in hand quilting and a future full of possibilities. Bringing a customer's idea to life is her speciality. She lives with her husband and bunny buddy in the Northwood of Michigan. You can contact her on Instagram @the.crone.and.her.rabbit or at her Etsy shop.

In this conversation, Ada and Cindi talk about fiber arts as a gateway to tarot, learning how to hear the voice of your intuition, and Cindi’s astonishing path to opening an online business.

Ada: Recently, you posted a picture on Instagram of quilted vests and jackets you had made inspired by Tarot decks. Your work is absolutely beautiful, and I knew immediately that I wanted to know more about it. 

Cindi: Thank you Ada. I’m honored to be with you today.

Ada: You said in the post that your first project was a jacket and vest initially inspired by The Rabbit Tarot by Nakisha VanderHoeven.

How did you go from Tarot cards to a vest?

Cindi: Well… it was sort of the other way around.

I started my artistic adventure as a quilter. I met Nakisha on Twitter and LOVED her watercolors of bunnies and commissioned her to create the logo for my quilting business, featuring my two house bunnies and a quilt. 

We had several collabs where she generously shared her bunny art with me to use in my quilts and handbags.

As we got talking... Nakisha shared that she read tarot and had created a tarot deck using her original bunny art in place of the traditional Rider-Waite images. She sent me a deck with an invitation to create some items showcasing her Rabbit Tarot for an upcoming gallery show. 

The jacket and vest in my Insta post were created for that show. From there I have made quite a few jackets and vests using my clients favorite cards from their favorite tarot decks.

The Rabbit Tarot deck sat on my altar as I created the items for the show. After I sent them off to Nakisha...I started doing single card readings for myself and that….. was the beginning of my tarot journey.

Ada: I love that your path to Tarot was through quilting! 

Cindi: My grandmother would be so proud. She taught me to quilt when I was old enough to thread a needle.

Ada: I’m sure she would!

How did the single card readings you started with fit into your practice at the time? 

Cindi: At the time I didn’t know. I was just on a journey…. learning about tarot. I had stops and starts...I would get frustrated trying to memorize all 78 cards. Then I started reading intuitively and my readings took off and were more accurate. 

Now it’s my major divining tool. I use my cards...yes I still use The Rabbit Tarot :-) ... to help me manifest...find clarity...and assist me in expanding my practice and intuition.

Ada: I still use my first tarot deck, too. Mine is just a regular old Rider-Waite, but I’ve formed an attachment to it. 

Cindi: I think our first deck is always special…..

Ada: I agree!

How did you get started reading intuitively?

Cindi: It just sorta happened.

After months of going back and forth looking up the card’s meanings….I put them down and asked them what I should do. I pulled the Queen of Tulips. (In the Rabbit tarot Tulips = Cups; Sticks = Wands; Carrots = Swords; Daisies = Pentacles) Could I have pulled a more direct card for my question??? 

From that point forward, I would feel what the cards wanted me to know and they spoke to me.

I knew my friend was pregnant before she did! 

Ada: That must have been a really amazing moment! 

Cindi: It was! She was shocked...lol

Ada: So, it sounds like the cards themselves told you to put down other people’s interpretations and listen to your own intuition. Is that accurate, would you say?

Cindi: Absolutely.

It’s had a beautiful ripple effect in my whole magical practice.

Trusting my intuition has increased my trust in myself... making my whole life sparkle with magic. 

I’m reading a fab book “Intuitive Witchcraft” by @astreataylor that is helping me make leaps forward with my craft and unexpectedly turning on a couple special gifts.

In my opinion...learning to hone in on your intuition should be lesson #1 for every baby witch. It’s the solid foundation to build full witchy practice on.

Ada: Absolutely!

Are there practices that have been particularly helpful for you in honing your intuition?

Cindi: That’s a really good question and I had to take some time forming my answer.

Everyone is going to experience their intuition in different ways...so I’ll gladly share with you what worked for me.. Please realize, tuning into your intuition will be the most intimate thing you may ever do. It’s all yours to discover in your own special way.

I first set out to acquaint myself with my intuition.. 

I hear and feel mine. 

A little voice (well sometimes it screams but I’ll leave that alone right now) in my gut might say: Take the other road (and I missed a traffic back up) or Not a teaspoon of salt, use a ¼ (and avoided my biscuits being too salty).

I also can walk into a space and have this overwhelming feeling of being hugged or feel a severe drop in my energy….. Like a brick dropped in water.

I learned to be comfortable….like my fave jeans….with my intuition.

At one point I started overthinking so I would ask my guides if what I was experiencing was intuition or desire.

*Word of caution: Avoid getting locked into this step. The goal here is to learn to trust. Needing constant confirmation might delay your process.

Over time...I learned to tell the difference.

This really helped me: 

Harry Potter asks Dumbledore: Is this real or just in my head?

Dumbledore responded: Of course it’s in your head! But why should that mean it’s not real? 

This is the last step…..Practice Practice Practice

Going into nature is a great place to start.

I went into nature and listened…

I dug in the dirt and listened…

I planted...anything...and listened...

I paid attention to the birds….they spoke and I listened….

I saved a tree that was falling over and felt its immense gratitude. (He’s growing new baby trees on his trunk for the day he may break and those children will go on.)

When I create I wait to feel the input my intuition wants to add to my piece.

I let my intuition choose what book will help me on my journey or strengthen my practice. It’s never wrong.

Again, it helps me interpret tarot. And I strive to read every day.

My daily practice in the mundane world has made my intuition stronger and my life fuller.

Ada: That is so beautiful. If this was a voice conversation, this would be a moment for appreciative silence. 

You mentioned the role of intuition in your creative process. Have you noticed any patterns in the pieces your intuition leads you to work on? Connections with things going on in your life, maybe, or things you’re learning?

Cindi: Another great question!

I have two sides to my creative process/business.

One is the repetitive creation of my line of costumes. Different sizes but all basically the same.

The other, one of a kind art pieces. 

When I’m putting together a costume, I ask my intuition if there is anything specific or special I should add. Sometimes I’ll hear that this client is glittery and would love some bling. So I’ll deferdiffer again to my intuition to see if it's rhinestones, glitter or something I didn't think of.

Other times I will feel that she may need a longer bodice or a shorter skirt. My intuition will tell me the measurements and I go with it.

(After re-exploring these points with you, I’m feeling I should keep an intuition journal and document these intuition experiences.)

My one of a kind pieces are ALL intuition. 

I’ll wake up and see the piece I need to create. Like the Tarot jacket. I had never made a jacket in my life up to that point...ever. So I followed my intuition’s lead on where to source a pattern and how to modify it to work with quilted elements. Not really knowing anything about tarot at the time...except for one reading I had decades before...I went through the deck and when an image lit up in me….I knew The World was the one. (To be truthful though, I did a double check by shuffling the cards, fanned them out and pulled a single card. The World….and I almost fainted!)

Ada: It’s marvelous when the tarot is that clear.

Cindi: Intuition has also played a role in helping me process through some difficult times in my life. 

I had one year where I experienced some profound loss. The new costumes I created that year were quite maudlin. Up to that point my costumes had been storybook characters and princesses. I followed my intuition and made them anyway. As the process unfolded...specifically with Emily from The Corpse Bride….the darkness of both the costume and my shadow experiences morphed into something lighter and my healing began.

To your last point, I have learned….and it's an ongoing process... to always listen to my intuition. 

Sometimes I'm on my own...and that's OK. But my intuition knows when someone needs something only I can create. If I get an image, a feeling or hear instructions and don’t honor it...I will create “empty” items that never work.

I believe intuition...in all its applications... is what gives life depth.

You can live a good life without connecting to your intuition...but wouldn’t a fuller, sparkly one be more fulfilling??

Ada: I absolutely agree. 

Can you tell me about your business?

Cindi: I actually have two active businesses and a third in the making.

They each represent a different part of me...a land of fantasy, an artist, my witchy side of life.

The Crone and Her Rabbit will be coming to Instagram and Etsy some time in mid- 2022. I’ll be using my inner artist and my oh so outer witch to create things to tantalize the senses and uplift your craft.

The Polka Dot Rabbits is my shop on Etsy and it’s my most active. There I create costumes for all ages and specialty clothing for young ladies.

This is my “inner child” place where I can create glam witches, little girl superheroes, glittery princesses and not-so-gruesome ghoulies. 

It’s a land of fantasy and whimsy that keeps me young!

Cottontail Quilts is a word of mouth business where I’m able to create one of a kind art pieces like the Tarot jacket and vest. I also welcome commissions for personalized bed quilts. These quilts can take up to a year to create, so I’m limited to only 1 per year.

This business has a very profound story for me.

I worked in the corporate world and hated my job. I was so unhappy and just couldn't find a way out...or through….or around...or over. One morning the Universe said. “OK, we're stepping in.” I was gifted with agoraphobia (a profound fear of open spaces) and I was housebound. I say gifted because it was the most precious gift I have ever received.

New doors had suddenly opened for me, my witchy skills went through the roof and the way I looked at my world totally changed….. all because I stopped trying to shove myself into a skin that wasn’t mine.

I started creating my new life...and part of that was re-connecting to my inner artist. 

When the artist was happily on her way, the Universe boomed in again and said: ”Since you can’t live out IN the world... Let’s bring the world to you.”

In just a matter of months, I bought my first computer (I know...I was a late bloomer!) researched everything I could about e-commerce, bartered a quilt for a website and found Etsy. 

2006 was the year I finally felt comfortable with my true self...was living my authentic life….and found my purpose.

With baby steps I was able to go out into the world letting my true self shine.

My greatest moment since my agoraphobia awakening...was when my hubby bought tickets for a live performance of Celtic Woman (my Faves!) in a city three hours away from home. It took a few months of intense shadow work and re-examining how I worked with intention...but I made it. I did my hair, put on my new outfit and out the door we went. Calm as can be in the car...no panic attacks at the concert.

Now I can go just about anywhere. When I do have a panic attack...and I have had quite a few...I ground, center, call in my guides and tune into my intuition. Usually the cause is not being my authentic self...or veering off the path of my authentic life.

I spent a lot of my life looking away from myself in my day to day life. Now that I have learned  to really love myself...everything I see…. is magic. 

Ada: You have such a powerful story! 

Cindi: I look back and think it's just what I needed to do….but with a closer lens, I really am proud of what I did.

Ada: No kidding!

Am I reading this right? You bought your first computer and started an Etsy shop within a couple of months? 

Cindi: Yes... I did.

For years I had been making quilts, handbags and wall hangings. The kids had several each and I had no more room in my closet so I had to do something….and fast! LOL

Ada: That’s incredible! If you could go back in time and give advice to yourself when you were starting the Etsy shop, what would you say?

Cindi: Great question.

I'm very happy with my fledgling Etsy experience.

It was a wonderful platform for handmade businesses. Even as a computer rookie, I found it easy to set up, easy to use and Etsy set up the site to make the customer-seller relationship personal.

I would advise my 2008 self to keep the web site active to work in tandem with Etsy. 

It never hurts to have another toe in the water.

Thank you so much, Cindi, for allowing me to interview you! 



If you are interested in checking out Cindi’s work, you can visit her Etsy shop or connect with her on Instagram at the.crone.and.her.rabbit.