The Ravenswood Academy

We are happy to announce a new historical online lecture: Hidden Weapons in China. Registration is open until the end of July and tickets can be purchased here:

https://theravenswoodacademy.com/shop/hidden-weapons-of-china-online-lecture

Explore History with us as we examine true tales of assassins, flying darts, concealed tools and more in a lecture based on actual historical documentation and antique examples. Sign up today!

(Of particular interest to some will be the strategies, tools and applications directly related to the school of our lineage, Praying Mantis; we are very much looking forward to informing fellow practitioners of our art).

Enjoy this niche history of resourcefulness and secrecy. Available here for a limited time: https://theravenswoodacademy.com/shop/hidden-weapons-of-china-online-lecture

[PREORDER} Hidden Weapons of China [Online Lecture] — The Ravenswood Academy Pre-order: Tickets Available till the end of June (6/30/24). Lecture link sent to purchasers July 1st. Join me for a Half-Hour Lecture covering a topic seldom addressed in Chinese Martial History: Hidden Weapons. Daring stories await, all sourced from actual historical records. Our exploration wil

1600's bae: "...Can I copy your homework?" 🥹

"Okay, just... don't make it too obvious or anything..." 🙄

"Don't worry, no one will ever know." 👼

Use the code RAVENSWOOD to get 20% off the last of our green decks. https://theravenswoodacademy.com/shop

Our rarest deck ever produced, sealed with wax midnight in color and burnished with gold. Signed and available here (shipping is on us: use the code "ARCANA" to receive $20 off): https://theravenswoodacademy.com/shop/signed-swordswomen-tarot-1-of-10

We're doing some wrapping and sending something beautiful to our supporters. 👀

Giving a Gift

Page 84 of "The Art of Chinese Staff". I touched on how Japanese samurai studied, copied and preserved staff methods originally from China. This is made clear when one compares the historical sources. More info and interesting reading here: https://tinyurl.com/m22ytn7d

We sold over twelve thousand dollars worth of cards before they were even printed! Much thanks to the supporters of these arts and our school!

What a find. Closing in the last 12 hours of our Swordswomen Tarot campaign (available here: https://tinyurl.com/swordswomen) is another portrait made possible by our supporters: Victoria Seddon as Strength.

Little Timmy “But Alexander! She has skinny arms! Shouldn’t the strength card have bulging biceps and veins and stuff?”

Quiet, Timmy: today you’re gonna learn. While, yes, weight lifting and size are awesome, there’s another type of strength just as important: the capacity to endure. Victoria was an endurance athlete.

In Victorian times women (and men) practiced with Indian clubs. Think of them as dumbbells on a stick: the weight is further away from your hand.

Victoria Seddon had the world record in 1906 for swinging these Indian clubs, non-stop, no breaks, no rest, no sleep… for 36 hours.

Continuous motion.

36 hours.

Three rotations per second for each club in each hand. In front of tons of witnesses (words like “Grace” and “Marvelous” were being used by the local papers). No wonder they called her “The Queen of Clubs”.

In 1907, she decided that 36 hours wasn’t enough… and pushed her continuous weight swinging record to 45 hours. Without stop. (There apparently was a pianist who accompanied her the entire time as well; goodness!)

Of course, as a Swordswoman in our Tarot deck, Victoria did the same continuous spinning and flourishing routines with sabers, not just weights.

At events which showcased fencing and swords, her sword spinning was hailed as both aesthetic and drawing a good crowd.

Want to know the real kicker? If you googled her a few years ago, no photos would have shown up. Her story and photos have only recently been re-discovered. To date she doesn’t even have a Wikipedia page. (Cheers to Ben Miller for his part in researching this and providing photos).

Victoria is an important reminder to us all. Keep going. Endure. Practice strength. Who knows how far you’ll go?

Less than 48 hours left to pre-order Swordswomen Tarot (link: https://tinyurl.com/swordswomen). Pictured here with the manuals of our teacher past and their corresponding weapons. A fitting tribute.

Behind the scenes photo of the team at Ravenswood picking out the next Swordswoman for Swordswomen Tarot (available here: https://tinyurl.com/swordswomen)

It’s funny because there is more than one similarity between Wong Honfan’s jian set and the sword set in the 1930’s Mulan movie: probably simply because they brought in someone who actually knew what they were doing to teach the actress.

What’s interesting is that the movie devotes like almost 3 entire minutes to spear and sword sets. Quite a rare and interesting treat for those interested in history (footage of weapons practice from the 1930s is very rare). Link: https://youtu.be/BjIegUX0GI0?si=6QFlAf0v1m_58zGz

Our latest video features rare 1930's sword form practice: from Mulan! Watch and enjoy this footage which actually delightfully surprised us when we found it.

The 1930's Mulan is actually GOOD! Check out our Swordswomen Tarot project here: https://tinyurl.com/swordswomenTo watch the full, over one hour long Mulan 1930's movie, just copy and search t...

Feel free to zoom. The latest portrait in Swordswomen Tarot (available only for the next four days: https://tinyurl.com/swordswomen). The High Priest, Nefertiti, 1370 – c. 1330 BC, Queen of Egypt.

Every artifact surrounding Nefertiti in this image is over 3000 years old (except the bracelets, those are "only" 2500 years old and belonged to a different Egyptian Queen). Her personal ring, her iconic bust: it's all there. We even gave her the sword of King Tut, her stepson/son-in-law who succeeded her.

We are aware of only one (1) depiction of Nefertiti holding an Egyptian sword (khopesh), and thankfully that depiction survived all the way to our own time, or else there would have been no way to know she should have been included amongst the Swordswomen in our latest project.

Interestingly, Nefertiti is depicted as having a sword and slaying her enemy, a depiction usually reserved for male pharaohs. From her mysterious origins to her unknown ends, historians still have no idea where she is buried or even know that much about her life before she was wed. Reigning during one of the wealthiest times in Egypt’s history, while also wielding the power to do substantial things (such as overhaul Egyptian religion to be one of the first known forms of monotheism), hers must have been an interesting life.

Archeologists have found entirely blunt Egyptian swords in tombs which indicate some were symbols of power and not all were used for war. In Swordswomen Tarot we have women who actually fought in war, in Olympic sport, in private duels… but this probably wasn’t Nefertiti (practicing fencing every day as we know it). Her bearing of the sword was probably meant to remind and convey: this is an incredibly powerful individual. This symbol of the sword as power is just as much a part of the history of Swordswomen as the olympic fencing hall, and is found in many cultures.

Explore more here: https://tinyurl.com/swordswomen

Rare photo of a student practicing spear at Wong Honfan's school on the rooftops of Hong Kong (Wong Honfan being a martial arts teacher in our lineage).

Thanks to our Supporters 🙏👊

The Swordswomen from Japan in our new cards, (available here: https://tinyurl.com/swordswomen ) hails from 800 years ago and fought in the Genpei War (a conflict which would give rise to Japan's first sh**un). Tomoe Gozen was a figure so fierce she quickly became a staple in art and popular literature of the time such as the 14th century Tale of the Heike. Tomoe is said to have been particularly skilled at taming horses, archer and yes, beheading people. Depicted in actual armor referenced from museums we've visited, we think you'll appreciate the meaningful and authentic details. Available here: https://tinyurl.com/swordswomen

A Mystery in our Swordswomen Tarot Deck (available here: https://tinyurl.com/swordswomen). Wish we could tell you more about Walpurgis, a swordswoman from 1300’s Germany. Of all the women featured in our new deck of cards, perhaps Walpurgis is one of the most mysterious. She shows up in the pages of a Medieval Era book on sword fighting techniques, now named after her: the "Walpurgis Fechtbuch." Interestingly she is depicted as defeating the men who throw sword cuts at her while she uses her own stance: the "Woman's Guard." She must have been something... Preserve more stories almost lost to time here: https://tinyurl.com/swordswomen

From Swordswomen Tarot (available here: https://tinyurl.com/swordswomen), comes a new portrait, funded by our supporters. Harriet Tubman is Justice.

Rescuer of slaves. Scout, nurse and spy for the Union army. Widely credited as the first woman to lead U.S. troops in an armed assault. As much as we love the Swordswomen from all over the world, we are proud to present one of the first American Swordswomen, a true hero.

That's right: she carried a sword (and fi****ms) during her scouting and raids. You may have grown up associating her with a lamp. Lamps are cool; swords are even cooler. We have taken the liberty of inserting her actual sword which she carried on missions into the portrait. The portrait itself is based on one of her final photographs, when she was almost 90 (you don't just stop becoming a Swordswoman when you become an elder; imagine the stories she could tell...)

Upright, you will see how the Justice card reads to the right "EQUITY, RIGHT, TRIUMPH". Justice Inverted (opposite side) reads "Bigotry, Bias and Severity". These words, like 95% of the text on all our Swordswomen Tarot cards come from the 1910's work The Pictorial Key to the Tarot by Arthur Edward Waite.

Later on in life, Tubman was a champion for women's suffrage and caring for the elderly. A gentle, hardworking, healing saint that one could almost forget had participated in actual combat raids with the U.S. armed forces, which she described thusly:

"And then we saw the lightning, and that was the guns; and then we heard the thunder, and that was the big guns; and then we heard the rain falling, and that was the drops of blood falling; and when we came to get the crops, it was dead men that we reaped. "

Within her own lifetime, Harriet suffered horrible injustices: everything from assault due to her race and gender, to not being properly compensated by the government for her services during the war. Incredibly, she never gave up in spreading Justice everywhere.

True story: We recently had a conversation with a well-educated European who we were telling about our next Swordswomen Tarot card: Harriet Tubman. "Oh really?" they replied. "I don't know her." Thanks for helping us change that by commissioning this work.

Here's to a legendary American hero.

Full Project Here: https://tinyurl.com/swordswomen

An incredibly detailed card, from our Swordswomen Tarot deck, available here: https://tinyurl.com/swordswomen

Hailing from Sub-Saharan West Africa, the Mino (also known as “Dahomey Amazons”) were an all female unit of soldiers that took part in everything from battling Europeans in the Franco-Dahomean Wars, to raiding neighboring settlements for slaves.

Their training included scaling thorn barricades to learn pain tolerance, the blade and eventually gun a part of their arsenal of weapons. More than one surviving European account marvels at their bravery and skill in close combat.

Within the story of one card, a dozen somber themes are evoked: violent combat, invasion, slavery, survival, social hierarchy, personal struggle and many more. Yes, products should be “fun”, but we believe they can also make you think and be thankful. Choose any one aspect of these Swordswomen’s life and compare it to your own. How much is similar, how much is different? What would you change and why?

It’s hard to go into a lot of depth for a simple facebook post. Essentially though we’re saying : Here’s to education and never forgetting the past. It brings about a remarkable perspective.

Dive deeper into these stories here: https://tinyurl.com/swordswomen

Not minimalist, not ai created. Available here for order until Dec 3rd: https://tinyurl.com/swordswomen

Out looking for the next Swordswomen portrait (keep up to date here: https://tinyurl.com/swordswomen). Who knows where or when inspiration will strike?

Little Timmy, flipping through our Swordswomen Tarot cards (available here https://tinyurl.com/swordswomen): "Whaaaat, Female gladiators fought in the arenas of Rome??" Yes. We have everything from period writers complaining about it to stone reliefs that depict it. Granted it wasn't always to the death: sometimes it was for celebratory display to excite the crowd (much like modern pro wrestling), other times it was actually hunting animals from boars to lions. Some of these women were slaves, others were probably free women participating for their own purposes (thrills? escape? If they were here, I would ask them). Our portrait card is based off of a rare stone relief depicting two female gladiators. Check out even more history and beautiful design here: https://tinyurl.com/swordswomen.

Feel free to zoom in. All the research that goes into a single one of our cards. Available here for a limited time: https://tinyurl.com/swordswomen

A guy with 50 thousand subscribers reviewed our deck for free! Very kind of him to do. Please give him a like and our thanks at his channel. (P.S. I think he likes it)!

Swordswoman Tarot - Review ! Get yours here: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1167684454/swordswomen-tarot-cards-x-the-ravenswood-academy

A martial arts school 100 years ago: rare photos of where Wong Honfan, a teacher in our lineage, trained in his younger years.

A Piece of the Mantis Puzzle Link to Book (香港精武体育会精武实錄 1920): https://nrs.lib.harvard.edu/urn-3:fhcl:3403093 Support more researcher and videos by picking up a deck here: https://tinyurl...

While not yet a "household name", she should be: Ilona Elek, part of our Swordswomen Tarot Cards (available here: https://tinyurl.com/swordswomen). By N**i rule prohibited from competing in fencing tournaments for years in her youth (due to her Jewish heritage), this would not stop her from becoming the most decorated female fencer of all time, winning multiple world titles.

Though Hi**er sought to promote the "superiority of the A***n Race" at the 1936 Berlin Olympics, it was in fact a Jewish-Hungarian, Ilona Elek, that would stand on the Gold Medalist platform, while refusing to throw the N**i salute.

The next two Olympic games were canceled due to World War II… but when it was over, Ilona would come back to win the Gold AGAIN at the 1948 London Olympics, in her 40's. Hi**er couldn’t make it this time (heh heh…).

Ilona also composed music, having graduated from a music conservatory. She is considered to be one of the greatest female fencers of all time. Commemorate her story and other swordsmen here: https://tinyurl.com/swordswomen

A rare 1910's photo of women who practiced unarmed martial arts as well as sword techniques at a school from our line of teachers. More details in our upcoming video! For now, more swordswomen at our latest project here: https://tinyurl.com/swordswomen

👀 Third party reviewed our prototype deck! Swing by her channel and give her a like!

The SwordsWomen Tarot | Kickstarter First Look We unbox and take a first look at the SwordsWomen Tarot by The Ravenswood Academy!🔮 Even though this deck was sent to me to review on this channel, these ar...