Everyday Tarot

artist: Chris Wilkey

It’s Tarot Tuesday again, and the card for the day is Manifestation from a deck in progress by artist Chris Wilkey. Wilkey is currently in search of a publisher, but illustrations for the deck are set to appear in the newest Encyclopedia of Tarot published by U.S. Games System. You can see other Tarot cards by the artist at Chris Wilkey Fine Arts and Graphic Design.

I really like this particular rendition of the Tarot card that is typically depicted by the Magician - a robed figure holding a wand and manipulating the symbols of the four suits. I am not a mathematician, but numbers hold a fascination for me that goes far beyond adding one and one. Numerology and the Tarot have always gone hand in hand, something which should come as no surprise to anyone who understand that numbers are simply symbols of deeper concepts - rather like the cards themselves.

There are so many reasons that this image of Manifestation resonates with me, not the least of which is that numbers are the ultimate shorthand to represent complex relationships between things, both alike and unlike. A gifted mathematician can look at an equation and picture what it represents in his or her mind, hear it with her inner ear, replicate its shape simply by following the numbers.

If you think about it, numbers are an ideal representation of the concept “As above, so below”. Consider how numbers reduce without changing the basic concept of a shape -

 

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This is a very simple example - the three red squares were created completely by numbers using CSS. I could replicate the shape exactly by using numbers in the same proportions to each other to define the parameters of the shape.
You’ll find more complex examples in fractal art and in music - if you use a visualization program when you listen to music on your computer, you can see the music translated into artwork in motion:

And it’s all geometry and numbers, the shapes created by the relationships between numbers. I knew this consciously - it’s one of those amusing factoids that gets stuck in your head- but it didn’t hit home with me till the night my son - the middle one with Asperger’s syndrome - picked up one of those little xylophone pianos from Fisher Price and started playing along with my mp3 player. I switched songs - and within two bars, he was playing along again. He explained to me that it was easy to do - he could tell if the sound was getting “lighter” or “darker” and guess how much the color would change - and then he played the right color key.

It gets better, though. I picked up the phone and called my older son to tell him about my surprising discovery about his younger brother and he responded: “I was wondering when he’d figure it out.” Um… you were? “Sure,” he told me. “It’s all math and Jid is a math whiz. It was only a matter of time before he figured out how to play with it.”

Mind you - this is the son who sat down at a piano for the first time and started composing in perfect chords. Because, y’know, he’s a math whiz, and it’s all about the numbers.

But it goes deeper still - sounds travel in waves that vibrate to specific frequencies, and everything they touch sets up a sympathetic vibration. Sounds do, in some very basic way, alter the things around them. Colors are created by different lengths of light waves - can we truly deny that those waves might also set up some sort of sympathetic vibration? Wouldn’t that explain why most people respond to specific colors with specific emotional responses?

The thread tying all those things together is mathematics - and it would stand to reason that a master of mathematics, someone who knows how to manipulate things by the numbers, would be a master magician - one who makes things manifest in our world.

I’ve talked a little bit about the fact that many readers are uncomfortable reading negative cards, and seek out more positive meanings in their readings. Reading reversed cards is another area where a lot of readers have trouble. There are a lot of reasons for this. The biggest reason, I think, is that we automatically consider “reversed” to be negative. It’s not true where Tarot is concerned, of course, but the overall impression is still there.

In truth, I seldom read with reversed cards, even though I know that doing so would expand the interpretations available to me. When I do, I tend to follow the lessons I learned from Rachel Pollock - that reversed cards often indicate that you (r the person for whom you are reading if it’s not you) are resisting or blocking the energies represented by the card. Thus, The Sun reversed, which upright would indicate that good things are happening in your life, would suggest that you are somehow keeping good things from happening by blocking or resisting those energies.

Not sure about Tarot Reversals? Here’s a short video from YouTube where a professional Tarot Reader  talks about how to read reversed Major Arcana Tarot cards.

Enjoy - and do share your impressions! Do you read reversed cards? Do you avoid reading reversed cards? Do you give them extra significance? What do they mean to you?

Each morning, I draw a “focus card” to help guide me through the day. Often, that card helps me filter my thinking. Sometimes it points me in  a direction for the day’s writing. Other times, it helps remind me why I’m doing what I do. This morning, I drew the Queen of Cups - a lovely coincidence on Only the Good Friday.

So who is the Queen of Cups?

The Queen of Cups sits on her throne, her gaze directed at the cup she holds in her hands. In most decks, her expression is directed inward, thoughtful and dreamy. It’s a reference to the general overall meaning of the Cups in the Tarot - a directive to be in touch with your emotions, to go with the flow, to know yourself and understand from whence your motivations bloom. Continue Reading »

Y’all might remember that a while back, I did a guest post  about the Death card at Your Dark Passenger. Jen reciprocated with this interesting look at some of the misconceptions that many Christians have about the Tarot. Somehow, it got lost in the confines of my mailbox where it has been languishing in luxury along with the purveyors of miracle diets, get rich quick schemes and former foreign dignitaries eager to share the $18 million they have discovered hanging out in a bank account in their country.

If you haven’t read Your Dark Passenger yet, I suggest you hop right on over there and bookmark it, because Jen has a wickedly keen eye for absurdities and an equally wicked sense of humor that makes her blog always fun reading. Don’t go before reading about her take on Christian Misconceptions of Tarot, though!

Christian Misconceptions of Tarot

While readers here may find the use of tarot cards quite an ordinary thing, there are many who view their use to be mystical in nature. Christians, in particular, have strong feelings on the subject.

Those of you who know me from Your Dark Passenger are already aware I don’t have very many biases – at least, not that I’m unwilling to make fun of at every turn. For whatever reason, tarot is a little different for me. From a young age, I was taught that tarot cards were evil and to never touch them or have my cards read. Yes, that could have been the crazed ramblings of my mother; however, I believe much of what I was taught to be common to a typical Christian upbringing.

So…What do Christians believe about tarot cards?

*Tarot Cards Are Evil

Just to make certain this was a more common belief than just my family, I took a quick survey in my house and hubby confirmed it. Actually, he said tarot cards make him think of voodoo and black magic. He is perhaps a touch more normal in his faith than I so we’ll go with his answer for discussion purposes.

Television portrays tarot cards as a tool of voodoo. Whenever the frightened damsel in distress goes to see the voodoo shaman for help, it seems there is always something going on with blood and tarot cards. It doesn’t help either that the cards usually say the damsel will soon die.

From the Christian perspective, it makes some sense to view tarot cards as tools of Satan. The Bible is clear about how those who dabble in occult practices are “abominations in the eyes of God” and an “affront to the Lord.” Don’t ask for book, chapter and verse because I wouldn’t know.

Guess I’ve never been a very good Christian…

Anyway, your typical Christian may see tarot cards as a way to foretell the future. Since only God is supposed to know those things that are yet to be, trying to gain His knowledge is a no-no. Then again, the Bible is full of prophesy so it does seem a tad hypocritical.

*Tarot Cards Invite Satan into Your Life

Some Christians also believe that tarot cards and other readings are a direct connection to Satan himself. The line of thought is this: If God wanted you to have the information then it would have been provided to you. If knowledge is not coming from God then it must be from the other guy.

Tarot cards are also believed to be a method by which individuals become demon possessed. Christians are taught that even though they are given authority over demonic entities through their faith in Christ, a loophole remains. Anyone who invites Satan or his minions into their life is forfeiting that authority. It’s sort of like once you invite the mythical vampire into your home the first time, they can always come in.

In general, Christians see tarot cards as the first step down the proverbial slippery slope. One who will start reading their cards might later think the casting of spells is harmless. Once they cast a spell, why not go with a friend to watch a ritual ceremony. If you’re at the ceremony already, why not take part in the dark ritual? Hey, then it might seem like fun to go drink some cow blood.

The next thing you know, the cops are hauling you off because you were ripping open packages of hamburger and steak to drink the blood in the middle of your friendly neighborhood grocery store…all because you played with tarot cards.

Perhaps I might have gone every so slightly overboard at the end there, but the fact remains that one can never know where a particular path will lead.

So are tarot cards really evil tools of the dark, waiting to entrap hapless Christians? I have no idea. For my part, I don’t assume everyone who pulls out their own deck to be Satanic or demon possessed. Will I be learning how to use them anytime soon?

Hmm…

Maybe I shouldn’t tempt fate.

Credit: Daughters of the Moon

Spiderwoman - Daughters of the Moon Tarot

I love different and unusual decks. The Daughters of the Moon Tarot qualifies on both counts, as well as being colorful and lively and intuitive. The Daughters of the Moon Tarot was first published back in 1983 - and I bought the deck at a lovely little New Age shop not too long after that. Like the Motherpeace Tarot, the cards are round, comfortable to hold and handle. The original deck was uncolored - just black and white line drawings meant to be colored in by the owner and user of the deck. The colored deck was released later - and in the past few years, the black and white deck has been re-released. Both decks are available on the Daughters of the Moon web site.

At least one professional reviewer of the Daughters of the Moon Tarot has stated the opinion that there are so many differences between the traditional Tarot and this feminist, Goddess-inspired Tarot that it almost should not be called a Tarot deck at all. I personally disagree - there are far more similarities than differences, and many of them make sense.

This card is one of those differences.  The Spiderwoman replaces The Wheel of Fortune, which is one of those cards that has two almost diametrically opposed meanings. My own deck uses tumbling dice as a representation of The Wheel of Fortune, and I title it Chance - but that’s only part of the meaning. In fact, when reading, I tend to put more emphasis on on the Wheel as a Cycle of Life. Spiderwoman leans more to that interpretation, with the Wheel being represented by a Spinning Wheel and shuttle. The background of the card is a collage of spider webs, emphasizing the way that patterns work in our lives.

I’ve always been entranced with spider webs - the intricate, interconnected patterns are an apt metaphor for life, for the way that we are all interconnected along these thin, strong lines. I believe that my life is affected by things that I can not control, that something YOU do in your life has the potential to affect my life in unexpected ways, in ways that neither you nor I will ever know. This is true on a universal level, in that the choices that you make affect the world at large. The car you drive, the amount of energy that you use, the way you dispose of your garbage - all of those affect the world in which I live, and the cumulative effect of all those choices makes our world what it is.

But I believe it is also true on a very personal level. Our world is so interconnected that we never know when an action or choice that we make may affect another person in a profound way, even if we never have any contact with that person. I’ll never know what effect I may have on your life - and there’s a very good chance that you will never know if or how I affected your life.

Knowing that, doesn’t it make sense to live in a way that our effect on the world is a net positive?

Want to participate? Check out Tarot Tuesday and join in on the fun!

Judgment - Shadowscape Tarot

Judgment and Resurrection

Let me tell you a story. When I was in high school, I competed in a speech contest at our school. I placed third. On the way home, my mother said something that rankled for years - “You should have been first.” It hit me like a stone - nothing I ever did was good enough for her. I could never do well enough to please her. It was one more piece of evidence that I could never live up to my mother’s expectations. For years, I carried that hurt around inside me, adding it to all the other times that my mother said “You should have got an A” and “Great! Next time you can do even better.”

And then one day I was telling the story to a friend and light suddenly dawned, as my dad used to say, on Marble Head. Her comment wasn’t an indictment that I hadn’t met her expectations at all. She was saying that my speech was the best one and I should have received first prize, not third. All those years I’d been carrying around a false scar for an injury that had never been dealt.  That day was the day that I grew up in a very real sense of the word.

What That Has to Do with Tarot Judgment

For years, I had trouble reconciling with the Judgment card in the Tarot. There were so many reasons for that - the word Judgment is so close to “Judge”. The entire Christian concept of Judgment Day is one that I had internalized. It’s the day when all of us will be raised and judged, and assigned to the afterlife we earned during our life. The imagery on the typical Rider-Waite deck reinforces that whole concept with the Angel blowing his trumpet and the dead rising from their coffins to proceed to that final weighing of good vs. evil.

And then one day, it clicked in my mind. This card is not about Judgment - it’s about Resurrection and Rebirth. It’s no wonder I had such trouble with it. The concept of Resurrection and Rebirth are inextricably tied to Judgment in the Christian lexicon.  Christians aren’t alone in this, of course. The idea of Karmic debt is part of the concept of Reincarnation - that everytime we live again, we are going through lessons that must be learned in order to advance to the next stage of our evolution. The Judgment card is not about being judged. It is about being reborn.

The Judgment card in the Shadowscape Tarot focuses on the evolution and rebirth aspect of Judgment. Check out the details in the Judgment card to really see what I’m talking about. The frothy swirl of the trumpeter’s skirt is made up of translucent people rising to her call, holding hands in a joyful dance. They’re accompanied by butterflies, a plethora of them, fluttering in a whirl of bright blue wings - butterflies, a natural symbol of resurrection, coming out of their cocoons to burst into their adult lives.

Drop by Tarot Tuesday to check out the new card up for the Tarot Tuesday meme. I hunted for this one - I wanted a card that reflected the awakening and rebirth that is a part of the Spring festival in so many different faiths. Choosing Judgment was a no-brainer, but finding the RIGHT Judgment card was a bit trickier. I looked through a good 25 decks before finding the one that I finally chose to feature. Drop by and grab the image (be sure to link to the artist’s site) and write about Judgment, Judgment day, renewal, resurrection or any other thing that the pictured Tarot card inspires in you. I’ll see you back here tomorrow for a more in depth post about Tarot, Judgment and the imagery in Stephanie Pui-Mun Law’s Tarot card.

Tarot has been around for centuries, and in that time, thousands of people have drawn their own interpretations of the cards. I don’t pretend that this is a comprehensive list of the most famous Tarot decks in history - just a list of 13 that come to me off the top of my head.

1. The Rider-Waite Deck
   The deck that most people are most familiar with, the Rider-Waite tarot interpretation was drawn by Pamela Colman-Smith, fondly known to her friends and Pixie, from written notes and discussions with Arthur Edward Waite. The Rider-Waite tarot is full of symbols relating to the Knights Templar, the Golden Dawn and early Gnostic Christianity.
2. Marseilles Tarot
   The Tarot de Marseilles is popularly believed to be based on French designs dating back to the 15th century - which in turn were probably based on designs from Northern Italy. The Marseilles deck was mentioned by Papus, a French occultist, in his book Tarot des bohemiens. The Marseilles imagery is strongly Christian, and includes the cards La Papesse and Le Papee - The Female Pope and The Pope - in place of the High Priestess and the Hierophant.
3. Eteilla Tarot and other Tarot decks in the Eteilla tradition were the first to claim an origin in Ancient Egypt.
4. Crowley Thoth Tarot was first published in 1969 and has remained one of the most popular Tarot decks of all time. The images drawn by Lady Freida Harris are arresting, so packed full of symbolism that they can easily overwhelm a novice reader. Frankly, I think the cards are gorgeous - but find it really difficult to read with them.
5. Visconti-Sforza Tarot is the oldest surviving Tarot deck, with 74 of the 78 cards still in existence. There have been several reproduction versions released, and the popular Scapini deck is based on them.
6. Morgan-Greer Tarot was one of my first decks. It’s drawn in the Rider-Waite tradition, but has a very different feel to it. The colors are bright, vibrant and clear, and the borderless design is striking. The cards also are a comfortable size and very easy to shuffle, making them a great deck for Tarot beginners.
7. Aquarian Tarot was published in 1970 and drawn by graphic artist David Palladini. Imagine Art Deco crashing headlong into the Rider-Waite symbolism and you have an idea of what the Aquarian Tarot is like. The colors in the deck are muted, to the point that some have called them melancholy. The cards follow the traditions of the Rider-Waite deck.
8. Motherpeace Tarot holds a very special place in Tarot history - it is both the first round deck, and the first Tarot that leans heavily toward feminist/Goddess tradition. It also is the first published Tarot that assigned each of the Minor Arcana suits to a specific cultural tradition.
9. Gendron Tarot is a Christian-influenced interpretation of Tarot in the Ride-Waite tradition.
10. Witches’ Tarot was published in 1992, and beautifully blends Pagan and Wiccan tradition in darkly vibrant, borderless cards. Absolutely beautiful deck!
11. Hanson-Roberts Tarot Deck is one of my personal favorites. The Hanson-Roberts deck is an ideal deck for public readings, with light, bright illustrations and youthful, almost cherubic figures in most of the cards.
12. Salvador Dali Tarot was drawn by - yes, the artist himself. It defies description. Back when I was collecting decks at the rate of one a week (each paycheck, yep), I eagerly awaited the publication of the Dali deck - which was completely out of my price range at $78 - back in 1985. (They were published in Spain in 1984 when Dali was 80 years old.). Today, the Dali deck goes for about $100 - still outside my price range for a deck of Tarot cards.
13. Tarot of the Old Path is a deck drawn in the Rider-Waite tradition with Pagan/Wiccan leanings. The cards are borderless and easy to shuffle - very flexible card stock - and the colors bright and light. The borderless cards are painted on a white background, and somehow the illustrations almost seem to float off the card. It’s one of my two regular reading Tarot decks.

If you liked this list, be sure to drop by Thursday 13 to see who else is participating and grab the code for yourself.

This week at Tarot Tuesday, the card is Tarot Tuesday #5 - The Moon - The Pen Tarot. Again, a beautiful card - after all, I pick the cards, so it’s not surprising that they appeal to me. It’s an atypical card, with very few of the common elements found in the Moon card - but it very much captures the essence of the Moon to me.

Meditation

I wear the moon as adornment, awaken to her light calling me out to bathe in the soft sheen of a different world. She whispers secrets to me, reminds me that this world is only seeming laid atop fantasy, encourages me to see things in other lights and recognize what lies beneath the sunlit face of the day.

When I was 13, I used to wake in the middle of the night to sneak out my back window and strip to nothing, skinny dipping in our backyard pool. The water felt different at night, silky and cool, skimming over my skin with a touch as smooth as the moonlight itself. It was as if I shed my skin each night and became a part of the world in a way that I never could in daylight. Long before I learned about calling down the moon, I was alive and awake to her magic.

In a short essay on magic and prayer and spellwork, Diane Sylvan wrote:

Goddess Magic, then, is receptive; it works its change within. Drawing Down the Moon, for example, is Goddess Magic (what Curott calls “Grail Magic,” as we become the chalice to be filled). This kind of magic is where prayer would fall, as prayer is an opening, a dialogue, communication rather than action. Goddess Magic has an inward focus, and works at the very core of our being, transforming our minds, hearts, and spirits. 

This was something instinctive, not something I cultivated, and I have spent much of my life trying to return to that girl in the moonlight, that girl OF the moonlight. My work with the Tarot is a part of that quest, a walk along a twisting road trying to read signposts that are easier to see when I see by the light of the moon.

This post is a part of Tarot Tuesday, a new meme that uses a Tarot card each week to call on inspiration for artwork, writing and poetry. There are only a few of us participating just yet - but we’re openly soliciting more participation. Drop by Thorne’s World to see what she has to say about the Tarot today, and visit Tarot Tuesday to get the inspiration for the week.

Note about this week’s card: The Moon this week is from The Pen Tarot, a stunning deck drawn by Penelope Cline in fine line marker with color wash. It’s available through Figtree Press at the link above.  Drop by and browse through her artwork, and take a look at her Rubaiyat cards as well.

Pamela Colman Smith, Colman-Smith Tarot

A while back, Susan from West of Mars (I think it was her - if it wasn’t and it was YOU, sing out in a comment so I can apologize profusely and link to you correctly, mkay?) suggested that it would be nice to see several different versions of a particular Tarot card side by side for comparison sake. I completely agree - it’s something I do often, especially when I’m preparing to draw my own version of it for the Powers Tarot. At this point, I’m stalled on drawing The Sun - though drawing is a poor word for what I actually do. The Tarot I’m working on is really a combination of photo collage and design tricks in Paint Shop Pro. However. Onwards!

The card above is one that you’ve probably seen before - it’s the default deck that I use for illustration on this blog. Pamela Colman-Smith is the illustrator who created the drawings for the Rider-Waite Tarot, the most familiar Tarot in the world. It’s familiar to anyone who knows Tarot, as are the symbols and imagery on it. There is the sun with its smiling face, the red banner, the happy child - these have become standard symbols on the Sun card. Not all Sun cards carry them, though - here are a few others that are a bit different.

Sunshine - Far Sight Tarot

Artist: Helen Audrey Meinicke
Buy Far Sight Tarot

Learn More About This Deck

Self-published in 2007, the first edition of this Tarot is limited to fifty. It contains not 78 but 86 cards, including 8 alternate cards for several of the Tarot cards. Detailed, beautiful and very unique and non-traditional. There’s something marvelous about this take on the Sun - the playfulness of youth and the feeling of being washed clean and reborn are still very present here even with the absence of the “child”. The child within, perhaps? I do really like this rendition. What about you?

Sun - Tarot of the Revelation

Artist: Christopher Earnshaw

Buy Tarot of the Revelation

This deck is inspired by the Book of Revelation and the works of Edgar Cayce. Earnshaw based his interpretation of the Tarot on his realization that the Book of Revelation is made up of 22 chapters which loosely correspond to the 22 cards of the Major Arcana. He further states that he has found images from the verses hidden in the images of the Tarot cards - not unlikely, especially if he was studying a Waite deck. For an interesting take on the progression of the Tarot as it compares to John’s journey through his vision, do follow the link to Earnshaw’s web site and read his explanation of the cards . What do you think?

Sun - Vee Deck

Artist: Valerie Walker

Read more about the Vee Deck

The artist for the Vee Deck refers to it as a non-Tarot divination deck, while acknowledging that the first 22 cards of her 56 card deck share names (and in many cases, images) with the traditional Tarot. I happen to have fallen in love with this Sun card - which is interpreted “however you want to interpret it”, according to Walker, though her own words about the card include the word Exuberance, which I must admit completely encapsulates one of the predominant meanings of the Sun card. Isn’t he adorable?

What about you? Do you have any favorite Sun cards? How do you read the Sun? What symbols would you include in your Sun card if you were drawing it from scratch? I’m still gathering ideas for my own… help!