mskala: (Default)
([personal profile] mskala posting in [community profile] tarot Apr. 28th, 2009 09:35 pm)
I'm hoping that other people will write most of the entries in here - it shouldn't all be me - but at the same time I want to spur some discussion so I'll probably be posting a few discussion-starter kinds of entries. [personal profile] ladyseishou suggested an "introduce yourself" thread but I think I'll hold off on that until after the grand opening when we'll probably get a lot more readers and writers here. Others are free to post their introductions whenever, though.

For now, does anybody want to talk about connections between individual cards? In your favourite deck, are there two cards that seem to be depictions of parts of the same story, or the same scene from different viewpoints? For instance, if you look closely at the R-W Death card, you can see that the Sun is rising between two pillars that strongly resemble the ones on the Moon card. What would it mean for those to be the same pillars? Is the land through which Death rides the same land entered by the personal journey suggested by the Moon? Of course, many other cards (especially in that deck, but also in others) have the general design of a person between two pillars that may or may not resemble the ones on other cards. I'm sort of inclined to view all these as representing different paths to the same secret that's behind all these people.

In other decks there may be designed-in connections among cards - some designers are quite explicit about stating that a sequence of cards represents a story about some characters and showing those same characters on the different cards to create the link. Any good examples of decks where the designers have done that on purpose? I recently found out, and was a bit disappointed, that this kind of effect in the Manara deck comes from the fact that many of the images are repurposed from his other works - so the fact of the same person appearing on more than one card may not be deliberate or particularly significant. Then again, we're free to read in whatever esoteric meanings we care to.
sashajwolf: photo of woman standing in a forest with moon behind her (moon)

From: [personal profile] sashajwolf


Good question! I don't have my deck with me right now (the Revelations deck), but I'll bookmark this to answer when I'm at home tomorrow or Friday.
ladyseishou: (Default)

From: [personal profile] ladyseishou


This is a very interesting point. I’ve noticed similar imagery on several cards (as [personal profile] mskala points outs the two towers on the Death and the Moon card of the R-W deck or roses and columns on several cards) but never thought to connect them together. There’s a similar, almost simplified representation of mountains also used for the R-W tarot (in the background of the Fool, the Lovers, Strength, etc.) but until now didn’t think of the possibility that the backgrounds suggested a geographical continuity (which would in turn suggest a possible connection on a symbolic level). It would certainly make for an interesting activity to connect them all together in a narrative story (aside from the allusions to the Hero’s Journey).

I’ve read that the design of the Merlin Tarot was based on the Merlin mythology but I’ve never done any in-depth research on the matter.

Just recently started reading the book Tarot for Writers by Corrine Kenner which introduces several writing exercises based on selection of cards. For example, chapter eight addresses setting and description:

You’ll find a wide range of settings in the landscape of the cards: urban and rural, rich and poor, packed with people, or empty and barren. There’s no shortage of sights and scenes to fill your story with realistic details and descriptions.

The writing exercise she suggests is to pull one card from the tarot deck that may be used to represent the story’s setting and two additional cards to add details/background. I haven’t tried this yet but it sounds like a great idea for a writing prompt for a short story or drabble. It may also make the symbolic connections between cards more prominent, if only for my own interpretation.
Edited Date: 2009-04-30 04:52 pm (UTC)
sashajwolf: photo of woman standing in a forest with moon behind her (moon)

From: [personal profile] sashajwolf


Okay, time for a proper response at last. I'm using Zach Wong's Revelations deck. One of the first things that struck me about it was that the Tower card uses imagery of leaves of paper falling out of what appear to be office-type buildings, so I think there is a 9/11 allusion there. There is similar imagery on the Fool card and the Two, Three and Four of Wands. There are also other cityscapes on the Knight of Pentacles, Chariot, Emperor and Three of Pentacles cards. They don't seem to be the same city, but I think it's an indication that applying the spirituality of the cards to modern urban life is one of the themes of this deck.

ETA: Could we have a "decks: revelations" tag, please?
Edited Date: 2009-05-02 06:19 pm (UTC)
ladyseishou: (Default)

From: [personal profile] ladyseishou


Maybe leave it open for a while (to see how things go - the community is still small) and change it later (if it gets out of hand)?
.

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