So I’ve been entertaining the idea of creating a tarot deck for quite some time. I was, and am, worried about my accuracy and portrayal of this ancient and instinctive artform, and the liberties some might accuse me of taking with it. However, I decided to “proceed with alacrity,” as one of my good friends would put it, and simply begin their creation. Here’s what I’ve got so far:
II. The High Priestess
The High Priestess is the Goddess of her realm. Her left hand (signifying the Right Brain, and its connection to the intuition and the Divine Feminine) is open and reaching toward the infinite realms of microcosm and macrocosm encompassed in the tree; an ecosystem unto itself, living in a greater ecosystem of a forest, within the forests of the world, yet still microcosmic in the grand scope of the Universe. The tree is rooted in a cliff overlooking a deep valley and mountain range, cut in half by the river; the divided and unified earth, reaching upward toward the sun like aching lips begging thirst from the sky. Behind the High Priestess is the Great Pyramid, a flying saucer, and a ball, hovering; gravity defied by magnetism; logic defied by the mystical. Her left wrist is entwined not with chains, but with vines, which grow stronger and more adaptable with time.
Her womb is covered by an inversion of the Seal of Solomon, a rose in bloom grows out of the unification of the inverted feminine/intuitive pyramid and the upright masculine/logic pyramid. Her hair reflects the blue of night and the sunrise of day, or the sunset and midnight, depending on who you ask.
Her left hand is chained to an obelisk, upon which her acolytes have sprayed graffiti. She is chained to the Eye; the All-Seeing. She experiences the Logical Consciousness through the observer of her Third Eye, not allowing third-circuit consciousness to override her High Priestess.
The black sun above and the crescent moon below you can figure out on your own.
and
I. The Magician
This is the Library of the Worlds as I’ve seen it in dreams. The Magician lives here, reading, studying, but also doing, going out into the bright light behind him. He is Tesla and he is Maerlyn. He holds the Four Suits: Flutes instead of Wands, bringing music of fire and light; Quills instead of swords, for we all know the pen is mightier; Vials instead of Cups, for the wine is alchemical; and Compasses instead of Pentacles, for it is better to know which direction you are going rather than to be wealthy, famous, and blind.
The cat is his best friend from another life. The Swan came in a package from Switzerland one evening. Tesla has always inspired him, and lives on the ceiling in perpetuity. There is an odd world going on in one of the bookshelves, but not unlike the worlds going on inside the books themselves. The table is draped with a tree that spans the worlds of the material and spiritual, the modern and the ancient. Thoth is hanging out on the Dragon’s Pillar, and Vortegern the Wyvern sleeps quietly on its marble surface. The books, they come alive at night, and have their own agenda entirely.
Seriously, don’t steal this shit. Karma is a bitch.
ALL WORKS COPYRIGHT 2010 CHERYL LENEE ANDERSON
