The High Priestess. She is intuition, magick, the Inner Eye. I am severely resisting the impulse to find a picture of someone who looks like Professor Trelawney. Trying to keep this deck as semi-serious as possible...
The symbolism on this one is just *pouring* off...I'll probably ditch the Torah scroll, though the black and white pillars on the Rider/Waite deck I find very cool. Probably because I'm hopelessly obsessed with Katherine Kurtz's Adept series...Go! Read it! Now! It's incredible...I'll find some way to work that into this, somehow.
Monday, August 20, 2001
Tuesday, August 14, 2001
I am stuck. I am so stuck it is not even funny. There's probably a reason for that, but I can't quite put my finger on it just yet. Perhaps it's something to do with the book I'm reading. "American Gods" by Niel Gaiman is drowning in the Norse pantheon, and that just doesn't quite work well with the tarot.
I have a bit of something to start with for this card - a background of the elements and a picture of a witch in ritual....I don't think I'm going to keep it. The elements aren't enough for this card, I want the tools on it.
Gaaah! I have to do something...
I have a bit of something to start with for this card - a background of the elements and a picture of a witch in ritual....I don't think I'm going to keep it. The elements aren't enough for this card, I want the tools on it.
Gaaah! I have to do something...
Thursday, August 09, 2001
Card 2 - actually, it's #1 in the Major Arcana - The Magician. This is what I've found from other interpretations...
"The teacher in the movie Dead Poet's Society could be described as a magician, inspiring the boys in his class to be creative using unusual and creative lessons, bringing out their potentials to defy the mediocre and make their own magic. The psychiatrist in Sixth Sense helped the disturbed child become whole and deal with his gift/curse. Also, the main character in the movie Bowfinger was a magician, making a film out of nothing but dreams." --http://www.psymon.com/tarot/01-magician.html
"The Magician understands how to bring concepts into form and how to express metaphysical concepts in a physical way. He is seen with the symbols of each suit: a disk, a cup, a sword and a wand. These symbols are each a physical expression of a concept. They are The Magician's tools." --http://occult_symbolism.tripod.com/tarot/trumps/magic.html
"This is a card of success in earthly efforts. It may also concern the desire to transcend from the earthly to the Divine by means of the earthly will and talent (in other words, a desire to achieve the things of "spirit" by means of the "soul" and "body" - an effort doomed to failure)."--http://www.geocities.com/Athens/2962/bos/divination/tarot_mag.html
"Has the ability to take power from above and direct it through desire into manifestation. Indicates organizational skills. Strong ability to take charge and organize." --http://www.paralumun.com/tarotmagician.htm
"To return to the card then, the Magician as number one is related to the letter "Beth" or "B" in the Hebrew alphabet. The very first word of the Bible is "Bereshith." "Bereshith" means in the beginning. It obviously begins with the letter "B," and for the Hebrews, the letter "B" has always had a very sacred, special meaning. Notice, the symbolism. This all may be chance, but the symbolism fits so well that it does indeed communicate a very profound truth. The first letter of the alphabet for the Hebrews is the Aleph, but it is not the first letter of the Bible. Aleph stands outside and before the moment of creation. The "B" is the beginning of manifest creation. That is the power of the Magician." --http://www.globalseek.net/CaLeNDaR/TaRoT/magician.html
"Originality. Spontaneity. Imagination. Influence over others. Independence. Skill. Self-control. Ability to make up one's own mind. Determination to see a task through to its conclusion. One who has the ability to deceive others for his own gain." --http://www.webpresspro.com/tarot/magician.htm
"In the reading-The Magician reflects that the querent has control over the immediate environment. He has power and influence over what is going on in his life and the circum- stances that surround him. He also possesses the abilities and talents to accomplish what he is setting out to do and to achieve the goals he has in mind. The Magician card deals with the use of, a person's intuition, self-confidence, will power, intelligence, and skill in action. All of these qualities lead the querent to success and accomplishment. " --http://athena523.tripod.com/divination/magician.htm
In my own (only half-serious) Babylon 5 tarot, this card is Sheridan, largely for the leadership and control qualities. In the HP tarot deck, this is Moody turning Malfoy into a ferret...talk about imagination. :)
Both of these fall short, though, I think...the spiritual and inherently pagan influence should not be disregarded. The symbolism of the symbols of the Tarot on the table in front of him, as is traditionally depicted, is interesting, even further affirming the fact that The Fool is *not* the first card in the Arcana, it's just zero; a part of it. The Magician really is the first card in the Arcana, and I like the symbolism of what exists enough to not want to change it too badly. The four symbols will be there, as well as as much of that position as I can keep.
I think the Magician's qualities are what most pagans - hell, most people - want to be able to do in life.
"The teacher in the movie Dead Poet's Society could be described as a magician, inspiring the boys in his class to be creative using unusual and creative lessons, bringing out their potentials to defy the mediocre and make their own magic. The psychiatrist in Sixth Sense helped the disturbed child become whole and deal with his gift/curse. Also, the main character in the movie Bowfinger was a magician, making a film out of nothing but dreams." --http://www.psymon.com/tarot/01-magician.html
"The Magician understands how to bring concepts into form and how to express metaphysical concepts in a physical way. He is seen with the symbols of each suit: a disk, a cup, a sword and a wand. These symbols are each a physical expression of a concept. They are The Magician's tools." --http://occult_symbolism.tripod.com/tarot/trumps/magic.html
"This is a card of success in earthly efforts. It may also concern the desire to transcend from the earthly to the Divine by means of the earthly will and talent (in other words, a desire to achieve the things of "spirit" by means of the "soul" and "body" - an effort doomed to failure)."--http://www.geocities.com/Athens/2962/bos/divination/tarot_mag.html
"Has the ability to take power from above and direct it through desire into manifestation. Indicates organizational skills. Strong ability to take charge and organize." --http://www.paralumun.com/tarotmagician.htm
"To return to the card then, the Magician as number one is related to the letter "Beth" or "B" in the Hebrew alphabet. The very first word of the Bible is "Bereshith." "Bereshith" means in the beginning. It obviously begins with the letter "B," and for the Hebrews, the letter "B" has always had a very sacred, special meaning. Notice, the symbolism. This all may be chance, but the symbolism fits so well that it does indeed communicate a very profound truth. The first letter of the alphabet for the Hebrews is the Aleph, but it is not the first letter of the Bible. Aleph stands outside and before the moment of creation. The "B" is the beginning of manifest creation. That is the power of the Magician." --http://www.globalseek.net/CaLeNDaR/TaRoT/magician.html
"Originality. Spontaneity. Imagination. Influence over others. Independence. Skill. Self-control. Ability to make up one's own mind. Determination to see a task through to its conclusion. One who has the ability to deceive others for his own gain." --http://www.webpresspro.com/tarot/magician.htm
"In the reading-The Magician reflects that the querent has control over the immediate environment. He has power and influence over what is going on in his life and the circum- stances that surround him. He also possesses the abilities and talents to accomplish what he is setting out to do and to achieve the goals he has in mind. The Magician card deals with the use of, a person's intuition, self-confidence, will power, intelligence, and skill in action. All of these qualities lead the querent to success and accomplishment. " --http://athena523.tripod.com/divination/magician.htm
In my own (only half-serious) Babylon 5 tarot, this card is Sheridan, largely for the leadership and control qualities. In the HP tarot deck, this is Moody turning Malfoy into a ferret...talk about imagination. :)
Both of these fall short, though, I think...the spiritual and inherently pagan influence should not be disregarded. The symbolism of the symbols of the Tarot on the table in front of him, as is traditionally depicted, is interesting, even further affirming the fact that The Fool is *not* the first card in the Arcana, it's just zero; a part of it. The Magician really is the first card in the Arcana, and I like the symbolism of what exists enough to not want to change it too badly. The four symbols will be there, as well as as much of that position as I can keep.
I think the Magician's qualities are what most pagans - hell, most people - want to be able to do in life.
Tuesday, August 07, 2001
It took me two days from the conception of the idea to the (mostly) finished product to create The Fool. I had a fair idea of what I wanted on the card to start with, as The Fool was a card I knew pretty well going into this. The Fool stands for innocence, enthusiasm, and optimism; someone who walks to the beat of a totally different drum set. I feel a pretty strong connection to that; I think a lot of people must. So it was a personal sort of card, and something good to start with - it also stands for the beginning of a journey.
I knew what I wanted on the card - a road, with a guy walking down it, and a sunrise. Or moonrise, or earthrise...something odd. The road came in a flash of inspiration, and I picked an image I'd used as a Fine Arts project for my Humanities class last year. It's a photograph by Dorothea Lange; The Road West. You can find it on MetMuseum.org; in fact, that's where I got it from to start with. Aside from the visual, the image was supposed to represent the movement of the US into the west, and the optimism people held for the new land. I thought that fit nicely.
The Earthrise was simple; a space image from NASA, crop off the bottom so it looks like it's coming up over the horizon; voila.
The next touch came to me in the dead of night, while I was trying (very unsuccessfully) to get to sleep. One of my favorite movies of all time is the animated "The Last Unicorn", based on Peter S. Beagle's book of the same name. In the beginning of the film, the Unicorn is wandering through her forest, wondering what has happened to all of her people, when this little purple butterfly in 30's style driving goggles and scarf flies up and starts singing random bits of songs at her. She doesn't take him seriously at first, but then he recites a bit of prose he once heard about the Unicorns and where they are being held captive; she finally learns what she needs to know and sets out on her quest. I thought that little butterfly encompassed the idea of The Fool quite nicely; besides, the color's good. :)
I intended to have a man as the figure walking down the road; I don't know why. It always has been a man in the card, but I'm not neccesarily one to stick to tradition. But it's hard to find images of the *back* of someone walking, and I didn't want to see the figure's face. I wanted it to be more "everyman", someone anyone could know. At first I considered John Cleese from the "Ministry of Silly Walks" sketch on Monty Python - if that's not "walking to a different beat", I don't know what is. Then I considered a figure sketched by Leonardo DaVinci. He's been a favorite artist of mine for a long time, and he himself is an expression of the individuality and idealism of The Fool. By the way, there are no existing sketches made by Lenoardo of a man walking. So I hit Google Image Search, still in beta version, and went through 763 images dredged up from the Internet, and found a shot of a girl, with shoulder-length straight hair, blue jeans, and a tank top, walking across a ledge. For some reason, it drew me...and I certainly hope that whoever that picture is of doesn't take offense.
I've gotten pretty good at making collages in PSP, so I'm pretty happy right now at how the image looks. There's a little tweaking of pixels to be done yet, but that's minor, and so far, this project is looking good.
I knew what I wanted on the card - a road, with a guy walking down it, and a sunrise. Or moonrise, or earthrise...something odd. The road came in a flash of inspiration, and I picked an image I'd used as a Fine Arts project for my Humanities class last year. It's a photograph by Dorothea Lange; The Road West. You can find it on MetMuseum.org; in fact, that's where I got it from to start with. Aside from the visual, the image was supposed to represent the movement of the US into the west, and the optimism people held for the new land. I thought that fit nicely.
The Earthrise was simple; a space image from NASA, crop off the bottom so it looks like it's coming up over the horizon; voila.
The next touch came to me in the dead of night, while I was trying (very unsuccessfully) to get to sleep. One of my favorite movies of all time is the animated "The Last Unicorn", based on Peter S. Beagle's book of the same name. In the beginning of the film, the Unicorn is wandering through her forest, wondering what has happened to all of her people, when this little purple butterfly in 30's style driving goggles and scarf flies up and starts singing random bits of songs at her. She doesn't take him seriously at first, but then he recites a bit of prose he once heard about the Unicorns and where they are being held captive; she finally learns what she needs to know and sets out on her quest. I thought that little butterfly encompassed the idea of The Fool quite nicely; besides, the color's good. :)
I intended to have a man as the figure walking down the road; I don't know why. It always has been a man in the card, but I'm not neccesarily one to stick to tradition. But it's hard to find images of the *back* of someone walking, and I didn't want to see the figure's face. I wanted it to be more "everyman", someone anyone could know. At first I considered John Cleese from the "Ministry of Silly Walks" sketch on Monty Python - if that's not "walking to a different beat", I don't know what is. Then I considered a figure sketched by Leonardo DaVinci. He's been a favorite artist of mine for a long time, and he himself is an expression of the individuality and idealism of The Fool. By the way, there are no existing sketches made by Lenoardo of a man walking. So I hit Google Image Search, still in beta version, and went through 763 images dredged up from the Internet, and found a shot of a girl, with shoulder-length straight hair, blue jeans, and a tank top, walking across a ledge. For some reason, it drew me...and I certainly hope that whoever that picture is of doesn't take offense.
I've gotten pretty good at making collages in PSP, so I'm pretty happy right now at how the image looks. There's a little tweaking of pixels to be done yet, but that's minor, and so far, this project is looking good.
I've looked. Goddess, I've looked. There are what, thousands of Tarot decks in the world? And I'm trying to find one that works for me, me with the weird symbolism and the media obsession. Hah. I'd probably do better to buy half-a-dozen decks and pick out the best cards from each of those, but that leads to really weird-looking spreads and I don't have the money for it anyway. So I'm making my own.
I'd considered doing this before, but I just didn't have the patience to cut out pictures from millions of magazines and play with them. At the same time, I was creating web graphics and computer art for the hell of it...and the two just recently merged in my mind. Paint Shop Pro has to be one of the greatest programs of all time, in my opinion, and now I'm going to make my own Tarot on it. :)
The whole process is made much easier by the fact that I never plan on selling the deck, and probably not even posting the whole of it on the 'net, so I can use all the copyrighted pictures I want. :) And from all the millions of pictures on the internet, eventually I will find the right ones for my deck. The only question is how long it's going to take me to make the stupid thing, there being 78 cards in a Tarot deck and me having a limited number of hours in my days. It'll get done eventually.
I'd considered doing this before, but I just didn't have the patience to cut out pictures from millions of magazines and play with them. At the same time, I was creating web graphics and computer art for the hell of it...and the two just recently merged in my mind. Paint Shop Pro has to be one of the greatest programs of all time, in my opinion, and now I'm going to make my own Tarot on it. :)
The whole process is made much easier by the fact that I never plan on selling the deck, and probably not even posting the whole of it on the 'net, so I can use all the copyrighted pictures I want. :) And from all the millions of pictures on the internet, eventually I will find the right ones for my deck. The only question is how long it's going to take me to make the stupid thing, there being 78 cards in a Tarot deck and me having a limited number of hours in my days. It'll get done eventually.
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