It's good, but it suffers by taking the boring Rider-Waite as its model.
Thanks.
I doubt this will generate much of a comment thread, but I sent it in, rather than just posting it in a comment, because it is very good.
Additionally, there was a recent CT >thread on tarot which I thought of when I saw those photos.
Wow, my memory of the potential meaning(s) of various tarot cards is hazy. Various decks portray the various cards in, um, various manners. Which deck are they portraying?
Wikipedia suggests that they are probably portraying the Rider Waite Tarot. I only ever messed around with the tarot in its Aleister Crowley form: The Book of Thoth. You know, back in the day.
But! Lest I wander off in unnecessary directions altogether, I will say that I saw, in New York some 20 years ago now, a modern dance production portraying some of the iconic Tarot cards. The Hanged Man's performance/portrayal was especially riveting.
I just scanned the CT post linked in 2, and see that Belle says over there that she wants to design and market and promote a new Tarot deck? er, okay, go ahead. No idea, really, why something new is needed; also no idea why a place like Making Light wouldn't be a better place to make the proposal.
the boring Rider-Waite
I don't know much about tarot or the symbolism of the cards but, having seen a couple of references to it recently, I've come to like the Rider-Waite (or Waite-Smith, if you prefer) images. There's something nicely human about them. The composition is relatively simple, but the images are instantly emotionally engaging. Look at the seven of pentacles for example. It has some of the same strengths as a good newspaper comic strip -- the art is whimsical and emotionally grounded at the same time.
Yes, why create things! There are already things! Also, why is Belle not posting at someone else's blog rather than the blog she's been a contributor to for the last decade or so! It's all very puzzling.
see that Belle says over there that she wants to design and market and promote a new Tarot deck
I think she wanted to design a deck for herself, just as a artistic project and is unsure whether she will produce or market it (I read her as thinking mostly about making a one-of-a-kind set, but possibly considering printing it, though I could be wrong about that). But, like so many things she writes, her interest clearly relates to her family history. From the comments:
My mom always cast Tarot when I was young but not much lately. I got John to buy me a deck and I realize I'm afraid to use them for anything because they are so new so I will have to...ask them unimportant questions for a long time until they become worn? My great- and great-great-grandmothers were "spiritualists" who went around staying at different people's country estates turning tables etc., I thought I would post about it next. A humorous occupation for people who are not characters in a novel.
er, okay, go ahead. No idea, really, why something new is needed
I'm going to start saying this to every student who comes to me saying they want to do research.
What it comes down to is that reading the tarot for a person involves reading the cards laid down in relation to one another. (And there are a number of ways they can be laid out.) Each card has a resonance, and in its place in the hierarchy, a strength. Also a strength in relation to the order in which it appears, the order in which it is laid down.
This does mean that the imagery shown on the cards has an effect on the thinking of the reader, on her or his interpretation of the layout as it progresses, but I'm not big on the idea that these cards are just pieces of artwork.
6: I suppose I can see that for the major arcana, but not the minor.
The Sticks Are Our Masters Now, They Ride Us Like Horses
No idea, really, why something new is needed
Nonsense. The world is crying out for a Thomas Kinkade tarot deck.
Yeah, sorry about the Belle comment/puzzlement. I just thought: if you really want to design a new Tarot deck, ask a bunch of people who are more likely to know about that.
10, 13: Reading her post might have tipped you off that she's not making a new version of the standard Tarot deck -- she's making a different deck that's referenced, but not described in detail, in Little, Big, a novel by John Crowley. The standard Tarot will remain safely in the care of reliable experts.
One of these days I'll get around to making my Seinfeld Tarot, with the following figures drawn in the Rider-Waite style. So far I have:
The Magus: The Wiz
The Empress: Miss Rhode Island
The Emperor: George as Henry VIII
The High Priest: The Latvian Orthodox priest
The Chariot: Newman in the rickshaw
The Hanged Man: Michael Richards hanging upside down, legs crossed, with a fork in his ass
The Devil: Putty in his hockey paint
I haven't really decided on a fool, there are more than a few possibilities.
