Sunday, May 27, 2012

on art and tarot

Our ongoing renovation has got me thinking about how I'm going to decorate the interior once building has finished.  I've got lots of ideas for artwork but am thinking of using some tarot images to create a montage in one of my rooms.  I'm keen to do something a bit different.  Anyway, here are some of the images I'm considering using at this stage.

 Cards from the Etteilla deck

 Sun and Two of Wands from Tarot of the Thousand and One Nights

Visconti World and Hermit from Tarot de Paris

8 Wands and Hermit from Ancestral Path


 Princess Cups from Ancestral Path, 2 Spears from Arthurian

 Moon from Dotti, Hermit from the Haindl

 2 Disks and Moon from Hermetic

 Moon from Roots of Asia, Hermit from Ancient Lombardy

 Star from Magical Forest, Moon from Australian Animals

 Queen of Pumpkins (Disks) from halloween, Moon from Medieval Scapini
 
 Queen of Batons and The Star from Ancient Italian

Hermit from Cosmic, 10 Swords from Wheel of Change

 Hermit and Tower from Crystal

 Moon and Queen of Disks from Vacchetta



Hermit from Paulina, Queen Disks from Thoth

I think the process of putting together your favourite artwork across a large selection of tarot decks is very helpful.  It is particularly interesting to notice many of the same cards coming up and I see that I have lots of Hermits and quite a few Queen of Disks.  The Moon and Star seem to feature as well.  Now I just need to work out exactly what I'm going to do with all these gorgeous images.






Monday, May 21, 2012

on feng shui and tarot

Just over a week ago we began significant renovations to our existing home.  We have decided to remain living in the house while the builders are working.  The front three rooms of our home have been sealed off from the back, which has subsequently been demolished.  What has been interesting, at least to me, is that as the rear of the house has been pulled down my health has deteriorated and I've had in the course of the last ten days tonsillitis, flu like symptoms, laryngitis, general head cold symptoms, a night of vomiting and now what seems to be a chest infection. It has dawned on me that having the energy field of my home dismantled has understandably taken it's toll on my physical energy.  Remarkably, today the actual building has begun and I can slowly feel my energy returning.

While I've never been a die-hard believer in all the intricacies of the art of Feng Shui, I am a firm believer in the principles behind it.  While I think many of the superstitions and also some of the flying stars and numerology type elements are not so relevant to us today, especially here in the Southern Hemisphere, I do think that it is critical to take care of the energy of our home in order to ensure our life flows smoothly.

Anyway, all this has inspired me to drag out my Feng Shui Tarot set.  This is a deck I really wanted to work with seriously but have found to be almost impossible to work with.  Some of the decisions regarding elemental attributions don't really fit with my own understanding and to be honest, I just don't think Feng Shui and Tarot really fit that well together.

Despite that, it is a beautiful deck from an art perspective.  As more time passes I find that it is the art of tarot that I am drawn to more than anything.  I thought I might share some of the images with you here.












I must add that this deck is definitely readable and when you combine that with the artwork then I believe it's a deck worth having.  However, if you want to use it and keep all the meanings exactly the same as the Rider Waite Smith format then you may be disappointed.  I think it's worth having for Strength, Temperance and The Moon alone.