Sunday, April 8, 2007

THE TOWER (XVI)

The dream that precipitated this Tower card design was in the early hours of Good Friday (April 6th), which seems highly appropriate even though I am not Christian. I was singing the lyrics of an old Four Seasons song in my sleep: "Lighting's striking again....lightning's striking again...." Of course, on waking I immediately wondered if I should work on The Tower card. I decided to do so later and got on with my day, which proved to be an extremely "towerish," difficult one. Here's the design I've since come up with:




And here's The Tower in the Rider/Waite/Smith deck for comparison:




To be truthful to my years of experience with this card, it is all too often a real headache (sometimes literally portending one). However, not all "lightning bolts" are painful. Some are "Eureka!" moments of awakening or creative discovery. They can also briefly illumine what we otherwise cannot or refuse to see, clearing the way for something new or higher.

BRIEF BACKGROUND ON THE TAIGA TAROT (Click here for additional background on the Taiga Tarot.):

When I decided the name of the deck would be The Taiga Tarot, I liked not only the alliteration but the resemblance of the word “taiga” to “tiger.” One of my power animals is the Siberian Tiger (and by extension, all tigers), which first appeared as three tiger kittens in a dream. What I had completely forgotten at the time was that the area of Siberia in which the tiger ranges is called “The Taiga”!

A “taiga” (briefly put) is an illustrated tanka. A “tanka” is a mood poem written in five lines, that usually references natural images and human emotions. Also, there is often a contrast or conclusion or response in the last two lines to the first three. I recognize that the tanka/taiga I’m developing for The Taiga Tarot are non-traditional. As with the dream haiku I write, I am not only attempting to bridge two things – with this deck, Tarot and taiga – but also bringing my own experimental slant to it all.


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‘til next time, keep enjoying The Tarot,

Roswila

[aka: Patricia Kelly]

****If you wish to copy or use any of my writing, please email me for permission (under “View my complete profile”)**** SEE ALSO: Roswila’s Tarot Gallery & Journal and Roswila’s Dream & Poetry Realm.****

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Nice DNA double helix for your tower!

That's one way to keep the path of life open. I wonder what is used on other planets in place of it ...

oino

Roswila said...

LOL, Oino! Other planets probably use as many ways as we have to keep the life path open .... or maybe they're lucky enough not to find it all junked up and crowded to begin with .... or maybe a little whisk broom suffices.

BTW, the resemblance to the double helix was initially unintended. I emhasized the "X"s in a tower of complete boxes, then erased the sides of the boxes to make the tower more interesting and the "X"s more obvious in order to contrast them to the word "open" at the end of the tanka. Then saw that echo of DNA and thought, yes, that works, too.