REVISION OF THE CAULDRON (XXII) IN THE TAIGA TAROT

I strongly suggest that you click here to read the previous post on The Cauldron first, as it has more background on this 23rd Major I designed. The Cauldron is a card new to The Tarot entirely, not just this Taiga Tarot. The previous post also shares meanings I've seen for it in readings over the years and the previous version of the Taiga Tarot design.

Additional Background on The Cauldron (XXII): My use of the word "cauldron" is largely poetic, as opposed to alchemical in meaning as in XIV of The Thoth and The Arthurian Tarots. (E.g., I often feel when gazing at the night sky that I'm peering into the cauldron of creation.) I think of XXII as being a process, a creative ferment, that lies beyond light/dark, pleasure/pain, etc. So that where dualities arise is in manifestation, and in our attempts to look at/understand/effect that process. In a way, I see The Cauldron as outside the circle of the 22 Majors, outside of time and manifestation. Or rather, as my attempt to represent that which I intuit (imagine?) to be beyond and outside, preceding and following, yet existing within. (Prose fails me here, poetry comes closer, and this Taiga Tarot design a wee bit closer yet.)

A friend suggested that the initial design needed the rim of The Cauldron showing, as taiga are supposed to stand alone, without explanations. But as I explained (:-D) to him, the card has never existed before, so has to be explained. However, I have put the rim in the design, as I do want to make these taiaga as close as possible to "true" taiga as I can. Here's the revision:




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 Dream & Poetry Realm and Roswila's Tarot Gallery & Journal.****

THE CAULDRON (A New Major) IN THE TAIGA TAROT

The Cauldron (XXII) is not only a new Taiga Tarot* design, but a new twenty-third Major I conceptualized many years ago. The Cauldron design I post here was prompted by a dream, as all seven of the previous Taiga Tarot designs were. In the dream I was making a list of Tarot card names and became aware that only one was missing. As I woke and recalled the dream I immediately thought "The Cauldron! I've not been considering The Cauldron!"

The idea for XXII initially came to me after designing a one-day introductory Tarot workshop years ago. I subsequently was told by a Tarot buddy that it can happen when studying an esoteric subject for some time that one begins to feel something might be missing. For me there seemed to be not so much something missing, as a lot of room for another card between XXI and O, if one views the Majors in a clockwise circle, starting with O. I'd also been hearing a lot about quantum field theory at the time and struggling to understand it even a little bit. So, all of this combined -- along with who knows what else -- and The Cauldron precipitated after designing that Tarot workshop.

In my ideas for The Cauldron design I've always seen an actual cauldron. In The Taiga Tarot version below you are looking down into the cauldron and seeing the wavy web/net/field that I always envision filling it. There's more on XXII and the meanings I've found for it after the design:




Design: The Cauldron is that out of which everything arises, and that to which it all returns, to rise again in new forms. The wavy lines are meant to represent what underlies and connects, and is the source and goal of all creation.

In Readings: (BTW, I have added XXII to every working deck I have. I use a black marker to print the name and number on one of the end cards that always come with a deck.) The Cauldron says that the situation is very amenable right now to influence on the subtle planes -- via magic, ritual, affirmations, prayer, etc. It can also indicate that a situation can go either way, or that it's not clear yet whether it will even manifest or not. XXII can very gently whisper "patience, patience, patience," things will be clearer in time. Negatively aspected -- though I've found it rarely shows in a negative light -- it can be saying things are hanging by a thread, balanced on a razor's edge, ready to boil over, about to implode, etc. I'd say the over-riding sense I have of this card is that as unclear and uncertain as things may seem, we still can have input. But subtly and with an ear to what is being asked of us and what is trying to come through us. I.e., not just what we want, but how we fit into the much larger picture. It tends to be an encouraging card. The clay has not been shaped, the cloth not yet spun. If we quiet ourselves and act in subtle and responsive ways, a shy and delicate strand of manifestation may come to us.

* 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.

* * * *

‘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 Dream & Poetry Realm and Roswila's Tarot Gallery & Journal.****