After a lengthy hiatus, THE NINE OF PENTACLES

It's hard for me to believe it's been 3 years since my last Taiga Tarot post. And the odd thing is what's brought me back to this effort is another new Tarot deck I've recently returned to designing, The Marker Tarot. As The Marker Tarot also consists of very simple line drawings on black backgrounds, I found myself thinking about the Taiga Tarot more and more often. There's even a small amount of exchange going on between these two decks. For instance, a design that doesn't quite work for the Taiga Tarot may wind up being fine for The Marker Tarot, and vice versa.

Now to today's card, The Nine of Pentacles (9P) above. The 9P has long been one of my favorite cards. I actually tend to like all the cards in any deck, just some a bit more. The Lady on the well-known Rider/Waite/Smith (RWS) version:

always appealed to my sense of independence, and desire to cultivate creativity in whatever ways I could, in both myself and others. I used this card (decades ago) as the symbol for a series of open poetry readings I organized and led, even calling that series "Kestrel" (after the type of falcon on the Lady's hand/glove). So this card has somewhat more resonance for me than many in the Tarot.

All Taiga Tarot card designs/tanka are in some way dream-based. Unfortunately, the old notes and sketch I found in my file on my Taiga Tarot 9P do not indicate what the dream connection was. And too much time has passed for me to recall it, as I'd probably be able to do had it been only three months and not three years that have gone by. I will most certainly remember to make notes on what the dream connection is for any future card designs. (There is one more old draft Taiga Tarot design in my file without any record of what its dream source may be. That's for the Nine of Wands, which I'll probably post next.)

I've also been through an interesting process in making this newest Taiga Tarot card design. On one hand, I've had to learn some new computer skills to get the text on the image. The old program I used to use could not be up-dated or even copied "as is" to my new computer. Fortunately, I had gotten Photoshop for the first time when I switched to this much better new computer. And so now it's just been a matter of figuring out how to put text on an image using Photoshop.

On the other hand, I discovered (sadly) that my fine motor skills (I believe that's the correct terminology) are not quite what they used to be (I'm pushing 72). In just the time since I last drew a Taiga Tarot design (and also presently in working with The Marker Tarot) I notice a decrease in my control over a pen's lines. The Nine of Wands design that's percolating is going to be quite a challenge given this. But a delightful one, especially now that I have Photoshop as a helper. (The original drawing for the above 9P was done freehand and reversed to white on black as always. Then I applied a Photoshop filter called "ink outlines" that made the sketchy wobbles look more like a chosen style. Or at least, so I'd like to think. :-D)

The Lady on the RWS 9P above will stand as my guide and encouragement for all future Taiga Tarot cards. She must have faced many of her own challenges before standing in her serene and abundant garden, about to send her kestrel off soaring through the sky.

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

Please note: This deck is not necessarily being designed for use in divination, but rather to share taiga based on each of 78 Tarot cards.

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 dreamku I write (haiku-like poems about dreams), I am not only attempting to bridge two things – Tarot and taiga – but also bringing my own experimental slant to it all.

* * * *

'til next time, keep enjoying The Tarot,






**** [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; Roswila’s Dream & Poetry Realm; Trying to Hold A Box Of Light; The Marker Tarot.

JUDGMENT (XX)

As usual it was a dream that precipitated this new Taiga Tarot card design:

On Apil 26, 2012 I dreamed I was in my old neighborhood back in New York city. I'd heard a new company had jobs available and I thought I should probably apply. I stood before their front door just as a train rumbled by above on the elevated train tracks. I decided to go to lunch instead. As I thought about this dream I associated that rumbling from above to the trumpeting on the more traditional Judgment (XX) card. Here it is in the Rider/ Waite/ Smith deck:

It seemed I was being "called" to something more nourishing (food) than another job, another door to open. Since this "door" was in the past (an old neighborhood) this led me to something I've been nibbling at the edges of for some time. Renewal may not be not predicated on every last issue in one's past being completed and learned from, but on a certain -- shall I say -- critical mass of that sort of inner work. I've certainly been yearning for a renewal, and feeling discouraged and oft times exhausted emotionally. So I began to wonder if this dream was saying to listen, rewewal may be already calling. At that point I realized I was also beginning to work on XX in The Taiga Tarot.

With respect to this project, I did a bit of prioritizing a few nights ago using The Tarot. I have many, many different projects, some creative, some pragmatic and was wondering which needed addressing sooner rather than later. The Taiga Tarot came up as of the highest priority (which was quite a surprise). It was also clear that although I cannot rush The Taiga Tarot, I can take the time when I feel those little nudgings and urgings to make notes and sketches. No matter how many other projects are awaiting my attention.

Following along with the message from The Tarot that The Taiga Tarot is a high priority in my life, I should mention that I've now also got a design for The Nine of Wands percolating. It should be up in a day or two.

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

Please note: This deck is not necessarily being designed for use in divination, but rather to share taiga based on each of 78 Tarot cards.

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 dreamku I write (haiku-like poems about dreams), I am not only attempting to bridge two things – Tarot and taiga – but also bringing my own experimental slant to it all.

* * * *

'til next time, keep enjoying The Tarot,

**** [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; Roswila’s Dream & Poetry Realm; Opening to the Light (for digital pix only); and DREAMJIN: for Haiku-Like Dream Poems, a Yahoo group.****

THE TWO OF WANDS

My apologies for the long time between card designs. As the expression goes, life is what happens while we're making other plans. :-) However, I do want to stress no matter how long a time lapses between designs I do intend to complete this project. (Very slightly in my defense, this particular blog project requires more by-hand work ahead of time than any of my other blogs. Then a design frequently requires re-doing by hand once I find I can't fit the words properly onto the image in the Paint computer program. So I do tend to put any idea I may have percolating for a Taiga Tarot card on the back burner. And with me back burners are a dangerous place to leave something ... you know, out of sight, out of mind ...)

Now to the Two of Wands -- Much earlier this year I fell asleep asking my dreams for help with a difficult issue. Although on waking I did not recall a dream response (which is unusual) I did find myself immediately beginning to write about the Two of Wands with an eye to it being my next Taiga Tarot card. Since I was still sleep-groggy and scribbling nearly illegibly in my dream journal while sitting at the edge of my bed, I'm quite certain this urge was the answer to my dream incubation question.

Here's the design that ultimately resulted:


Over these past few years whenever I've looked at the Two of Wands (in the Rider/Waite/Smith or similar deck) I've noted the man and the world he holds are in a castle. On the ramparts, so he's both viewable from outside and able to have a good overview, but in a protected situation nevertheless. Here's the Two of Wands in the RWS deck:


This has led me to stay aware of an aspect of sheltering or protection that this card can represent that I don't recall coming across in traditional interpretations I've read. Here's a more thoughtfully written way of putting that from my notes that morning when I woke up designing this card:

"You may feel hemmed in, even imprisoned by circumstances now. But the walls are really more like the shell of an incubating egg -- protective and holding while deep changes are taking place. You are in an ideal position to take a larger perspective on things as you wait for rebirth. And remember that ultimately everything you need is always right here in the palm of your hand."

That writing has actually proven to be quite accurate. Though too often I have railed away at the walls of my "prison," forgetting the life that rests right here, in the palm of my hand.

P.S. Day after posting: I just saw the Two of Wands (especially in the above RSW version) as a possible future generated/encouraged by technology. Living in our own castles in the air, each with our own world in our palm devices. When I first moved to CA (3-1/2 years ago) I rapidly became rather modern by comparison to most of my fellow residents. I began to use and carry not only a cell phone (basic, no email), but an old Palm Pilot and an old camera. Now all three of those devices' capacities are de rigueur in one. And that includes touch navigation, email and internet access, face-to-face calls, the ability to talk and surf at the same time, not to mention games, and so on. The world in the palm of one's hand, indeed! Will we ever need or want to leave home? Even my science fiction and fantasy fan self shudders at the thought that soon enough all of this will be in a tiny implant in our bodies somewhere. Eeeeeww! Guess I really am becoming an old curmudgeon.

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

Please note: This deck is not necessarily being designed for use in divination, but rather to share taiga based on each of 78 Tarot cards.

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 dreamku I write (haiku-like poems about dreams), I am not only attempting to bridge two things – 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 Tarot Gallery & Journal; Roswila’s Dream & Poetry Realm; and Yahoo DREAMJIN: Group for Dreamku – Haiku-Like Dream Poems. ****

THE ACE OF SWORDS

This one has been on the back burner so long it was practically ashes when I went looking for my notes and sketch. It's based on a line I heard in a dream exactly one year ago: "We are connected by what pierces."

Before I go into more background on the card design, here it is:

[we fly or homestead/swim deep or burn/the midnight oil/what connects/is what pierces]

I may re-do this image as it's not quite as clear as I would like. I'm not sure why the contrast is so poor; maybe I'm just over-tired and not recalling accurately how I used to make these images (a distinct possibility). But the design itself I am content with. [Note of February 14, 2010: Having just begun work on a Taiga Tarot design for The Two of Wands, I finally realized the problem. I had forgotten that I draw in the card colors initially in reverse on white paper (e.g., white space where I want black), then "reverse colors" in the PAINT program. And that is what produces the nice clear black and white balance overall. Well, at least the brain cell that had that information was only in a deep sleep, not deceased. :-D Now I can re-do this Ace of Swords and The Fool (2-18-08 post) so they will be a lot crisper looking.]

For comparison here's The Ace of Swords in a favorite deck of mine, The Phoenix Tarot:



I don't have any more detail on the dream except that it was a spear in the dream. And at the time I knew it was, for the most part, referencing what for me is often the deep pain of empathy with others. It may seem odd to make empathy -- usually understood to be a felt as opposed to a thinking process -- a sword card. However, for empathy to make a difference at all it does need to become conscious, to pierce our awareness, if you will. I also associated this sort of connection to the sword that pierced Jesus's side. That, too, can be seen in terms of connection and empathy.

As I'm relating to The Ace of Swords here there's definitely a sacrifice of sorts. A giving up of anything more than a recognition and bearing up beneath our various connections to others. That is, not necessarily doing anything to rectify or alleviate or deny anything (for self or other), but to bear it, to acknowledge our connections. Which I am beginning to see are constant and pervasive. A magnificent subtle web we are part of, even as we weave our small strands within it.

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

Please note: This deck is not necessarily being designed for use in divination, but rather to share taiga based on each of 78 Tarot cards.

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 dreamku I write (haiku-like poems about dreams), I am not only attempting to bridge two things – Tarot and taiga – but also bringing my own experimental slant to it all.

* * * *

'til next time, keep enjoying The Tarot,

**** [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; Roswila’s Dream & Poetry Realm; and DREAMJIN: for Haiku-Like Dream Poems, a Yahoo group.****