Designing a Tarot Deck (Leila Osman)
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Leila Osman Designing a Tarot Deck Introduction The oldest remaining tarot decks are the Visconti-Sforza (fig. 1)1 decks painted in the 15th century. However most subsequent decks are based on the Tarot of Marseilles (fig.2)2 which is believed to have been designed in the late 15th century although the oldest remaining prints are dated around 1650. The classic modern deck is the Rider-Waite (fig.3)3 tarot which was first published in 1910. The Rider-Waite tarot is designed by Arthur E Waite and illustrated by Pamela Colman Smith. For the sake of giving Pamela Colman Smith the credit she is not always attributed with I will refer to this deck as the Smith Waite. Unlike the playing cards we are familiar with a tarot deck is comprised of 78 cards which can be split into two groups: the major arcana and the minor arcana. The minor arcana is split into four suits. Cups represent things that exist in the emotional realm: they are not physical and they’re related to the element of water. Wands represent passion, primal energy, sexual energy and root of each individual consciousness: they relate to the element of fire. Pentacles are rooted in the physical world: they often represent money or any currency and physical exchange, they relate to the element of earth. Lastly, swords which relate to the intellectual and thinking realm: they symbolise critical thought and their element is air. Each suit is traditionally comprised of 10 numbered cards, a page, a knight, a queen and a king. The name of the court cards can differ depending on the deck but there are always four of them. The court cards can represent people, they may be the querent themself or somebody they know. The minor arcana generally represents small themes in the querent’s life, the everyday, things directly in the querent’s control. On the other hand the major arcana represent the big themes, the spiritual energy that surrounds the querent, things they may not have control over. The major arcana is comprised of 22 cards, that go from 0 The Fool to 21 The World, each card individual and representing its own theme or challenge. The secrets in the major arcana are numerous but generally the sequence can be compared to the traditional hero’s journey narrative.The tarot depicts objective archetypes that can be found in every human life and as a result every story we as humans tell. The symbols can be found in fairytales with Snow White and Rose Red representing the High Priestess and the Empress respectively, in Arthurian legends with Parzival as the Fool who finds The World—alongside every other Grail story both ancient and contemporary;—in Phillip Pullman’s His Dark Materials his growing heroine Lyra Silvertongue has her very own divination device the alethiometer (truth measure) whose symbols echo the tarot’s. These are just a few examples of the tarot in well known stories. The cards have their traditional interpretations but because of the intuitive nature of the practice, the reader is encouraged to put their own meanings on the cards and build their own, personal relationship with each card. 1 The Visconti-Sforza Fool. Reprinted from Wikipedia. By Hurst. M, (13th September 2011) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ File:Visconti-sforza-00-fool.jpg 2The Tarot of Marseille Fool. Reprinted from Composed of Opposites. By Composed of Opposites (n.d) https:// composedofopposites.wordpress.com/tarot-de-marseille-camoin-jodorowsky-restoration/ 3 The Fool from the Smith Waite tarot. Reprinted from Tarot Card Meanings, by Tarot Card Meanings. https:// www.tarotcardmeanings.net/waite-tarot-comments/waite-on-tarot-fool.htm Page 1 of 15 Leila Osman Tarot is a form of divination, of contacting the divine and the spirit world and asking for guidance and the truth in the situations that may arise in life. If you want to take a more scientific approach the tarot can work as an ‘ink blot’ test of sorts, where the querent projects their own meanings onto the cards based on their experiences and the situation of which they are thinking. Regardless of your explanation for the tarot, I have found that it works for me. To read them you can lay the cards out in a specific manner so each position has its own meaning; this is called a spread. There are many preexisting spreads for the reader to choose from or adapt. The reader also has the freedom to create their own spread for specific situations. The Celtic cross (fig. 4)4 is a classic spread designed by Arthur E Waite in the early 20th century. The spread is very popular because it gives a beautiful overall image of a situation. It can also be read and adapted in a lot of different ways making it very versatile. Each card is generally read individually and they all come together to weave a general picture of the querent’s situation. However, spreads aren’t the only way to read tarot; many tarot practitioners pull a card for the day, week, month or even year to meditate on throughout that time. This practice helps the reader understand the energy surrounding them so they are able to enhance productivity and mental wellbeing. The Project I decided to do tarot as my project because I wanted to deepen my understanding of the cards and designing my own deck seemed like a good way to do that. I now have hands on experience of sorting through the imagery of each card and pulling out the separate symbols, interpreting them on their own and putting them all back together. Initially I chose for my cards to be mixed media, collage, painted, watercoloured, drawn or anything that felt natural at the time. I acknowledge that this is one of my faults; I don’t draw clear enough boundaries for myself and I base too much of my work on intuition alone, meaning I often end up lost because I have so much choice. I started by looking at a lot of my old work to see if any of the pieces had any of the symbolism or feel of the cards in them and I found a lot of them did. In my initial plan I wanted to finish creating a card a week. Although while I made that plan I did acknowledge it was a little unrealistic but I didn’t realise how unrealistic until I started my work. The Magician I decided to start with The Magician (fig. 5)5 because though he’s not the very beginning of the journey as he’s not The Fool, he’s a beginning of sorts and I had clearer ideas for him than I did The Fool. The Magician is about having all the tools necessary at your disposal to begin a new project or journey, he just needs a little push of willpower, which may be one of the hardest steps in the whole 4 Celtic Cross spread. Reprinted from Esoteric Meanings, by Esoteric Meanings. (n.d). http://www.esotericmeanings.com/celtic- cross-tarot-spread-layout/ 5 The Magician. Reprinted from Tarot Card Meanings, by Tarot Card Meanings. (n.d) http://www.esotericmeanings.com/celtic-cross- tarot-spread-layout/ Page 2 of 15 Leila Osman major arcana sequence. The tools on his table represent each suit of the minor arcana, this can symbolise him having power over every aspect of himself; his primal will, his emotions, how he interacts with the physical world around him and his thinking. The Magician has the capacity to be a poser or a bit superficial; early decks have him named as a stage magician, a juggler and a sleight of hand artist. The Magician proved himself to be difficult. I’d based his design on a collage I’d made a few years ago (fig. 6). The collage was based on an Atlas like figure - someone that holds balance - and I thought this worked really nicely for The Magician. Though not the traditional interpretation for the card it is my relationship with him. I had some technical difficulties bringing my vision to fruition and I ultimately decided to leave him for the time being so I could begin working on a card that I had more confidence with to build momentum. The Empress I moved on to The Empress (fig. 7)6 as I’d had a really clear vision for her since the beginning of the project. The Empress is one half of the divine feminine and she represents our connection to the earth. She is physicality, sexuality, fertility, sensuality and motherhood. Unlike the High Priestess she is not a virgin and she is a mother. She is comparable to Demeter, Oshun, Isis, Aphrodite or Persephone. The Empress can have a whole host of meanings. In readings, she can represent the querent’s mother or if the querent is a mother, their relationship with that role. She can mean that the querent needs to become more in touch with nature or their physical body. I wanted to use an image from Beyonce in her ‘Lemonade’ era because she used a lot of traditional Yoruba imagery to make herself into the goddess Yoruba Oshun (Fig. 8)7. She is the goddess of beauty, love, fertility and water. Oshun is often portrayed wearing yellow and cowrie shells. These are symbols that Beyonce emulated in her style choices, as well as using lots of water in her videos. Beyonce was also pregnant at this point which made her look like a fertility goddess.