Tarot Spread Project Summary

This morning I used the random.org list randomizer to pick a Three-Card Situation Spread to summarize my project.

The first card -- what worked well -- is the 10 of pentacles. This is a lucky card that shows a sucessful older man. I took this as a reminder that I have all the materials and other resources necessary to be successful doing an art journal.

The second card -- what didn't work well -- is the 4 of swords. This was a reminder that I'd thought of this project as something fun and relaxing and not very structured or well-planned. Well I did have a lot of fun doing online research and reading books but the idea was too vague to lead to a completed 30-day art journal where I got into someone else's mindset every day.

The last card -- key learnings -- is the 9 of pentacles. This card shows a successful woman holding a falcon in her gloved hand. This card reminds me of the instigator of IFJM because of her love of birds and the outdoors. So one learning is that if I want to succeed at an IFJM project in particular, I need to heed the advice of the infiltrator. A standard interpretation of this card is that the woman is at peace within and can enjoy the good things in life alone which is true of me. So I can choose to do IFJM or not next year but if I do choose to do it, I should do it as suggested in order to achieve the benefits.

Maneki-neko Tarot Card

The image on the Ms. Fortune card shows a female neko with a medal containing a five-pointed star hanging from a red ribbon around her neck. She is standing in the door of a cardboard house which has crossed muntins on its side window. She holds one hand up pointing to the heavens and the other down to the earth, providing a link. Just outside her house is a small garden of white lilies and red roses; a yellow butterfly floats above it. She has a charismatic personality. This card represents good fortune and, possibly, wealth.

Pamela and Georgia at 291

Pamela Colman Smith was the first painter to show at Alfred Stieglitz' 291 Gallery. (Previously he'd shown photographers.) She had three displays there from 1907 to 1909 which was around the same time she'd started working on the Rider-Waite Tarot cards. Georgia O'Keeffe's first show at 291 was in April 1916.

The left side of the above picture is a cropped black and white copy of Pamela's Tower card and the right side is a black and white copy of one of Georgia's charcoal drawings from her first 291 show. (I realize the cropping and the conversion to black and white gives a somewhat misleading impression of similarity!)

This post was inspired by information in the 2007 book Modernism and the Feminine Voice: O'Keeffe and the Women of the Stieglitz Circle by Kathleen Pyne. I was surprised to learn that Stieglitz had groomed four other woman artists, photographers Gertrude Käsebier and Anne Brigman and painters Pamela Colman Smith and Katherine Nash Rhoades, before he had ever heard of O'Keeffe.

Abstract Tarots

Here is a selection of abstract Tarot decks. And this interesting interview with Peter Rotin includes several of his cards.

Supernatural

I couldn't resist doing a scrapbook page when I found this in Sunday's T Magazine. Apparently this is the year for Tarot everywhere. Even the staid Economist used bespoke Tarot cards on the cover of its issue predicting what to expect in 2017.

Tattwa Cards

Members of the Golden Dawn, including W. B. Yeats, were supposed to make their own Tattwa cards. They were about the size of Tarot cards and appear to have been painted. (I've read that the Golden Dawn used Winsor & Newton gouache for painting cards.)

The user of a Tattwa card is supposed to stare at the card (without blinking) and then close his or her eyes after staring long enough to see the color-reversed afterimage. Then with eyes still closed the user meditates and attempts to astral project through the afterimage.

Main page for W. B. Yeats exhibit. Clicking the "interactives" link leads to a variety of information including some of the Tattwa cards Yeats made.

Land of Enchantment

Pigma Sensei black pens and Schmincke Horadam gouache.

I worked on this off and on for three days. I didn't expect it to take so long. Deciding on the details took time as well as finding the reference materials. It can, of course, be more efficient when several similar items are done in sequence. For example, deciding on paper type and size and getting a half dozen identical sheets ready; doing all the sketching; setting out the paints and brushes just once, etc. But for me that can seem too much like a production line.

Card Backs

Perseverance Furthers

I definitely feel that the I Ching is telling me to continue this project, to try not get discouraged, and to remember that there are always difficulties. I took this part of the interpretation of the Judgement to suggest a possible positive outcome of using the Tarot, "When man recognizes the inherent difficulties of life on earth and 'makes himself dependent upon the harmonious and beneficent forces of the cosmos, he achieves success.'"

[The second or related hexagram, No. 39, advises that two way to deal with obstacles are to "... join forces with friends of like mind...." and to use one's inner resources. It also reminds that dealing with obstacles can become an occasion for inner enrichement.]

My favorite line of extra information is this one at the beginning:

The footprints run crisscross.
If one is seriously intent, no blame.

Here is the interpretation. "It is early morning and work begins. The mind has been closed to the outside world in sleep; now its connections with the world begin again. The traces of one's impressions run crisscross. .... If one is serious and composed, he can acquire the clarity of mind needed for coming to terms with the innumerable impressions that pour in. It is precisely at the beginning that serious concentration is important, because the beginning holds the seed of all that is to follow."

Tarot Ankh Loop

Last Wednesday I woke up with a very sore right wrist and I'm right-handed. This had never happened to me before. I could barely hold a coffee cup let alone write or type. I rested that arm as much as I could and it was a lot better on Thursday so I did play around with some ideas for card backs. Then on Friday it seemed o.k. to draw so I used a compass and ruler and did all the ink drawing and writing on the page above. Yesterday I painted it with watercolor according to the suggested colors. (The Golden Dawn was very particular about colors.) Both steps took a lot of time. Luckily my wrist and hand seem o.k. now!

The Rose Card

Subterfuge

We had a nice visit.

Yeats' Two of Coins

The Coins are also referred to as either disks or pentacles and have various representations. The palm tree is a rubber stamp I had on hand.

Flower of Life

Lots of new visual symbols. I'm not very interested in Cabala but I copied the upper picture from the Web because the Golden Dawn was.

Susan and the Mermaid

Yesterday I just practiced signatures similar to the one Pamela Colman Smith used.

I bought this book online and received it yesterday. The biographical notes about PCS by Corrine Kenner are very interesting and detailed. Kenner is a Tarot expert.

Marseille Three-Card Spread

The card outlines, as well as an online reading, are free from the CBD site. (I know that the figure in the center of the World card is usually identified as a hermaphrodite but here it seemed female to me.)

Just Pips?

Apparently some people feel that only the old decks give "true" readings.

My First Talisman

Words in and around the talisman are written in Kobographs.

Card of the Day for 4/1/2017

(Remember you can click on any of the photos to see a larger version.)

Copying the card freehand took a lot longer than I expected! I used black Pigma Sensei pens and watercolor. I bought the tiny wooden stand unfinished at a craft store for less than a dollar and colored it with DecoArt Antiquing Cream.

Cover of New Journal

"Talismans, used in the practice of magic by the Golden Dawn, were sometimes constructed from geomantic, planetary and angelic sigils (symbols created for magical purposes) utilising a wheel of eight radii and placing appropriate Hebrew letters between the two circles, grouped according to their numerical values."

Source.