Tyger! Tyger! Burning Bright
It’s been a busy week. I’m getting the Carnival ready to publish. But while I was perusing the web this afternoon, I found this weirdly beautiful little film inspired by William Blake’s poem The Tyger. I thought I’d share it with you.
The Phantomwise Tarot
Here is a new deck for my wishlist. Take a look at The Phantomwise Tarot. It is beautiful and dark. The artist, Erin J. McCauley used a palette of blacks and warm grays to create the artwork for her deck.
One of my ‘fantasy decks’ has always been an Edward Gorey Tarot. This one puts me in mind of Gorey’s style, but I find the figures and faces on Phantomwise are less severe and more lifelike. The suggestion of sepia in the coloring, and the facial expressions give this deck life and character that would be missing in a deck made of Gorey artwork.
Ms. McCauley says her deck was influenced by, “…myth, fable, fairy tales, the works of Lewis Carroll in particular and the phantasmagorical in general.” In fact, Alice from Lewis Carroll’s stories opens and closes the deck as the Fool at one end and The World at the other.
The deck consists of the 22 Major Arcana only. It is available from the Art Tarot Website. But at the listed price of $99, it will be some time before I can add this one to my collection.
Gummy Bear Tarot
I’ve been using this deck a lot lately. There are times when you need simplicity and clarity. I’m moving through one of those times right now.
Many Tarot decks are rich with symbolism featuring cards that are simply packed with images, lights and shadows, zillions of colors and shadows… and it can all become too much for my senses after a while. That’s when I need a very simple deck. That’s when I reach for the Gummy Bears.
The Gummy Bear Tarot features line drawings, primary colors and straightforward imagery. The symbolism is clear and simple, the voice of the deck comes through clearly to me with less static on the lines. Reading ‘between the lines’, or perhaps ‘in the spaces between the cards’ as I’ve thought of it, is much easier to do with this deck.
Another good deck for simplicity that I’ve seen recommended is the International Icon Tarot. Although the faceless figures on this deck leave me a bit cold. The little faces on the gummy bears supply a hint of personality that I seek in all my decks. For myself, personality is as important in a deck of Tarot cards as it is in a group of friends.
For single-card readings, such as a Daily Draw, I still use other decks when the spirit moves me. But for anything more than one card, I’m using the Gummy Bears these days.
A Tarot Relic
This is the Queen of Wands from a deck identified as Bembo Bonifacio’s Visconti Tarot. (Click on the image to get a closer look). It is in the collection of the Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library at Yale University. The date they have for it is c. 1445. That would make this card 562 years old.
Think about that. A Tarot card that was created and used more than half a millennium ago. It is speculated that this deck was created to celebrate a wedding joining the Visconti and Sforza families of Milan. I’m assuming that’s gold leaf on the card, at least it certainly looks like it. I did a bit of half-hearted googling and was unable to find a description. Perhaps someone with better google-fu than me can find that information.
I saw this link to the online images of these cards on a relatively new forum called Tarot America. It’s a small but growing group of nice folk, where you will find discussions on Cartomancy of all kinds, Runes, the I-Ching and Phenomenology.
You can view the rest of the collection here. You’ll just need to type Tarot in the search field.
Making a Wand
I’ve been getting acquainted with the The Druidcraft Tarot
I don’t know a lot about Druidism or the Pagan faith, but I do know that I’m beginning to really love this deck. I’m undecided about whether or not to buy the accompanying book. The cards speak to me just fine without my understanding the Druid symbolism and lore that is incorporated in the artwork. It’s been a lovely blind date, and we’re getting along fine.
Using this deck has made me desire a wand. Years ago a good friend of mine made me a wand, and I loved it. She was neither Druid nor Pagan, her magical background was eclectic – mostly Voudon and Romani, but she made beautiful wands. It did not, however survive the move across country. So I’m going to try to make one.
I searched for ‘wand making’ using Google and came up with dozens of instructions for making a wand. The first few were all Harry Potter related, which is no surprise, and there is apparently a thriving industry of wizarding wands for muggles out there.
But this page proved to be the most straightforward and simple. The instructions are much like the ones I have for making a walking stick.
So, whenever I can get the materials together I’ll give it a try.
