JDusk
Image: A voluptuous red female figure, with one glowing eye and blackened head and legs, is surrounded by blue figures: two floating above her touching her shoulders with legs and backs curved like the symbolic Taurus horns, and seven holding themselves up by grasping her or supporting her from below. She is rising above the sea, which is comprised of enormous waves that dwarf the dark landscape barely visible on the right. There are indistinct clouds surrounding the central figures. While the bottom of the image is dark – eclipsed, even – there is a light growing behind the figures, brightening the sky. Note: The online image shows a crescent moon between the “horns,” but in the card this is obscured by the title.
Keywords: Traditional philosophies, practice, systems, ownership
Element: Earth
Analysis: The artist’s website says this image features “the red giant star Aldebaran, crowned by the Pleiades and the Hyades,” referring to the star clusters around the stars in Taurus. The Hyades are the two crowning figures, and the Pleiades are below. They seem to be flocking to Aldebaran, both supporting and clinging to, like she is the center of everything – like a force of gravity or magnetism. The waves and clouds are also parting around her. I get a strong sense of centrality as a result – this is what the world is revolving around.
Aldebaran appears like a primordial mother goddess. The indistinct clouds turning into sea, the enormous, unworldly waves swallowing (or giving way to?) land. Interestingly, while there is land, water, sky, and fire (as a star) here, a balance of elements, earth seems the least present, but that is the element that is said to rule this card. This then feels more like “earth” in the planetary sense – the creation of the earth. However, the stability that is manifesting here, after a presumably chaotic past, also speaks to the qualities of earth.
As Taurus: Well, this isn’t a traditional Taurus at all, and even as a Taurus myself it’s honestly making me go “huh?” a little, but when the guidebook refers to a “connection to traditional philosophies, time-honored practice and ritual,” I can see this as being time-honored ritual… the figures surrounding Aldebaran feel worshipful. But that's also very much a Hierophant quality. And I get the sense that stability is being brought about, even if it's not currently present.
As Hierophant: My perception of this as a mother-deity, emerging from “primordial soup,” speaks to creating order out of chaos. The act of creating or building a world is in some ways like organized religion – creating rules, order, structure, and hierarchies to underlying abstract (spiritual) concepts. Seeing this figure as the mother also makes me consider the figures surrounding her could be her children—a matriarchal take on the patriarchal structure of RWS. As I mentioned, this feels very centralized, like she is the locus of power and the world is revolving around her.
Connections: We just saw the Emperor, who I see as the sun. Here, Aldebaran is an enormous sun. While the Emperor/Leo is a broad concept, alone, a ruling power with little connection to anything else – shown in an almost egocentric composition – Hierophant/Taurus is seen actively shaping the world to her will. We are positioning this solar power in the greater scheme of things now.
Keywords: Traditional philosophies, practice, systems, ownership
Element: Earth
Analysis: The artist’s website says this image features “the red giant star Aldebaran, crowned by the Pleiades and the Hyades,” referring to the star clusters around the stars in Taurus. The Hyades are the two crowning figures, and the Pleiades are below. They seem to be flocking to Aldebaran, both supporting and clinging to, like she is the center of everything – like a force of gravity or magnetism. The waves and clouds are also parting around her. I get a strong sense of centrality as a result – this is what the world is revolving around.
Aldebaran appears like a primordial mother goddess. The indistinct clouds turning into sea, the enormous, unworldly waves swallowing (or giving way to?) land. Interestingly, while there is land, water, sky, and fire (as a star) here, a balance of elements, earth seems the least present, but that is the element that is said to rule this card. This then feels more like “earth” in the planetary sense – the creation of the earth. However, the stability that is manifesting here, after a presumably chaotic past, also speaks to the qualities of earth.
As Taurus: Well, this isn’t a traditional Taurus at all, and even as a Taurus myself it’s honestly making me go “huh?” a little, but when the guidebook refers to a “connection to traditional philosophies, time-honored practice and ritual,” I can see this as being time-honored ritual… the figures surrounding Aldebaran feel worshipful. But that's also very much a Hierophant quality. And I get the sense that stability is being brought about, even if it's not currently present.
As Hierophant: My perception of this as a mother-deity, emerging from “primordial soup,” speaks to creating order out of chaos. The act of creating or building a world is in some ways like organized religion – creating rules, order, structure, and hierarchies to underlying abstract (spiritual) concepts. Seeing this figure as the mother also makes me consider the figures surrounding her could be her children—a matriarchal take on the patriarchal structure of RWS. As I mentioned, this feels very centralized, like she is the locus of power and the world is revolving around her.
Connections: We just saw the Emperor, who I see as the sun. Here, Aldebaran is an enormous sun. While the Emperor/Leo is a broad concept, alone, a ruling power with little connection to anything else – shown in an almost egocentric composition – Hierophant/Taurus is seen actively shaping the world to her will. We are positioning this solar power in the greater scheme of things now.