New Orleans Voodoo Tarot - Rada--Houngan [King of Swords]

afrosaxon

The Houngan is beating a drum (squeezing a bag?) with two necks (drum made from a gourd?). He wears a white shirt and air flows from the drum to form a small yellow cloud in the air. The Houngan’s face is calm, almost bored; perhaps he’s in a trance state.

The coloring of this card is very similar to that of the La Place card. The air cloud in the Houngan card is not as fluffy; in fact, it seems a bit thin overall, but parts of it are more concentrated. The Houngan holds the drum close to his chest (closer communication with lwa?). The lavender background indicates a lesser reliance on intuition and more on actual, tangible things.

I interpret this card as working smarter, not harder; for less effort, you get a denser cloud. There are two streams of air (one from each hand) forming the yellow cloud; this indicates that it takes duality, yin/yang, to complete a task.

The Rada—Houngan and the Santeria—Santero cards are the only two king cards in this deck to wear shirts.
 

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