The Primal Tarot

Hey, everyone. I’m more of an observer than a poster on this site, but I wanted to show you my deck that’s in the works – hopefully, coming out soon.

The Primal Tarot is a 78-card, hand-drawn black and white deck. Its underlying principle is to take the core meanings of the symbols from the traditional cards, and re-imagine them through the eyes of hunter-gatherers, the way human beings have lived for more than 95% of our time on Earth. How would they have seen their primary symbols? And what sort of lessons might they have taken from them? At the same time, this tarot doesn’t try to pretend that the modern world doesn’t exist, and juxtaposes those questions, and teaching from them, on to our own trials and quandaries.

It’s the usual tarot structure – Major and minor arcana, 4 suits, “court” cards. The suits are Bones (earth), Resin (water), Feathers (air) and Seeds (fire). I don’t follow the Rider-Waite template, though, nor any other common system, especially in the minors. (If this matters to you, consider yourselves warned!)

The deck draws its inspiration from indigenous people – historical and current – the world over, from the natural world as understood by people who lived in it all their lives, from their ways of connecting to the realm of spirit, and from the singular time in history we now inhabit, with the planet in unthinkable jeopardy from the actions of our culture.

I’m fortunate to be working with a wonderful artist on the deck. She’s about two-thirds through with the art, and the ultra-comprehensive book I’m writing as a companion is over half completed. I’m going to be showing some of the art here, and more as it gets finished.

I’d love to get your feedback! (Good or bad – I can take it.) The artist isn’t on this forum, but I’m happy to tell her what y’all think. Some of the art will be redone, but I can’t guarantee that we’ll get to incorporate all of your thoughts. With any luck, we’ll be self-publishing the deck and book in the coming months. (I’m praying it’s before too much of 2013 has drifted by.)

Here are some of the Major cards that are unchanged from the classic tarot:

I like the Death card a lot, shows growing things underneath (in Medieval art they often show a tree sprouting from the groin of 'dead' knights/men, never the women though). I don't think it's creepy at all.

The Star I can understand, the point of light in darkness, but the Moon -- I'm afraid that it just doesn't work for me. It doesn't say anything about the balances in the card. I think you went too simplistic on it, plus the art doesn't match the other cards too.

(Optical illusion on the Hermit, with the copyright notice at that angle the FIRST thing I saw was that it was the neck of a guitar, I had to look twice to see that there was no guitar, LOL, my bad).

The Moon is way too much minimalist/simple, IMO. But in general the deck is awesome. I really like how it is mostly "night". Your intuitive view on the cards is something to praise and the unusual thematic is beyond great.
(Oh and I especially like a LOT the Star)

Keep the awesome work !
Will her be coloring the art too? Or just inking it?

Thanks for the comments.

Hudson -- could you tell me more about what you mean by "balances"? I don't think I've ever heard that word applied to the Moon card. It's interesting, because for me one of the interpretations of the Moon is about cycles -- dynamically moving in waves, but coming back to the same places. Is that what you're getting at, or something else?

The Death card is definitely not meant to be creepy!

I can see how some might see this Moon drawing as simplistic, but one of the our objectives in this deck is to foster a viewpoint of the natural world on its own terms -- it's definitely one of the aesthetic choices we're making. But certainly not the only one. I'm going to post more cards -- I think you'll see that there's a lot of variation between simple and complex art.

Pyro -- we're going to keep them as is, pencil and ink, no color.

More Major Arcana

Here's some more Major cards. These are symbols that are being adapted from the classic Tarot to our deck.

The Trickster is our take on the Magician. They both partake of that male, I'm-going-to-step-in-and-change-things-here energy, creating and willing. And speaking of male, this image is maybe not entirely safe for work, if you catch my drift.

The Initiate is the counterpart to the High Priestess, reflecting a more receptive, intuitive knowing, being invested with mysteries that are maybe more than any person can handle.

The Storyteller is like the Hierophant in that she keeps alive the tradition of the tribe, telling us how our culture has answered its questions in the past, knowing there will likely be good answers in those traditions for the future.

I get what you meant with those - ain't so hard for those with some study on general myths. But not crystal clear either, so that's good. I know very well what you mean by "variation between simple and complex art" since I am doing myself a tarot which brings the general meaning of the card into a icon, no more than a icon. Except for some tiny details.

Keep the work. I really liked your Initiate and the Storyteller is an interesting view on the Hierophant. The Trickster I would have done differently, with less absurd/obscene and more reference, but hey... those cards are yours. And you're doing fine.

It is interesting that you're not planning to color them. Thanks for the answer.

Interesting cards. I very much like the Death card. The Hermit and Initiate are also really nice.

But I have to say, I am not so much a fan of the Star and the Moon. They just don't do it for me, don't say anything. They are just celestial bodies on a card. I would advice to rethink those cards.

truelighth said:

Interesting cards. I very much like the Death card. The Hermit and Initiate are also really nice.

But I have to say, I am not so much a fan of the Star and the Moon. They just don't do it for me, don't say anything. They are just celestial bodies on a card. I would advice to rethink those cards.

Click to expand...

Use your imagination a little to see more than a simple star drawn and the star card can show itself to be way better than you first thought it to be. As for the moon, I can see it working well with other cards, although I, for the moment, may share your opinion.

Seems like the death card is an universal favorite.

OK, so I'm hearing that people might expect something different from the Moon and Star. I'll look at it, I promise! Thanks for saying what's on your minds.

Re: the Trickster: for me, the Trickster is the sum of what happens to him in the old stories -- losing his eyeballs, pooping out a mountain of scat, stealing fire, sleeping with his friends' wives. There's real meaning and magic for me in all those foibles and transformations. Just be glad I didn't show him eating his own anus! But I also know that not everyone will embrace it, which is fine.

And thanks for the compliments on the Death card -- I think Amara did it really well. It's one of my favorites, too.

New cards -- the "Courts"

So here are a few more images. These are our take on the court cards. We're imagining them as animals, plants and other entities of the land -- how indigenous people see those beings as other people. I'm not sure what I'm calling them just yet; probably something like Kindred cards. They're divided into suits like usual, but I'm not sorting them into ranks as with most Tarot decks.

The Beaver is with the Bones (Earth); the Eagle in Feathers (Air); the Salmon in Resin (Water); and the Serpent in Seeds (Fire). I like the Eagle, but I'm also thinking I'd like to see it actually flying...