The Cheimonette Tarot

These are beautiful. Goes straight on my wishlist. I love the subtlety of colour along with the clear lines - and the faces are lovely. You are also good with hands I see - that's hard to do.

cheimonette said:

I'm getting ready to begin writing my book. I posted in the Tarot Books & Media forum asking people about what they look for in a tarot deck book, and I think I am going to include a full-color image of the card, and a page-long description. I'd like to stay away from keywords and simple descriptions of card meanings, and instead explain the concepts behind the trumps and pip suits, reversed cards, spreads, and court cards.

I designed these cards specifically to encourage more personal interpretation and "educated free-association", and I'd like to talk about that too.

I'd love to get any advice people might have about writing my book!

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I like when 'Meaning' and 'Reverse' are in bold so it's easy to quickly find them. I also like when there's a description of what's going on in the art. Something I've only seen in the Zombie Tarot so far is it tells what each suits strong points are and the card numbers.

But I would be so honored if you were to use my tarot spread in the book. Please consider!!!!!

Sold

I will definitely support this project, I adore your concept with the Devil and The Horse.
Wonderful.. all the best with this, and do keep us updated.

Winter

Thank you so much, everyone.

Beatles, what is your spread? I've been experimenting with different spreads as well. If it feels good to me, I'd certainly be glad to put in into my book!

Coming up this week: the Fool -> the Hanged Man -> the Angel (judgement)!

I like them, seem to be from a dream world.

cheimonette said:

Anyway, here are a few examples. Please let me know what you think! I've really enjoyed the questions and knowledgeable feedback I've seen posted in these forums.

http://www.cheimonette.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/T6.png
http://www.cheimonette.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/Prince-of-Cups.png
http://www.cheimonette.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/10-of-Sticks.png
http://www.cheimonette.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/3-of-Swords.png

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I LIKE it; first visual impressions; Austin Osmand Spare meets 'uncluttered' Marc Chagall with favourite backdrops and Vodoo veve linework. Not that I am considering your art an eclectic procurement ... they are just descriptive words ... it holds its own elements of originality.

cheimonette said:

Here's an example of one of the new card connections in my deck, between the Devil (shown on the right) and Fortitude (shown on the left) cards.

http://www.cheimonette.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/T15+T11.png

The horse, as a symbol of the more animal aspects of human existence (worldly instinct and wisdom, suffering and liberty, material prosperity and impoverishment, etc.) shows up in these two cards because they both revolve around the opposite concepts of freedom (Fortitude) and captivity (The Devil).

The horse's body belongs with Fortitude as a basis for the mighty leap from biological survivalism into transcendent freedom, and the horse's head belongs with the Devil as a road to confinement and entrapment by the very thoughts which make us human.

As Kierkegaard writes: "There are only two view of life that correspond to the duality which is man: animal and spirit. According to the one the task is to live and enjoy life, and to put everything into this. The other view is: the meaning of life is to die."

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Ah ... your 'take' on the cards seems as interesting as the artwork ... very clever, as I immediately disagreed with the first things I read but gave it validity as another view point and want to read more .... that might not seem like a big deal ... but it is to me, as I know what I am like often poo-poo variant ideas and associations from mine

cheimonette said:

I designed these cards specifically to encourage more personal interpretation and "educated free-association", and I'd like to talk about that too.

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Can you define what educated free-association means for you? I find that v.interesting.

I like your art. I hope you finish and publish this deck (and I buy it

ravenest said:

Ah ... your 'take' on the cards seems as interesting as the artwork ... very clever, as I immediately disagreed with the first things I read but gave it validity as another view point and want to read more .... that might not seem like a big deal ... but it is to me, as I know what I am like often poo-poo variant ideas and associations from mine

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I do take that as a huge compliment actually- and I'm very glad you understand. I certainly don't intend that my interpretation of the cards should compete with the Thoth or RW decks (or any other deck, really). I have studied the tarot for about 15 years now, and I simply decided to draw what came to me, and what I saw. I found it to be a good method both for learning more about the cards, and for appreciating the intricacies of other decks I respect.

As for "educated free association", I think I learned about that via my experiences with synaesthesia, and, strangely enough, from my seven years as a Tango dancer. I'm not going to write a huge discourse on those subjects for fear of straying too far from the point, but suffice it to say, I learned how my imagination and creative decision making became so much richer and more valuable the more experience and knowledge I collected. In the way that complex dance movements turn into muscle memory, freeing the mind to creatively improvise, in the way that learning about chaos physics and abstract math enrich my dreams and daydreams, and imbue them with meaning- this is what educated free association means to me. The balance of learning as much as you can while keeping clear of overthinking and second guessing yourself: this is not only real confidence, but it usually produces the best work, the best decisions, the most genuine and coherent ideologies. As I see it.