starlightexp
A Beginning is a very long, delicate and opinionated time…
Living with a tarot deck in your brain is not a bad thing it makes life interesting. It makes you look at the world in different ways and gives you many a thought to ponder in your free time and gives depth to little things.
… hold on…
Before I go on I must confess…
I’d be lying if I said that I was a person who was losing sleep because some external force or flying WolfRavenDragon spirt guide was sending me tarot images that I NEED to send forth into the word, because..well I’m not that person. I happen to like drawing -scratch that- I happen to like color. Color was the main drive that got me into drawing the deck that became The Day of the Dead Lenormand. The bright vivid colors and a different way of looking at the world. Before color it was learning that drove me, and that is what became the Pixie Lenormand and then it was needing to solidify tradition which became the LdM. I make decks because it is something that over the last 5 years has made me a more content being not because I got hit with a giant metaphysical thunderbolt.
We can continue now with our regular program….
While I do love and use my Lenormand I have always wanted to try my hand at tarot. This is because with Lenormand it about just the symbol whereas with Tarot it’s about the greater meaning around it. Ideas have been sloshing around off and on for about two years and finally after all this time I think I have an idea I want to play with. Mind you this is a personal project of playing and discovery but it never hurts to share.
So here we go…
This is where I’m coming from.
I love my RWS deck. I do. I’ll be the first to admit it and the last to let it out of my cold, dead, molding hands. It is the deck I cut my teeth on and a deck that I still find interesting after 20+ years. When I get a new deck I study it for a while then take that knowledge back with me to my RWS and lo and behold I can see those new ways of looking at the card in that old RWS artwork.
That being said there is a secret craving in me to get more into the Thoth. It’s a lurid thought, almost like stashing porn under your mattress. The complex images are very alluring and seductive. They are crazy, beautiful, and arresting with a madness to them. In reading The Book of Thoth I am blown away by what is there in the cards but then I get stuck. I’m sure that I could get used to using the deck for reading but how can I make what is on those cards translate to a client asking “Will I get that job?”. Me going on about Babylon talmet and Uranus in their House of Pancakes is not going to do either them or me any favors.
Right now my happy place is with historical decks and the simplicity of unillustrated pips. The weighty secrets that lie in the simplicity of the card is intriguing and thought provoking. Needing to look at the ordinary leaves and vines in extraordinary ways is soothing and connects me more with my gut than with correspondences.
Also I like decks with a sense of humor. Not mindless RWS clones that just use the same images but with funny faces or themes but decks that really don’t take themselves too seriously. The Housewives and Zombie tarot are brilliant decks that build upon the RWS and are so smart that they make me laugh. Pretentious decks are such a turn off. Especially when they are just RWS decks warmed over.
Where the #$@#% is this going?
I would never want to do a RWS clone where it’s the same woman with swords crossed on the 2 of swords she’s just drawn by me in a different dress. While it’s nice that we can redress the deck it’s a deck that doesn’t need new clothes just to fantasize over. So I’m going to study that stupid Thoth deck. I am, but I want to study it and break it down in my brain in way that I can USE the information in day to day settings. Once that is processed and I want to take what I read and learn from the Thoth and apply it to the RWS in a style I find fun and entertaining. I want to get some of that strange esoteric information up off its Star Throne ass and make it do tricks for me in my readings. So I’m going to base this kinda fun deck in the world of the Thoth.
So you know what this means art wise……..? Color Scales
I love limitations. I thrive when given constraints. I just do. I get more creative that way. So in using, for the most part, the color scales laid out for the cards of the Thoth it should make the project just that more interesting for me since I love color. And in no where else is color more bright and playful than in the bright colorful world of pastels and the Day of the Dead style. Style is the key word there. While I think there might be a perfect way of doing a deck solely in the culture of Mexico and the Day of the Dead itself I don’t think I am the right person to do it.
For me this project is going to be cooking up the Thoth and Day of the Dead in a pot with a dash of 60s’ occult counter culture and serve it out RWS style with side of how to read those strange details in a real setting. Will it work? Who knows but I think it would be fun to try out. Posts here will be more about how things crank along. A bit like the nuts-and-bolts posts of the Day of the Dead thread for those interested in the creative process as well as part of the notebook I’m calling Liber for Simpletons (as dummy’s and idiots are already busy with other things) I’m not a fast artist. I’m not going to be cranking out 3-4 cards a week and tossing things as fast as I can up on TGC to ask for your money. Nope, this is a project that will be at least a few years in the making and by that time I may be the only one still posting in this thread, but it IS my thread and I can post when I want to Feel free to come along for the ride. Chime in and ask questions both pro and con against an image. I have my big boy pants on and can take people not liking something in a deck. Opinions are great and should be shared so long as we can have a dialogue about things.
The sketch of the Fool will be up end of the weekend with a bit (maybe more then a bit) of info on the process and the reasoning ideas in it. Till then feel free, turn on, tune in, plop out that Book of Thoth and see what we can find out.
Living with a tarot deck in your brain is not a bad thing it makes life interesting. It makes you look at the world in different ways and gives you many a thought to ponder in your free time and gives depth to little things.
… hold on…
Before I go on I must confess…
I’d be lying if I said that I was a person who was losing sleep because some external force or flying WolfRavenDragon spirt guide was sending me tarot images that I NEED to send forth into the word, because..well I’m not that person. I happen to like drawing -scratch that- I happen to like color. Color was the main drive that got me into drawing the deck that became The Day of the Dead Lenormand. The bright vivid colors and a different way of looking at the world. Before color it was learning that drove me, and that is what became the Pixie Lenormand and then it was needing to solidify tradition which became the LdM. I make decks because it is something that over the last 5 years has made me a more content being not because I got hit with a giant metaphysical thunderbolt.
We can continue now with our regular program….
While I do love and use my Lenormand I have always wanted to try my hand at tarot. This is because with Lenormand it about just the symbol whereas with Tarot it’s about the greater meaning around it. Ideas have been sloshing around off and on for about two years and finally after all this time I think I have an idea I want to play with. Mind you this is a personal project of playing and discovery but it never hurts to share.
So here we go…
This is where I’m coming from.
I love my RWS deck. I do. I’ll be the first to admit it and the last to let it out of my cold, dead, molding hands. It is the deck I cut my teeth on and a deck that I still find interesting after 20+ years. When I get a new deck I study it for a while then take that knowledge back with me to my RWS and lo and behold I can see those new ways of looking at the card in that old RWS artwork.
That being said there is a secret craving in me to get more into the Thoth. It’s a lurid thought, almost like stashing porn under your mattress. The complex images are very alluring and seductive. They are crazy, beautiful, and arresting with a madness to them. In reading The Book of Thoth I am blown away by what is there in the cards but then I get stuck. I’m sure that I could get used to using the deck for reading but how can I make what is on those cards translate to a client asking “Will I get that job?”. Me going on about Babylon talmet and Uranus in their House of Pancakes is not going to do either them or me any favors.
Right now my happy place is with historical decks and the simplicity of unillustrated pips. The weighty secrets that lie in the simplicity of the card is intriguing and thought provoking. Needing to look at the ordinary leaves and vines in extraordinary ways is soothing and connects me more with my gut than with correspondences.
Also I like decks with a sense of humor. Not mindless RWS clones that just use the same images but with funny faces or themes but decks that really don’t take themselves too seriously. The Housewives and Zombie tarot are brilliant decks that build upon the RWS and are so smart that they make me laugh. Pretentious decks are such a turn off. Especially when they are just RWS decks warmed over.
Where the #$@#% is this going?
I would never want to do a RWS clone where it’s the same woman with swords crossed on the 2 of swords she’s just drawn by me in a different dress. While it’s nice that we can redress the deck it’s a deck that doesn’t need new clothes just to fantasize over. So I’m going to study that stupid Thoth deck. I am, but I want to study it and break it down in my brain in way that I can USE the information in day to day settings. Once that is processed and I want to take what I read and learn from the Thoth and apply it to the RWS in a style I find fun and entertaining. I want to get some of that strange esoteric information up off its Star Throne ass and make it do tricks for me in my readings. So I’m going to base this kinda fun deck in the world of the Thoth.
So you know what this means art wise……..? Color Scales
I love limitations. I thrive when given constraints. I just do. I get more creative that way. So in using, for the most part, the color scales laid out for the cards of the Thoth it should make the project just that more interesting for me since I love color. And in no where else is color more bright and playful than in the bright colorful world of pastels and the Day of the Dead style. Style is the key word there. While I think there might be a perfect way of doing a deck solely in the culture of Mexico and the Day of the Dead itself I don’t think I am the right person to do it.
For me this project is going to be cooking up the Thoth and Day of the Dead in a pot with a dash of 60s’ occult counter culture and serve it out RWS style with side of how to read those strange details in a real setting. Will it work? Who knows but I think it would be fun to try out. Posts here will be more about how things crank along. A bit like the nuts-and-bolts posts of the Day of the Dead thread for those interested in the creative process as well as part of the notebook I’m calling Liber for Simpletons (as dummy’s and idiots are already busy with other things) I’m not a fast artist. I’m not going to be cranking out 3-4 cards a week and tossing things as fast as I can up on TGC to ask for your money. Nope, this is a project that will be at least a few years in the making and by that time I may be the only one still posting in this thread, but it IS my thread and I can post when I want to
Feel free to come along for the ride. Chime in and ask questions both pro and con against an image. I have my big boy pants on and can take people not liking something in a deck. Opinions are great and should be shared so long as we can have a dialogue about things. The sketch of the Fool will be up end of the weekend with a bit (maybe more then a bit) of info on the process and the reasoning ideas in it. Till then feel free, turn on, tune in, plop out that Book of Thoth and see what we can find out.
