missing birds for the King of Swords

eurjwl

I was studying my cards the other day and noticed that the birds are missing on the King of Swords. This is the Radiant Waite-Smith deck. I was wondering if anyone else has the same omission or an explanation. Thanks.
 

rwcarter

I've uploaded copies of both the Radiant RW and "regular" RW images. Since almost every other feature of the RW image is recreated in the RRW (most of the yellow under the King's feet isn't shown in the RRW), I'd chalk it up to artist's oversight instead of having any real symbolic meaning.

Rodney
 

Attachments

  • RRW King Swords.jpg
    RRW King Swords.jpg
    70.3 KB · Views: 302
  • RW King Swords.jpg
    RW King Swords.jpg
    111.1 KB · Views: 296

KariRoad

eurjwl said:
I was studying my cards the other day and noticed that the birds are missing on the King of Swords. This is the Radiant Waite-Smith deck. I was wondering if anyone else has the same omission or an explanation. Thanks.
The regular deck does have birds, I notice, and there are at least 3 Faeries. One is between the Sword and the King's head on the left viewing, and two to the right as we look. Perhaps these are more properly Sylphs, also seen on The Queen of Swords, etc. Not so clear on the Radiant, but visible if you look closely on the regular deck, and quite prominent on the Mary Hanson Roberts version.

The Radiant muddies several other details:

The Hermit's lamp does not have a 6-pointed Star, but a mishmash design.
The Empress' crown does not have 12 Stars, as intended for the Zodiac.
The Ace of Pentacles has a 'fleshly' coloured hand, rather than white.

And, though I don't exactly recall, a few other 'variations' that take away from the original symbolism.