Pathfinders/Truth-seekers Tarot -- differences? Pros? Cons?

What's going on with the background scenes?

I've been looking at the deck more closely. I can't figure out if there is any logic or pattern behind the pip cards with the same background scene. Each suit has three different background scenes that the pips are superimposed against. But the division of the cards is not consistent across the suits (at least not in any way I can figure out):

~ Wands ~ main color is red
Ace, 2, 3, 4
5, 6, 7, 10
8, 9


~ Cups ~ main color is blue
Ace, 2, 3, 6, 10
4, 7, 9
5, 8

~ Swords ~ main color is yellow
Ace, 3, 6, 7
2, 4, 5, 10
8, 9

~ Pentacles ~ main color is green
Ace, 5
2, 3, 8, 10
4, 6, 7, 9

There doesn't seem to be a numerical pattern here. Is there an elemental, astrological, qabbala, numerological or any other sort of pattern here?

If it's entirely random, I can ignore it, but if there is an actual pattern, I'd like to know about it. Unhelpfully, the LWB makes no mention of the background scenes at all. Can anyone see a pattern emerging in those groupings of cards?

What do the scenes mean???

As to the background scenes themselves, I can sort of see some logic in some of them.

Wands The main thing is the dominant red with lots of fiery imagery. The details are lost on me.
Background scene 1 (Ace-4): An erupting volcano. This makes sense with the suit of fire. (Even though the LWB says Wands are the suit of Air. LOL)
Background 2 (5-7, 10): stylized hills with radiant sun and some spikey things at the bottom of the card. The cards don't seem linked thematically to me, I have no idea why the 5 wands are anchored down under a tent, or why the 10 of wands looks like a triumphal arch.
Background 3 (8,9): Bird of paradise/tropical island feel. No clue!

Cups Very blue and lots of water. That's good!
Background 1 (Ace-3, 6, 10): Green landscape, a cloud in the background rains water down, which makes its way in streams to the foreground. Very clear imagery of water and cycles.
Background 2 (4, 7, 9): A docked ship. No clue.
Background 3 (5,8): Some sort of folly or decorative architecture near sea, sun pouring golden light through an open door, a wall with 10 arches dominates scene. No clue.

Swords Yellow dominates the suit.
Background 1 (Ace, 3, 6, 7): Close up exterior, front gate of a castle. Swords are a symbol of air, thought, strategy, tactics. So maybe the castle imagery has to do with thinking, planning, etc. And exterior because the cards in question are more to do with communicating thoughts etc to others.
Background 2 (2, 4, 5, 10): Landscape, very symmetrical hills with lines of trees, two birds converging in air on either side of a yellow sun with a cloud in front of it. Everything in the scene is perfectly symmetrical. No ideas on how this relates to the cards in question, though. 2 and 4 I can see. Maybe 5 and 10 are placed there to emphasize their OFF kilter quality.
Background 3 (8, 9): Interior of castle, a decorative window with golden light pouring in. Two suits of armour flank the window. Could this be because the 8 and 9 are more about interior thoughts and mental struggle?

Pentacles Very green. Earthy.
Background 1 (Ace, 5): Strange. It's a turret which is just a small doorway to a set of five stairs. The side of the turret is cut away so you can see that the door is at ground level, and the stairs go below ground. Outside the tower is a symmetrical landscape. The pentacles sit on the steps inside this tower. The door is closed. (See attached file).
Background 2 (2, 3, 8, 10): Interior cathedral, gothic arch, stained glass window. I can see this associated with pentacles suit because of the association with stone masons/craftsmanship.
Background 3 (4, 6, 7, 9): Green landscape, hills and trees. The pentacles float in the foreground. The most curious is the 6, which has the pentacles in a circle but in the centre of the circle are two red triangles, one pointing up and one pointing down. Significance?

Can anyone shed light on what any of this might mean? If anything.

Sigh. I have the book from the Truth Seekers - I THINK it may say; I will look when I have time.... There's also a book illustrated with this deck that says a LOT....

Back eventually. Out most of the day.

That would be really helpful, Gregory!

Harrumph. Yes and no. The book I referred to is Fontana's own book - The Essential Guide to the Tarot. Of the Ace Pentacles (your post made me look at this one first !) he says:

In this design a tall building unites the earth's darkness and the sun's light, both essential for growth. If the pentacle is seen as a guiding star, where will it lead us ?

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Well, OK.

But with the 5 the only reference to all that seems to be:

... things can go wrong: nature can become misshapen and can produce poisons as well as nourishment. There is always a dark side, even in ourselves.

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Almost the reverse of what he said before, in a way.

But I might have to go through the whole book to see if I can find links... That's 288 pages, so may take a while !

Annoyingly, I had the Truthseeker's out the other day when someone asked about it.

Where did I put it ?

Time will tell - I hope.

Oh - but the book also gives Wands as air !

Wands 8,9: Bird of paradise/tropical island feel. No clue!

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The big book says of the background to the 8 that "the circular treetops emphasise that 8 is formed from 2 zeros"; so I am a bit iffy about the 9 now !

Hm.

I immediately thought to email David Fontana - but I see he's dead, so... Maybe the artist (Daigneault) could shed some light - I might even email Watkins to see how we could ask her....

As far as colour symbolism goes, yellow is the colour of intellect so that's probably why it's prevalent on the Swords cards.
Green is the colour of growth, manifestation, luck and attracting things to you so it fits well with Coins / Disks.

This is true. But the seemingly random repetition of the background scenes is - odd. Not that it happens, but why each was chosen for the cards it was used for, kind of.

Sulis said:

As far as colour symbolism goes, yellow is the colour of intellect so that's probably why it's prevalent on the Swords cards.
Green is the colour of growth, manifestation, luck and attracting things to you so it fits well with Coins / Disks.

Click to expand...

I understand the colour symbolism and it is why I wanted the deck. It attracted me at once!

gregory said:

This is true. But the seemingly random repetition of the background scenes is - odd. Not that it happens, but why each was chosen for the cards it was used for, kind of.

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Odd indeed. Because there are three backgrounds for each suit, I thought there must be some pattern behind it. But then when I compared them, I couldn't find one. I wonder if we could ask the artist.

I've been using the Pathfinders for a while now and I like it. I posted here somewhere recently about it. I like the numerology that he uses and together with my Marseilles method I'm getting along great with it. Although the minors are scenic they are repetitive but I don't mind that at all.

I found that the Truth-seekers was more expensive when I was searching for one, and I didn't want a set so I went for the Pathfinder's, and on recommendation from a good friend. It has a nice lidded box.

BTW, if anyone is after one they are selling them in TKMaxx for £6.99. Of course I had already bought mine by then!

Pathfinders in TKMaxx ? DAMN !

But Moonbow - what do YOU make of the scenes behind the cards then ? The variation seems so random...