I've been influenced to study Origins.
I won't presume to usurp the fantastic Mi-Shell's excellent study of the cards, simply to add my own observations.
These will be drawn largely from the keywords associated with each Minor Pip: Etching, Age, Mask, etc. In them I perceive the stories of four different tribes or clans, and the legacy that each teaches, but each knows that all four are necessary for completion of the people.
The red flame flickers on the wall of the cave
[Smeared with ochre, berry dye, charcoal]
Making the great elk move,
Making the mastodon breathe,
Making the hunters race and kill.
Watch them seeking to placate
And understand the world above.
This they know:
This they understand:
There is darkness, everywhere, outside.
The dark is everywhere; and though the sun comes up,
And though the fires blossom, and are tamed,
The darkness is there.
The darkness is waiting.
And the things in the darkness,
That whisper before they feast,
They are to be placated and persuaded,
They are to be loved and sacrificed to,
They are to be prayed to and distrusted.
And so there is magic.
- Neil Gaiman, The Books of Magic
Our caves are meager, but they are our home. They are cold, warmed only by the fires we create from our precious tools or what the lightning spirit provides us. They are dark, brightened only by the light of our fires and the laughter from our spirits. They are smelly, reeking of sweat, mould, waste, blood, perfumed by the aroma of roasted meat, melted fat, and the sharp smell of herbs. They are silent, broken by the moaning of wind, the crackling of flames, the shaman's drumbeat, the cries of infants and the coughs of elders. We have little, but we are all we have, and thus we have plenty.
Mask of Soul...Animal of Blood...Rite of Jewels...Spirit of Nature....all have their place in our tribe.
And so we wander on...
♥