WolfyJames
cjtarot has also written interesting stuffs on this card, and other cards as well, in a thread on The Gothic Tarot and he/she accepted graciously to be quoted here.
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Vargo's cards were based on earlier works, you can see some of them on his website. This card is called Nosferatu, based on the silent black-and-white movie "Nosferatu the vampire" by Murnau in 1922.
This vampire is based on the traditionnal way the vampire was perceived centuries ago :
"The vampire had fangs, if not a whole mouth of unusually sharp teeth (easier to rip you apart, my dear) and has the intelligence of...well...a dead person. Not that I've ever had a conversation with a dead person, mind you, but I can imagine that they were not the brightest of folks. Nighttime was the appointed hour of the vampire, the sunlight, or light in general, being a great aversion. They were "as pale as death." The clothes were those they wore when buried, and often became tattered rags by the time the vampire was disposed of for good. Vampires were vile, evil, sometimes thought to be a creature of the devil. They could change into a bat or wolf, which were also considered "evil" creatures. The physical appearanc e was of an ugly monster, whose nails had grown long, sometimes into claws. They were no longer human, as only the living could be considered human. In short, you wouldn't want to meet up with one."
Lore of the Vampire by DanaRae Proctor on Vampyres Only ( http://www.vampyres.com/content/iwav/content/lore.html )
The sexy, alluring and classy vampire is an invention by the Romantics and the Gothic in the 19th century. The real vampire is... hideous and terrifying, just like on this card, the High Priest. I shiver just at looking at the card.
The back of the card is the same as the Empress. Here's the High Priest, in a door within a coffin. The arch has a pillar on each side, and on each side of the arch stands the guardians, skeletons with wings. So the vampire here wears a black cloak, is pale and bald, has long nails and pointy ears. He looks ferocious. His arms on his body have the position that were given to the dead, then. He looks like a bat.
This vampire is the true vampire at its core, tradition runs in his blood, he probably could talk of the past and of all he knows. But something tells me that, just like the High Priestess, he wants a bite too. Umbrae, you terrified me with this part! Now, I feel that all the characters want my blood.
cjtarot said:I want to respond to the quote about the Lovers, the High Priest and the Empress standing in the same arch...
The Empress, guards her home...the relm of beond. (note the Emperor is inside with all the babe's doing NOTHING)
The Hight PRiest guards the knowledge in the Relm of beond
The Lovers..It is your choice (or is it) to enter into the Relm..note the lovers almost look farther into the arch..
Also look at the High Priestess and the 9 of cups...
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The HP..guarding the unknow of our sub consious - or the door to the afterlife.
The 9 of cups.. Cups are emotion, our life flow if you will..the 9 is showing the final preperation before we are fufilled, before the final journey into the ultimate unknow..(Note the 10 of cups is within that arch..the claiming or the dark angel leading you away)
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Vargo's cards were based on earlier works, you can see some of them on his website. This card is called Nosferatu, based on the silent black-and-white movie "Nosferatu the vampire" by Murnau in 1922.
This vampire is based on the traditionnal way the vampire was perceived centuries ago :
"The vampire had fangs, if not a whole mouth of unusually sharp teeth (easier to rip you apart, my dear) and has the intelligence of...well...a dead person. Not that I've ever had a conversation with a dead person, mind you, but I can imagine that they were not the brightest of folks. Nighttime was the appointed hour of the vampire, the sunlight, or light in general, being a great aversion. They were "as pale as death." The clothes were those they wore when buried, and often became tattered rags by the time the vampire was disposed of for good. Vampires were vile, evil, sometimes thought to be a creature of the devil. They could change into a bat or wolf, which were also considered "evil" creatures. The physical appearanc e was of an ugly monster, whose nails had grown long, sometimes into claws. They were no longer human, as only the living could be considered human. In short, you wouldn't want to meet up with one."
Lore of the Vampire by DanaRae Proctor on Vampyres Only ( http://www.vampyres.com/content/iwav/content/lore.html )
The sexy, alluring and classy vampire is an invention by the Romantics and the Gothic in the 19th century. The real vampire is... hideous and terrifying, just like on this card, the High Priest. I shiver just at looking at the card.
The back of the card is the same as the Empress. Here's the High Priest, in a door within a coffin. The arch has a pillar on each side, and on each side of the arch stands the guardians, skeletons with wings. So the vampire here wears a black cloak, is pale and bald, has long nails and pointy ears. He looks ferocious. His arms on his body have the position that were given to the dead, then. He looks like a bat.
This vampire is the true vampire at its core, tradition runs in his blood, he probably could talk of the past and of all he knows. But something tells me that, just like the High Priestess, he wants a bite too. Umbrae, you terrified me with this part! Now, I feel that all the characters want my blood.