Death and the major arcana

Post Reply
Khelric
Initiated
Initiated
Posts: 34
Joined: Sat Apr 07, 2012 8:10 pm

Death and the major arcana

Post by Khelric »

The idea of picking up a tarot deck has been gnawing at me to no end. The only deck I ever really connected with was lost in a flood and I've been mourning its loss ever since. For those interested, it was Mathers' "Hermetic Tarot". Now I'm not really a big follower of the Golden Dawn, but the symbolism in these black and white cards are immense. Pondering upon all the elements present are almost as revealing as their appearence in a spread. In another post, I mentioned that tarot was my original gateway to further esoteric study and so this form of divination has always held a special place in my heart. I'm still considering whether to go back to my old love or to find a new deck that resonates with me, but that's a topic for another post.

I'm generally not one for reinventing the wheel, but I have been juggling the idea of using death cards for the major arcana and interpreting the card's different meanings to serve different functions. Apparently, I'm not the only one who's had this idea.

http://janetboyer.typepad.com/tarot_pal ... ction.html

I'm not entirely sure how practical this is, but the notion of selecting an aspect and dissecting each facet of it is really intriguing to me.

Has anyone else tried a unique tarot setup like this? If so, what kind of results did you achieve? It would definitely be costly and time consuming to find specific cards that appealed to me, but if it's worth it, then it's worth it.

User avatar
Nahemah
Magus
Magus
Posts: 5077
Joined: Wed Apr 01, 2009 9:49 pm
Location: Sunny Glasgow by the Clutha's side

Re: Death and the major arcana

Post by Nahemah »

It's certainly an interesting concept.

You could always make your own cards for this,using imagery you find exemplifies each aspect?

This would prolly save you a ton of expense and would make your deck highly individual and very attuned to you.Just an idea.
"He lived his words, spoke his own actions and his story and the story of the world ran parallel."

Sartre speaking of Che Guevara.

Khelric
Initiated
Initiated
Posts: 34
Joined: Sat Apr 07, 2012 8:10 pm

Re: Death and the major arcana

Post by Khelric »

That's a great idea, Nahemah, but I'm afraid the extent of my artistic ability is drawing stick figures. Oddly enough though, I can carve designs on wood pretty well. Hmm a wooden tarot deck? Now you've got my brain working.

khokanson
Initiated
Initiated
Posts: 15
Joined: Tue Apr 10, 2012 7:37 pm

Re: Death and the major arcana

Post by khokanson »

Runes can used for divination and carved out of wood!

User avatar
Nahemah
Magus
Magus
Posts: 5077
Joined: Wed Apr 01, 2009 9:49 pm
Location: Sunny Glasgow by the Clutha's side

Re: Death and the major arcana

Post by Nahemah »

You don't need to self draw,you could use iconic images from classic paintings or pictures from elsewhere and use one of the many image manipulating tools available to size.re colour and add or take out features and so on.
"He lived his words, spoke his own actions and his story and the story of the world ran parallel."

Sartre speaking of Che Guevara.

Post Reply

Return to “Divination and Mantic Arts”