The language of Tarot, to me, is a shorthand expression of human experience. A deck can have seventy-eight cards, or seventy-nine, or replace swords w

MISSIVE 50 - Compound Eye Comparative Tarot

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2021-06-14 22:30:04

The language of Tarot, to me, is a shorthand expression of human experience. A deck can have seventy-eight cards, or seventy-nine, or replace swords with needles, and still be a proper Tarot deck, as the heuristics which define the Art are adaptable to the creativity of individual artists and the capabilities of publishers. A widely-used deck can swap the robed Hermit with his lantern for an octopus and not disrupt the ability of that deck to be read; in fact, Tarot as a whole is informed by the contemplation of what nuance cephalopod biology adds to the subtleties of the nines.

As a reader becomes familiar with multiple decks, there is a substructure of forms which have their own contours and textures that transcend any one artist, yet engage in perpetual dialectic with the human experiences that they indicate. There is no secret truth or “perfect” interpretation: Tarot grows with us. Individual artistic expressions in the cards fold over this substructure of forms like papier-mâché over a frame: never quite exact, yet revealing something more about what each arcanum presently articulates. The sum total of human experiences are constantly producing feedback that shapes the Art, and Tarot as a whole continues to fold around them.

Below are some of my own observations surrounding the contours of each of the minor suits across decks, and how they reflect on humanity overall. Thinking about each of these in the context of the cards under its auspice has been helpful to me as a reader, and I hope it will be for you as well. I will temporarily be using various decks as examples that allow the implements of the minors to perform the drama of the card, rather than those with personified images.

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