#if i was more egotistical i would compare this to monet's art

[redbootsindoriath]

Still having a bit of trouble coming up with ideas for original art at the moment, so here’s a sunset I saw the other day.

#the world isn't in your books and maps #my trash #/end classification tags #i don't have much to say about this #i am being SO lazy with art #like the color chunks are alright #but if you look at it from like less than an arm's length it's like #''wow that looks stupid'' #ah well #if i was more egotistical i would compare this to monet's art #i got to see one of his originals in a museum last week #and it was really cool to watch it become cohesive as you took more and more steps away from it #so like this is that without the years of training that monet had i guess i dunno i'm just trying to make an excuse for this one lol

[sagewordstarot]

Admit it.

If you don't know, you will later if you stick with this for any amount of time.

Own more than one Tarot deck, that is.

If you are a Tarot enthusiast you probably have a deck or two around, especially if you read very often. If you are a professional, it goes double. We all end up with more than one deck. Most are self-purchased, which shows what baloney the superstition about being gifted your first deck can be. The tradition of it has value, I suppose. It would boost the confidence of a young reader and tie them to some degree with a mentor, or at least connect them to a more experienced Tarot reader one way or another.

Some of the professional Tarot readers I know have dozens. Oodles and shelf loads even. I'm not a collector by nature and started off swearing that a good reader should only ever need one deck - so of course I have 10.

Choosing a deck for a reading is the same as dealing with reversals. When you get right down to it, it is a matter of pure intuition.

With reversals, I just feel my way through it and decide if the reversal should be considered as PART of the card's message, or whether it was just happenstance in which case I just flip the card right side up and move on.

Same with picking up the deck for these collective energy blog readings or private email readings.  For in-person readings, I carry two decks in unmarked tarot bags with me and let the client choose. I have one deck, the only one gifted to me, that I use only to read for myself. I use the Alleyman's, Heart of Stars, and 1909 RWS  primarily here in the blog - the first two because their creators have graciously granted me permission to do so and the latter because it is in the public domain.

Often I'll compare and contrast the different decks when I'm doing a one card post like this. Different decks visually capture different facets of the deck. You can do the same thing by doing an online image search to browse different decks.

Today's card is a good example. Some cards use fairly consistent images across decks. The three of swords, for instance. It almost alwasy has some iteration of three swords in or around a heart. I don't know if that is by design, by coincidence or the sheer strength of the card's presence in the collective unconscious. Other cards, like the five, differ. The RWS above gives a sense of "cleaning up" after a battle, both in the literal sense and in the modern meaning of profiting to the max. The figure seems to be picking up dropped swords, smiling and making gains from the suffering of others.  

The Heart of Stars portrays the figure as more egotistical, even sadistic or disturbed taking a form akin to the Joker in the Dark Knight series of Batman movies.

Witches Tarot with art by Matt Evans shows five swords arranged tips together and downward in the sky with a dragonfly and fairies  (I think hinting at the trickster wishes granted in Fea and Genie lore)

The five of swords made by Sam Dow for the Alleyman's Tarot shows a throne made of a tree with swords in the roots.

All show victory but at a high cost or some sort of concurrent loss, but all have subtle differences that shift the emphasis.

The advice today is basically try not to shoot yourself in the foot as the saying goes. Ask yourself if the victory, the win, the competition is worth the cost.

Weekly Digest:

Three card Energy Path Tarot reading for September 11-18

Odinsday Oracle: stop looking and see

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