noby
I've been thinking about this, and wondering if there are any decks out there which people know of which don't use human figures at all.
Certainly, human figures are central in the tarot, as tarot is the story of humanity's experience with its own consciousness and the universe in which it finds itself... but for this very reason, I think it might be illuminating to see how the archetypes might be presented without human or humanized figures.
For example, the High Priestess card could show the full moon at midnight over the ocean, as the glimmering moonlit waves crash onto the sand. (Has anyone ever seen the amazing display of phosphorescent plankton? I was lucky enough to see this once--the waves flash blue like lightning when they break. If you stamp your foot down on the wet sand, it lights up blue all around it. It makes me think of the High Priestess.)
Perhaps the Fool (or the Magician) card could show images from a particle accelerator. The Empress could show a field full of flowers, or a flower up-close. The Emperor could be a bee. The Tower, a raging forest fire (one of many instances in nature of cleansing destruction which promotes regeneration). The Star, the first tentative green sprouts rising from the charred remains of the forest. The Hermit could show a vast stretch of desert. Etc, etc.
Are there any decks like this out there?
Certainly, human figures are central in the tarot, as tarot is the story of humanity's experience with its own consciousness and the universe in which it finds itself... but for this very reason, I think it might be illuminating to see how the archetypes might be presented without human or humanized figures.
For example, the High Priestess card could show the full moon at midnight over the ocean, as the glimmering moonlit waves crash onto the sand. (Has anyone ever seen the amazing display of phosphorescent plankton? I was lucky enough to see this once--the waves flash blue like lightning when they break. If you stamp your foot down on the wet sand, it lights up blue all around it. It makes me think of the High Priestess.)
Perhaps the Fool (or the Magician) card could show images from a particle accelerator. The Empress could show a field full of flowers, or a flower up-close. The Emperor could be a bee. The Tower, a raging forest fire (one of many instances in nature of cleansing destruction which promotes regeneration). The Star, the first tentative green sprouts rising from the charred remains of the forest. The Hermit could show a vast stretch of desert. Etc, etc.
Are there any decks like this out there?