Another Pilgrim Paints BOTA Cards

treedog

The pips are non-illustrated, right?

Non illustrated, well yes, in that there are no "narratives" as in the RWS and others that followed. There are, of course, pictures of the suits/elements which do get painted/colored.

That seemed intimidating for a newcomer like me, but now I consider it freeing. There are so many narratives, always changing, and in relation to nearby cards. But you know all that. I'm just exercising the little bit that I'm learning.
 

treedog

I have not been meditating on each card for long, as I now think I should. I've been reading more about each card as I've worked on them, but some days I feel like I have a lapse of memory, know so little, then later on I feel a connection. One step forward, two steps back.

I have the cards set out where I see them as I go through my day. Sometimes I move them to another spot, pick them up, handle them.

Where I'm at now is wanting to spend more intimate time with each card and learn more about the path they respresents between the Sepheroth.

Chariot, Strenght, Hermit and Wheel of Fortune attached.
 

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Richard

Non illustrated, well yes, in that there are no "narratives" as in the RWS and others that followed. There are, of course, pictures of the suits/elements which do get painted/colored.

That seemed intimidating for a newcomer like me, but now I consider it freeing. There are so many narratives, always changing, and in relation to nearby cards. But you know all that. I'm just exercising the little bit that I'm learning.
It helps me if I correlate each Pip with the corresponding Sephirah and World. For example, the Six of Pentacles is Tiphareth in Asiah. It is also related to Key 6 (The Lovers), and then there's all the fun numerology stuff: 1+2+3+4+5+6=21 (The World), and 21 reduces to 3 (The Empress), and the extension of 3 is 1+2+3=6, and we're back to The Lovers, where we started. Also, there's the Golden Dawn Decan: Moon in Taurus, Material Success. There is so much information readily available about each Pip that a picture is almost superfluous.
 

treedog

I've started a notebook for the cards. I add notes to the page for the corresponding card when I get some new information or insight. It's getting personal.

Sometimes I take the cards that I have finished coloring and coating outside and set them in the Sun. They seem to like absorbing some Vitamin D and cosmic rays as much as I do.
 

Tarot Orat

I've started a notebook for the cards. I add notes to the page for the corresponding card when I get some new information or insight. It's getting personal.

Sometimes I take the cards that I have finished coloring and coating outside and set them in the Sun. They seem to like absorbing some Vitamin D and cosmic rays as much as I do.

It sounds like such an amazing journey! And I'll have to try setting mine out in the sun too, I wouldn't have thought of that.

My cards arrived today, I'll be coloring the first one after work!
 

treedog

My cards arrived today, I'll be coloring the first one after work!

You have begun (actually, the moment you decided to order the cards)! Welcome, Traveller.
 

treedog

One cool thing about spending time coloring the cards is that I can so clearly get how the Hanged Man is indeed suspended, which more than suggests equilibrium. Finding that balance between extremes, the middle, mild, path.

Justice and The Hanged Man attached.
 

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treedog

Working with the cards in this way I can see the "people" (conscious and subconscious?) in Atu VI (The Lovers) seem to be the same couple in Atu XV (The Devil). In the first card they are protected/guided by AA Raphael, and in The Devil they have abandonded discrimination and fallen pray to base instincts which leads to "bondage."

Even though the belief in an actual "devil" seems to be the habit of shallower approaches to religion, the archetype is familiar, if not a bit silly.

Anyone care to comment on the "Seed" in the upper lefthand corner of Death?

Death, Temperance and The Devil attached.
 

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garmonbozia

I purchased two decks of these recently (one to color some day, and one to not).

Haven't had the courage to put pencil to paper yet, and seeing how good some of the examples are on some of the threads on here is not doing much for my confidence.

How do you make colored pencil look so good?!
 

treedog

How do you make colored pencil look so good?!

Hmm... For me, since everything is part of the classroom and I hold all the gold stickers it just works out as it will. Okay, so that was kind of vague. But really, I think one could get into this from a lot of different angles.

For example, I was thinking about taking the two primary color correspondences for a card (say, yellow and violet) and swiping across the card with a sponge in two broad strokes. Done! Now meditate.

I saw someone the other day with a deck they created based largely on Hindu mythology. The cards were ornate, intricate, painted by an artist in Indonesia and looked like a tapestry. They didn't (for me) have any more majick than my Golden Dawn deck that looks like a 4th grader painted them. Known what I mean?

Sounds like you're already in process. Keep walking this way.