[salamandrina]

Thank you all very much for your kind words!
I am very much encouraged now to get my act together.

I am not really set against people using them to read...it just feels all very personal I suppose. I hope I finish them just before I die...XD...(joke) Certainly its going to take me a while to figure out what to do about the Pip cards.

Actually it was my second Devil that freaked me out last year. Still not sure what to do about that one! Post it I suppose sometime, and let it freak everyone else out instead.

I always work 35cm X 50cm on rag paper with gouache/watercolours/ink. Too big really. Its another problem. Should paint them smaller because when you shrink the detail all gets lost anyway. I'll post some detail images soon and you'll see what I mean. Thing is I really love doing the details, it's like a mantra. Each card has to have its detail challenge, its heroic element. It infuses it with a living energy.

As for the Hexagram on the Queen of Cups its Crowleys association. He gives all the court cards Hexagrams, and they fit well.

[salamandrina]

Posted a new card for the new moon:

http://flyingfox.vox.com/library/pos...-his-head.html

Also fixed the blah on The Hermit somewhat.

None of my cards are ever finished really but this Swordy Queen wanted to be seen. And it doesn't do to argue with her. Some cards, as soon as you paint in the eyes they start bossing you about.

About the name I am using: I'm not on some messianic power trip. Magdalene was my mothers middle name which she chose for herself when she was a child. She was also an artist, a professional one in her case (which is why I despise the art world). I took the name in her memory, and also because it's relevant to overall aim: the re spiritualization of the feminine. Ironically it turns out now my main difficulty is portraying the masculine side. I am going to have to make friends with my animus if I want to finish these cards.

Anyway the blog is just a temporary arrangement. I want to make a site for them all of course. At that point I might reveal my full name, or I might just use my initials SW which you can see on the signature above the childs' head. I'd like to stay cloaked as much as possible tbh.

Also I have to mention, I do often feel totally inadequate to this task, but being a slave to my muse, I have no choice but to keep going. The more you know the more you know you don't know. This forum has been hugely useful to me in my research. So thank you! And big respect!

[OctoberGwen]

I loooove the swordy Queen.

Your art is wonderful! May you stay inspired. Thank you for sharing it.

[salamandrina]

http://flyingfox.vox.com/library/pos...ne-rising.html

Finally got this card up (Princess of Discs). Wanted to post it for the recent full moon but April Fools Day will have to do. I was a bit dubious about the title "Princess" but I wanted 2 female courts so I am going with it.

Done a better job of processing it (or not processing it) than the Queen of Swords who ended up far too muddy. The work required to satisfy my perfectionism is ENDLESS though. And sometimes it is good to post them so you can move on. At least for a while. Thinking of renaming them the Sisyphus Tarot.

Here's a link to all of them so you don't have to go back a page for it:
http://flyingfox.vox.com/library/posts/tags/tarot/

Please excuse me for being scarce otherwise. I'm not very good at forums but I am quite friendly and happy to chat if anyone feels the urge.

[Tarot Orat]

Even if you don't feel confident about the project all the time, that does not come across in the paintings at all - they look as surehanded and free as if they were always there, for you to discover and reveal to us. Amazing imagery and terrific details. I love the kookooburra on the Q. of Swords and the floral pathway on the Princess of Discs. The Tower is so striking, fearsome, but it shows that there is still a world around it, below it - one may plummet from a height, but the world isn't ending around you. (And you might fly away like those doves!) Haunting, irresistable, dreamlike, yet so precise and physically present. This is great stuff, I hope you keep revealing it to us!

[salamandrina]

Wow! Thank you very much! You made me blush!

I do feel like I am just their mid wife. They surprise me and amaze me all the time. But I am hugely encouraged when people who really know about Tarot like them. Because although I have researched a great deal, and been fascinated by tarot cards all my life, I don't really feel like an "expert". I am trusting to my artists intuition to bring forth images but it has been the most wonderful adventure of my life so far. I have learned SO much. The Tarot really is the highest education possible.

Anyway, I'll try and get some more cards posted soon. I have something of a backlog.

[salamandrina]

http://flyingfox.vox.com/library/pos...sacrifice.html

Or the POW as I affectionately refer to him because he's the first Prince I am truly happy about.

[callistoluna]

Just discovered your site - wow! Love your work. Hope you do finish your Tarot because it is really beautiful.

[Alta]

Don't know how I missed this before. I like your paintings very much. Strong work and very evocative. Your courts are better than those in many commercial decks and the Tower is indeed striking as others have noted.

Alta

[salamandrina]

Thank you!
I keep thinking of this poem:

Risk

And then the day came,
when the risk
to remain tight
in a bud
was more painful
than the risk
it took
to Blossom

by Anais Nin

Actually though in the end flowering is not painful at all but quite joyous.
I couldn't stop now even if I wanted to and I don't.