Card Ideas

RavenDarkWind

Feel free to use these motifs in a deck, credit optional:

Death: The Scythe of Azrael is cutting a hole into the fabric of reality (sort of like The Grim Adventures of Billy and Mandy). On this side of the tear, there are corpses of various figures, but through the hole, the corpses are alive again, enjoying themselves in a golden field.

Temperance: The fluids from the cups arc overhead to form a star. Upon further examination, the star is also an arrowhead (from the card's association with Sagittarius), the angel is the shaft, and under the feet of the angel, flowers and tall grasses create the illusion of a taut bowstring.

Strength: In my vision, the maiden is not grasping the lion by the jaws, but rubbing his belly, playing with the beast.

The Fool: The titular fool is not on the cliff, but has already begun to plummet. His face does not show fear at the snapping crocodile below, but he is at peace. The dog at the top of the cliff sits proudly, knowing that his master is ready to go it alone. The fool's travelling cloak furrows around him, forming the shape of butterfly wings.

10 of Swords: The man is impaled, with the swords going through points relating to the Sephiroth. The blood pouring from his body sinks into the black earth, and the first shoots of flowers grow around him.

7 of Cups: A man, clearly under the influence of powerful drugs, hallucinates the contents of 7 cups sitting in front of him. The background is psychedelic, with sort of a "groovy" 70's vibe.

Knight of Cups: The knight rides relaxed on his steed, holding a cup with a bouquet of flowers from his lover. A lute hangs by his side. Emblazoned on his surcoat is the symbol for Pisces (Mutable Water).

The Empress: She is heavily pregnant, holding her stomach. A dove rests on her hand, with a yonic door in the background.

8 of Wands: Above a savanna, eight wands streak through the sky like meteors. On the horizon, the silhouette of a cheetah can be seen.

The Hanged Man: The baffled one is floating in a sea of amniotic fluid, due to the watery nature of the card.

Judgement: Israphel blows his horn above a scorched landscape. In the center of the blaze, a phoenix's egg hatches as souls come forth from the ground to face the wrath the fiery bird.

Ace of Coins: Large vines grow around a giant coin. The vines bear fruit, which on closer inspection, are made of crystals.

Ace of Cups: A giant chalice runs over with fresh water in the middle of a spring. The condensation on the sides looks like a heart.

Ace of Swords: In the middle of a foggy sky, a giant sword is visible, all the fog surrounding it cut away. The negative space of the clear sky vaguely forms the image of a man in meditation.

Ace of Wands: Atop a sand dune surrounded by sparse grasses, a giant wooden pillar stands. The sun is directly behind, making it look as if the wand is on fire.

The Devil: The usual portrayal of Baphomet, but with two additions: a burning third eye and a large erection. The two chained imps are dancing.

The World: This one was a doozy to write up, so please take the time to read it. The figure dancing in the center looks like the Goddess Gaia, but she/he/it can be adapted to look like the Hellenistic Aion, or even the Mithraic Deus Leontocephalus. The figure in the middle (hereinafter referred to as DIO) is on a black background. The hoop surrounding DIO is decorated with the signs of the zodiac, colored according to Golden Dawn attributions. The fixed signs are directly diagonal from the corners, each sign where its throne beast should be. Instead of the usual lion, calf, man, and eagle, the alchemical symbols of the four elements take their place, with the four suits standing in front of them. The quarters are colored with the usual elemental colors (Fire - Red, Water - Blue, Air - Yellow, Earth - Green). Back in the circled section, the translucent spheres of the 7 ancient planets are shown floating around DIO in their pattern according to the Hexagram. It is at this point that I noticed that Saturn was crowning DIO, which ties in directly with the GD attribution. The planets are colored using either their Sephirah's color, or their color in the rainbow (ROYGBIV - Mars, Sun, Mercury, Venus, Moon, Saturn, Jupiter). Finally, the ribbon/serpent coiling around DIO has three whorls. At the top, it is red, for Fire, Sulphur, and Shin. In the middle, it is yellow, for Air, Mercury, and Aleph. At the bottom, it is blue, for Water, Salt, and Mem. Any of the three correspondences can be used as decorations for each part. 3 principles + 7 planets + 12 constellations = 22 Major Arcana.