The Gothic Tarot by Vargo – XXI The World

WolfyJames

Vargo's cards were based on earlier works, you can see some of them on his website. This card is called Good VS. Evil.

The engraved character at the top is a good one, God itself maybe, with a crown and white wings. Two angels, one on each side, both male, are fighting evil below, represented by the devil at the center below and its two demons.

There are angels (life) fighting demons (death). I guess with the angels winning, it could mean going back in the world of the living, or going to Heaven finaly, next to God and his angels. We are being forgiven.
 

Dark_angel

The angels don't look all that angelic to me, though; perhaps an example of Nietzsche again - If you stare too long into the abyss, the abyss stares back into you?
 

Umbrae

To me, The World appears as a Stele, where Deities of dark and light appear together to form a whole – although the lesser beings appear to be in conflict – the prime deities appear to be joined, as part of the world.

Recently I was contemplating this card, and my own life as I wrote another post:
Originally posted by Umbrae (in part)
The Divine is the all. The inhale and the exhale. The Magician and the High Priestess. The Fool or the World. All yet none.

The Divine is White. The Divine is Black. The Divine is balance and chaos.

I think that sums up the deck as a whole – and this card…
 

Dark_angel

That's such a wonderful way of expressing this, Umbrae!
 

silk_selen

the demons have their shield and short sword. the angels weild spears. melee and defence vs. long range and piercing. Interesting choice of weapons.

Another interesting aspect of this card is it looks like a relief sculpture. Like "the artist's rendering of" idea. But this is the artist's rendering of an artist's rendering, or something like that.
 

mercenary30

The World

This card resembles a carved marble piece of bas-relief. In the center is a circle with a stylized design in it that almost resembles the art found on the back of the cards. Beyond that this card is segregated in to two; the side of light above and the side of darkness below. On the top is a god face. I think it could resemble Zeus, Odin, or any number of mythos. The depiction is of bearded male with a crown on his head and feathered wings on the sides of his head. From his mouth blows what seems to be powerful winds. On either side of him, underneath his wings is an angel warrior carrying a battle lance. They seemed to be engaged in battle with the demons found displayed on the bottom piece of this card. The bottom is a devil face with pointed ears, smooth hairless skin and its head splits into two horns. He has leathery wings on either side of his head. What looks like a split tongue comes from his mouth and curls around on the side of his head. As mentioned, on either side is a winged demonic warrior with a shield and sword.

This is the constant, never ending battle between the darkness and the light, day and night, Yin and Yang, male and female. It shows that perfection is a balance; equal parts of both black and white. This work can be found in the library in the castle of the clan. It is located on the wall above the mantle, over the huge fireplace that keeps that enormous room warm. It is not often that the fireplace actually contains a fire any more, and when there is one, it is more for the light and the effect than for the warmth. Guests have often marveled at this wonderful piece. Some of them have unfortunately found out which side of the spectrum this family is on………
 

annik

Looking at the world, my first thought is one of symetry : both side and up-down (especially for the angels and demons). The two central engraving seems to give breath to the angels/demons. It's not a direct confrontation. There is movement in this card but it is more a fight-dance.