arachnophobia
Possession, Voodoo Tarot of New Orleans
http://taroteca.multiply.com/photos/photo/165/17.jpg
I believe this card has an answer to both Major Tom's (re Strength as Lust) and galadriel's (re surreal colours) questions...
Surreal colour-scheme: red, black, white (grey), perhaps hinting at the colours of the Triple Goddess as maiden, mother, crone. It seems to me the dance shown in card VII has successfully reached a climax, and one of the loa (spirits) has stepped in to fully possess or "ride" one of the dancers. Hence, we no longer see the dancer, but the possessing spirit, since it has temporarily negated or eclipsed, i.e. completely "overridden", the little ego of the dancer; this amounts to the Voodoo consummation par excellence, when one of the spirits steps in and decides to thus "ride" a devotee! Note sexual overtones of "climax" and "consummation" also, Major Tom, because this trance-like ecstasy or swoon of possession has all the bliss and rapture of a sexual orgasm; indeed, one can also regard it as spirit "making love to" matter at its most intimate!
There seems nothing at all "grounded" about this card, unlike in other Tarots, because of the emphasis on the, at least temporary, total ascendancy of spirit. Indeed, the possible danger suggested by this card would seem the dancer failing to return successfully to re-inhabit his/her own body and ego again, and continuing on in this 'berserker' state of possession/rapture, which I suggest could amount to acute (or even chronic?) psychosis; hence the warnings by responsible practitioners of Vodoun that one should never aim for complete and total possession by a spirit unless under their supervision... Partial possession by a spirit, however, especially Papa Legba, seems quite safe and highly desirable, especially when it comes to reading the cards... This would amount more to a form of "channelling" (cf. my discussion of card VII) ;-))
http://taroteca.multiply.com/photos/photo/165/17.jpg
I believe this card has an answer to both Major Tom's (re Strength as Lust) and galadriel's (re surreal colours) questions...
Surreal colour-scheme: red, black, white (grey), perhaps hinting at the colours of the Triple Goddess as maiden, mother, crone. It seems to me the dance shown in card VII has successfully reached a climax, and one of the loa (spirits) has stepped in to fully possess or "ride" one of the dancers. Hence, we no longer see the dancer, but the possessing spirit, since it has temporarily negated or eclipsed, i.e. completely "overridden", the little ego of the dancer; this amounts to the Voodoo consummation par excellence, when one of the spirits steps in and decides to thus "ride" a devotee! Note sexual overtones of "climax" and "consummation" also, Major Tom, because this trance-like ecstasy or swoon of possession has all the bliss and rapture of a sexual orgasm; indeed, one can also regard it as spirit "making love to" matter at its most intimate!
There seems nothing at all "grounded" about this card, unlike in other Tarots, because of the emphasis on the, at least temporary, total ascendancy of spirit. Indeed, the possible danger suggested by this card would seem the dancer failing to return successfully to re-inhabit his/her own body and ego again, and continuing on in this 'berserker' state of possession/rapture, which I suggest could amount to acute (or even chronic?) psychosis; hence the warnings by responsible practitioners of Vodoun that one should never aim for complete and total possession by a spirit unless under their supervision... Partial possession by a spirit, however, especially Papa Legba, seems quite safe and highly desirable, especially when it comes to reading the cards... This would amount more to a form of "channelling" (cf. my discussion of card VII) ;-))