Non-scenic RWS pips (split from Impact pf PCS on the RWS deck)

Babalon Jones

I was thinking about this project and how I like it, wouldn't mind using these as a deck occasionally, how it renews my interest a bit and gives new oerspective etc. But I think the reason it appeals to me is residual, or vestigial, since I have so much history with this deck from my earliest memories as a kid even. If I just saw these redesigned pip cards without ever knowing the original so intimately it would hold very little interest.

But maybe that is stating the obvious! :)
 

Zephyros

Not at all stating the obvious!

I, too, am very excited about this simply because its benefits have already been seen. I never, ever paid any attention to the suit indicators except in passing. The images were the thing, and I am ambivalent about those anyway. But seeing these stripped down cards have made them pop out and become very important all of a sudden. Suddenly I begin to see patterns in them, like my theory about the Wands and Swords. If my theory is in fact correct it would mean a whole new layer of meaning in a deck that is so popular and ubiquitous that even though I look at the images I don't know if I actually "see" them. This experiment has really put the cards in new perspective.
 

Babalon Jones

Yes same here! The patterns of the wands and the swords, straight or crossed, horizontal or vertical? And the cups and disks, is there a pattern like in geomancy? Any relation to heraldry? I was thinking about this in relation to TDM decks recently in that section, but it applies here too.
 

Zephyros

It helps if you look at the entire suit, at once (on my app I can do that, Tarotbot for Android). In the suit of Wands, the first four are upright, implying the stability of the supernals as well as that of the Four. On the Five they are a mess, as befits Geburah. On the Six they are again upright, but less stable perhaps since they are carried and not affixed. The Seven is one diagonal vs. six upright ones, while the Eight is all diagonal (moving arrows, perhaps, Mercury in Sagittarius). The Nine implies stability, Yesod, and all the Wands are planted firmly in the ground, but it is stability of an unpleasant kind (at least in this deck, I don't see Sun in Sagittarius as that bad), but stability nonetheless. The Ten is an anomaly, looks like. All the wands packed up and ready to go. Rootless, perhaps, a burden.

Now, with the Swords suit, the Two does not seem to follow this pattern, but Luna in Libra is so good, that it can be glossed over. The Three doesn't seem to follow either, but maybe there is a different "rule" here that I'm missing. The Four is very solid and vertical, befitting Chesed. Chaos reigns in Geburah, all the swords pointing in different directions. Six is vertical again, of course. The Seven is especially interesting, two swords and five. The two are vertical while the chaotic five are messy. The Eight is odd, it seems as though the swords shouldn't be as neat as they are, yet they are. The Nine is ordered, but implies a mess anyway because of the horizontal swords (the only horizontal male suit indicator). The Ten is vertical again, although here again my theory falls apart... because I think the swords should be a mess... but my theory is half baked anyway, so I dunno...
 

Babalon Jones

Well it sounds good even if not every card seems to adhere.

Half baked theories are better than raw or overdone!
 

Richard

......Suddenly I begin to see patterns in them, like my theory about the Wands and Swords. If my theory is in fact correct it would mean a whole new layer of meaning in a deck that is so popular and ubiquitous that even though I look at the images I don't know if I actually "see" them. This experiment has really put the cards in new perspective.
I think there may be deliberately meaningful patterns in them, as is obvious in the 10 of Pentacles. These patterns actually may be obscured somewhat by the underlying scenes: It was many years before I noticed the Hermetic ToL in the 10 of Pents.
 

Babalon Jones

Nudge nudge poke. How's it going?
 

Laura Borealis

I needed to work on my card for the AT collaborative deck, so I haven't got much done. but I have these...

Pixie didn't put a lip on most of her cups, but on the 6 of Cups, she did put a lip on the upper one. So I drew a lip on the others when I removed their flowers. I feel iffy about it though.
 

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Babalon Jones

I think I like the plain ones best. There is something cool (and vaguely unsettling) about the disemboied cups, unadorned, and floating in space.
 

Laura Borealis

I know what's wrong with the lipped cups. The perspective is off a tad; we see too much of the opening. I can fix that.