The White Whisker Cat Tarot

[HudsonGray]

It WAS going to be called Through Space & Time With O.C. Cat but that was too long.

Yes, another deck is in the works. You'd think I learned my lesson with the Ferret Tarot and the Chat du Marseille! But no....there's one more in me (well, two, but maybe not, not sure yet).

I don't know if it's kosher to point you to my blog, which has the breakdowns for the cards I've been sketching so far, but here's the URL.
http://www.livejournal.com/users/17coyotes/
Hopefully it's ok to list it, I didn't want to repost everything off it to over here as that's redundant. The newest additions are on the top, the older stuff is below it, and I just started posting in November.

Unfortunately no cards are inked in yet or put up online. The style will be cartoonish, though semi realistic (like the Ferret deck only more evenly done in style). I'm borrowing from movies, tv and history but they'll be parody enough so that no copyright is violated. It'll be a mix of the easily recognisable and a bit of something most people probalby don't know about (the Mayan and Japanese cards will need some background explanation I think). I'm picking things from all over the globe to include.

At this point I'm about 30 cards into the sketch phase and have been writing a bit about each one as I focus on them. There won't be people (humans) in the pictures, just cats. Some will wear clothes, some won't. The blog is helping me get my thoughts down on paper a little better.

 

[baba-prague]

Well, as you know I found your blog a couple of weeks ago, so I'm already enjoying following what you're doing. I think the deck will be a lot of fun - and I'm looking forward to seeing some pictures!

Congratulations on deck three! - and no, three decks is NOT too many

 

[Major Tom]

HudsonGray - No problem with your blog. The rules specifically allow deck creators to post links appropriate to their creation process.

Sounds good to me.

Is it going to be black & white like your previous decks?

Why cats? Mind you, a cat is one hell of a nice animal frequently mistaken for a meatloaf.

 

[ambermoon]

Thanks for sharing your blog. I've just subscribed and will be following along as you design the deck.

 

[Kath]

I've 'friended' you, I hope you don't mind (I'm neonprincess).

I am looking forward to seeing your cards online

 

[HudsonGray]

I was hoping to do this one in color, but the art will be black & white first. The color will likely be color pencil but I'm going to try a few things, maybe watercolor, as a test.

Thanks for the interest guys. Tom--cats is nice people, they deserve another deck. Besides, I find it easy to draw cats (and have 5 of them myself) and I can't draw people to save my life. It was going to be an animal deck anyway. O.C. Cat used to decorate a lot of my envelopes about 10 years back, he was done as mail art and anything science fiction-based would have a little scene on the envelope, so he got a lot of use. I killed him off one Halloween but the widows & orphans came looking for him (long story, I was in a mail art exchange with people & the thing grew out of control). So he was brought back. Now this will be his incarnation back on the cards. Though he was orange originally, he'll have all sorts of coat colors this time around.

(added later)
Please post there or here if you read something that doesn't make a connection with you, I don't know if I'm reaching too far on some of the symbols/images or not, or if it's not clear to others. The more feedback the better. If something doesn't make sense or seems off, let me know.

 

[WolfSpirit]

Being the happy owner of the Ferret Tarot and the Marseilles Cat, I am looking forward to seeing pictures of this new deck in progress
Hope the cats have the same humour as the ferrets.

 

[HudsonGray]

I just put up a post in the blog -- http://www.livejournal.com/users/17coyotes/ -- about the new card I was considering (The World card). I think I need feedback on this one. I'm pulling from Mayan legends/myths and it's a connection to the Jaguar Baby.

I'd found the text of the story at a university site. The url is listed in the blog, scroll down to page 10 on that url where it starts to talk about the sacrifice of the baby. Do you think this fits with a World completion cycle to a new beginning? It doesn't seem to be a calm transition (unlike the regular RW style move from the Judgement card to the World card), so it may come across a little strange.

What I want to know is, does it work?

 

[WolfSpirit]

Have you thought of using this story for the Death card ?
The story of transformation, letting go to let it be reborn could be great for a Death card, I think. Maybe it would work for the World too...maybe it depends on how you tell the story, to make it fit with this card. Yes, I think you would have to explain this card further.

And by the way - Happy birthday

 

[HudsonGray]

Thanks! I hit the big 50 but since I'm in denial I'm still 34.

The meaning sort of covers the Judgement card also. But the Death card, to me, was more about changes than cycles. With cycles you start coming full circle & there's the Wheel of Fortune to think of too...they all have something in common, but for some reason I thought of the World when it came down to a total rebirth to the next level.

Only this one wasn't going to be passive or a smoothly going transition...for some reason that made it seem important to have it show up as the World card. I've always assumed you slid from Judgement to The World in safety and comfort, like getting a free pass to the next phase, but it suddenly hit me that I can't come up with a single reason as to why that should be. Sticking a sort of paradime shift into the idea (full cycle, adult to child to adult King) suddenly was like a wake up call. But I've only got my take on it, which is why I invite feedback (others may think it's too far out, or that it would work better with a different card).

Judgement is a renewal and shift in thinking as well as a slough off of the old to get your rewards that you've worked for, yep, but the Jaguar baby is a rebirth (not a reward) to a new phase with new responsibilities and all new expectations. There isn't a childhood ahead of him--he goes down the hole (or into the maw of the dragon sacrificial table-depending on the image picked) and comes out the other end as a full Jaguar king who rules the night and underworld, he can't go back to ruling the sun and daytime world - that was his old phase, which is done now. He's no longer the helpless baby in partial transition between human and jaguar form. His past can't be returned to.