Mallah
I have closed out my deck creation thread for the Wickwillow, and wanted to start showing it in the context that it meant for me...
...reason being is that the creation of this deck coincided with the re-creation of ME in quite a literal sense; and so I thought it might be nice to share the story of the road I walked in bringing it to light; because, after all, isn't Tarot about personal transformation?
Much of the story is personal and while I might not find a way to express it here in such a public way, I think it might be good to do so.
I've been working with Tarot for pretty near 30 years now; though my contact with the cards goes back further than that, even, to probably about 1970 when my parents brought home a deck of Tarot cards...I don't know why or what they were thinking; they were not interested in it, but I picked it up and started to have a look at them pretty often. It was a B&W deck, called "The 20th Century Tarot". At one time I was able to find images of it online...recently I've not been able to do so.
My father was a poet, and when I was 15 he turned me on to "The Wasteland" with it's famous quasi-tarot card reading scene.
"Madame Sosostris, famous clairvoyante,
Had a bad cold, nevertheless
Is known to be the wisest woman in Europe,
With a wicked pack of cards. Here, said she,
Is your card, the drowned Phoenician Sailor,
(Those are pearls that were his eyes. Look!)
Here is Belladonna, the Lady of the Rocks,
The lady of situations.
Here is the man with three staves, and here the Wheel,
And here is the one-eyed merchant, and this card,
Which is blank, is something he carries on his back,
Which I am forbidden to see. I do not find
The Hanged Man. Fear death by water.
I see crowds of people, walking round in a ring.
Thank you. If you see dear Mrs. Equitone,
Tell her I bring the horoscope myself:
One must be so careful these days."
The Wasteland --unfortunately, perhaps-- became a major influence in my adolescent life.
Also, when I was 15, I had a vision of the holy grail, coming down thru the ceiling of my middle-school music room.
That grail would be where the story of the Wickwillow tarot began. So I give you here the Ace of Cups from the Wickwillow Tarot.
https://www.thegamecrafter.com/games/the-wickwillow-tarot
...reason being is that the creation of this deck coincided with the re-creation of ME in quite a literal sense; and so I thought it might be nice to share the story of the road I walked in bringing it to light; because, after all, isn't Tarot about personal transformation?
Much of the story is personal and while I might not find a way to express it here in such a public way, I think it might be good to do so.
I've been working with Tarot for pretty near 30 years now; though my contact with the cards goes back further than that, even, to probably about 1970 when my parents brought home a deck of Tarot cards...I don't know why or what they were thinking; they were not interested in it, but I picked it up and started to have a look at them pretty often. It was a B&W deck, called "The 20th Century Tarot". At one time I was able to find images of it online...recently I've not been able to do so.
My father was a poet, and when I was 15 he turned me on to "The Wasteland" with it's famous quasi-tarot card reading scene.
"Madame Sosostris, famous clairvoyante,
Had a bad cold, nevertheless
Is known to be the wisest woman in Europe,
With a wicked pack of cards. Here, said she,
Is your card, the drowned Phoenician Sailor,
(Those are pearls that were his eyes. Look!)
Here is Belladonna, the Lady of the Rocks,
The lady of situations.
Here is the man with three staves, and here the Wheel,
And here is the one-eyed merchant, and this card,
Which is blank, is something he carries on his back,
Which I am forbidden to see. I do not find
The Hanged Man. Fear death by water.
I see crowds of people, walking round in a ring.
Thank you. If you see dear Mrs. Equitone,
Tell her I bring the horoscope myself:
One must be so careful these days."
The Wasteland --unfortunately, perhaps-- became a major influence in my adolescent life.
Also, when I was 15, I had a vision of the holy grail, coming down thru the ceiling of my middle-school music room.
That grail would be where the story of the Wickwillow tarot began. So I give you here the Ace of Cups from the Wickwillow Tarot.
https://www.thegamecrafter.com/games/the-wickwillow-tarot
