Something I have realized about myself is that I get deeply interested in multiple projects and in my enthusiasm end up spreading myself too thin. In an effort to actually make some meaningful progress in something, I am going to try and go through my list of projects and complete them one by one. When contemplating which one to begin with I had to think about the one thing I would like to achieve if this was my last year alive. This would be the most urgent for me to manifest in the world while I still have this personal human vehicle in working order. The answer came to me quite quickly: Bring my internal Tarot into the physical plane.
To create a physical Tarot deck is an immensely daunting task. A standard deck consists of 78 cards, each with it's own unique artwork and at least a booklet (if not an entire full length book) to accompany it, with a section on each individual card. If one were to spend four days creating the artwork and write up for each card that would be quite the extraordinary task, and would only leave about two months for all the other work required such as packaging design, etc... all while working a full time job and raising two young kids.
Clearly this isn't going to work for my situation but I have a plan. The most important part of my personal Tarot is the changes I've made to the Major Arcana. It's not unheard of to release a smaller Major Arcana only deck of 22 cards, but I've also got a plan to resolve this issue as well which I will reveal closer to the end of the project. Follow along here for regular updates on my progress!
The Plan
In order to get a Major Arcana deck complete within one solar year I am going to attempt to dedicate 8 days to each card in turn. During these 8 days I will contemplate the internal card I have in my mind and translate the meaning of it into images and words. My goal for each 8 day period will be to produce a piece of artwork ready to be scanned into the computer and at least two decent paragraphs of content about that card and any additional relevant notes.
Once all the cards in the set have been gone through, the material will all be collected up, edited and compiled into a final product. I'll be sharing updates and teasers along the way, ideally every 8 days or so. I'm hoping this helps me to keep my focus, stay motivated and to give me a sense of accountability. I'm also hoping that this gets you excited as well! This is something I've been developing for literally decades. I'm eager to share it with you but I have to be careful about revealing too much early on. It certainly doesn't help the developing bird to crack open the shell before it reaches maturity.
I hope you will follow along with me on this journey! I'd love to hear your thoughts along the way. Am I crazy to attempt this? Are you curious about the changes I've made to the Major Arcana? Maybe you've already heard some things. Let me know in the comment section below!
Connect with Jeremy Crow:
My Website: JeremyCrow.com
Twitter: Twitter.com/JeremyCrow
YouTube: YouTube.com/JeremyCrow
Instagram: Instagram.com/JeremyCrow
Luciferian Research Society: LuciferianResearch.org
Why does it necessarily have to be 78?
If you know that Tarot includes archetypes, elements and - purely arbitrary - ten numbers that are supposed to correspond to our decimal numbering system and/or planets and/or Jewish sephiroth - Why choose these particular categories as valuable? Why choose backward compatibility with Crowley?
I agree 100% and if you read carefully you'll see that I didn't technically say that I would be doing a 78 card deck. I personally feel that Crowley didn't go far enough with the changes he made to the Tarot because he was trying to keep his Tarot backwards compatible with the standard Waite deck in his era. Have you seen the weird loop with a twist in the end to explain his answer to the statement in the Book of the Law about Tzadi not being The Star? It's unnecessarily complicated. I have completely abandoned the Hebrew letter associations with the Major Arcana, but even still if I was Crowley trying to reconcile that issue I would have changed the position of at least 12 cards and not just two. Some of the aspects of my own deck are the result of contemplating that whole situation. All that being said, I do have a love of Tarot. I've been actively studying it for about 2/3rds of my life at this point and had been influenced by it for many years earlier. I'm not interested in completely abandoning tradition. I'm not going to throw the baby out with the bath water, so to speak. I have nothing against creating a unique Oracle deck, but for this project I am intending to create a Tarot deck specifically. I'm breaking with Tradition in the ways that matter to me and keeping the parts that I think are valuable. Thanks so much for your feedback! I hope you'll stick around to see how it goes!
Posted Using LeoFinance Beta
Yeah, one of my occult acquaintances suggested reading The Garden of Pomegranates as a source of practical Tarot knowledge. My scepticism had only risen, as a result.
The only couple of things that I remember is that Lamed and Teth are misplaced compared to the deck I have AND the book itself suggests that "the fool won't grasp the meaning behind such differences anyway; the smart though would see through it and learn". Which added one more reason to fuel my profound (admittedly, not entirely reasonable) repulsion towards Tradition at large.
Anyways, I'm curious to see where it goes for you. Are you familiar with Hyperianism, by the way?
Congratulations @jeremycrow! You have completed the following achievement on the Hive blockchain and have been rewarded with new badge(s):
Your next target is to reach 18000 upvotes.
You can view your badges on your board and compare yourself to others in the Ranking
If you no longer want to receive notifications, reply to this comment with the word
STOPCheck out the last post from @hivebuzz:
Support the HiveBuzz project. Vote for our proposal!