Well, it's been a while since I posted cards here, but now that Major Tom's Calendar has been published, I think it's time for an update. I have to admit I've grown kind of weary of the whole project, partly because I've heard some deserved criticism which made me start to doubt some of the choices I made, and partly because I'm thinking that maybe I shouldn't have chosen to color the images - perhaps they had more character when they were still black-and-white. *sighs*

Anyone is welcome to check out my thread at Aeclectic Tarot (in which I posted designs for each trump and court card) and offer feedback here or on the Forum! Thanks for visiting!!!

The Knight of Swords is quite different from the other characters in my deck, with him being so fierce and aggressive and all. This is definitely the card in which the associations of the Swords suit with battle and war stand out the most. The colors are paler and colder as well, and the tree in the background shows just how windy that desolate place is – the Knight too races onwards, determined not to let anything stand in his way, enjoying the speed, the rush and the anticipation of the fight that is to come.

The Tower is, to me, a warning against hubris and arrogance. I imagine the man and woman had it built because they felt high above the others anyway, and they just sort of locked themselves in, surrounding themselves with their wealth and fancy gadgets. And then, as if by some divine intervention, a lighting rod out of nowhere struck the tower and blew away its top and all it stands for! So the building is opened onto the outside world and the man and woman are free again, tumbling down to the grass below, looking surprisingly calm. The card also has obvious spiritual and sexual connotations, which I tried to reflect in the drawing - in fact, the tower looked even more phallic in my first sketch, but I decided to make it more subtle. ;)

The Fool turned into a rather happy and light card in my deck, but I hope there's a deeper dimension to it as well. That's kind of exemplified in the revealing of his naked butt, I suppose - it adds a humorous touch to the card, but at the same time there's that sense of how the Fool doesn't mind, just doesn't care about it. He's "out there", completely free of day-to-day cares and blissfully unaware of taboos and of any harm that may come his way by exposing himself like that. That's why it's so important that this card remains unnumbered, as it usually is in the Tarot of Marseilles-genre: he isn't part of the structure and hierarchy of the other 21 trumps (which on my card have become mere yellow specks in the bright green grass). :)

I only just set up this blog and I'm eager to get started, so here goes!



The Queen of Batons is the first card I completed, and I like the way she turned out - especially her rather mischievous smile. The bushy long hair, the big club and the confident stance are all elements from the card's equivalent in the Tarot of Marseilles that I wanted to incorporate, since they show her as a powerful and assertive woman. That's also exactly why she is one of the few women (or may in fact be the only woman) who wears pants in my deck, because she's definitely the one who wears the pants in the relationship. The background with its hills and cypress trees was inspired by a picture of a landscape in Tuscany (Italy) and felt appropriate due to the Queen's warm and somewhat temperamental nature, and of course due to the association of the suit of Batons with vitality, nature and growth.