Before and After?

This one is dedicated to Tiffany Reisz (@tiffanyreisz) for the happy tweets and chats.  Good luck with the novel, honey, and, if you need any help - you know where to grab me! ;-)

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It's always a constant pleasure to me to see how many ways the female of our species is used (and frequently abused) in the artwork that makes up so many Tarot decks.  It's natural, of course, to recognise the beauty of our female form in so many homages, and it does appear with significant strength in many of the symbolic characters in Tarot - The Priestess, Strength, The Star, Justice, The World, etc - but the real challenge of the artist is to come up with a new, fresh visual interpretation that can portray to the reader an underlying message that can, subsequently, be used to invest and interpret a spread for a querant.

Regular visitors to my blog will be well aware of my love and fascination for the 10 of Swords from the Fenestra Tarot (see below), which is one of those powerful abuses that is visually and emotionally appealing, whether you are invested in the meaning of the card or not. Recently, I encountered the 8 of Swords from the Legacy of the Divine Tarot, and the striking resemblance to the Fenestra 10 of Swords struck me so much, it inspired me to write this blog entry.

The Legacy of the Divine card shows the lissome female form, barely clothed in a flimsy wrap, suspended in the giant web of some unseen creature, while the 8 swords of the card race from various angles to pierce her waiting, ensnared flesh.  Fortunately for her, she is blindfolded by the wrap, and thus not aware of the fate that  is rapidly approaching her.

The 8 of Swords is known in Tarot as the Card of the Captive, and, to some, is meant to portray the beautiful Andromeda, chained to the rock, an offering to the sea-monster Cetus, as a punishment for her mother, Cassiopeia, bragging about her own beauty.  A case of the Sins of the Mother, if ever there was one! 

The 8 of Swords symbolizes a crisis in the life of the Querant, although not a crisis that is without hope. Andromeda was rescued by the erstwhile Perseus, fresh from his victory over the hideous Medusa.

By the time we get to the 10 of Swords, however, all hope is lost! The 10 of Swords is by far the most final and fatal card in Tarot! While many gawk at the maleficence of Death, or the drastic might of The Tower, these merely symbolize great change or calamity. Not so the 10 of Swords. The card usually depicts a male figure whose back is pierced by the 10 swords, signifying a cruel death or finality from the ultimate betrayal.

In the Fenestra version of the card, Chatriya has replaced the male with another lissome female.  Again, she is semi-clothed by the flimsy wrap - this one more transparent than that of the 8 above, and also torn by the swords. The 10 swords pierce her body in cruel yet passionate thrusts, suspending her pale, prone form against the colourful yet barren landscape. This truly is the "After" version of the 8 of Swords above, and the two cards counterpoint each other with their symbolic beauty and grace.

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Two other cards from the Legacy of the Divine Tarot by Ciro Marchetti also struck me with a special appeal.  These are the Queen of Swords and the Queen of Coins, both of which are shown below.

The Queen of Swords is a powerful, dangerous beauty, whose cold gaze belies the passion in her soul. Her tanned skin and muscular form are designed to be appealing and mesmerizing in the same way a Cobra charms her prey. I have to say, I find her tattoos very appealing, too!

The Queen of Coins is also a very appealing beauty, although at a much more feminine level than her sister, the Queen of Swords. Unfortunately, the colour on this particular scan does not represent the true colours of the card itself, and the skin tone and eye and hair colours on the actual card remind me very, very much of the woman I used as the inspiration for my short story Dining Out Tonight, which appears on Every Night Erotica, and which is an extract from a much longer tale.

Take care, y'all, until next time!

Ashen

The Ten of Swords

I always approach Tarot with a tremble, and some trepidation. Maybe it's the Romany in me, feeling its way across the generations, that let's me know that Tarot is not the toy that many believe it to be - a quaint way of telling tales of the Past, Present and Future. Tarot is, indeed, much, much more. Never a toy to be fooled with, but a tool for the guiding of Life.

Like most Tarot practitioners, I have many decks, but only one that is charged with links to my psyche and spiritual energies, and that's the one I use when doing readings for myself, or others. My elder sister once tried to use this deck, and it burnt her hands when she held it!  Judge for yourself whether this is a strange phenomenon or not!

The other decks I collect for a number of reasons - often to see if they do feel charged when I hold them and study them, but most often for their beautiful artwork. Tarot decks are, indeed, small collections of amazing artistry and beauty, filled with archetypes and images derived from Humankinds impressioned Past, leaving us guidance and choices for Humankinds Present and Future. One of the most beautiful and powerful decks to be released in recent years is The Fenestra Tarot by Chatriya Hemharnvibul.  Fenestra is Latin for Windows, and this deck is designed as a series of Windows filled with Tarot symbolism and beauty. I chose the Ten of Swords from this deck as the image for my avatar, and background. Here is why...

Every time I look at that image - it makes me tremble! It portrays a beautiful Woman, prone and pierced with the Ten Swords of the card. But it is more than just an image.  It has beauty, both in the artwork, and in the image of the Woman, beauty showing the love the artist had, and the viewer sees. The body almost seems to be real, and the Swords piercing her show both Power and Passion. Power, in the sense of absolute ownership of that Woman - ownership enough to give the owner the right to do to her what they did. Passion in both the driving force to perform those incisions, and in the need to do that! What has driven the Perpetrator of those acts to perform them? What did the Woman do to deserve such treatment? And why are the swords driven in the locations they are? Some are definitely sexually driven, seeming to be forced into the sexual zones of the victim. Others are positioned to cause pain - yes - but not to distract from the lissome beauty of the Woman. None of them are placed at random, but with care and attention to result, again displaying the Love and Passion the artist and the Perpetrator have for the Woman.

All that I see in that card - and it grows every time I study it - ties its imagery to my own passions and psyche, and that is why I chose it, and why I love and venerate it so much.

Love,
Ashen xxx