xomllecat

[xomllecat]

What win I, if I gain the thing I seek?
 A dream, a breath, a froth of fleeting joy: 
Who buys a minute’s mirth to wail a week? 
Or sells eternity to get a toy?

— Shakespeare, The Rape of Lucrece

[xomllecat]

The 5-cent Tarot by Madam Clara.

I couldn't find images for all the suits, but they are matches (wands), buttons (pentacles), needles (swords) and cups.

[xomllecat]

@editority

[xomllecat]

Just four days left in the Kickstarter campaign to print the Rainbow Heart Tarot. 

Judgement, acrylic gouache and ink on watercolor paper. 

[xomllecat]

Fighting isn’t necessarily a bad thing.

I pulled 5 of Swords for my card of the week and so had to chuckle when I opened the Co--Star app today to see the above message in my “day at a glance.“ I, like many, expend effort to avoid confrontation and generally view fighting as a substandard way of dealing with things, but like everything else, it has its time & place. This serpent tests the air, ready to fight: is she defending herself or critical values, or maybe just needing to clear the air?

[xomllecat]

THE FOOL

For this project, I wanted to explore how a perfect loop can emphasize the meaning of the subject in a GIF. I chose to animate The Fool card in the Universal Rider-Waite tarot deck. This subject is ideal for a perfect loop because in tarot, The Fool is depicted with one foot stepping off of a cliff, oblivious to the danger below. I placed the Fool in an impressionist painting of a cliff and animated him to walk over the edge, fall, and then climb the hill again. The fall reflects the negative aspects of the card: recklessness, a fool-hardy attitude. And the ascent up the hill signifies the positive aspects: beginnings, optimism, and innocence.

To achieve the final GIF, I primarily used layering and the puppet tool. I layered the yellow sky onto the cliff background, another callback to the original card. I also took elements of the cliff itself to create depth, seen in the space where the Fool falls and the grass that he walks through. I used the puppet tool to make the Fool “walk” off the cliff and come back up the hill. I also used this to animate the dog to jump up and down.

[xomllecat]

XX. Judgement - Buffy Summers

please, do not repost

(also I’m doing a tarot set with fictional female characters, please let me know if you have any suggestions. I’ve got a whole bunch already mapped out but I might have missed something super obvious, especially in the minor arcana)

[xomllecat]

Five of Swords asks, “Is it worth it?”

Maybe it is and maybe it isn’t; only you know for sure whether the benefits outweigh the costs.

[xomllecat]

[xomllecat]

the sun will rise again

[xomllecat]

Self Love Tarot Challenge, Day 2 - What Do You Want?

Five of Pentacles - I had to mull this one over for a moment, because it told me everything that I didn’t want, rather than what I wanted. But in that regard, I guess that, in and of itself, could be what I want. I want to feel secure and stable in my life. I want to feel like I’m needed and I bring some value to the world. I want to know that what I’m doing is good - for me and for those around me.

Deck used: Shadowscapes Tarot

[xomllecat]

The King of Wands (or their Slow Holler counterpart, the Visionary of Branches) has been cropping up quite a lot for me lately. Often I find court cards some of the shallower ones in the deck, but this one keeps coming up, so I wanted to sit with it more deeply.

First, yes, the King of Wands is about responsibility and maintaining order, something that I’ve been having copious experience with this semester as I do two solo original research projects, a research assistantship (including coauthorship in a peer reviewed academic journal), paid grading, regular class, tax season for my business... So that aspect can’t really be denied, but those aren’t really the things that come to mind when I see this king pop up.

This card has popped up before in a “you can do it kind of way,” but right now what I’m really getting from this card is its creative fire. I created a spread for myself based on my horoscope for the new moon in Taurus that Chani Nicholas posted the other day, and this card showed up in the position of “self-care things I’m doing right.” At first I was like, “what, carrying a burden? why’s that so great for me?” because the card in the Slow Holler deck shows a person kind of leaning on and/or carrying a huge branch, and although they do look calm, you could also read it as exhaustion, which is how I feel lately.

But when I thought about it a little more, I realized that, no, it meant my fledgling art habit, the one I’m trying to cultivate where I do at least 15 minutes of drawing or painting OR complete a piece I like (sometimes I work very quickly with the brush pen and create something I love in only about a minute or so, if I’m feeling appropriately inspired and/or my hand is “on fire”). Even though I love it, and fantasize about it during my long work days—just like this King of Wands, who looks ready to spring out of his throne and into action—when it comes time to sit down and do it, a lot of times I feel drained, uninspired, and start to avoid putting brush to paper. But it really is good for me, to create something, even if it’s fleeting or small.

So another way I can see the King of Wands being relevant is through the use of goal-setting, that kind of authoritarian and strict streak the card can embody. It seems a little counterintuitive—so much of me right now is rebelling against being forced to do things; could forcing myself to maintain my creative habit really be a good thing when all I want to do with my spare time is not to have any structure or have-tos imposed on it? Although I definitely do have a tendency to resist and resent things I enjoy even if they are self-imposed, I believe at this point, the benefits are worth it. It’s about having the maturity to see that my creative pursuits need to be nurtured even if it comes in the form of goal-setting and some rigidity.

[xomllecat]

The Queens

Queen of Wands is like that creative spark of energy. Your summer bonfire. Fireworks on the Fourth of July. She’s full of passion, energy and sparkle. Warm, friendly, and has the ability to charm her way. She’s also fiercely loyal. Sociable. She’s the best friend you know you can confide in and she will just hug you so tight while making plans in her head to either cheer you up or go after the boy who made you cry. She is a force to be reckoned with. She is the lioness who will always protect her cubs. She will defend the underdog. She’s like a field of wildflowers and dancing in the rain. She’s like the scent of sweet amber and sandalwood musk; sensual and romantic. Astrologically speaking, she represents the Fire Signs: Aries, Leo, Sagittarius

Queen of Cups is like the perfect temperature of pool water. It’s not too hot or too cold, it’s comfortable. She’s like… that like feeling you have when walking into your grandmother’s house and smelling fresh baked cookies. She is the mom of the group. Her friends are her family, and her family is everything. She is homelike and nurturing. She’s like that feeling you get after you walk in the door from a long day at work and you take off your heels and bra. It’s like total comfort. She’s the care package your mom sent when you moved away for college. She’s like a vase of beautiful roses. She is the sound and tranquility of a quiet babbling brook, but her emotions can be dark and strong like a raging river. She’s beautiful and compassionate.  Astrologically speaking, she represents the Water Signs: Cancer, Scorpio, Pisces

Queen of Swords is like that quick-witted girl you wish you could be more like. Have you ever played a scenario in your head over and over about what you should have said? Or like 3 hours later, you come up with a brilliant comeback? She already thought of those brilliant words, said them, and walked away. She’s like the sharp-tongued Great Aunt who cuts through the BS and won’t put up with it. She’s also quite clever, bit quirky, always thinking, and figuring things out. While the Queen of Wands can put on the charm to get her way, the Queen of Swords uses intellect and reason. She is a woman of her word. She means what she says, and says what she means. She has a good heart and has the best intentions, but would rather not sugarcoat things. She’s like the cool, crisp air in the early morning. Astrologically speaking, she represents the Air Signs: Gemini, Libra, Aquarius

Queen of Pentacles is like walking into an old library and breathing in that familiar scent of books. Or a stack of money. She’s the boss lady. She has great work ethic and incredible dedication. She is seen as the “roots” of the family. The Matriarch. Where the Queen of Cups is the mother, this is the grandmother. The top lady that everyone respects and values. Someone who is grounded, stable. She’s the valedictorian at your high school and voted most likely to succeed. She is practical. She’s the foundation of the strongest building. She can be stubborn and set in her ways, but she can see what others cannot. She is down to earth, wise beyond her years, and very responsible. She is like the root of the strongest oak tree. It’s possible that she’s not wealthy in a monetary sense, but her wisdom and life experiences make her the richest woman in the world. Astrologically speaking, she represents the Earth Signs: Taurus, Virgo, Capricorn

[xomllecat]

Death brings transformation and drastic change. Old patterns of behavior end, and we experience rebirth. 💀✨🌹

[xomllecat]

[xomllecat]

This was my daily card yesterday and I just have to say Wheel of Fortune? More like Hamster Wheel of FFFUUUUUU. I don’t pull this card for myself often, but I had a check and over half the times when I have pulled this card for myself in the past few years, it has been associated with a very busy or stressful day or period of time. It’s interesting because so often this card is labelled as one of the most auspicious cards in the deck, good luck, things like that. But for me, more often than not its meaning has been more tied up with things outside of my direct control (although of course I have agency), where I just need to submit and get through it until things are “normal” again--a temporary downward leg of the Wheel, perhaps. I like the depiction in this card because of the large sky and symbolism associated with that (gods, fate, forces of nature), as well as scene taking place, which kind of reminds me of that scene in the Lion King (”when we die, our bodies become the grass, and the antelope eat the grass...”).

[xomllecat]

This deck is so freakin cool! The Lost Code of Tarot by Andrea Aste #thelostcodetarot #thebookofshadowstarot #tarot #tarotbyleeann #tarotcards #tarottidbits (at Greensboro, North Carolina)