Tarot Tuesday

The Hanged Man is traditionally suspended between two upright poles but in The Deviant Moon Tarot, we see a gentleman who is suspended from one pole by a rope tied around his ankle and the other leg bent, holding his arms behind his back. Did you notice that there is a pocket watch dangling from his bent leg? We have seen this before in the Four of Pentacles, indicating once again, there is a time issue present.

In the Rider-Waite tarot, the Hanged Man represents the hope and fear of a different more challenging path, re-examining your priorities and establishing if they conform to the spiritual principals you choose to live by. Sometimes, The Hanged Man indicates that a lesson that needs to be learned and symbolizes the revelation that life is different depending on whichever way you choose to look at it.


Keywords for the Hanged Man are sacrifice, letting go, surrendering, passivity, suspension, contemplation, non action and waiting. In the Deviant Moon's Hanged Man however, the pocket watch seems to dangle from the very edge of his boot reminding him that opportunities are being missed, valuable time is wasting away and stands as a reminder us that contemplation and non action can have it's consequences...if we become too apathetic, waiting and becoming passive, life will surely pass us by.

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Tarot Tuesday

The Ace Of Pentacles

The Ace of Pentacles indicates great wealth and happiness. The happiness may be the culmination of something long desired but does not necessarily have a monetary value...some of the most wonderful gifts of life are not bought The Ace of Pentacles represents new beginnings, fresh energy, and inspiration. In this case, the Pentacles are equal to the alchemical element of earth and therefore symbolize the material world and things associated with matter and the body.


In this card we see a Dragon grasping a Pentacle that appears to contain the Universe. Dragons are creatures that symbolize pure perfection and of being in harmony with both the material world and the spiritual realm.The conclusion of your progress is near, you need only to travel a short distance further and you can actually have a glimpse of what lies ahead. The Aces are all about a new start and this one as a Ace-Pentacle indicates that you need only undertake the work and do it joyfully and be confident about it.


The reversed Ace of Pentacles can indicate that you are worrying too much about money. We all need to pay attention to our finances but to be overly concerned can steal our capacity for happiness in the present moment. Count your blessings... do what you can and leave the rest to the Universe. In spiritual issues, the reversed Ace of Pentacles is a signal that you may benefit greatly from increased contact with people who are on a spiritual path. 

Whether that's a path that's very similar to your own or whether you wish to learn more about very different ways of looking at things is up to you. The point is to go out into the world, and learn more about what others are saying, thinking and experiencing.

I'n health concerns, you don't have to spend a fortune to get and stay healthy. Simple things help support your health and many things are under your direct control, such as thinking positively, eating well, resting, getting exercise, and so on. Start small. Live one day at a time.

Tarot Tuesday

The Lovers

When we see this card, we automatically think of love, romance, marriage and a happy future. But it can mean more than that depending on what we are focusing on. It can also mean self love and healing and intimacy but not necessarily sexual. It can also signify a new relationship or that a current relationship is going through a big change. This Deviant Moon's card speaks of  stopping and taking a look at what's going on in your life and take a moment to listen to that inner voice to see with our inner sight.

 The Lovers card does indicate love and passion but there are going to be some choices involved. How you choose will be either very positive or negative but not much in between. Love can bring virtue to one's life... serving love can also bring virtue  but choosing poorly out of lust can wear away at love and virtue. No one said love is easy. 

If in a reading this card is reversed, it could point to an obsessive relationship or fantasy dominating one’s life or pining for past relationships or an unbalanced relationship, making the mistakes... not learning from past and frustration in love or marriage. However, letting go of a relationship that brings no pleasure may allow you to be free to attract new love into your life. This is a risk that could well bring you greater rewards.

Tarot Tuesday

I have a little Yahoo widget on my  computer desktop that randomly pops up a new picture from my photo's folder ever fifteen minutes. I was sitting at my desk the other day...staring off into space and musing absent mindedly when the Four of Pentacles  (from my Deviant Moon Tarot)  popped up in the top left of my screen. I glanced at it, looking at the figures on the card when my eyes suddenly zeroed in on the little clock on a chain around the demon-looking creature's neck.

I've drawn this card and written about it a couple of times but I was struck by a sudden insight  as I have been lately with any card from this deck...There is a time issue here, slightly reminescent of the character Ebeneezer Scrooge in "A Christmas Carol". The Four of Pentacles is typically the card of the miser. Thoughts of material possessions fill his head, leaving no room for anything else. He is not free to do anything with his life... he can't go anywhere because he is too busy holding on to his coins.

 In the Deviant Moon Four of Pentacles, we can see this demon-looking creature linking arms with a rather frightened looking man (clinging pathetically to his Pentacles) and it appears to be pulling him from an empty street into a doorway filled with flames.  The frightened man is looking behind him as if  seeing his life in retrospect and realizing much too late that all his worldly possessions mean nothing and his whole life was for naught.

There is a lesson here...many people catch on but many do not...Life is too short, too precious to get caught up in possessions and greed,  worrying about how to get more, to keep what you have to the exclusion of all else, forgetting that which is of real importance. People are important, loved ones, family, time well spent...kind words that need to be spoken, acts of random kindness perpetuated...where are the areas in which you have been miserly...? How often do you make the time that you can spend with those you love and create wonderful memories?

Internet Trolls And Tarot Deck Confessions

I had a post all prepared for today... dealing with Internet Trolls. You know...those who like to creep in and leave deluded, self justifying and hurtful comments on your blog or webpage...and always "anonymously" of course but I scrapped that post because I'm just not going to give this spelling challenged, ignorant minded person their fifteen minutes of fame on my blog! Anyway...on to my confession....

Hi, my name is Liz and I'm a tarot deck addict....

Now that I've got that out of the way, I want to tell everyone about the new deck I just got...The Deviant Moon Tarot  by Patrick Valenza. I'm so excited, it's a 2008 standard deck, first printing, with a hand signed cover card and wrapped in a hand drawn design that's one of a kind. I was very careful when removing the tape that held the hand drawn wrapping around the box and quickly stuck it away where it wouldn't get ruined. The cards were even more fantastic than I had seen in all of the photographs...deep, rich color and animated characters stared back at me as I thumbed through the deck.  The images are stunning and instantly, interpretations began leaping into my head as I perused his original artwork.

On his website, Patrick explains just how this deck came to be....

Inspiration

"Tarot of the Deviant Moon was created using various forms of photographic manipulation. Each card starts with a complete drawing. The work is scanned into the computer where I apply various photographic textures. Nineteenth century tombstones provide most of the clothes worn by the citizens of the Deviant Moon. I bent, twisted, and reformed my photos to become capes, boots, hats and trim. One of the best parts of creating the deck was “hunting” for specific textures as I respectfully tiptoed around the graveyards of eastern Long Island, N.Y. Background buildings were created with photographs I took from a local abandoned insane asylum. Rotted doors, windows and walls became castles, factories and cities.

My character stylization was influenced by ancient Greek art, yet I gave them a slightly abstracted twist. I chose to draw them in a flat, playing card style, rendering them with heavy light and shadows. The figures were then placed in a shallow background.


As I worked, different styles emerged, and before long the characters evolved into the moon-faced beings seen in the cards.


Symbolism for the deck comes from childhood dreams and imagination that carried itself into my adult world. I have always seen the melancholy side of life and have sought to express my visions through the characters I create. The moon has always been a psychic friend to me. As the sentinel of the night, it feeds my dreams and casts a strange glow on the way I see the colors of reality.

Nothing has had a greater influence over my art then the tarot itself. I first discovered the tarot at the age of nine. I was captivated by the unique characters I saw on each card and studied the artwork intensely. My favorites were the old 19th century and medieval decks. While my classmates where drawing what children normally do, I was busy making my own little pictures of the fool or the magician. Over the years I have made many attempts to create my own deck, but never completed more then a few cards each time. I held the ideas of my early random creations and revitalized them here in the Deviant Moon.


Physically, this deck has taken over three years to complete, although it is at least thirty years in the making. It is not only a testament to my art, but a record of my life."

I've heard others say that it is a little too dark for comfort but I think these images put forth a deeper set of meanings than most of the standard decks do. Life can be a bit dark and melancholy at times and tarot does represent life situations and experiences after all....