Jas RBAN TAR@T ay Roais CortAll ights reserved. The ilustrations, cover design and contents le protected By copyright No part ofthis Book may be repracuced in any form without permission in writing from the publisher, except by a reviewer who wishes to quote bret ppateages in connection with a review written for inclusion ina magazine, newspaper or website wo9a76543 Made in China [A previous edition of The Urban Tarot was self-published by the artist in 2015 ‘Temperance from the Rider-Waite-Smith deck used with ‘permission of US. Games Systems, Inc ‘The typeface used on titles on The Urban Tarot Deck ‘and within tis guide s P22 Eaglefeatnr, based on the alphabet designed by Frank Lloya Wright for the "Eaglerock” project in 1922, ‘The font used for body text's Gotham Book, by Hoefler & o..3 typeface created originally for GQ, and inspired by the ‘signage in the Port Authority Bus Terminal in New York Download The Urban Tarot Mobile App {for Android and iOS: www foclsdog.com/Urban/ Published by U.S. GAMES SYSTEMS, INC. 179 Ludlow Street Stamford, CT 06902 USA ‘wor. usgamesinecomAN IATRODUCTION Too often we are told that magic and wisclom belong only to the forgotten forests, the places untouched by human hands, and to ages long lost to memory. | reject this idea, | look around my world, and | see the beauty, the wonder, the magic in the metropolis, the power under the pavement. | created The Urban Tarot based upon the belief that the ideas and truths referred to by the Tarot are eternal {and universal. Some of the images and symbols from traditional Tarot may no longer resonate with madern readers. The Urban Tarot is an attempt to reclaim the ower of that old magic and bring it within the reach of the 2ist century seeker of truth. This guidebook is an attempt to share my thoughts and ‘opinions, as the designer, on the cards of The Urban Tarot. itis my hope that it will prove helpful to those who plan to. Use the deck in readings, as well as to those simply looking for amore complete understanding of the series as art Within, you wil find explanations as to how | interpret each ‘ard, and some insights into the process by which each piece of art came about—why | made the choices that | dic. A significant portion of the text in this guide is adapted froma series of updates that were sent out to project backers and other followers over the course of the project's ‘completion. The commentary you'll find within is often personal, which is only natural, as the creation of this deck has played a significant role in my life for well aver a decade. The deck began its life in 2003, during my senior year at Parsons School of Design. At the time, | was mostly Unfamiliar with the Tarot, and I did not personally own a deck. | was commissioned, along with three other artists, to create a Tarot deck that was intended to be a tie-in product to a role-playing game. Although the original project fell through, | found myself drawn to the images of the Tarot as an illustrative challenge. Over the years, | often found myself wishing | could return to the project and see the deck completed.In 2012, | ran a campaign on Kickstarter to raise funds to finally complete the deck. Hundreds of people came forward to support and be a part of the project, The ‘campaign not only met its goal, but ended up raising much, more than | had originally asked for. Humbled and grateful, | began the journey of completing all remaining cards, ‘working on the series full-time for the next three years, This deck’s structure is based heavily on the Thoth Tarot, conceptualized by Aleister Crowley and painted by Lady Frieda Harris between 1938 and 1943. It uses, with few ‘exceptions, the same card names as the Thoth deck, and hhas a similar emphasis on the elemental associations within the set. The deck also draws significant inspiration from the older Rider-Waite deck, originally published in 1910 {and illustrated by the incomparable Pamela Colman Smith, The meanings | assign to each card should be considered no more authoritative than anyone else's. The Tarot is a tradition with centuries of history, and this particular deck is but one small part of that iong story. in creating it, [ave drawn upon the work of many others, and found meanings through the lens of my own life and the world | live in. | encourage every seeker to do the same, finding their own individual truth in these cards. Your interpretations are ultimately as legitimate as my own, ‘Those who are familiar with the earlier decks and their associated magical traditions are encouraged to find Correspondences in this deck that reference those older systems. Those who are new to the Tarot are encouraged to seek their own truths in the images contained here; to find resonances to their own life and to the world around them. All readers are encouraged to let their intuition be their guide, and to see the miraculous in the mundane, ed ©2015, 2019 Robin Scott TheUrbanTarot.com RobinScottart.comA Guide To THE /YMBOLY The Infinite — an eternal loop that folds back ‘endlessly upon itself, Used to represent the set of the Major Arcana, which together represents the continual journey each of us Fire — the element of passion, will, activity ‘aggression and spiritual drive. Represented by the sult of Wands, and by the Knights of ‘each suit Water — the element of dreams, receptivity, ‘emotions and relationships. Represented by the suit of Cups, and by the Queens of each suit. ‘Ale — the element of rational thought, language, science and other pursuits of the intellect Represented by the suit of Swords, and by the Princes of each suit Earth — the element of the physical world ‘material wealth, the body and all growing things. Represented by the suit of Disks, and by the Princesses of each suit. e9ooo 8O: Tre. Foot Our story of the Tarot begins with the Fool, the first card of the Major Arcana, but also a bit separate from the rest. We number it zero. In a way, itis not quite the beginning of the journey, so much as itis the feeling we have before we take that very first step. The Fool represents that part of us thatis willing to make a leap without knowing where it will ead: the childlike part of us that is too naive to recognize the Impossible, and will not see reason, Its the poor traveler, who does not know where the road will take him, but sets out to see the world with a glad heart Ihave always felt a very personal connection to this card and what it represents. | strive to lve a life unburdened by fear, open to the possibilities before me. When asked to describe my approach to life, | often think of the Fool, and simply say, "I jump off cliffs. To quate one of my favorite stories by Nell Gaiman: It is sometimes a mistake to climb: itis always a ‘mistake never even to make the attempt. IF you do not climb, you will not fall. This is true. But is it that bad to fail, that hard to fall?..Sometimes, when you fal, you fearn to fly. | modeled for this card myself, very early on in the project, by standing on the ledge of my apartment building, while a friend held the loop of my belt from behind, to keep me from slipping to my death on the icy ledge. My childhood dog, Oreo, was thankfully not there at the time, The symbol on my T-shirt, @ null symbol, was originally Intended to be a reference to The Zero Movement, a ‘gaming project | began The Urban Tarot in connection with, Model: Robert Scott Completed in January 2004|: Tre Mace ‘The Major Arcana begins in earnest with the Mage, a card of infinite potential ang promise. The Mage represents will the will to create, the will to succeed, and the will to make a change in your life for the better. In this, itis truly the universal first step, The Mage sees the world as itis, and makes a choice tovact, The magic he will wield has no form yet, only possibility. There is no arcane trick to what he does, and his arts are known to all of us if we choose to use them. To create magic means no more than to affect the world ‘around you, to create meaning where there was none. We Create magic through our internal beliefs, and through ur connections with others, We create magic with our ‘minds and with our hands. The Mage has gathered his materials before him: symbols of the four elements as represented by a cup, a sword, a disk, and a wand. Thus, ina way, the Mage is also the first card of each of the four suits, as in him we see the combined spark of the four aces in a harmonious unity. | credit my model, Isaac Everett, far the suggestion to depict my Mage as a musician, Isaac is @ very talented professional composer himself, and I've been very lucky to collaborate with him on a number of projects. Music, isa kind of magic | find personally utterly mystifying and miraculous, itis an amazing thing to see a series of arcane marks on a page transformed, by way of an instrument and a performer, into an indescribable experience with the power to convey feelings in an abstract but universal form. itis interesting to note that, as this is one of the earliest cards | completed for this set, the technology depicted (the CRT monitor, the CD) already appears out of date by the time | write these words. Model: Isaac Everett Completed in June 2003,Il: Tre. Fic Peieytecr The High Priestess is often seen as a contrasting card to the Mage, a feminine counterpart to the previous card's masculine aspect. We will see throughout the Tarot that ‘we are encouraged to understand all things as part of a balance. If there are times when itis necessary for us to summon the will to act, so too are there times when itis necessary for us to stop and listen The High Priestess is concerned with receiving and understanding that which the world is sending our ‘way. She is the Yin to the Mage's Yang, creating magic through intuition rather than wil, seeking greater truths by drinking from the inner font of the unconscious. She Urges us to go deeper, to accent mysterious wisdom, and to trust in yourself. She reminds us to have patience, and to give time for quiet reflection, There is a concept in Taoism called “wu wei,” which is generally translated as “action without action” or “effortless doing.” We may have difficulty with this idea, because too often we are taught that action is always positive and inaction is always negative, In truth, inaction Js sometimes the most powerful and positive choice we can make in our lives The softest thing in the universe Overcomes the hardest thing in the universe, That without substance can enter where there is no room. Hence | know the value of non-action Teaching without words and work without doing Are understood by very few. — from the Tao Te Ching Model: Blair Kamage ‘Completed in May 2007I: The. EMpRecr The Empress is Mother, in every sense. She is a symbol of the highest ideals of what we think of as feminine: loving, merciful. nurturing. She accepts without judgment. She is a symbol of the softer side of authority, a parental figure who guides and shapes with care. She teaches us compassion and trust with a gentle hand, She is a symbol of life, and the creation of lfe, She is the Great Mother, the mother ofall. She is the guardian Of fertility and maternity. She is Mother Nature, Mother Earth, the Mother Goddess. She is abundant and endless. We are nourished through her. ‘And she is simply Mom, real and human and impossibly powerful all the same. Before we know words, before everything, we know her face and her voice, There is something in this piece of my own distant memories of infancy, of the warm orange stripes of nearly, forgotten kitchen wallpaper. An antique refrigerator and plastic laminate countertop. The warm tones of late 70's dasign and of the early morning sun. The stars that orbit her head like a crown are in the eyes of her child; she is the center of the universe, Model: Crystal Hutt ‘Completed in March 2007IV: Tre Emperor ‘The Emperor is Father, in every sense. He is @ symbol of the highest ideals of what we think of as masculine: strong, wise, ust. He Is steadfast in his protection, and Is unswerving in his resolve. He is a symbol of the harder side of authority, a parental figure who holds us to a higher standard of ethics and enforces the rule of law. He teaches us responsibility and, morality with a firm and measured hand. He is a symbol of social order, and the power of civilization. He is God the Father, the King, Lord of the Universe. He is the guardian of order and stability, protector against chaos and fear. He stands fast against the worst that the world has to offer, and is unmoved. He keeps us safe, and teaches us how to be strong in turn And he is simply Dad, real and human and impossibly powerful all the same. 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UeW PeBUEH a4. ennedsiad mau ajoum e Guipuy sauinbas Aueal9 sBunA Bulees Sewinawos WW GW HL IXDeata The Death card is about change. Sometimes a painful change (and what changes are not painful?), but one that 's often necessary in order to allow new things to take root ‘and grow. It has implications of rebirth and renewal as well {28 of endings. Death isn't always the enemy, as much as we want to cast the Grim Reaper as a villain. Sometimes when things end, or people pass on..it is simply time. With this card, | wanted to create an image that . Immediately caused a sense of discomfort. Even when death is necessary, even when itis anticipated or wished for, itis never comfortable to think about. This is especially true in ‘ur modern world where we are more removed from death and dying than generations past have been. In the urban context, death happens most often in a hospital, under the care of doctors and beneath harsh fluorescent lights. Doctors spend their career trying to save lives, but they are also often the people standing at our sides when life ends. Death has no face, of course. A merciless black spot hides its visage from our view. I resisted the temptation to represent Death with the classic grinning skull, as that felt just too easy, too expected. Spooky and morbid pethaps, but no more disquieting than the Halloween decorations you see all over in the fall | sought to indicate with this card how death can lead to life, and it occurred to me that the perfect modern ‘metaphor for that cycle comes with being an organ donor. Because there is alittle heart on my state ID, there's a very real chance that if | die unexpectedly, my organs may go to help someone else live. That's a very real kind of reincarnation and rebirth, The insects on the wall are dung beetles, or scarabs, a classic Egyptian symbol of rebirth and immortality. And the scarabs are of course crawling to a clock without hands which should be a fairly obvious symbol of endless time/timelessness, As it says in Ecclesiastes, "No one knows when their hour will come.” Model: Abigail Estes Completed in May 2012 v7XIV: Art (Older decks call this card Temperance, which was ‘once a comman term for the practice of mixing wine with water. Pamela Colman Smith’s beautiful line work from the Rider-Waite-Smith deck” features somewhat centrally here in the form of a mural on the wall. The most ‘common interpretation of that card relates to moderation in opposition to extremism, seeking a middle road, and mixing your anger and passion with calm and rationality 1s water Is added to wine. With the Thoth deck, Crowley saw that one could mix and combine opposing elements—Water and Fire, red and white—and rather than diminishing both or ‘canceling out their eneray, it was possible to create from them something wholly new, with power unique to its ‘elemental parts, The Thoth deck calls this trump Art, land so do |. It speaks about taking opposing pieces and finding @ way to harmonize them, mix them, combine them into a new and unique whole. ‘Solve et coagula’ as the old alchemists say—dissolve and combine. | see what I've done with this deck as a kind of creative ‘alchemy. I've taken elements from what has come before, the old and the new, ancient symbols and modern architecture, and sought to combine them in ways that bring those elements greater power through juxtaposition. ‘Art, as any artist can tell you, never grows in a vacuum, Creating new work is as much a process of learning to see, absorb, and process what others have done as itis ‘about creating something new from whole cloth, {I make no illusions about what I've borrowed from those who've come before me, and | try to give credit to those ‘whe contributed to the pieces | put my signature on. As much as lam a creator, $0 too | am an alchemist, taking €@ pinch of this and a dab of that, putting mysterious ‘components together in a pot and waiting to see what ‘emerges. “Courtesy of US. Games Model: Chandra Jessee Completed in April 2015XV: Tre Devic The Devil card represents the ways we are enslaved by the darkest parts of ourselves. It represents how our ‘own hedonism, fear, self-doubt, and laziness can keep us in chains, holding us back from what we really want and keeping us from achieving what we're capable of. We all have addictions we know we should break but do not. [At one time or another, we all worship at the Devil's altar, and do things that we know we shouldn't. There is no need, in my mind, to equate the harm we do to ourselves and to others with some larger concept of 'in.” Its enough to recognize that we have fallen into a trap that is unhealthy, and to begin taking steps toward a healthier path, Neither is it particularly useful for us to ladle more guilt upon ourselves for failing in the first place. That self-destructive guilt is often part of what keeps us helplessly in chains, This is one of the first pieces where | started to experiment with mixing in other media, using directly drawn or painted elements along with collaged textures to get a more immediate, tangible feel, had a lot of fun, adding in all those little dirty bathroom scribbles and stick figures around the scene The art direction | gave my friend Anthony when he ‘madeles for this shot was basically to look down at me with utter disdain and arrogance. | think he did a terrific job with it, and this continues to be one of my favorite images in the set. Over the years, I've had Anthony model as Jesus Christ, as a superhero, as a wizard, and any number of other things, but | think Il always think of him most fondly as my Devil Model: Anthony Bamonte Completed in May 2008XVI: Tre TOWER This is the second version of the 16th trump that, Ive illustrated for this deck. | finished the first piece In September of 2012. At that time | couldn't imagine depicting anything other than the tragedy that had. come to my city on another September morning, ll years previously. A singular moment of fire and horror. | called it The Towers. It felt ike an ugly, open wound, but it also felt like the only possible image for the deck at the time. Things have changed a great deal in only a few years: We are not the same city we once were, not the same ration, not the same world. Now, in the summer of 2018, we are scared like never before, We are angry, and overwhelmed, and uncertain. We do not know who to trust. We do not know when they will come for us or those we care about. Our country is not the country we thought it was. The rules are not the rules. There are no norms. This, Is. Not. Normal ‘There is a feeling that hangs over us all It is The Crisis that we are in now, assaulting us every day with new disturbing reports, new atrocities, new lies. Itis a slowly rising tide, swallowing us up, day by day, inch by inch. It seems like everything we once depended on, everything we have built, will soon slip below the waves and vanish, | came back to this card to create something that spoke of today's crisis, the disaster happening outside my window right now. This card has always been the face of disaster, of things gone terribly. terribly wrong, ‘Sometimes it seems there is nothing we can do but bear witness to the horror. We hold close to those we love, {and hope that we will be strong enough to do what we ‘must, to save who we can. We fear that we are not enough to stop the tide. ‘This tower is inspired by a very real tower in my city Black and gold, ornate and gaudy, ualy in every way. Id prefer not to name it here, but its name appears on this page all the same. Completed in June 2018 20eee ET) XVI THE /TaR The Star is the card of hope in the Major Arcana. Its the dream just out of view, too far off to see, but powerful ‘enough to guide you and give you strength. Someday, somehow. Somewhere out there. ‘And what do we do, when we honor our hopes and our ‘dreams? We pour out our lave, not knowing ifit will come back to us. We give forward the best part of ourselves, land use it to nurture a vision that may never come to be. We do not question whether it’s all worth it. Hope asks us to give, and to let our kindness and generosity flow like water. We pour forth love onto our children, and we hope they will become better than we are. We pour love into ‘our wark, and hope that itis valued by others. We pour ‘out love to strangers, and hope that we make the world a little better by it. We look up, and we pour out froma vessel that is never emptied. The setting is in front of the Bowery Mission, a faith= based charity, homeless shelter, and soup kitchen. | tried to capture the feel of the front facade of the building, with its signature red doors and stained glass windows In the background, we can see the twinkling lights of the city skyline, and of the night sky overhead. | wanted to place the viewer literally in the gutter, looking up to the light of hope and promise. It was a tricky perspective to capture, but I'm pretty pleased with the results. | was glad to bring back the shattered glass texture | Used a few times in my earliest cards. ike the way it feels ike stained glass without really looking like stained lass, i that makes any sense. Model: Marie Brennan ‘Completed in March 2013 aXVIlk: THe Moon I set out to make this a creepy card, no question. The Moon is about secrets that we keep from ourselves, and the mysteries of the subconscious mind. It is about the world of dreams, and of nightmares as well So this card is about fear, but itis nonetheless not a “negative” card, any more than Death is. When we delve into the things we'd prefer not to face, it's natural to be afraid, Stil it may be worth the trip down into the sewers of our mind now and again. Who knows what we may find down there? The overall theme of my design for this card is urban legend. There are so many strange and creepy stories about New York, and many of them involve the vast and unmappable underground networks of old sewers and subway tunnels. Forgotten tunnels, buried treasures. ghosts, and mutants, The albino alligators that supposedly live down there are, of course, well known. | absolutely love this stuff. | once took a tour of the long-abandoned Cobble Hill Tunnel, purportedly the oldest subway tunnel in the world. Long thought destroyed, it was found and dug up 2 few years ago, under Atlantic Avenue in Brooklyn. It ‘was an amazing experience, and that dark passage partly Inspired the look of this card The Moon also has strong connections with the undenworid, meaning the lands occupied by the dead Death is a journey into mystery and the unknown, much {5 a dream, but from which one does not return. This card has been associated with Anubis, the Egyptian guide to the afterlife. The jackal-headed god was an intimidating figure but he was also a kind one; he was there to hold your hand after you had passed, and walk with you to the fend of your journey. The jackal in my piece is a nod to that old psychopomp, Model: Tanja Bara Muncey Completed in August 2012 2XIX: THE SUA The Sun is life, hope, and clarity. It is the light that touches everything, warms it, and reveals it for what it truly is. While the Moon is a card of mystery and fear, the Sun completely dispels all confusion. Everything suddenly becomes clear, and so simple that a child could, explain it to you. When we are young and innocent, we can speak black and white truths without hesitation because we don't yet know the many shades of grey. Sometimes you need a child's perspective to realize that all the complexities in your lfe can simply be swept away and discarded. Not everything needs to be worried over. Sometimes you just need to go outside in the sunshine and let the world be okay again Of course we can easily see negatives to this approach. If we cling to our childlike wonderment, we are lable never to gain more than a surface understanding of things. We risk ignoring complexity and deeper meaning. Still think i's always worth remembering to take time in your life to enioy simple things, to play, and to run in the sunshine. The location | used as reference here is Union Square Park, where the model and his mom and I spent a lovely afternoon. In reality, the statue in the background is a robed figure of Abraham Lincoln, which I've replaced by a Greek statue of Apollo, often closely associated with the Sun and its various attributes of clarity and Understanding. The golden god brought his gift of order ‘and mathematical precision to the arts, often expressed through that perfect divine proportion, the golden ratio, It is not by casual accident that many of the images in this deck approach quite closely the proportions of a golden rectangle. if this card had a smell, and | like to imagine it does, it would smell ike the yellow crayons | scribbled fiercely in making the sky. Model: Tobin ‘Completed in December 2012 23XX: THe ACON ‘The Aeon is about seeing yourself and your life as part of a greater cycle of time. it is about looking at your place inhistory, and trying to see yourself through the eyes of those who came before, and those who are yet to come, In many traditional Tarot decks, the 20th card is called “Judgment” and it shows an image of the dead rising from their graves on Judgment Day. The card is a call to take 2 look at what you have done with your time on this planet, and to ask yourself how you will face your Creator when that time is over. In this instance, | much prefer to Use the connotations of Crowley's Aeon, in which we see time as a cycle that continues perhaps into infinity, and We are judged not by divine justice but by what we leave behind for generations yet to come, | realized that this card had to be about Elis Island, where over 12 million people first came through into ‘our country. Stepping onto that island is very much like touching a piece of your own history; chances are ‘good that if you are an American, one of your ancestors Stepped off a boat onto that shore, perhaps with nothing. but the clothes on thelr back and a bag in their hands. The wall pictured here is the American Immigration Wall ‘of Honor, a permanent monument on the island with lists of thousands of names inscribed across steel plates. The section you see here is only a tiny fragment of the ‘whole the plates form a series of enormous concentric rings on one side of the island. A.couple of notes on details in this card: this is one of the few times I've used photos of the place I'm depicting as the basis for some of the textures. The names in the image are in fact from a photo of the monument. The sidewalk texture is taken from a sample of the original walls preserved in the Ells Island museum, carrying scratches like physical memories of those who have passed through the Building, In the skyline inthe background, you can see the immense silhouette of the Freedom Tower, still under construction at the time this piece was completed. Model: Kaitlin Heller ‘Completed in September 2013, 24XXI: Tre. Universe. This is the last of the Major Arcana, and it completes the journey we began with the Fool. We started as naive wanderers, unsure of what lay ahead of us but eager to, begin the adventure. Now we have experienced both the world within, and the world without. We have seen it all, fully absorbed the truths we have learned, and have ‘come to a harmonious synthesis. We are finally at peace with the universe and with ourselves, At the end of a long Journey, we find ourselves once more right where we began: comfortable in the knowledge that we truly know. nothing, and eager to see where the road takes us next My wife Amy is the star of this Universe, as she is the center of mine; my entire world orbits around her, While I stood calmly at the precipice of fortune as the Fool, ‘Amy strides confidently onward and upward into the ‘cosmos. Below her stretches the sprawling skyline of my city, the world I've lived in my whole life. Growing vines and grasses push upwards through the concrete landscape, the endless movement of the living Earth. She 's surrounded by a golden crown of laurels, for triumph, The great stee! eagle head she is walking off of is ane of four very distinctive gargoyles that grace the 6tst floor of the Chrysler Building, Sitting atop the eagle's head is our cat Amelia, who passed away a litle over a year before I created this piece, but is still fondly remembered in our home. A symbolic counterpoint to the dog who stood by me 2s the Foo! High overhead, the International Space Station is just barely visible against a fiery image of the Milky Way (courtesy of NASA), a connection te our larger universe. ‘As above, so below''is a very old idea in magic, and it's worth repeating here. Remember that each of us is 3 ‘complex and wondrous universe unto ourselves. We look to the stars above in order to better map the journey within, we look within to make sense of the infinite wonder of creation, Model: Amy Scott Completed in May 2015 25Tre Act or Wann The Ace represents the element of Fire in its most pure {and primitive form. It's about passion, will, and idealism, That fire is the fuel that drives our spirit; it tells us to step up, to speak out, to make a difference, The fire of the Ace isn’t a solid idea yet, ust raw potential energy. That energy becomes developed, expressed. and then overexpressed through the later numbers, but at first it's all light and possibilty [ike to think of each of the four suits as representing a ten-part story, each a different kind of progression, with its own ups and downs along the way. The suit of Wands is the story of a social movement, an ideal that spreads ‘and gains power as others take up its banner, We see the first part of that story here, before our movement even has a name, as the fire of the Ace provides us with the will to make a stand for the better. I've overlaid the wand I designed for this suit over an image of the Statue of Liberty's torch. It seemed basically perfect, as a living part of New York that is both an image of litera fire as well as an instantly recognizable symbol of hope and promise. When | created this card, | saw that | had been moving in an increasingly tight and representative direction with my work, but for this piece | wanted to return to some of that simple, bold geometry I'd used in some of my earlier work. Throughout the series, 'e tried to maintain that careful balance between ure representation and symbol—the dimensionality and Derspective of a photograph, and the flatness of a collage. fed in May 2012 Compl 262: Dominion Dominion is a word with some interesting connotations The Two of Wands is about taking the raw eneray of the Ace, and turning It toward the will to succeed—or perhaps the will to dominate others, The fire has changed from an uncontrolled flame into a focused tool, but it could as easily become a weapon. ‘Our movement has a name now, and it has gained some initial traction. We have set aside other concerns, and ‘made our new cause a priority. We suspect that we may need to make some sacrifices to reach our goals, but believe that our righteous aims make them wholly justified This card depicts an equestrian statue of Teddy Roosevelt that stands outside the American Museum of Natural History, just a few blocks from my apartment fon the Upper West Side. It depicts President Roosevelt heroically astride his horse, flanked by two shirtless men apparently carrying his luggage for him. (I understand they were intended to appear as his guides.) One is Native American and the other is African, ‘Once you pay attention to it, the intended message seems to be alot less about the President, and a lot more about which group of people isin charge here in America. So | decided to take the reference photo from an angle that completely obscured Mr, Presicient and instead highlighted his majestic steed’s impressive undercarriage. ‘The card's primary color is the white travertine of Ancient Rome and of Washington, D.C. Completed in May 2012 275: VirTUE The Three of Wands represents the next step along the realization of an idea that began with the Ace. Here, the will to dominate and succeed has been paired with a sense of responsibility and a more complete Understanding of what ends power can be put towards. The reckless energy of Dominion is tempered by a better Understanding of how our actions affect others and the world at large. ‘Our movement has gained followers, and they stand united proudly in defense of their ideals. We continue to strive for change, knowing that we are stronger when we work together and in harmony with our community, | chose to represent the Fire Department for this. card, as it encapsulated nicely the idea of virtuous and directed action towards a worthwhile goal, as well as being very clearly associated with the element of Fire. \Woile researching materials for this card, | found out that the New York City Fire Department's 3rd Hook and Ladder company were among the first responders to the attacks on September Il, 2001. Most of that company lost their lives on that day, sacrificing themselves to protect others. Captain Patrick “Paddy” Brown and his men were last reported on the 40th floor of the north tower. The company’s fire truck was damaged beyond repair by the building's collapse, and the ladder apparatus was eventually interred, 70 feet below ground, in the 9/11 Memorial at Ground Zero, Completed in May 2012 284: COMPLETION The Four of Wands is about the end of a job well done, {an intellectual effort carried out to completion and the ‘achievement of a greater level of understanding. It is also, ina sense, only a stepping stone toward later cards in the sult of Fire; ike graduation, it is as much a beginning as it ‘Our movement has reached an established milestone, We have a website, flyers, a written manifesto of our aims. and how we will rach them, Our road ahead is clear, and we are prepared to begin the work of making an impact fon the larger world, We have the optimism of youth, and, the knowledge and drive we need to move forward This card was distinctly my wife's idea, perhaps inspired by the legions of happy graduates we saw in the neighborhood around the time | created the art. The robes are in Columbia University blue, and the statue behing them is the bronze sculpture of Alma Mater, who sits on the steps in front of the Low Library. If you look closely, there are torches on either side of her throne representing Sapientia (Wisdom) and Doctrina (Teaching) Completed in June 2012 29Ce 5: STRIFE The Five of Wands, ike all the fives of the Tarot, is about shaking up the static complacency of the fours. In the Wands, Completion leads to Strife—competition, Contest, battle, different factions clashing with each ther. It's easy to see the negatives of the card, but there are positives as well—competition and strife can lead us to better ourselves, to overcome and grow. Eventually that competition will lead us to Vietory with the Six. But first, we must fight to defend our position. ‘Our movement has, of course, encountered resistance in its drive to make a difference. No matter how righteous your cause or how good your idea, there will always be those who will have a different point of view. Completing the art for this card was—well.a struggle, appropriately enough. First, !had to struggle to get the reference | needed, which took two different photo shoots, Then I gathered reference at a sports bar that | ended up basically throwing out. And | spent. an inordinate amount of time fiddling with those tiny depictions of Fenway Park and Yankee Stadium in the TV screens at the top. thought the relation to sports, and baseball specifically, was a strong one. if you look at the Rider-Waite-Smith version of this card, youll see five men, each in a different brightly-colored outfit, swinging long sticks at each other. Wands, sticks, bats, Same difference. Models: Elliot Gerard & Kate Bunnell ‘Completed in July 2012, 306: Victory More than the simple Completion we reached with the Four, the Six of Wands represents the end of a hard-won struggle. The Four had net seen trouble, had not yet faced opposition. The Six has met that opposition head- fon and has come out proudly on top. The social movement we began with the Ace is now an established force for good in the world. We have proven ourselves through sweat and blood, and have achieved real change. From here we look forward: we can choose torest on our laurels, or we can maintain our momentum and go farther that we had ever imagined when we began our race. elt the NYC Marathon was a good match for this card—a long, grueling race with a clear finish line at the fend. The figure is based specifically on Derartu Tulu, who became the first Ethiopian woman to win the marathon back in 2009, The card's colors are inspired by the Ethiopian fiag. The actual ribbon she broke had the ING. logo across it, since they sponsored the event, but | naturally didn't want to include that. However, the logo. does have a lion in it, which reminded me that this card is associated with the sign for Leo. So I created a pattern using that zodiac symbol across the ribbon. Particularly observant New Yorkers may point out that the Marathon crosses the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge at the very beginning, rather than at the end cf its 26-mile route, This is true, But | really loved the image of the bridge in the background, and the shady tree-lined road (of Central Park wouldn't have had the right Feel at all Completed in June 2012 37: Vator This card speaks truth to power. It is the voice of the little guy with a hopeless cause, who simply won't shut Up. i's standing on a soapbox and yelling louder than the peopie shouting you down. It is standing up against overwhelming odds, when all sane advice says to sit down. Valor is the card of protest; lke all the Wands, to some dearee, it is infused with the spirit of righteous passion, of moral strength and courage ‘Our movement has gained followers, and achieved real victory, but there are always greater battles, Eventually, ‘our cause will have to face those who have entrenched power, those whose resources are greater and will not easily bow to change. Valor teaches us that when we speak with passion in a single voice, we cannot be ignored For me, this card was very clearly about the Occupy Wall Street protests. Agree or disagree with the politics behind the movement, you have to respect the courage and power of the act. They came to Wall Street, and made everyone listen simply by refusing to go away Until they were heard, | took some photos at Zuccott! Park, where the Occupy movement was camped out nti they were forcibly removed by the NYPD. The trees were all green at the time, but when everyone was camped out there in the fall of 2011, the leaves were a brillant flaming yellow, illuminated at night by massive generator-driven lights. While researching this card, the Occupy people were still around—they’d just moved base uptown to Union Square. | stopped by to speak to a few people, and donate some old clothes. The painted cardboard signs | made for this design are inspired by some of the signs | ‘snapped photos of while there. Completed in August 2012 328: /WirtALLy There comes a point in any enterprise when the choices laid out before us can seem overwhelming, and we can become paralyzed by conflicting voices from all sides. The Eight of Wands reminds us that we must keep swimming to stay afloat, and that sometimes the most. important thing that we can do is simply move forward as fast as we can before our cause runs out of steam, ‘was originally thinking of this card as having a clear association with the internet. n the Book of Thoth, Crowley talks about this card as being related to light and electricity. The Thoth version of the card turns the wands into lightning bolts. But the more | thought about it, the more | realized that: 1. The Internet isnt the city. 2, The Internet is a fast mode of communication, but it doesn't have the same associations with rapid action and decisive movement that this card is really talking about 3. Speaking as a one-time web developer, 'm pretty sure that any way I tried to illustrate the Web would look kind of silly on a card, Anyway, | changed focus and decided that a bicycle delivery person was much more of the right feel for the set. And then | further noticed that the wand arrangement on the Thoth card was a nice match for a bike wheel, or a standard eight-slice New York pizza pie. | should note that | have often used the same arrangement of pips (wands, swords, cups, disks) on my Minor Arcana as on the Thoth cards. | don't really have any particular reason for doing so other than I've found it an interesting system to design around, and it's a nice way to connect myself to that older deck which helped to provide inspiration for this set. Completed in June 2012 339: Fortitupe. The Nine of Wands reprasents strenath in adversity; the will to continue onward in an utterly thankless task when there may be no end in sight. It is determination, and devotion to duty though sheer force of will Itis a single fire that burns stubbornly despite the dark and the cold, The building depicted here is the main USPS building on &th Avenue, known as the James Farley Post Office ‘There is a well known inscription on this building, adapted by the building's architects from an ancient Greek quotation. You have heard it before, and probably thought that it was the Postal Service's motto. You would, bbe wrong, technically; it has never actually been adopted officially. The inscription, running across the illuminated bbar above the colonnade, reads: Neither snow nor rain nor heat nor gloom of night stays these couriers from the swift completion of their appointed rounds There is @ certain sad angle to this, when you think of how the Post Office is in such decline over the past few years. Email has made them increasingly irrelevant, and lower circulation rates have led to dwindling funds. As an agency that traces Its roots back to 1775, i's entiroly possible that the USPS will be completely phased out in the near future. The James Farley building itself is currently being renovated, and will be largely repurposed {as @ new train station in years to come. It hadn't occurred to me before planning out this piece that those mail push carts, which are so familiar to me, are a sight mostly unique to New York. In most other places in America, it’s far more convenient to simply have a mail truck drive from place to place. With everything so dense, land the streets so full, New Yorkers do a lot of walking. Completed in August 2012 3410: Oppresyion Here we have the conclusion of the cycle of Wands in the Minors, coming all the way from inspiration, a tiny spark, to a roaring fire that consumes and destroys everything else in its path. The tens each represent the Ultimate over-expression of their element. In the case of the Wands, the fire of ideals has become the crushing dogma of oppression The Ten represents an idea that has become the Institution, and has gained the power to crush all other ideas. In this card, we have last all of the hope and freedom of potential in the earlier cards. Strength has bbeen corrupted into cruelty, passion into obedience, creativity into intolerance. The Ten asks us to step back {and consider if we have gone too far, if we have accepted inhumanity and pain in the name of an idea, Its worth remembering that there must always be room for ather ideas, other voices, than the one you have listened to. ‘The movement we began to change the world for the better has become the establishment. It is now left to those who will come next to rise up, burn down the walls we have built, and begin the cycle again, In interpreting this card, | wanted to depict a real current, and ongoing social oppression that exists in my city. The undeniable reality is that for a black male in his thirties, the odds are about one in ten that he will be in jal on any given day. Racial and ethnic minorities are more likely to be stopped by police, more likely, to be arrested, and more likely to be denied bail than whites. As a result, minorities make up more than 60% of our massive population of incarcerated citizens. It is 2 cumulative systemic bias that undermines the basic principles of our justice system. Model: Richard Silvera ‘Completed in September 2012 35Kwicrt_or Wangs: Tre Rock / Tag The Knight of Wands represents Fire within Fire, the embodiment of pure passion, rebellion, idealism, and charisma, The Knight is a warrior, a leader, a blazing spark that burns fiercely and then, perhaps, burns out quickly ‘as well, The Knight is a noble crusader, charging forward for an idealistic cause. He is powerful and honest, but as a figure completely driven by Fire, he lacks the calm reason, Of Air, the empathy of Water, and the grounded restraint of Earth. If the Knight lets his ego drive him, it can lead him to be a selfish bully rather than a hero. My model here is Anton Adam, whom I visited at his, home in Honolulu, Anton took me for a tour of the USS North Carolina, the nuclear submarine that he serves aboard as supply officer. It was an amazing, once-in-a lifetime sort of experience for a mild-mannered civilian such as myself. For the photo shoot, Anton put on some Of his old club gear and sang along to a punk and metal playlist, using a mop as a stand-in mic stand, My inspiration for the card was Joey Ramone, performing ‘at CGB here in New York. Anton is flanked here on stage by Johnny and Dee Dee Ramone, the late band members of the Ramones. In the background, there is @ poster of the band members faintly visible on the wall. The Pegasus, a proper mount for heroes of legend, appears on the drum kit as the symbolic horse image I've included on each of the four Knights. Model: Anton Adam Completed in October 2012 36Queen or Wangs: Tre Puauc Dercapcr The Queen is the master of emotion, persuasion, and sympathy in the context of passion and idealism. She is loving and compassionate, and yet fierce and protective Cf her ideals. 've chosen to envision her as an attorney, fighting passionately on the behalf of the accused. A successful lawyer makes use of the jury's sympathies for their defendant to win their case; if she can encourage them to feel a connection to her client, then they may be more open to doubting the case of the prosecution had the chance to see my model, Verena Powell, ddo exactly that in the courtroom in the week before I started working on this piece. She was the defense attorney on a case | was called in to sit on the jury for. | ‘was immediately impressed by the presence she had in the courtroom and the passion she put into the defense: of her clienta man who stood accused of some very frightening crimes. The fountain in the foreground of this card is the Triumph of the Human Spirit Memorial, designed in 1993 by Dr. Lorenzo Pace and inspired by stylized antelope headdresses worn by the people of Mall, West Africa Behind it, you can see the front of the New York County Supreme Court at 60 Centre Street. The leopard in the foreground is a nod to the one that appears at the Queen's right hand an the Thoth version of this card, ‘and is a symbol of power, grace, and ferocity. Model: Verena Powell ‘Completed in November 2012 37Prince or Wanby THE JOURAALY/T This card speaks of reason and intellect in the context Of passion. It's often interpreted as representing a noble trickster, ora fiery champion for moral change. The Prince Uses words as his weapons, satirzing those in power and Grawing attention to those who are in need. If he seems to bear a certain resemblance to news satirsts like Jon Stewart and those who have followed in his mold since he stepped down, this is not an accident, They walk this weird, brave line between legitimate news anchors and comedians. Every once in a while they manage to speak more powerfully than either During the fundraising campaign | ran on Kickstarter, Eben Lowe made a comment online, expressing how much he wished he could afford the reward level that Would let him be a model for the series. It seemed silly to me not to include someone who felt so much passion for the deck, and so, in lieu of money, | asked him to help me get the word out and nave folks on social media post about the campaign. Eben was happy to put his charisma to work, and so | am happy to include him here as my outspoken and engaging journalist. |Lwas aiming to create the look of broadcast graphics with the background, with the stars and stripes motif blending into the New York skyline. It's a slightly slicker aesthetic from the one | normally use, but | think it works. here. | overlaid two stock illustrations on each other and layered the whole thing with a photo of rain on a window, which makes it fee! more physical, and less perfect and smooth, (Other interesting textures in here—I used a wood cutting board for the hair, aluminum foll for the tie, and a photo of clear shimmering water as the base of the glass desk Model: Eben Lowe Completed in July 2012 38Princess or Wands: Tre Dancer The Princess of Wands is @ burlesque performer in the middle of a fire dance on stage at a small club. There has been a revival of burlesque in New York in the last decade or s0, with clubs all over the eity hosting mixed: ‘gender performances. Burlesque shows incorporate humor with choreography and sensuality into a show that is both sexy and fun while being far more inviting to many people than a straightforward strip show could ever be, ‘The Princess is Earth in the context of Fire, physicality inthe realm of passion. She is full of lust and grace; she is seductive, enticing, and brimming with the pure joy of living, tis wise to remember, however, whan you open the door for the Princess of Wands, you will face bath the lady and the tiger. Lacking the emotional connection of Water or the rational inhibitions of Air, the Princess can also be cruel {and thoughtless, too focused on her own indulgence to truly care for others, Her powerful stage presence draws you in ike a moth to a flame, but she may already have her attentions on someone else while you recover from your burns. Janet Bruesselbach is an artist herself, whose talent and passion frankly humble me. | was so happy to have her 185 a model in this serias, as I've occasionally modeled for her projects. We tried a number of poses to see what Seemed to work best, as Janet wrapped herself around a chair and posed with bamboo skewers in place of flaming torches. | was pretty happy to have found this particularly weird and unexpected angle during the photo shoot. Model: Janet Bruesselbach Completed in May 2012 39Tre Ace or Curse This is the card of pure, elemental Water. Its the root of everything that Water reflects and embodies: the eternal wellspring, the calm pool, the cool rain. Water is the element of emotion, of dreams, and of relationships. ‘The story that begins in the Ace of Cups is the story of ‘a romance. Imagine this card as that chance encounter, ‘an unexpected meeting that seems full of promise. This, card is not yet love at first sight. Rather, itis that first sight which holds the infinite potential of love. ve chosen here to depict the famous Bethesda Fountain in Central Park, on the shore of the Pond. The fountain, I'm sure, has been the location of many first ‘meetings, and on any nice day in the summer youll find at least one couple decked out in their wedding attire taking photos by the water. But in addition to its romantic atmosphere, the location also has an important connection to the history of water in New York City, By the early 19th century, New York City was already a ‘grewing metropolis, and it was struggling to provide clean rinking water to a growing population. This fountain was constructed to commemorate the 1842 opening of the Croton Aqueduct, which brought unpolluted water into the city from Westchester. Emma Stebbins sculpted the fountain, which she titled Angel of the Waters, making her the first woman to be commissioned for a major piece of public art in the city. ‘The towers in the background are the lovely and much sought-after San Remo apartments, which are indeed overlooking Central Park West, but are not directly visible behind the angel as 've placed them here. Completed in August 2015 402: Love Ineach of the aces, we saw the element that they represented expressed in its purest, most abstract form. The Ace of Cups represented a singular, pure idea of love that had no specific object. With the Two, we see that idea in its simplest concrete expression. Love here has 2 focus-it becomes more real by being shared, The love this card represents is a young love, a newkorn love that hasn't yet been tested by hardship or struggle It's that immediate, overwhelming infatuation or crush. It's Romeo and Juliet. Of course, we know that in the: long run Romeo and Juliet don't do so wall (spoilers), but that's all stil ahead of them. While there are darker cards to come in the story of the Cups, right now, in this moment, it's all pink clouds and warm feelings. imagined this scene being about two strangers ‘meeting one morning at a coffee shop (my "Green Lotus Coffee” logo is meant to suggest a more well-known {and ubiquitous brand). While checking their respective temails, they reach for their mugs at the same moment and, happen to touch, noticing each other for the first time Thanks again to Dev and Laura for modeling this moment forme, A note on the pips: In the other three suits, I've stuck with a consistent pip design that appears on each of the numbered cards in the Minor Arcana, Instead of using the same crystal goblet across all ten cards of the suit of Cups, decided to break with my previous style a bit, ‘and use a different kind of cup for each card, returning to the crystal goblet one last time with the Ten. Cups fit comfortably into any number of settings in an urban context, especially a social context, which is the primary domain of the element of Water. Moreover, the kind of ‘cup being used can say a lot about the scene, and so it seemed foolish to force myself to use only a single design throughout. Models: Laura Simpson & Dev Purkayastha Completed in October 20135: ABUNDANCE The Three of Cups is a fairly straightforward card. It speaks to us of the joys of friendship, the emotional rewards of coming together as one. It’s such a common and positive idea that expressing it almost feels trite It was hard to imagine a version of this card that didn't feel a little clichéd. 'm sorry | only later realized that The Three of Cups is actually the name of a lovely litle Italian restaurant here in the city. IF had known, might have set this scene there. We will pass through every stage of a relationship ‘as we tell the story of the suit of Cups. Still early, here: in the Three, we have entered what has sometimes, ‘been called the “honeymoon period.” We have found Joy, and pleasure, and fulfillment without limit. Life is a Celebration, and every song is sung for you. This is the time we wish could last forever, although we know of course it can't This card represents the feeling of joy that comes from knowing that you are surrounded by those who love you, support you, and want only the best for you. It's @ birthday party on New Year's Eve, and a toast in your honor. It's a kiss at midnight, while the sky explodes, all for ust the three of you. Its an abundance of joy. of love, ‘of camaraderie and warmth, Thank you to my deer friends Anthony Bamente and llan Norwood, and my wife Amy, for lending their hands to this image. Completed in November 2013 424: Luxury With each of the fours, we reach a place of stability ‘and of security. n the realm of emotions represented by the suit of Cups, stability is both highly prized and a bit worrying, We all want to know where we stand, to have someone else that we know we can rely on for support and let our guard down around. But when our relationships become too comfortable, they can also. become suffocatingly stale ‘The relationship that began at first sight in the Two of Cups has lasted past the honeymoon phase of the Three {and has entered that space where you and your partner can enjay comfortable silences, where you can watch TV together, enjoy cookies and milk in your underwear, and simply relax in each other's presence without even interacting directly. We have a life of luxury—not a luxury borne fron material wealth, but from having all we need emotionally within easy reach. We can rest, knowing that we are supported and loved by someone who has known Us at both our best and our worst. There is still a richness of love here, but it's lost the sense of exciting newness it fonce had, My wife put it exactly right when she told me this card represents a relationship where people are no longer afraid to fart infront of each other. Comfort and stability are essential to any healthy long- term relationship, but if you get caught up in them, they can become the start of a long downward slope towards the end, Without risk and excitement, without romance, it's easy to fall into a rut that you never pull yourselves out of. Models: Eblyn Miguel Angel & Shawn Roberts ‘Completed in November 2013 435: Di/apPoInTMEAT The fives are always trouble. Midway through our journey in each suit, we will find the place of opposition, where the guiding element encounters its natural opposite {and risks losing everything it has gained. In this card, we see that perfect relationship we began in the Two of Cups ‘come crashing down around us. The dream of Water has been caught up in the spiraling chaos of Fire. Disappointment feels like such a mild word for so much pain. What does it mean when you are disappointed by someone close to you? What does it feel like to know that someone you love is disappointed in you? It can be a crushing, lonely feeling. There is grief there, and anger, and certainly fear. Is your relationship a lie? Has the person you trusted betrayed you? Have you lost everything you'd been working so hard to achieve? The feelings we see in this card are hard to pin down, but if you have known love in your life, you have certainly also known the pain of disappointment. You had high hopes for what could have been, for who that person you put your trust in was, for who they were capable of being. You have learned something, but it was something you hoped never to learn. Perhaps someone you put your trust in was not worthy of it. Perhaps it was you. Perhaps, it was inevitable, Perhaps it was obvious to everyone but you: In this moment, does it matter? What happened to lead to the scene we see here? A break up? A divorce? The discovery of infidelity? An act of violence? Death? It could be all of the above, or something else entirely. The point is less the specifics of the narrative, and more the Feelings involved, and the aftermath of their expression. What we hoped would last has been shattered. Whether it can be repaired or not is. ‘another question. Yes, that is @ raw steak in the background. | wanted that broken china hutch to feel ike an open chest mound, Completed in March 2014 446: Pueayure. The four sixes, to quote Aleister Crowley, are representative of their respective elements at thelr practical best.” When we reach the six of each suit, we have passed through the early, uncertain steps of the ‘ones through threes, hit that initial successful plateau Of the four, and then fallen into the trouble and strife of the five. We have passed through that, and found a new kind of harmonious balance, As we pass on to seven. each element begins to have problems within itself, and becomes overexpressed, but in the six we have everything working the way we want The Six of Cups represents Pleasure, and yes, it's certainly the sex card. But the Cups are not concerned with simple physical pleasure—the element of Water Is, ‘bout the emotional dimension, and the power of the bonds we farm with each other, So this card represents Not just any sex, it's perfect sex. It's the kind of sex that brings you closer to your partner, that deepens and renews the love between you. This card often has connotations of fertility, and kindness and innocence, and | see that as all part of the same idea. The Six of Cups represents sexuality without guilt or shame, the sex that you can feel entirely good about. it is perhaps best imagined as that idealized wedding night sax, on clean white silk sheets, | was honored to serve as one of the groomsmen for my hand models, Jay and Katherine, at their wedding on a beach in the Dominican Republic. Jay had been a model Inthe set already, when he posed as the Prince of Swords many years previously. Looking back, lused the exact, same natural paper texture for his skin then, and was apparently just as fascinated with Jay's long fingers and interesting, wrinkly joints, Models: Jay Powell & Katherine Molina-Powell Completed in August 2013, 457: Depaucr Aleister Crowley had some choice words to say about Debauchery in the Book of Thoth. “This is one of the worst ideas that one can have;” he explains. “Its mode is poison, its goal madness.” Considering the exciting life Crowley was reported to have enjoyed, 'm suspecting that his unusual clanty regarding this card may come from some personal experiences with the dangers of excess, The Thoth version of the card that Lady Frieda Harris painted for him depicts a set of cups overflowing with some sort of horrible areen slime, floating above a lake of the same Inall the sevens, we see what happens when energies in the pure and perfect six become unbalanced and corrupted. The Seven of Cups speaks to us of the: powerful, sometimes irresistible, allure of false and fleeting pleasure: glittering and exciting, but ultimately self-destructive, We seek fun and escape in drugs, alcohol sexual adventure, but those thrills do not last, and when they are pursued as ends in themselves, they lead only to destruction. Does that mean it's unwise to enjoy a reckless night of hedonism now and again? Certainly not if you're asking me; I like to think of myself as generally quite debauchery-positive, in the appropriate times and places. But the temptation to indulge in ever greater and ver more risky excesses can be deeply seductive. | envisioned a wild bachelorette party for this card. or rather the last painful dregs of a party that has already gone on a it longer than was really wise. A dazzling series of tempting, fuity frozen drinks stands above a table littered with the castoffs of a drunken night that nobody will recall too clearly. in the Six of Cups, we saw Pleasure that was healthy and life-affirming. Here we see that same pursuit of pleasure become corrupt through blind over-reaching, leading to an inevitable downward spiral of regret and pain. Completed in September 2014 468: INDOLEACE Aiter the initial honeymoon phase we saw in the first three cards in the suit, the relationship story told in the Cups has suffered through some difficult times, With the Four, we faced the dangers of getting too comfortable and stale. In the Five, we dealt with betrayal and disappointment. Although the Six brought us once more to pure joy, the Seven immediately found itself overinduiging in that pleasure, and becoming corrupted by it, With the Eight, we see perhaps the ultimate threat to any relationship: when someone simply stops caring enough to make it work. We all know the signs when someone has stopped putting in the effort. Maybe they are waiting to be ‘dumped, because they don’t have the courage to leave. Maybe they're just killing time at their job, waiting to be fired because they haver't the motivation to quit. There is a siren call, which we have all heard at one time or another, that tells you to give up, stay home, phone itn, and just stop giving a crap. Goodness knows I've answered that call more than I’ like to admit. This card represents a toxic morass of procrastination, distraction, depression, and sloth: an ever-deepening pit that we dig for ourselves, The longer we stay in it, the harder it becomes to climb out again. It takes the strength of will that allows us to speak honest, painful truths, and the emotional courage we sometimes need to stand up and simply walk away. | had been imagining this card originally as being set in some anonymous cubicle farm, where a lazy employee was drinking on the job and playing solitaire rather than working, But | decided to get a little more personal with it, and depict my own workstation, and put my own self recriminations for laziness right up on the screen. One big blank rectangle open in Photoshop..the empty canvas is a scary thing for any artist to contemplate. Completed in November 2014 a79: Faprineys The pursuit of Happiness is important enough to us that ‘we wrote it into the Declaration of Independence here in the USA as an inalienable right. What is that perfect happiness? A single moment without care, surrounded by family and friends, knowing that you are loved and safe. With the Nine, the love that began our journey through the suit of Cups has reached its full expression and become {an all-encompassing fulfillment. Ths is what we strive for. From the moment we first held hands, through all of the Ups and downs and painful setlaacks, ths is the vision that has driven us, a happiness that knows no fear, no doubt, no reservation, Itis, like all the Cups, a shimmering dream just out of reach of our mundane reality, but one worth pursuing. There is a sense in this image of a scene too perfect to be real, like a memory seen through rase-tinted lenses, Aleister Crowley referred to this card as "a dream within ‘a dream." There's nothing cynical about that—even if true happiness exists only in the mind and the heart, that makes it no less real and powerful for us | had some fun with mixed media in this piece. You'll see a lot of textures scribbled in with erayon and paint, ‘appearing side by side with more sharply defined details. The scene is set in Fort Washington Park, with the impressive arches of the George Washington Bridge reaching across the Hudson in the background. In the summer months, the picnic tables along the river are ‘abuzz with families gathering around the public grils, and the smell of food drifts through the park. Completed in December 2014 43,10: /atiety Finally, with the last step in the story of the Cups, we reach that fabled Happily Ever After. if the Nine represented a single moment of pure happiness, the Ten represents that happiness stretching from this moment forward far into the future, This card speaks of love's ultimate dream, of home and family, for the rest of your days. It is joy, and peace, and the hope of the next generation In the classic Rider-Waite-Smith deck, I've long believed that Pamela Colman Smith deliberately inserted herself Into the Ten of Cups, depicting herself and her female partner living togather as a family, with two children of their own, under a rainbow. | stronaly believe although we can never know for sure) that what we are seeing in that card is the impossible dream of a happy same- sex marriage, drawn by a queer woman of color, over a century ago. am now myself one half of a legal same-sex marriage and | am very thankful to be in a part of the world that recognizes both my union and my gender. My wife and | share our home with another same-sex couple, Sarah and ‘Jen Salenger. They have been married since 2010, and legally recognized as such since 201, when The Marriage Equality Act was passed here in New York. As of 2015, all 50 states are now finally required to recognize our marriages as equal in the eyes of the law. | wanted this card to be an homage in part to Pamela Colman Smith, and to that impossible dream which has. finally become reality for so many. In the foreground, I've depicted Jen and Sarah as they appeared just a short time before their daughter was born. Their daughter actually appears a second time in the piece, being held aloft by yours truly. The lady with her arm around me is naturally my lovely wife Amy. Models: Jen & Sarah Salenger ‘Completed In March 2015 49Kuicut or Cups: THE _/EDUCER A dynamic mix of opposites, the Knight of Cups is the Fire in the suit of Water; he is the avatar of passion and action in the realm of love and emotion. His watery side makes him sensitive, romantic and creative. At the same time, his fiery essence can make him aggressive when he is, ‘aroused, and drives him to constantly seek new romantic adventures. The Seducer is attractive and friendly and falls in love easily, but there is a dangerous unpredictability about him. His sudden passion may burn hotly in one moment, and then be just as quickly submerged and snuffed out in the next, One would be well advised to be cautious—while his compassion and warmth may be ‘genuine, they may also run no deeper than reflected Candlelight, flickering on the surface of a pond. The crab sitting in the lovely lady's drink, just out of her line of sight, represents the aggressive water sign Of Cancer, and mirrors a similar appearance on the version of this card in the Thoth Tarot. Its also, along) with the halo of flame bursting from the kitchen in the background, intended to convey a palpable sense of imminent danger. I've included an image of a horse on each of the four Knights. On this card it takes the form of a tattoo in the style of a carousel horse on the arm of the Knight's date, Although not wholly inappropriate in this context, the original subtitle | had planned to use for this card, ‘The Pick-Up Artist," has come to be associated with an extremely toxic, sexist culture that Id just a5 soon not ay direct homage to in my work. Models: Alessandro La Porta & Amy Scott ‘Completed in October 2014 50Queen or Curs: THE THERAP/T The Queen of Cups represents the role of Water in the context of Water; the emotional center of the court cards. She is kind, affectionate and comforting. She is perfectly accepting, receiving others without judgment of any kind, {and stands for calm reflection and introspection. She is the queen of the stil pond, the surface of which is a mirror. The Gueen’s own nature is hard to grasp, for when you gaze into her depths, you only see yourself, Representing this card as a therapist was an easy decision, and I'm happy to be able to honor that role in my eck. Im very grateful to the therapists I've worked with: without their help | might not have been able to process some very rough periods in my life in a healthy way. The surrealistic direction that | was drawn to. in bringing the koi pond into the office, feels appropriate to the dreaminess of this suit. 'm particularly struck with this card, remembering all of the strange Iittle private stories that each texture | use carries. The wood of the tray is, a scan of my grandfather's old desk. The printer is the aluminum case for a Palm V organizer | owned in the late ‘90s. The base texture of the water comes from some shampoo | photographed for a friend's website design many years ago. The textile pattern | dressed Marcy in is from origami paper that my wife bought for her own papercraft projects, and her blouse is a photograph of Some whipped cream | spread in a baking dish earlier this week for ust this purpose. Sometimes it feels ike the palette I'm using is the half-remembered bits of my own strange life, and | like the thought that those odd details of my recollection live on in this new form, totally Unrecognizable from where they began. Model: Marcia Wootan ‘Completed in August 2013, 51Prince. or Cur: Tre. FILMMAKER Representing the calm Air over a sea of troubled Water, the Prince of Cups approaches the world of emotions with a careful, sometimes cold, distance. While he may contain a deep sea of emotional complexity within himself, he tends to be guarded about letting others see his vulnerability. Instead, he externalizes that conflict, and looks for ways to evoke those emotions in others. will tis scene make his audience understand real pain? Will this particular phrasing convey the full force of love? Can this photograph evoke profound loneliness and despair? Each move is measured, calculated to produce a specific effect. The Prince is a master of the emotional sea, but appears to walk above it, keeping a careful and professional distance, Sometimes there can be a kind of cruelty there—is it art, or cunning manipulation? Are his emotions ever genuine, or simply designed to look perfectly genuine? Compare our Prince of Cups to hs twin, the Queen of Swords. Both are the combination of Air and Water, {and I've portrayed both as artists of a sort. Our Queen Cf Swords is a Painter, and her work requires the skill, patience and forethought of Air, but she is fueled by Water in all she does. Perhaps her work conveys those feelings well, perhaps itis incomprehensible to others, but what always comes across is the emotion she has. put into it. The Prince of Cups, by contrast, works for his audience, and from a need to see his ideas made manifest. His work is driven by the need to evoke, to bbeguile, and to charm. He is happiest when people see themseives in his work and ee, the creator, is completely forgotten. Not satisfied with simply portraying personal truths, the Prince strives to touch something universal Model: Rob Burke Completed in January 2014 52Pacey or Curs: Tre. Costume Dryicite Having one foot in the dreamy world of Water, and one con the solid surface of Earth, the Princess of Cups has the power to crystallize the stuff of imagination into beautiful reality. A kind and gentle dreamer, the Princess embraces the most positive aspects of the element of Water and, then uses them to fuel her creativity. She is @ lover of romance, of wonder, and of grand stories, ‘There is, of course, a danger in becoming too wrapped Up in the world of dreams. Lacking the clarity of Air or the passion of Fire, the Princess needs to keep herself grounded to the real world, or she might fing herself trapped in a castle in the sky built of her own imaginings. | want to thank backer Susan Goodell for both modeling for this card, and providing the primary inspiration for its direction. When | intially interviewed Susan, she told me about how much she loves Broadway shows, and how she plans every trio she makes to New York around which shows she can get tickets to see. It occurred to me that, if we cauld describe New York as having a dream life, its dreams play out each night on the theatre stages Of the city. | decided that | wanted my Princess of Cups to have a role in building those dreams, so | depicted her {as a costume designer, helping to transform imaginary characters into realty through their clothing imagined my Princess working out of a tiny, basement. level studio, crowded with materials and bits of inspiration, right in the heart of the theatre district. Her surroundings ‘are meager, but her imagination transforms it into center stage, The costume she has just completed will soon litter Under a spotlight, playing a part in a fairy tale that is retold before a new audience every night. Model: Susan Goodell Completed in June 2014 53Tre Ace or /worp Air is the element of pure thought. Clear and clean, air moves with swift certainty, and certain power. Invisible but not intangible, a swift wind can cut lke the edge of a blade. The suit of Swords speaks to us of the world of logic, of rationality, and of intellectual pursuit. it teaches us about the power of an objective and analytical approach, as well as its ultimate failings The Ace of Swords represents that very first part of any intellectual pursuit: an idea. It is that “aha! ‘experience of sudden realization, that moment of pure clarity. That first simple idea has within it the potential to revolutionize, to overturn old ideas, and to challenge the way we think forever, ‘As we continue ur journey through the Swords, that idea will bring us Peace, a balanced Truce, and all the ‘achievements of Science. But along the way, the pursuit Of pure intellect will also bring us Sorrow, will tempt us to CCruetty, will lead us ultimately to Ruin, The Swords know neither mercy nor kindness; they know only the harsh truth of irrefutable logic. The crown of the Intellect, with a texture of shattered glass, is depicted here encircling the Sword of elemental Air. Behind them is the Washington Square Arch, which stands at the terminus of Fifth Avenue, and whose image is often used as part of NYU's branding, The arch was constructed on the centennial of Washington's inauguration, and bears statues of the president on either side ofits north face. To the left, Washington is flanked by figures representing Fame and Valor, on the right, he is flanked by Justice and Wisdom. in the latter sculpture, there is an inscription in a book above the President's head that reads, "Exitus Acta Probat,” or, “The End Justities the Deed. ‘Completed in June 20032: Peace We recall in the Two of Swords that pure light of understanding of the Sun and that childlike wonder at the simple truth of the world, This is the purest and most positive expression of the intellect, uncluttered by confusion and complexity We have considered the idea that first occurred to us in the Ace, and it now seems so perfectly obvious, it's hard to imagine how we didn't think of it before, We have had. ‘3 moment of Peace to consider, and for this moment, ital appears to fal into place. The logic is as clear as a sunny day. all variables balanced in perfect equilibrium. All the same, we sense that this Peace is nat long-lived, Our idea is untested, and what now seems simple may soon prove more complex than we had imagined, Perhaps we have allowed ourselves to rationalize away small, human concerns. Perhaps we have turned a blind eye to the consequences that our idea could lead us to. On this card we see a playground, protected by a high fence, topped with glittering spirals of barbed wire. Beneath the high, noonday sun, a pair of seesaws stand perfectly balanced and level. There are no children, none of the complexities of humanity and emotion to confuse the clarity, no noise to break the quiet. Our perfect playground is perfectly empty. It is welcoming only in theory, protected from a harsher reality on all sides, There is safety here, though, and the shadows are small Completed in June 2003 555:/ORROW Moving quickly from the warm light of comprehension in the Two, we see now the darker side of understanding. In the Three of Swords, we learn things we wish we did ot. With the loss of pleasant ilusion, we are forced to confront painful truths that cannot be ignored, Without the emotional support of Water, Air can lead us to accept nihilistic conclusions as the only logical path. We find ourselves remarking as we think back to simpler times, Ignorance is bliss. Our idea is now developed, and has begun to reveal Its inevitable consequences to us. With a gasp of grim realization, we see that there was only ever one possible ‘outcome, one unavoidable answer. What once seemed to be a solution to all our problems now stares back at us, 8 condemnation of our hubris. The simple and beautiful truth of E=mc’ has led us unerringly to the dark reality of the Manhattan Project, I'm not sure what | can say about this image. i's certainly hard to look at. | will say that | have lost both friends and family to suicide in my life, There are times that it seems lke a silent epidemic, decimating the most Vulnerable populations and stealing away our best and brightest. There are those who leave behind nothing but unanswered questions, and we can only wonder at what made them decide to leave us. Completed in October 2003, 56A: Truce Here we see revealed the great power that the rational mind is capable of. An objective viewpoint gives us the ability to see past our differences, to put emotional arguments aside, and to offer tolerance to those who have been our enemies. The Four of Swords brings an tend to hostilities, as diplomacy and negotiation replace the chaos of war and distrust. Powers are held in perfect balance by the rule of order, and we are given space to reflect, to move forward. The cautious Peace of the Two of Swords was more a cease-fire than a lasting treaty, Here, that same balance has been made more soli, ‘more fully considered. While old grudges have not been eliminated, they have no power here. All sides respect the value of Truce; we can lay down our swords for now and rest. The idea that struck us as a moment of inspiration in the Ace has now been fully realized, We have published ‘our findings, confident that our reasoning will stand up to peer review. Opposing concepts have been considered, responded to, and integrated into our argument. We are eager to move forward from here, demonstrating the value of what we have found, This card was intended to represent the General ‘Assembly Hall at the United Nations headquarters, here in New York, More accurately, the UN structure stands on 8 tiny piece of Manhattan real estate along the East River, which, according to international treaty, is not officially part of the United States. Since it was founded in 1945, the UN has represented the belief that we could prevent another global war by having a forum where all nations ‘could air their grievances. it is @ powerful dea, and while ‘many people may argue with the UN's effectiveness, it ‘continues to stand as a reminder of what we can achieve through open and honest communication, Completed in March 2004 575: Dereat Try as we might, sometimes we just can't win, With each of the fives, we see that the success and stability we had so far achieved can be overturned. The Truce we had previously earned through dedication to the order of law is betrayed ultimately by self-interest ‘and deception, The Five of Swords teaches us that no matter how well we think we have the game figured out, ‘our winning streak simply cant last forever. With the Four, we reached the limit of our idealistic reliance on the logical powers of Air. Expecting the world to follow your own system of rational order is ultimately self-defeating, Sooner or later we will either find that we have failed to account for the selfishness of others, or we have failed to recognize our own corruption. (Our intellectual pride rages that our idea has not been immediately accepted as truth, and we blame the foolishness and short-sightedness of others for our struggle. If only they would put aside their ignorant and irrelevant assumptions, they would see the truth as Blainly as we do. It would be wise to take a moment here, {and accept some of the hard realities of our own limits, Perhaps we have set our sights beyond our abilities. Perhaps we need to take another look at our own prejudices, as the fault may as easily lie within as without, It seemed an easy connection te tie this card to ‘gambling, Its one of the oldest kinds of folly, to think ‘that we can outsmart the house, to think that we can beat ‘a game that we know is designed to beat us. | imagined this video poker machine sitting in the darkened corner of a bar, challenging us to a battle of wits when we are at our least capable, We may win in the short term, certainly. But play the game long enough and we're ound to end up broke, blaming the mechanical bandit for our losses. ‘Completed in November 2003 58ie a) 6: /SCrACE With the Six of Swords, the cold logic of Air has finally ‘come into a perfect harmony with the world around it In the world of Science, we acknowledge that we are flawed, beings, prone to weakness and to misunderstanding. Through rigorous application of the scientific method, we account for the fallibilty of the individual and together seek a greater understanding, If we are to add to the ‘great canon of human knowledge, i our discoveries are to benefit all, we must first have the humility to remove ourselves from the equation. ‘This card stands for the triumph of the intellect over Ignorance, the power of the rational mind to create a better world. Do not forget, however, what we have sacrificed in that triumph, Science begins with the most noble goals at heart, but it must turn against that heart in ‘order to reach them, sacrificing emotional concerns for the light of pure objectivity. What are we left with, when we hhave eliminated all trace of humanity from our endeavour? The idea that first came to us at the beginning of our Journey into the Swords has finally been recognized by our peers, We have proceeded from hypothesis to exneriment to conclusion, recording every step with careful detachment. We have opened ourselves up to peer review, and allowed others to reach the same conclusions for themselves, Now finally, after so much trouble, we have achieved the acceptance we sought. This card is one of only two I've significantly updated from the first edition of the deck. in the original, | had used a caduceus as a fairly common, albeit incorrect, symbol for the field of medicine, Hermes’ winged staff is more appropriately an emblem of transit and commerce, bbut a simple mistake in 1902 put them on the U.S. Army Medical Corps uniforms, and it has been associated with medicine ever since, In the updated piece, | have tried instead to reference the Rod of Asclepius, a similar but far more appropriate symbol for medical science. Completed in March 2004 Updated in August 2017 597; Purity Vm terribly sorry for the inconvenience, but rules are rules, of course. Now if you could just fill out this form, and then wait at the back oF that line, someone wil help you shortly. The rule of law is meant to treat all of us as equal, but somehow the rules always come down hard on some, while bending easily for others. When the law becomes 2 tangled network of intentionally confusing and arcane restrictions, the clever and the wealthy can always find a loophole. For the rest of us, there is the endless purgatory of bureaucracy. Our spirit is slowly worn down while we go round and round, accomplishing nothing, With the Seven of Swords, we learn that the same tools that helped us to create order can also perpetuate inequality, create stagnation, and protect the deceitful ang immoral from facing consequences. You can't beat the system, they say. At least not without 2 good lawyer. The wheels of justice grind the powerless beneath them, while those already in power find a way to take advantage at every turn, At every stage they will Claim that nothing they have done isllegal, they will say that the system is fair, because everyone has the same chance to cheat if they simply know how. The idea we saw reach general acceptance in the Six has run up against an endless series of obstacles and regulations that prevent it from being actually put into practice. We see the ideal situation, but the gatekeepers Of the world find ways to delay and dispute, to distract us from the real issues, and to bog us down in endless minutiae. In theory, nothing stands in our way. In realty we begin to worry that simply being right isn’t going to be nearly enough. Completed in February 2004 608: IATERFEREACE Whenever we have many voices speaking together, it's ‘easy to get endlessly trapped in the confusing tangle. It can seem an impossible problem, separating signal from noise. How do we know which voices to listen to and which to ignore?’ The Eight of Swords shows us how the tendency to consider all sides and analyze all options can lead us to total paralysis. Confused and unsure of everything, we become restiess and unproductive. We find ‘ourselves flicking through the channels or browsing our social media sites endlessly, caught up in the cycle of unlimited input. We find that for every well-reasoned ‘argument, there is a counterargument that sounds just {as reasonable. The pure element of Air offers us no end to our aimless pondering, Only with the insight gained from the other elements can we hope to put our options in perspective and make clear decisions. The only people who are always certain that they are in the right are those who have abandoned reason entirely The idea that once seemed so clear to us has gotten very muddy indeed. Opened to the court of public ‘opinion, everyone has a different take on what our idea means for them and what it implies. There are moral {and practical objections we simply cannet ignore, and there seems to be no way forward. The public cannot find common ground on the issue, and we lose countless hours reading through comments threads that never seem to end, Completed in January 2004 89: CRucty In the other three nines, we see the most mature, Positive expression of each of their respective elements, The Disks and the Cups bring us Gain and Happiness respectively, the full enjoyment of what material and ‘emotional wealth can offer. The Wands bring us Fortitude with the Nine, the enduring power of the spirit to meet all the challenges that life can set before us. Why then do we find ourselves seeing nothing but Cruelty here in the Nine of Swords? ‘The realm of Air offers us no restful endpoint. There is no finish line for the mind. There is always another problem to solve, another question still unanswered. Take any idea far enough and you will ind the point where ‘you must choose between being right and being humane, Choose one path, and you will have to step away from the cerebral element of Air. Let yourself be guided by the heart instead of the mind. Choose the other path, and suffering will inevitably follow. The people who create dictatorships begin by trying to create order and harmony. The people who build weapons start by trying to create peace. The people who perpetuate violence start by trying to protect the people they love. The most terrifying conclusions begin with the most noble of goals, We saw this card coming from the beginning of the suit. We made a decision from that first moment of inspiration in the Ace—"The End Justifies the Deed.” We have always, Understood that the deeds we would need to justify by that phrase would involve turning a blind eye to the suffering of others. if our end is important enough, noble ‘enough, isn't some small amount of cruelty ustified? After all,n any long calculation, if the stakes are high ‘enough, the human factors simply cancel each other out. ‘Completed in January 2004 62