Here is my experimental sonnet: "Temperance Answers The Devil" The rhyme and meter are not perfect. A few lines may be awry due to copy and paste. The Devil speaking, then Temperance seemed to work. Maybe I'll try another pair of archetypes. The Devil speaks to the Human Soul: “Be blind to...

These are beautiful images that show how Temperance is about the rising of the kundalini through the energy centers-- and the history of it rises (no pun intended) from the Renaissance Visconti-Sforza to now, through many remarkable depictions. The Visconti-Sforza image shows an invisible field of e...

I can post it here in a few days, after looking it over. Not the best translation ever--it's a difficult poem in its diction. You might find it elsewhere: "Sonnet by Theofilo Folengo," Venice, 1527. My translation starts: "Love, under your sway many /Great deeds have conquered Time an...

As someone who has written a few sonnets over the years, and has translated Folengo's sonnet of 1527 incorporating all the majors, I thought it would be worth a try to follow Folengo with a modern sonnet (long sentence!). The sonnet would be in Shakespearean form-- 3 quatrains and a couplet, rhyming...

I consider $100.00 for the two decks reasonable. Let me know if you are still interested. If not, I will keep for now. Thanks.

Yes, they are artistic marvels. I am considering the price, and will let you know soon. Thank you for your interest.

I am seeking to sell/mail out two beautiful decks from Japan, unused, only inspected, like new. I simply need to "thin the pile." The decks are Kabbalah Tarot and Tarot Cards by Niikura. Both are boxed sets with books in Japanese. Please let me know if interested.

I have this one. I think the artist does a good job, but there is sometimes, in the minors, too strong a line around a shape, not so unusual in Tarot art, and the background buildings are somewhat simplified. I like the intricate, symmetric borders. The majors are superb, such as the star, moon, and...

Thanks for your insights, Pilgrim. "The past in the present, the future in the present"-- great way to tell the Mystery of it. Awakening not at the end of time but right now. Not really about Judgement but about getting beyond that ancient way of seeing reality. Clearing the Soul, not heav...

Great list through the major arcana. I think Bach and Beethoven could be switched. Mahler certainly goes with XIII, although there is so much more to his music than that. Debussy for moon (XVIII) and Mozart for sun (XIX)-- absolutely perfect! I just don't know enough about Monteverdi for Judgement. ...

There are newer decks that are designed with reading for yourself in mind, like the gigantic Alchemical Visions Tarot and the Voyager of some years ago, still in print, and the Mystical Dream Tarot, to refer to a few. When Tarot is created and produced, this is an important aspect-- is the deck for ...

Interesting connection to ancient Greece. Also, your prior post about the crow as an alchemical symbol fits in -- the bagpipe sac is like a retort in its hollow container quality, here letting in and out the life-breath or life-air, a great step in the alchemical "Great Work" -- from "...

It seems to me you have intuited something about the bagpipe. It requires air (obviously) and hands/fingers to make sound. So it is "flowing energy'" of the soul, energy that expresses outwards. Maybe kundalini to modern spirituality but not to the original creators/artists. As I mentioned...

Yes, the Romans did not use the zero. Then why is it in a Roman historical Tarot? All I know is that they used the word "nulla" instead of zero. Maybe more to shed light on this? By the way, I noticed that the zero on the Sola Busca Fool has two little dots around it at its lower curve, on...

I appreciate Lucifall's early-on detailed summary of the iconography of the Sola Busca Fool. Great research! There are positives and negatives woven into the imagery, with shepherds associated with the bagpipe (positive) and the crow in the face of the Fool (negative), with association of shepherds ...

Thank you Merrick for your insightful reflections on the Fool TdM and RWS. There certainly is a paradigm shift from the former image to the later image and beyond! I like your way of seeing the TdM Fool as the zen "Beginner's Mind." There is a naive openness to an unexplored universe with ...

In a way, Tarot is a ritual that often uses opening and closing quotations or verses around a building up process : question, randoming, answer. It is threefold in its dynamic of reader, images, querent. Of course, Tarot can also be for individual contemplation, with associating and joining symbols,...

I don't think Temperance in versions I've seen is about humility, although the world allows us to interpret as we will. It seems to me more about combination and moderation. Which card is for humility? Possibly the Hermit as to his lack of ego. Possibly The Hanged Man in his reversing his awareness ...

Really impressive and useful research well arranged for referencing. I will need some time to look over this. The "World" image has been a riddle for me, so I looked at the interpretations for it, including "The powers of darkness have been defeated." The soft blue with soft purp...

I know that in Neoplatonism the soul has three levels: the rational Soul, the imaginative Soul, and the sensory Soul or soul of sensation. The Soul is in between the invisible Spirit above, often associated with pure light, and the material realm below, often associated with shadow. The Soul can ove...

Regarding Postumio : I appreciate your bringing attention to the symbols on the shield. It seems to me to be a three part design: the star above, the tree, the platform below. This could refer to the Spirit above, shining out, the Soul between, in a process of unfolding, and the platform below, as t...

Thanks for your thoughtful comments. First of all, I see this triad of cards (13-14-15) as a unit and not as only a sequence in order. So, its about how the three Images are combined to me, and how there is a central card with a card before and a card after, interrelated. I think this is biblical as...

She is flanked on either side by pillars bearing the initials which stand for Boaz and Jachin. This Priestess is guarding the gates of the temple of Solomon whose pillars bore these same letters. (More information on how this temple and these pillars could figure into interpretations of the card wo...

Interesting considerations of the sequence of Death, Temperance, Devil. I think there is some wisdom in the order of these, who knows how consciously done. The Death Image is one of Release, the Devil Image is one of Entrapment, or, out breath of soul into spirit and in breath of soul into matter, t...

I think the card is about innocent,selfless generosity, as shown in the act of giving child to child. The X-Cross and star-flowers together suggest to me the cosmic Christ, the 6th sephiroth on the Kabbalah tree. In the back left is a mysterious man walking away with a spear in hand towards a tower....