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Enso Circle: Merrick reads for dodalisque
Enso Circle: Merrick reads for dodalisque
What can I do ya for?
“You should acquire only the power of helping others. An art that does not heal is not an art.” -Alejandro Jodorowsky, in conversation with the Tarot de Marseille
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dodalisque
- Sage
- Posts: 622
- Joined: 25 May 2018, 22:11
Re: Enso Circle: Merrick reads for dodalisque
A friend and I are collaborating online to design a tarot deck and write a companion book to go with it: The Moby Dick Tarot. No, I'm not joking. What do I need to know about this project and what will I learn from the experience? We have worked together before so this is nothing new.
Re: Enso Circle: Merrick reads for dodalisque
A Moby Dick tarot, how exciting! “To the last, I grapple with thee; From Hell's heart, I stab at thee; For hate's sake, I spit my last breath at thee.” Hopefully the experience won’t be as all consuming as Captain Ahab’s desire for revenge!
For this spread I’m using my Tarot Sheet Revival Dodal. When it comes to the triumphs and their facial expressions, it’s hard to beat Dodal. Here are the cards I drew:
Right at the start we’ve got Le Pendu sticking out his tongue and wagging his fingers at you. There’s an air of the trickster about him here. I’m getting the sense that you’ll have to think on your feet because there will be times where your feet are where your head should be!
See how the lower right patch of ground in Le Pendu seems to morph into the rear of the dress on La Force? This is telling me that the problems you’ll encounter can be overcome with enough determination. While things may seem topsy turvy at first, once you get a good grasp of the issue you will be able to handle it. The pink lion giving you so much trouble will turn out to be your learning opportunity as it becomes the book in the hands of La Papesse. I have the sense that this won’t be a creative difference or not seeing eye to eye with your partner, but rather an unexpected logistical issue that you’ll have to grapple with, and while it will be difficult, once you find the solution you’ll have accrued valuable experience that you can use for future projects.
La Papesse is looking at Justice, or perhaps Justice is where La Papesse turns to look at us. The book has become a set of scales, while she’s drawn a sword in the other hand. This speaks to your newfound ability to navigate these kind of obstacles with far more judiciousness and swiftness than before. Once you expend the effort the first time, you won’t have to spend nearly so much energy again.
And that brings us back to La Pendu. He hangs precariously over Justice’s sword. One good upward stroke and he’d be done for. In time you may be able to root out the problem entirely so not only does it no longer hinder your Moby Dick project, but any future ones as well. So prepare for an some issues, apply yourself with all your might, and you’ll gain valuable experience which will benefit you now and in the future.
For the center I see the Star, the shining light that you will follow through this process as you pour your personal water of creativity into the greater ocean of tarot (and Moby Dick). Here is what I drew:
The Wheel of Fortune makes complete sense for the specific cards drawn. Firstly, it’s entirely appropriate that a circular spread would have another circle at its center. The motion is undeniable. And then the Wheel warns of the issue predicted by the cards but also offers the promise that as the wheel turns you will come out on top after all.
Hope this was a good one! I’d love to see that tarot when you’re finished.
For this spread I’m using my Tarot Sheet Revival Dodal. When it comes to the triumphs and their facial expressions, it’s hard to beat Dodal. Here are the cards I drew:
Right at the start we’ve got Le Pendu sticking out his tongue and wagging his fingers at you. There’s an air of the trickster about him here. I’m getting the sense that you’ll have to think on your feet because there will be times where your feet are where your head should be!
See how the lower right patch of ground in Le Pendu seems to morph into the rear of the dress on La Force? This is telling me that the problems you’ll encounter can be overcome with enough determination. While things may seem topsy turvy at first, once you get a good grasp of the issue you will be able to handle it. The pink lion giving you so much trouble will turn out to be your learning opportunity as it becomes the book in the hands of La Papesse. I have the sense that this won’t be a creative difference or not seeing eye to eye with your partner, but rather an unexpected logistical issue that you’ll have to grapple with, and while it will be difficult, once you find the solution you’ll have accrued valuable experience that you can use for future projects.
La Papesse is looking at Justice, or perhaps Justice is where La Papesse turns to look at us. The book has become a set of scales, while she’s drawn a sword in the other hand. This speaks to your newfound ability to navigate these kind of obstacles with far more judiciousness and swiftness than before. Once you expend the effort the first time, you won’t have to spend nearly so much energy again.
And that brings us back to La Pendu. He hangs precariously over Justice’s sword. One good upward stroke and he’d be done for. In time you may be able to root out the problem entirely so not only does it no longer hinder your Moby Dick project, but any future ones as well. So prepare for an some issues, apply yourself with all your might, and you’ll gain valuable experience which will benefit you now and in the future.
For the center I see the Star, the shining light that you will follow through this process as you pour your personal water of creativity into the greater ocean of tarot (and Moby Dick). Here is what I drew:
The Wheel of Fortune makes complete sense for the specific cards drawn. Firstly, it’s entirely appropriate that a circular spread would have another circle at its center. The motion is undeniable. And then the Wheel warns of the issue predicted by the cards but also offers the promise that as the wheel turns you will come out on top after all.
Hope this was a good one! I’d love to see that tarot when you’re finished.
“You should acquire only the power of helping others. An art that does not heal is not an art.” -Alejandro Jodorowsky, in conversation with the Tarot de Marseille
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dodalisque
- Sage
- Posts: 622
- Joined: 25 May 2018, 22:11
Re: Enso Circle: Merrick reads for dodalisque
Beautiful and completely persuasive, as always. Jeez, I like the way you look at cards. And thanks for using the deck I prefer to all the rest. The circular idea inherent in the spread works really well. I particularly like the way the grassy bank on the first card morphs smoothly into the woman's cloak on Strength. That sets the circular ball rolling through the reading. Which continues in the lovely connection between the lion's body, Papess' book, and Justice's scales. That threatening sword the Hanged Man is suspended above completes the circle. The Papess' book is certainly as thick as Moby Dick, our Bible, and maybe the writing looks like ocean waves, or perhaps just the wrinkles on my forehead trying to figure out how to make this tarot work.
I laughed when I saw the first card, the Hanged Man, because the MDT is going to be essentially an anti-tarot, so will present some unique challenges. My friend and I wonder whether it is even possible to create a tarot deck based on a novel that is a monument to existentialist materialism. It was Albert Camus' favorite novel. No transcendence whatsoever in an indifferent or even actively malevolent universe. The whale simply kills everyone at the end. Period. Well, almost everyone. It's the Book of Job minus the happy ending. The utter lack of female characters is also going to be difficult. But hopefully this is not just going to be a working tarot but also a work of literary criticism and a miniature biography of Melville as well, so it's going to need a lot of research and may take a while. I'll let you know when/if it's getting close to completion. Maybe the whole idea is just a spiritual red herring
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dodalisque
- Sage
- Posts: 622
- Joined: 25 May 2018, 22:11
Re: Enso Circle: Merrick reads for dodalisque
It occurs to me when I look at the Hanged Man that Capt. Ahab, famously, only had one leg! Ahab is upside-down as a person, he does the opposite of what is right, so all the good qualities normally associated with the other cards in the spread could be read as a reversals.
The Strength card would then suggest that Ahab, instead of "taming the savage beast within" through love, declares war on it and gets torn apart. The Papess card is usually associated with peaceful reflection, so Ahab must be in frantic agony. And her book would be shut, so the thoughts of others do not have a place in his world. He chooses the harpoon - the sword on the Justice card - to impose, in his own unbalanced way, his own form of Justice upon Moby Dick. The circular nature of the spread suggests that this course of action is locked into an endless cycle of repetition in Ahab's mind. The Wheel of Fortune, as you say, reiterates the idea of obsession. Wheels within wheels.
Melville was born on Aug 1st, 1819, making him a Leo, which seems to fit the Strength card.