A week with Persephone’s Torch Tarot

[Rachelcat]

Another from Duck Soup, Doug Thornsjo! I’m repeating a bit of what I said in the stork thread, but here we go. The theme of the deck is turn of the 20th century theater. It’s a huge 3.5 x 6 inches (wonderful for really seeing everything!), and is illustrated in landscape so the cards look like stages. The majors are posters for (mostly) imaginary plays. The dates, times, and locations on the posters are clever puns relating to card meanings and subtle Thothy details. The courts are photo collections of real actors of the era. Wikipedia will be used this week! The minors are imaginary scenes on stage, with “playbill” titles in the lower left corners.

There’s a title card and two instruction cards, the “playbill” and the “modus operandi,” and a “Coda” scene card. And two advertising cards, one for the Persephone’s Torch novel (about a theater company) and one for Doug’s other decks and website. You can pick the back from several choices, and I nerdily chose the one most similar to the title card. The deck is print-on-demand and came directly from MakePlayingCards. It comes in a plain white tuck box. (If I get ambitious, I might glue the title card to the front of the box.)

I’m not sure how I’m going to read with such large cards. For now, the short interview seems in order! Wash, shuffle, and deal!

Strength: XVIII. A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Moon)
Here are Titania and Bottom, just like last week! Marama means moon in Polynesian languages (and can be a moon god). And Kuu is the Finnish moon goddess. So I would say a strength of the deck is that I can learn new things just by reading the cards! But its main strength is creating a fantasy world about the fantasy world of theater. A springboard for the imagination.

Weakness: Coins Scene 10, Curtain Call
Ok one weakness is I CAN’T see all the words on the cards, some are too small, some are cut off. Maybe the weakness is some scenes are a little boring? The cards don’t focus on the fantastic after all?

What I can learn from deck: Sir Squire Bancroft as The King of Coins
I like the monocle as part of a coins card! He’s also a painter, or plays one on stage, a creator of a physical thing of beauty. And maybe he’s shown as a protector or provider for his partner in the photo. Wikipedia: He and his wife are considered the founders of the “drawing room comedy,” in which the sets were mundane rooms that could be in any upper-middle class home. So that works for king and coins. I can learn to be in charge of my home and physical surroundings.

Outcome of our work together: Coins Scene 5, Winter of Discontent
Well, that’s not good for an outcome. I like the Shakespearean quote, but the scene is more RWS than Richard III. Some are still begging, some are moving on. The deck will enforce its physical dimensions as a hindrance not a help to reading.

Well, interesting reading for sure! We’ll see how it goes this week. Have a great Sunday!

[Rachelcat]

Monday
Why the Who is in the What

Ace of Wands, Scene 9 of Swords, The King of Coins, XIII. The Dance of Death
In the realm of action, I am someone in charge of my body and possessions having to deal with worries that might or might not be real. Because everything ends sometime.

Ace of Wands has a match and the playbill for A Fatal Justice, the play that is the Judgment card, which is attributed to fire by the Golden Dawn.

The same court card as yesterday, complete with monocle and coin.

Scene 9 of Swords is The Waking Nightmare. I’m thinking Macbeth’s “is this a bloody dagger I see before me.” Although the nightmare could be real, considering the guy with the axe hidden behind the curtain!

The dance of death is very appropriate. We have todd, death in German, Thanatos, Greek god of death, and 13th and reaper just for fun! And life-changing! Oh, and even one night only adds to it. This just can’t be a scary card for me with the puns abounding! Not sure about Marte though. Is that a word for death? I know it is for Mars . . .

I hope you’re enjoying the deck and your Monday!

[Rachelcat]

Tuesday
Stoplight spread
I thought it would be appropriate to stack the landscape cards!

Red, Don’t do this: Scene 4 of Swords, Sleep of the Just
A dramatic view of a romantically decaying cemetery. I should not rest my mind or close my mind to the new. Don’t live in the past, the present is much more interesting and useful!

Yellow, Be cautious with this: Scene 10 of Wands, The Whole Show
I should be looking to the future, but not so much that I take on too much to do. It’s quite difficult for one person to be the whole show. Don’t turn down reasonable help to do what needs to be done.

Green, Do this: II. Sibyl
This doesn’t seem to have as many puns and references as the other majors. The location and date details look like they might be from a real poster for an actual play. I should be more open to intuition and spirituality than my recent obsession with atheism is allowing me. Just because I believe completely that there’s no imaginary friend sky daddy doesn’t mean there is no spiritual living.

A little disjointed but helpful nonetheless! Have a great Tuesday everyone!

[Rachelcat]

Wednesday on Thursday
It’s not Thanksgiving yet, but we had our Harvest Brunch at work, so it’s time for three things to be thankful for!

Page of Cups, Miss Irene Bentley
I looked up the actress. Looks like she was known for her ingénue roles. The pic on the left is of her role as “The Girl from Dixie.”
I can be thankful for old fashioned ideas of an innocent but active and happy girlhood. I’m sure it was always an ideal and never a complete actuality, but I think it’s a healthy idea. Girls don’t need to be stuffed into femininity and sexuality boxes so early in their lives. They need to be free to be children, and people, first. I remember I was definitely influenced by popular culture on sex roles, but it was the early 70s, so I also absorbed a lot of “be free and be natural” messages which were helpful.

XIV. Art
“From light to darkness, and light shines in the darkness” possibly?
I’m going to take this at face value: I am very grateful for art of all forms: theater and movies, music, dance, and visual. I’m an uneducated but ardent music lover, classical and popular. I’ve come to enjoy visual arts more later in my life, partially influenced by my tarot interests. Art is an inexhaustible resource for fun, learning, and consolation.

III. The Empress
This is indeed Harriet Bosse in her role as the Lady in a play called To Damascus. She was a famous actress and was married for a time to playwright August Strindberg. This is a very Art Nouveau card, including the font and the reference to the Renaissance.
I’m also thankful for adult femininity, and female power. I’m seeing an interesting progression here, from innocent girl transformed by art into a powerful woman. And that’s all I have to say about that.

I’ll be back soon with a today’s reading!

[Rachelcat]

Thursday
Veterans Day. How do I thank and honor veterans while saying no way to war? I’m old enough to remember “what if they gave a war and nobody came?” This sounds like an elemental star.

Well, it makes a very odd shaped start, but here we go!

Physically: Scene 5 of Cups, O Bitter Cup!
Random tragic scene. With cups and a fountain.
I should realize and acknowledge that emotional pain can cause real physical pain, especially for someone who has experienced the worst things the world can offer.

Emotionally: Scene 7 of Swords, The Clever Cat
Ooo! I love Puss in Boots (of course), a master of deception!
Keep my pacifistic views to myself when engaging with veterans. Deception by omission to spare others’ feelings is a perfectly acceptable white lie.

Intellectually: Knave of Swords, Mister Martin Harvey
Most famous for his role as the hero of A Tale of Two Cities in a theatrical and film (1927) version titled The Only Way.
Stay intellectually clear but grounded in reality.

Energetically: Scene 4 of Coins, The Miser
It looks like Shylock getting publicly shamed.
Sympathize and empathize, but don’t compassionate. Don’t be too open to others’ pain.

Spiritually: XV. La Marmite du Diable, Theatre du Grand Guignol
The Devil’s Cauldron. The theater was a real one. “From its opening in 1897 until its closing in 1962, it specialized in naturalistic horror shows. Its name is often used as a general term for graphic, amoral horror entertainment” (Wikipedia).
War is hell. And fear, pain, death, and killing. Never surrender that spiritual truth.

Well, a harsh note to end on, but lots to think about overall. I hope you have a mindful Veterans Day and a good Thursday.

[Rachelcat]

Friday
How will my days off go?

Me: X. The God Machine
Clockwork Players, Chronos Theater, ha! I guess it’s two acts and a tragic comedy because you’re either up or down.
I could go either way. I’ll either be loving it or dreading it.

Issue: Miss Ethel Barrymore as The Queen of Coins
Maybe the only actor I recognize, by name anyway. Didn’t know a Broadway theater is named after her! She was a hard-working actor, stage and screen, from her teens to her 80s, perfect for the Queen of Coins. Coins also works with a family business.
My days off demand that I work hard to make my home comfortable and welcoming.

Outcome: Scene 10 of Wands, The Whole Show
I may end up feeling overworked and overwhelmed by wanting to do it all.

Advice: Scene 7 of Wands, Man of La Mancha
I applaud a stage set of tilting at a shocked windmill! A love of doing something, even if it’s crazy!
The advice is that I should just go for it and enjoy the hard work and exhaustion. Good plan!

Have a lovely Friday evening, all!

[Rachelcat]

Saturday on Sunday
Last day for Persephone’s Torch
Wow, I almost went two days with no cards. Can’t let that happen! So it’s time for opportunity, challenge, resolution!

Opportunity: Scene 5 of Wands, Battle of Evermore
I like the title, kind of saying that there can’t be any resolution of conflict for conflict’s sake. The battle is mostly on the backdrop, but the live actors show the victorious and the defeated.
I have an opportunity to take action against something.

Challenge: XII. The Man in the Iron Mask
Interesting choice for the Hanged One. Incarcerated with no chance of being released or even known. Pantages Theater is a stage theater in the home of film, Los Angeles. Ramon Navarro was a 1920s “Latin lover” film actor whose murder was related to his being a closeted homosexual, someone who was bound by societal expectations and his public persona.
While I might have an opportunity to fight something out, it might be better to hold off or wait until things become clearer. Even though I’ll want to fight.

Resolution: Zena Dare as The Page of Coins
British stage and screen actor who once played opposite Noel Coward. A child star who continued her career into her 50s. As you can see from the photos, she played plenty of ingénue roles.
The way to resolve the urge to action versus the enforced inaction is to stay grounded in reality! If I stay true to the facts and what’s really going on, things will work out with little sound and fury and little frustration.

I’ve really enjoyed this unusual deck! I hope to use it more in the future! I’ll be back shortly with this week’s deck!