The Fool
Winnie The Pooh by A.A. Milne
Pat Reble. Perth, Western Australia.

I chose to represent The Fool as Winnie-the-Pooh because everyone’s life journey begins in childhood. Although we set out alone, we are accompanied by childhood tales and familiar toys. The Child Fool has a teddy bear companion. The very first deck I created portrayed The Fool as a teddy bear, so it is also a reference to my own journey through the Tarot and Tarot creation.

The Magician
Harry Potter books by J.K. Rowling
Keron Smith. Auckland, NZ

I have chosen Harry Potter as my inspiration for the Magician card.
I have incorporated symbols used in the card (yin yang symbol, the four elements, the wand) combined with familiar images that are associated with the films and books about Harry Potter.
I’ve achieved this by using collage, crayon and bitamen to express the alchemy, magic, creativity and spirit that is the Magician card.

The High Priestess
The Sybilline Oracles
Ronnie Wiblin. Huntly, NZ

The Sibyls occupy a conspicuous place in the traditions and history of ancient Greece and Rome. Their fame was spread abroad long before the beginning of the Christian era. The original Sibylline Books were closely-guarded oracular scrolls written by prophetic priestesses (the Sibyls) in the Etruscan and early Roman era as far back as the 6th Century BCE.
The High Priestess is the card of knowledge, and of female spiritual power, instinctual, and secret knowledge. She holds scrolls of arcane information, and she might reveal the secrets you need to know if you are ready to receive such information.

The Empress click for full txt
The Homeric Hymns
Aileen Flynn. Vermont, Australia

Mother Earth – abundance flows from her as she moves within the moon cycles, transforming all around her by hard work, creativity and love. click for full txt

The Emperor
Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad
Jason Dean. Sydney, Australia

In Heart of Darkness Mr. Kurtz is sent by The Company from the civilised world up a river into a remote primitive region to extract resources for profit. Tempted by the absolute power over primitive peoples, he turns to unconventional and immoral methods to work the locals to achieve quotas. Mr Kurtz’s world is hazy. The perpetual fog and his own mythic presence permeate the river region he controls. The fog is a device used to show how thin a layer civilisation is over our own primitive savagery. click for full txt

The Hierophant
Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold.
Louise Sadgrove. Auckland, N Z

The Hierophant is sometimes a Pope, sometimes a Centaur. The Hierophant is the teacher, the giver of knowledge that builds bridges between the unknown & the knowing. The Hierophant, although associated with religion, does not favour any particular religion, he favours your beliefs. He wants you to make connections between the earthly and the spiritual, the material & the natural. click for full txt

The Lovers
Eros and Psyche by Lucius Aupelius (from The Golden Ass)
Fern Mercier. Auckland, NZ

Desire – that most ancient of gods – forces our destiny upon us. Eros is a god but also a sniveling child and a ravaging beast. His arrows of love charge us on a journey that opens us to our divinity (Beauty) and our animality (Beast), the ecstasy and the agony. click for full txt

The Chariot
The Owl and The Pussycat by Edward Lear
Melanie J. Cook. Alexandra Hills, Brisbane, Australia

When I heard about this project my first thought was that I wanted to illustrate my favorite poem of all time – The Owl and the Pussycat. My daughter was thrilled too, because its’ also her poem. Although she was quite shocked when she discovered that I hadn’t asked for The Lovers, which was the card she thought they’d be perfect for. I thought they’d be perfect for The Chariot with their beautiful pea green boat being pulled by spiraling, foaming waves of seahorses, over the crest of a wave….that was a chariot if ever there was one! click for full txt

Justice
Pomera, a story from Stradbroke Dreamtime by Oodgeroo Noonuccal (Kath Walker)
Helen A. Meinicke. Brisbane, Australia.

The high ideals of Justice demand the wisdom to accept Truth. Essentially, Justice represents fair-mindedness but often self-righteousness and lust override prudence.
Pomera barely fills a page but its poignancy echoes the philosophy of the everlasting Dreamtime. It arouses thought, as Justice should and offers insight into the poetical wisdom of Australian Indigenous Dreaming. click for full txt

The Hermit
Envoy to Mirror City by Janet Frame
Catherine Ballantyne. Auckland, NZ

Janet Frame spent much of her early life guided from outside herself, with no appropriate feminine role models to fit the inordinately creative person she was. Her attempts to create an identity through more socially interactive means led to the adoption of disastrous masquerades, principally the masquerade as the mad genius, the schizophrenic.
Her misdiagnosis as mentally unwell, confirmed she could no longer hold to others’ view of herself and she found her own way to her internal Mirror City, a place where writers are free to create. This process starts in London but much occurs in Ibiza the place I see most when she talks of Mirror City - hence the background of the card. click for full txt

The Wheel of Fortune
The Monk’s Tale by Geoffrey Chaucer (1340-1400)
Claudia Pond Eyley. Auckland, NZ.

The Wheel of Fortune has fascinated me and addressed my art work as an artist for many decades. The theme of generational continuity through all ages and cultures is summed up by the enclosed quote by the English poet of the 14th century that human psychology and the Fates are for every age in this universe.
As an artist the constellations fascinate me in their richness in myth, philosophy, our histories through from ancient times. Here in the Southern Hemisphere I see the Southern Cross outside my bedroom window in the clearness of balmy summer nights. The richness of the celestial “Wheel of Fortune”. click for full txt

Strength
Oscar and Lucinda by Peter Carey
Ben Scott. Korumburra, Victoria, Australia

Lucinda is pictured in her glassworks holding a ‘Prince Rupert Drop’. This is a teardrop shaped piece of glass that is seemingly unbreakable. It can withstand a blow from a sledge hammer and it will not break, however, if you squeeze the tail with a pair of pliers it will explode into thousands of pieces. I like the principal behind the Prince Rupert Drop. It suggests that sometimes we need to take a different approach to a situation. Sometimes a gentle persistence is required to achieve a desired result rather than brute force. Behind Lucinda is a leadlight window depicting a lion. click for full txt

The Hanging Man
Biographia Literaria by Samuel Taylor Coleridge
Bron Deed. Bethell’s Beach, NZ

My interpretation of this card combines symbols of suspension, gestation and internal processes of growth or creativity.
I based my ideas on Coleridge’s description of the imagination as “that willing suspension of disbelief that constitutes poetic faith”. Coleridge’s Biographia Literaria translated his interior life into literature, a body of evidence of the internal gestation process of creativity that lies beneath finished artistic works. click for full txt

Death
Jonathan Livingston Seagull by Richard Bach
Kaz Blenneerhassett. Auckland, NZ.

To me, the Death card represents the absolute end of a chapter in one’s life, and implicitly therefore – a new beginning!
Jonathan Livingston Seagull is a book about a seagull who believes there is more to life than simply existing. Refusing to conform to the restricting life of the flock that has cast him out, he continues to pursue his ideas independently, learning more and more until eventually he has learnt all he can from his current life and must move on. click for full txt

Temperance
An Angel At My Table by Janet Frame
Sarah McKenney. Auckland, NZ.

I am fascinated by the temperance card. When I looked up the word temperance in the dictionary it said; moderation, self restraint in speech, conduct, eating and drinking. In tarot temperance conveys more meaning than simply thoughts of self control and moderation. Some ideas associated with this card are mixing, combining and transformation. In the image the angel pours the essence of life from cup to cup. For me this card signifies healing. The angel is mixing up some medicine.
An Angel at my Table is part of Janet Frame’s autobiography which covers the lengthy period of time she spent incarcerated in mental hospitals. click for full txt

The Devil
The Bible
Linde Rosenberg. Auckland, NZ.

In this card, I have reversed the usual Christian version of the devil, as the one who causes us to be bound by bodily and earthy sins, and looked instead at God’s punishing and shaming Adam and Eve by casting them out of Eden for challenging his authority, by eating the apple of the tree of knowledge (wanting to learn and grow), as a narcissistic response which has caused a great amount of suffering through repression of natural creativity.
(‘Evil’ as the reverse of ‘Live’).

The Tower
The Bible
Roisin Kearney. Auckland NZ

The story of the Tower of Babel (Babylon) is synonymous with traditional Tarot interpretations of the tower card.
The card I have created shows a dark, stark, foreboding landscape.
The skulls depict the old worn down concepts, false words, false ideas on which the tower is built.
The eye coming down from the heavens, casting light and colour on the scene, is the Eye of Horus bringing super-consciousness to the structure, tearing it apart with light. click for full txt

The Star
Manon des Sources by Marcel Pagnol. Film by Claude Berri
Mala Mayo. Auckland, NZ.

After the treachery of the neighbours, who by blocking a spring turned Manon’s family land into a wasteland; leading to the death of her father Jean de Florette and the loss of her family home and land, Manon spends several healing years in the hills as a goatherd.
On finding out that the people of the village had known about the spring and done nothing, her fury is aroused and she seeks retribution by secretly blocking the spring feeding the village water supply and fountain. click for full txt

The Moon
The God of Small Things by Arundhati Roy
Samar Ocean Wolf Ciprian. Auckland, NZ.

My Moon is a visual reconstruction of how I experienced The God of Small Things. An icy arm floated out of the bowels of the book and choked me with fear and grief. The danger of a woman's unfettered sexuality was the most powerful and personal theme to me. I was also captivated by the pickle factory's imagery. Badly packaged jars, dripping oil, expanding moldy mango chutneys and peeling labels. The compartmentalization of everyone and everything echoed by these awkward parochial vessels. click for full txt

The Sun
Maui and the Sun - Maori Legend
Lyn and Scott Olds. Auckland, NZ.

It seems fitting that a deck with origins in New Zealand should contain some works that represent New Zealand’s Maori culture.
Traditional meanings of The Sun card include: joy, happiness, success, satisfaction, accomplishment, triumph, confidence and vitality. In Maui and the Sun, a traditional Maori folk tale, each one of these qualities is realised. click for full txt

Judgement
Of Mice And Men by John Steinbeck
Steven Mark Ciprian. Auckland, NZ.

I wanted to make a piece that people would judge. I also wanted to use a story that had a lot of judgement running through it. I felt that Of Mice and Men conveyed this on many levels, none more so than the fact that Lenny was judged i.e. he was considered to be an idiot. I feel that Judgement, like the zodiac sign of Libra, has two sides to it, and this can be extremely difficult, if not impossible, to have in balance. Hence, I used half yin and half yang energies of male and female on my piece, which I also believe each one of us has. click for full txt

The World
The Adventures of Alice In Wonderland by Lewis Carroll
Lynda Robinson. Adelaide, Australia

Alice in Wonderland is a story of a dream full of adventure, the unexplained and hidden gifts and so is my card. The expansive sky, representing endless possibility, surrounds and enfolds all. It’s a beautiful day and with it comes a sense of satisfaction with how things are and what has been achieved. Life is full of joy, laughter and good company. Good fortune reigns and all are blessed. click for full txt

arcana:

The tarot art event held on September 2nd and 3rd at Jubilee Building in Parnell, Auckland, was a magnificent celebration of tarot. Two years in the making and a truly collective effort, it proved that tarot is a growing cultural force in our contemporary world. An extraordinary turnout around 1000 people flocked to interact with arcana’s wonderful diversity of artworks, performances and educational seminars.
The buzz started immediately the doors opened and continued throughout the weekend. There was a constant flow of visitors who more often than not were newcomers to tarot and its history.

Seminars were well-attended with standing-room only in most presentations. Tarot became accessible to a mainstream audience, introduced with panache and scholarship, by our wide range of educators.

The lively marketplace, where books and decks on sale jostled for attention with medieval swordsplay and poetry, was a mini-carnival all weekend long. The innovative tarot paraphernalia on sale seemed as much an art form as the singing, dancing and juggling that provided vibrant family entertainment. This colourful ambience re-created the historical setting that displayed both the roots of tarot and its modern relevance.
35 contributing N.Z. artists exhibited 89 pieces of work that ranged from a decorative grandfather clock to a Pigeon Tarot, from brilliant tattoo art to armless dolls, from a mosaic High Priestess mirror to an exquisite Empress quilt.
Whilst imagery on the big screen featured 600 years of tarot art history, the tarot readers were worked off their feet. Superb performances all weekend culminated in a Literary Conversation between three leading N.Z. writers, who discussed the relationship of tarot to their novels and lives.

One of our greatest achievements was the collective power that made this event possible. The generosity of the sponsors, the volunteers’ contributions, and the sharing of many individuals’ and groups’ resources, meant that tarot came alive in the highest spirit of the World card.
A commemorative catalogue of the art is being created and a video documentary of arcana is in production.
Our international guest speaker Mary K. Greer, commented that arcana was a major event in the history of tarot in the world.
Our heartfelt thanks to everyone of you who made this marvelous and significant event possible.
Fern Mercier, Dyan Harland and Lyn Olds.

Tarot Art to Italy

A new International Tarot Art Museum opened in June 2007 in Riola, near Bologna, Italy. www.museodeitarocchi.it
On the request of this Museo, Fern and Lyn carried 16 pieces of N.Z. artworks for permanent exhibition for the official Inauguration Festivities. Read all about it at (Link to Tarot Talk page)

These artists have their artwork exhibited in Italy