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In the Rider-Waite tradition, what we see in the cards are archetypes and symbols that are familiar to the human collective- things we can recognize to bring out the broader meanings. But the figures are anonymous, so as to draw out the intuitive meanings of each figure and object in the card.
I had an idea that flips the script and makes the figures and symbols specific, harking to real people, places, and events, but still in the Rider-Waite artistic tradition, so that their meanings are more 'solid' and grounded in real-life events.
I started writing down some of the Major Arcana and who or what they could potentially represent in humanity's history. And I was simply gobsmacked at how easily the historical figure, concept, or event fit with some of them.
Take The Lovers for instance. For this I felt instantly that Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn were the perfect candidates for such a card, in both the upright and reversed position. Upright means beauty, passionate love, and trials overcome. Reversed, failure and foolish designs. Henry and Anne's relationship echoes this in BOTH positions. They were passionately in love and overcame what was stopping them from being truly together. But at the same time, their mechanism of doing so led to the destruction of this same relationship. So both possibilities for the reading can be inferred if you know their story.
Others leapt out at me too. Marie Curie for the High Priestess for example. Secrets, wisdom, tenacity, science, and the future as yet unrevealed are all present in her life story and scientific achievement. The future as yet unrevealed made her a most intriguing candidate for this card, since her discoveries ultimately lead to some of the most sophisticated of medical achievements, but also the most destructive of weapons.
The one that stands out to me the most though, is the Mayan calendar as a substitute for the Wheel of Fortune. The Mayan calendar foretells events, good or bad, warfare and peace, feast and famine. They predicted these events with the understanding that this was the natural order of life- they were accepting of it's inevitability. Even the calendar's shape and markings is very reminiscent of the Wheel of Fortune in the Rider-Waite artistic tradition.
For the suits, I was thinking of choosing different cultures and regions for each one, in their classical age. Cups for China and the Far East, wands for the Central American civilizations, pentacles for Arabia and North Africa, and swords for Rome and Europe. I feel these cultures to be reminiscent of the qualities of each suit and would provide more profound and recognizable imagery for the reader.
Would love to hear the community's thoughts on this idea.
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