The Barbara Walker Tarot

Two of Cups: Romance On the shore of a deserted lake under the moon, two lovers pledge their devotion in cups. Minnesingers wrote of secret places dedicated to their Love Goddess, where lovers could safely practice the ancient way of communing with the divine through the physical. By way of their romans or love poems, the term romance came to be applied to any affair of the heart, especially those blessed by the lovers’ own deity, the Moon Mother. Two cups indicate intimacy, sympathy, trust, engagement or marriage, fulfillment of desires.

Two of Pentacles: Change The lemniscate infinity sign appears with two pentacles, two mutually swallowing serpents, and two yang-and-yin symbols. Light and darkness, life and death, cyclic transformations appear in all these signs. The two of pentacles was important in the medieval tarot, carrying the maker’s name as well as a diagram for a layout. In alchemy, it meant “the Sun and Moon linked by the Dragon.” The two of pentacles stands for alteration, growth, new directions, existence folding back in itself, impermanent circumstances.

Two of Swords: Balance A blindfolded female Justice with two balanced swords is set against the sea and the moon. This traditional design indicates equilibrium between two opposing hostile forces, which cancel each other out. Woman is the trucekeeper or peacemaker, controlling the balance of weapons. The card means stalemate, karmic retribution, vengeful righting of a wrong with another wrong.

Two of Wands: Alliance The Sun-god gazed into the mirror of the Abyss; and sees his reflection as his female lunar twin, the Moon-goddess. Apollo the Sun once needed the power of his sister-consort Artemis the Moon before he could act, as Asian gods needed their Shaktis as their “souls.” That a reflection shows the soul is a very old belief, giving rise to superstitions about breaking mirrors or stirring reflective waters. The card shows a meeting of powers at the interface: synergy, association, responsiveness, partnership.

In case anyone's interested, my mom still has a bunch of old proof prints of the original card artwork. (The true original canvas-boards became property of U.S.Games, and are probably buried somewhere in the same vast warehouse as the Lost Ark.) Last time I was with her I did a quick layout [definitely not a "spread"] just to see what was there. Larger images with a bit more quality/detail are hosted here . They're about 8 x 10 inches and have clear plastic protective film, but that didn't prevent the photo paper from fading and color-shifting over the years. Some are from before the pips were painted in, before they actually turned into *card* artwork. …

I remember that the first time I laid my eyes on the Barbara Walker, I vowed to myself that I would one day have it. That was way before USG decided to release it in a tin, when all the remaining copies were heartbreakingly-priced. I recall promising myself just that in a post in AT lol. I just knew that I would, because its images stirred a slumbering locus in my core that reacted to its brazen, unrelenting vignettes. I felt that when we do begin a pas de deux, it would be one for the ages. And oh, how right I was. By all means, the deck should have turned me off. It had a 70's indie movie aesthetic that I don't find particularly interesting elsewhere. It was printed …