The Barbara Walker Tarot

Eight of Cups: Loss The Goat God weeps for his lost rites. The Willow-maid yearns to comfort him. Helice the Willow, virgin form of Hecate, once joined the Horned God Pan on Mount Helicon, home of the Muses. Their cult was declared devilish and was suppressed, but nineteenth-century romantic poets continued to regret the passing of their Arcadian nature worship. Pan’s eight spilling cups speak of loss, sadness, melancholy, rejection of Nature’s gifts, desertion of old loyalties, regret at parting from something that was beautiful.

Six of Pentacles: Charity A prosperous, jeweled courtesan gives money to a humble hunchback, who pleased her with the music of his lyre. She may be one of Aphrodite’s charites, or a Magdalene-priestess. It used to be said that a prime characteristic of the sacred harlot was compassion or venia: kindness, the Grace of Venus, whose number was six. Her card means gifts, patronage, philanthropy, help from one of Fortune’s favorites; also, a warning against misplaced generosity.

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. …

Five of Pentacles: Hardship Five wretched beggars—one a woman with a starving baby, one a child apparently dying—huddle on a wintry night outside a warmly lighted church, unable to enter. The dire five of the money suit suggests the nadir of poverty, which the medieval church did little to relieve, as this tarot picture recalls. Interpretations include hard times, worry, loss, adversity, insecurity, lack of help from established institutions.

Eight of Wands: Fall The hero slips from his heaven-climbing moon-horse, dropping his wands in a barren landscape. “Riding for a fall” frequently expresses the eight of wands. Upward progress or an important journey, like that of apotheosis on the Muse’s flying horse Pegasus, might be spoiled by over-aspiration. The eight means haste, excessive speed, overconfidence, hubris; also motion, travel, changes of scene.

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.