The Discorporae Tarot

[BlueToy]

I started a series of illustrations for a tarot deck a couple of years ago. I called it The Discorporae Tarot because the illustrations involved figures and imagery discorporating in and out of planes in the images, like a more decorative way of how cubists distort reality by presenting it in different planar shards. It had a thread before in Aeclectic. I stopped working on it because a lot of things cropped up in my life, and a lot of issues cropped up with making the deck too - printing and mailing decks from where I live has become rather difficult, and the original art had dimensions which didn't quite fit with the standard "tarot" ones of print-on-demand printers, and I couldn't develop a unique color system for it (I do this with my decks, create a color system and method for each so they look a bit distinct from each other). So the illustrations were left to "sleep" in its own folder in my art stash.

 

I've picked up working on it again last year after finishing Tarot VANDESTIJL, and have been posting the cards in social media. I'll post the images in its own post, with the write-up that it came with in my original socmed posts.

 

I'm really bent on running a Kickstarter campaign for it, but I don't know much about how to market it so it gets successful (and I really want it to be successful too so I can include a lot of add ons and details and stuff to it). So, if you folks also have suggestions on how to effectively market my deck, I'll gladly hear them out, thanks! 😄

[BlueToy]

Quote from my original post on December 2:

 

"Whenever I start creating a deck, the Star card is one of the first cards I end up illustrating. It might be because I associate stars with something magical (a theme which I like working on), but it could also be that the card has such a hopeful vibe to it that I am subconsciously wishing it imparts that vibe to the project. This is the Star card for the unfinished Discorporae Tarot. The name comes from the word "discorporate" (I just dressed it up to make it sound more... Patrician) - an visual... treatment where parts of the whole disappear and reappear in the artwork (I am not too good at explaining this, but I hope this shows in the artwork above). Stylistically, this is inspired by Art Nouveau and the Arts and Crafts Movement (both of which I am drawn to), as well as, in some parts, surprisingly, Second Empire."

[BlueToy]

From December 7 (fitting too, the "search" aspect of what I was feeling back then):

 

"Hermit card for the unfinished Discorporae Tarot. I wanted to put in some lengthy stuff here about art being a struggle and compromise, and a continuous search for motivation, but I'm just too tired at the moment. I do hope I get to do more art for this project and eventually finish it (I'm slowly forming concepts for each of the minors)."

[BlueToy]

From Deember 11:

 

"The Two of Cups card from the unfinished Discorporae Tarot

Here is the first minor arcana card of the deck I've finished. I originally intended for the numbered minors to have "enhanced" decorative pips (the enhancements being thematic visuals relating to the meanings of the cards), but somehow things got steered a bit off-course while I was drawing this and thinking up the layouts for the other cards.

This particular card ended up being more esoteric than I expected. I originally just wanted to maximize the space given for the two cups, so instead of presenting the two cups side-by-side, I had them laid out one on top of the other. BUT I thought, since one of the stronger themes of the card is harmony between male and female elements, I had one cup pour (male), while the other receive (female). This dichotomic theme is present in the other embellishments I have included in the card. The upward pointing triangle in the top cup being the symbol for the male, this reinforced by the firebird inscribed within it - a combination of the two "male" elements, with the bird for air and fire for, well, fire. The downward pointing triangle (female) in the bottom cup, meanwhile, has forms which recall a (very stylized) flower (earth), and a clam (water).

Since it is about the harmony between male and female, I thought of also representing the cups as part of two spheres, with the two meeting in between, forming a vesica piscis (Cups being the suit of water). The piscine form is futher referenced by the scales in it, downward pointing to further reinforce the "pouring" and "receiving" theme of the interaction between the male and female spheres. Since the card also falls under the sign of Cancer, I made the vesica piscis as the shell of a crab (if you look closely, it has pincers above and legs below). Also, the repeating circular forms in the image recall the shape of bubbles - male air enveloped in female water, further reinforcing the theme of interaction between male and female.

All this wasn't intentionally planned, though, and just came about almost spontaneously while I was simultaneously sketching and conceptualizing the line art of the card. Also, not all the numbered minors will be as esoteric (like the next card I am doing, the 4 of Wands), and some will even include people (ironically, the 8 of Wands, which even in the very people populated RWS is figure-less)."

[BlueToy]

On December 25 (the copyright says 2021 because I had to redo the image because it accidentally got saved over):

 

"3 of Swords from the Discorporae Tarot. What a card to post on Christmas day! But, well, for some reason, the card wanted to be made (it was between this and the Wheel of Fortune and somehow, I kept on gravitating towards finishing this one first, probably because its line are much easier to clean than the other one). I'll be continuing with my Star card posts tomorrow or the next day - I just wanted to share this since I've only just finished it.

The imagery is pretty standard RWS (which in turn is based on a deck with an older provenance, the Sola Busca). I just added some embellishments which I think furthers the theme of the card. Crowley and Waite both agree that the card has sorrowful connotations. The image has three swords piercing a heart - I gave the heart an eye for that esoteric vibe, but also because swords are the suit of the mind, and humans tend to think with their eyes first over the other senses. I made the heart somewhat like an alchemical vessel (again going with the esoteric vibe). It's pretty interesting, actually, when you think of the heart as a cauldron-like vessel for emotions: it can bubble to the brim with laughter, but sorrow weeps through its cracks (hence the tears). I stylized the cracks so they look a bit like cracks in glass. The heart is winged, again, for the esoteric feel of things, but also because swords are associated with the classical element air.

The central sword also pierces a (heraldic) white rose at the bottom - a symbol of sorrow and mourning (and in fact figures in the black banner in the RWS Death card). Interestingly, it's also a symbol of silence - the absence of sound, though in this case, it is more like the cessation of laughter and of mirth. I was contemplating on using another flower (either the marigold or the lily - both also associated with mourning and sorrow), but I like the "piercing" aspect of the rose's thorns, as well as the serrated blade-like edges if its leaves - both go well with the theme of this card, and I've included both in it too. I have given the sword crystal-like decor in its hilt, again to reference its "clarity of mind" aspects.

It's an interesting card for reflection, actually - one can even view it as how the mind conflicts with emotions at times and how things go downhill from there; how the intellectual sword cannot seem to come to terms with the emotional heart, and it tries to pierce it to understand it. In terms of color, there is also some level of contrast - the mind's white clarity against the heart's passionate red. I have added some irony in the background design by flipping the linear patterns and their associations - with tumultuous vertices for the upper part (blueish for the swords), and more orderly quadrilaterals for the reddish bottom part (when in fact the mind should be the one associated with orderliness, and passion with its opposite). Inside the wreath of rose leaves and thorns, the night sky could be seen - the heart going through it's long, dark night (I added some stars to give it some positive note - how sorrow also ends, but also because its pretty to look at. )."

Edited January 26, 2021 by BlueToy

[BlueToy]

From December 28:

 

"The Wheel of Fortune from The Discorporae Tarot. In a general sense, this card features the Fates, something I've done several times in the previous decks I have created. It also features the motif of the World Tree (stylized here so it looks like a wheel with spokes).

 

In a specific sense, the figures depicted are the principal Norns, Urðr, Verðandi and Skuld, - the Fates of Norse Mythology, and the world tree is Ygddrasil. The creatures in it are the creatures who live in the area surrounding the Tree - the nameless Eagle at the top, the dragon Níðhöggr gnawing on its roots, the stags Dáinn, Dvalinn, Duneyrr and Duraþrór, and the two Swans that engendered all the swans of the world. (I was not able to depict the squirrel since it would have been too small here).

 

The stylized spilling forms emanating from the tree are a conceptual reversal/development I thought of - while the Fates draw water out of the well of Urd to water the Worlt Tree, so does the World Tree "water us" by connecting and nourishing us.

 

Happily, the creatures more or less correspond to the four classical elements which in turn are associated with the four suits of tarot: The eagle for Air, the swans for Water (Crowley's had a Princess of Cups with a swan coming out of her head/part of her headgear), the dragon for Fire, and the stags for Earth. (Furthermore, the Stags could be interpreted to represent the four corners of the earth, or, as in my personal musing, the Four Winds which the Lapwoman can tie into knots [whom Gerda meets on the way to the Snow Queen's palace]).

 

I've included the other cards I've done in past decks I've created which feature the triple goddes Fate theme in the Wheel of Fortune card."

[BlueToy]

From January 5:

 

"The Death card of the Discorporae Tarot. This took a while to finish. It's one of those ideas that I thought would work well in my head, and in drawing form, it sort of looked right too, but everything got so weirdly difficult once I started coloring it. How it is now is acceptable, but I might look into changing the image, after I finish doing all the images for the deck.

It's also one of those cards which I meant to be less esoteric, but for some reason, the symbolisms kept on insisting they be inserted into the card. At first glance, one would think that it's the Hierophant card because of the crown and the strips of cloth on the side of his head, but upon closer inspection, he's wearing a very stylized allusion to Osiris' crown (much like in the Death card of the Thoth Tarot), and the two strips are actually serpents. Furthermore his headgear actually has a scorpion motif - these two, the scorpion and the serpent, with the wings behind him, referencing the eagle, reference the animals associated with the sign Scorpio which are also featured in Crowley's card. The wings also double as a reference to the Angel of Death.

His cloak opens to the night (referencing Death's association with sleep and the unknown), its edges decorated with seed motif, symbolizing rebirth, and in the colors red (for lifeblood), the eternal golden yellow of Isis, and the green of ressurection of Osiris. The colors in the cards are actually an interplay of both golden hues and green ones. The figure's Osiris crown actually terminates upward into a phallic form, symbolizing how Isis resurrected Osiris to conceive Horus.

Nun, the path in the Tree of Life associated with the Death card, is referenced both by the water forms below him and the fish motif near the edge oh his cloak. The lower portion of his cloak becomes the wings of a butterfly - the symbol for the soul in various cultures (as in Japanese and Filipino folk culture, as well as in the Greek figure of Psyche). It also symbolizes metamorphosis (the Death card being a symbol of change after all).

His hands rest on the handles of a scythe and a sword (both rendered stylistically... cubist(ish) in the deck's... discorporating manner), as he is both reaper and king (also an allusion to the zigzag-y Path of The Flaming Sword, but don't read too much into that idea since I sort of got carried away with that one). The sweeping motion of the scythe is symbolically transferred into its curved handle (the same with the sword's curved blade). Where the scythe's blade rests, a white lily springs forth (stylized in the form of a fleur-de-lis motif), a symbol associated with both death and rebirth."

[BlueToy]

From January 21:

 

"The Judgment card for my Discorporae Tarot.

 

I'm sharing two variants, the one with orange butterflies and the one with black ones.

 

This is one of the cards from the deck which don't feature much esoteric symbolism. The imagery draws on my love for entomology (and zoology) when I was a kid, and is also an interplay of nursery rhyme elements. One of the meanings associated with the Judgment card is an inexonerable call, something one cannot turn away from and one must face, like the Last Judgment (and awakening) depicted in traditional cards. For some reason, I associated this years ago with the great migration of monarch butterflies - that there is this great call to them which cannot be refused, like a horn blowing in their DNA, and so they brave the wide waters of the Gulf of Mexico to migrate.

 

Butterflies are associated with the soul in various cultures too. The main figure, the boy blowing his horn, rests on a bough of butterflies. Its an ironic conceptual play on nursery rhymes; Rock-a-Bye Baby (ironically about putting a baby to sleep when the card is supposed to be about awakenings), and Little Boy Blue (again, ironic since the boy fails to blow the horn because he ends up sleeping!). The latter nursery rhyme furthers the connection to the Judgment card when read given a religious reading: it relates to a shepherd and his flock - very Christian themes. In the card, though, the sheep become butterflies.

 

Around the figure are various decorative elements and panels featuring various forms of foliage, a hint at the theme of resurrection found in nature (with its ongoing cycles of decay and growth).

 

I am not sure if all this makes sense. "

[BlueToy]

From January 25 (there's other finished cards but I didn't do write ups for those. I'll maybe post them with write-ups some other day):

 

"Four of Wands card for the Discorporae Tarot

I illustrated this a couple of weeks ago, but only got to finish it last week because I had trouble deciding on what decorative elements to put in it. I meant this to be one of the less esoteric cards, with a mostly RWS-inspired imagery. Four hands holding four staves forming a square. They are engaged in a post-harvest celebration, with small garlands of leaves and berries encircling their hands, and wreath forms abound around them. The staves enclose a celebratory bonfire, the fire of which is directed towards the center. The ram of Aries and the dove of Venus are found at the top and bottom of the image, and flame forms in the colors of Aries, and wave forms in the colors of Venus decorate the remaining parts of the card.

It's one of the nicer cards in the suit of wands, talking about celebrating after harvest from the first cycle of the threes. It is not necessarily a productive card, since it talks more about that break (a celebratory one in this case) that comes after production. In a way this is a fitting result of the stability of the number four influencing the dynamic nature of the element of fire. I tried hinting at this when I had all the flames point to a center, instead of going around, moving in a more dynamic vortex."

[PathWalker]

Great to see new work Lynryd, thank you - be happy and safe

PathWalker

Edited January 26, 2021 by PathWalker

[BlueToy]

1 minute ago, PathWalker said:

Great to see new work Lynryd, thank you - be happy and safe

PathWalker

Thank you! I hope you are happy and safe there too! These are extraordinary times we are living in! I am glad too that you still remember me from our Aeclectic interactions of so long ago 🙂

[Arcadia]

Blue Toy, really like the cubist style of your deck and i like how you explain the card interpretations, nice work. 

[BlueToy]

17 minutes ago, Arcadia said:

Blue Toy, really like the cubist style of your deck and i like how you explain the card interpretations, nice work. 

Thank you! :) It's strictly not cubist, but I did borrow their approach on a "deconstructed" presentation of reality (if that made any sense? It's not totally deconstructed too, but well, my mind is a bit at a loss of words today :D)

[Raggydoll]

I love how you use different color schemes for each deck! I guess that’s what I’m doing for my deck as well 😄 (just kidding, but if I ever do a deck in color then I think it’s very likely that I’ll go with a color scheme because I like how cohesive it makes everything feel!) 

 

I really hope your future Kickstarter goes well! 

[gregory]

Just give me the pre-order link. We both know I'll buy it !

[Raggydoll]

23 minutes ago, gregory said:

Just give me the pre-order link. We both know I'll buy it !

[Flaxen]

The colours in this are so beautiful. I love how you bring something different to each deck you create and yet they are still so recognisably ‘yours’. 

[tapestryoracle]

I really like the hermit, I feel like I could stare at it for a long time and keep picking up details.

[Perenelle]

I love the art deco/nouveau, especially the font! (A wee bit font-mad! Haha!)