Black and White: Random Thoughts on the Tiled Floor

[AnomalyTempest]

So, I was thinking about the tiled floor and thinking that only the High Priestess, Empress, Emperor, and Heirophant had them. I decided to pull them out because I was thinking of their interactions and the way they were facing, expressions and body language. Thanks @Flaxen 😛 I wanted to line them up and see what's up. As I was looking through the deck I found one other card with a tiled floor and one with a chess board and even if it's not a floor it has black and white squares so I pulled it because why not?

 

I lined the cards up in the order of their numbers:

 

The first thing I noticed is that the Emperor and Empress aren't just facing away from each other but towards their respective spiritual advisors. At least that's what I'm calling it for now. Could it be their inner selves? The other card with the black and white tiled floor is the Two of Cups. They have a wall and are on a balcony.

 

 

Looking at the wall it would seem they are behind (to the left of) the Heirophant. Who are they and why are on the same floor?

 

Also, The chess board in the X of Pentacles. Does this mean they are being played?

 

At any rate I thought this might give others some food for thought as well.

[Flaxen]

Ooh! This is so interesting! The Empress and Emperor are definitely gaining spiritual advice differently - she’s all about personal revelation and initiation while he’s more about the rules and decrees. Her path to spiritual development has to be earned through spiritual growth while his is more about obedience to a higher authority. 
 

I’ll ponder more on the other two cards…

[sweeneyish]

This is so cool. Thank you for doing this! It's really helpful to see them all lined up on their strange checkerboard floors. And to see the relationship between each pair. The High Priestess and Empress one is interesting - You have the more inner facing energy, wisdom, stillness, and then the more extroverted, creative energy of the Empress. They almost complete each other. 

 

I love that you pulled those two other cards - I actually thought it was only these majors that had the floor. One thing that goes with your "being played" re: the chess board - Maybe they are all being controlled by the Deviant Moon in some way or another. Perhaps when the Deviant Moon's influence wanes, and the sun arises, they will be freed from the game they were forced to play, and new aspects of their personality will emerge. I was having similar thoughts because of the VI of Wands, the only card where a character has a red (instead of blue/black) side of their face. It's like she's in an evolved state, beyond the influence of the moon (she also has suns on her dress, instead of moons). 

 

The Two of Cups is interesting - I know other cards have clock towers in the background, so it would be cool to reference those and try to decipher what building they're in. I feel like the fact that it's the only minor on the same floor has some huge meaning, but it does evade me a bit right now. Patrick calls the skeleton "Death" and the woman "Midnight", so we could consider them more powerful forces than some of the other minors, perhaps connected to the Majors in some way. And then one last detail - there's blood on this floor, whereas the majors floors are all pretty clean. 

[Eric13]

These are some well thought out cards. 

[Initiatrix]

They are really well thought out, and there are lots of interesting patterns in the deck.

 

There is an internality to the ten of pentacles that other decks don't reflect as much.