H. P. Lovecraft Tarot, 2nd Edition

[Flegetanis]

I'm not sure if I still have permissions to use the artwork, but the text is mine. I am very interested in finding a new artist to illustrate my text for a completely new deck.

 

Most of the correspondences, I hope, will be easily understood by hardcore Lovecraft fans. I'll be happy to answer any questions.

 

 

MAJOR ARCANA:

0: The Fool -- Azathoth; the Idiot God dancing at the Center of the Universe
I: The Magician -- Nyarlathotep; the wizard, the "Black Man" of the Witches' Sabbath
II: The High Priestess (in "Egyptian Tarots, "The Gate of the Sanctuary") -- Yog-Sothoth; “Yog-Sothoth knows the gate. Yog-Sothoth is the gate. Yog-Sothoth is the key and guardian of the gate."
III: The Empress -- Shub Niggurath; creeping feritility "The black goat of the woods, the beast with a thousand young!"
IV: The Emperor -- Hastur, Patron of the King in Yellow
V: The Hierophant -- Cthulhu; literally described by HPL as "the great priest Cthulhu"
VI: The Lovers -- Lavinia Whateley on Sentinel Hill; a deliberate play on the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn image, this was one of the cards I added to the deck. The image is that of Wizard Whatley summoning Yog Sothoth to mate with Lavinia, his daughter.
VII: The Chariot -- Ithaqua; one of the weaker correspondences, Ithaqua is the "Walker on the Wind"
VIII: Strength -- Shoggoth; the Lovecraftian equivalent of an apocalyptic "Beast" 
IX: The Hermit -- Great Race of Yith; the ultimate hermits & gatherers of knowledge 
X: The Wheel of Fortune -- The Hounds of Tindalos; another weak one (no corners!)
XI: Justice -- Mi-Go; also weak, mostly an association between the Air of Libra and technology
XII: The Hanged Man -- Deep One; dweller in the Waters
XXIII: Death -- Ghoul; a rather gruesome (among gruesome) Momento Mori
XIV: Temperance -- Elder Thing; for their genetic engineering, and similar tech
XV: The Devil -- Tsathoggua; weak, but definitely the "Devil" of many Robert E. Howard stories
XVI: The Tower -- R'lyeh Rising; the catastrophic beginning of the Lovecraftian Apocalypse
XVII: The Star -- Nodens; the one shining light against the Old Ones.
XVIII: The Moon -- Night Gaunt; denizens of the night sky
XIX: The Sun -- Yig the Serpent God; another weak one, basicall the "rhythms" of the Wheel of the Solar Year
XX: Judgement -- Cthulhu Awakens; the Lovecraftian inverse of the Day of Judgement
XXI: The World -- The Crawling Chaos; Nyarlathotep's full realization as Master of the New World Disorder

[gregory]

Given that a Cthuluhu deck that was allegedly almost completed went spectacularly pearshaped on Kickstarter several years ago (losing us backers THOUSANDS of bucks ) - this might be a good idea.

[Flegetanis]

2 hours ago, gregory said:

Given that a Cthuluhu deck that was allegedly almost completed went spectacularly pearshaped on Kickstarter several years ago (losing us backers THOUSANDS of bucks ) - this might be a good idea.

 

I have the copyright on the text, but the artist is going his own way with the art; he has no plans to issue another deck of cards. He did encourage me to keep going with another artist. 

[Flegetanis]

Also, as the division of the Minor Arcana into suits of Man, Tomes, Artifacts, and Places was an artistic decision made before I was part of the project (I came on board shortly before the printing of the 1st Edition), I think I will focus on just the Major Arcana for now, and see if inspiration hits me further down the road regarding the Suits. [Just from writing this, I'm already having ideas of how to continue the HPL Tarot "tradition" while reconciling them more with the traditional suits; a process I had started with the 2nd Edition.]

[gregory]

WELL - the KS one was something else: due for delivery in 2014.

 

1,626 backers pledged $116,213 to help bring this project to life.

 

NOT an artist I would ever recommend to you. And none of us got a penny. A shame - as the art shown on KS was lovely.

[Sar]

I stopped backing things on kickstarter years ago because of **** like this.

[gregory]

That and only one other have lost me money - and I am (they say) a "superbacker." I'm OK with it on the whole. It's that one guy who gets my goat, for some particular reasons.

[Flegetanis]

So, yeah; my only problem is that I'm definitely no artist. The TORA TARO deck is my personal "made by my own hand" Tarot, but I wouldn't want to publish that one, either, until after a better artist got a hold of it.

[DanielJUK]

Some members have sought out a freelance artist or graphic designer for their decks when they are not great at art themselves. This can be expensive though, artists obviously should be paid for their work and time involved, but often the cost doesn't outweigh what you would make with a deck. But sometimes getting the deck out there is more important. I also think you have to really discuss what you want with the artist to get your ideas created, that is tricky as well. But it can work out. Here are some old threads discussing this....

 

[nord_drache]

Being an HPL fan this sounds interesting. I am not sure if I would want the artwork horrific or surreal. I remember a discussion in the past with a coworker (at the time) who though HPL's works weren't horror and wondered why some of his favourite horror writers, wrote Mythos fiction. I tried to explain that concept of the outre . . . after first getting into HPL - his works and limited external authors - while on vacation we drove through the Green mountains and I looked out into the dark expanses within the woods, getting a chill as I could see things being able to happen . . . That ability to weave the mundane with the weird to unsettle a person . . .

I have to admit that not being super knowledgeable of all the intricacies of the Mythos - I am having troubles reconciling my knowledge of mythos vs tarot.

In the past I have backed Kickstarters with only one questionable, but these days economics dictate my pursuits . . .

Good luck in finding an artist, and the endeavour.

[Flegetanis]

Sorry! I didn't mean to disappear. I was in a car accident in early April that has set in motion a lot of other orthopedic issues, so I haven't been around the past few months.

[remod]

@Flegetanis, good luck for your health! Hope will share your work with us again once you'll get better.

[Deian]

Hi

Lacking artist for drawing it now, if you have a clear concept, is less of a problem now, with the emerging technologies. If you look into some new AI models out there, creating your own tarot is probably easier then ever before. Also very easy to change parts of the cards later, if you change something in the symbolism you are using.

 

Currently, the most popular ways are:

1.Stable Diffusion, SDXL model seems the most flexible for this still. Its free and can run it locally with reasonably good GPU. Can also be run online, also free in most cases.

2.Dall-e 3, that one is paid I think, this is OpenAI one.

3.Midjourney, this is also free and is very popular. Its not paid, but can't run it locally.

 

Can just describe the cards you want and the style you want and all of them can help with creating it.