Whenever I buy a deck, the Knight of Wands is one of the characters I always check out. After using the tarot for many years, the court cards begin to take on their own lives, and when I buy a new deck, it is nice if they are personally recognisable. As with the Knight of Cups, I really needed to get this fiery knight right for these illustrations.The Knight of Wands is pure fire, through and through. This young man is fun to be around and people always enjoy his company. If you are having a party, you would want this knight near the top on your list of invitations. He might not be the most reliable of gentlemen in the tarot deck, but when he does grace you with his presence, he will keep you more than entertained.
For this card, I have chosen my friend, Robert. Unlike this knight, he is reliable and is successfully committed to both his work and partner. But like the Knight of Wands, he does have a dynamic and magnetic personality. As with the Page of Wands (played out by Lizzie in a recent illustration), Robert is a gifted artist, is enthusiastic, and is driven.
I have known Robert for a good ten years. I am not entirely sure how we first met. I think he may have kindly paid for me to get into a club to see Bad Manners, but I'll have to check that one out to be sure. But from that time, we formed a good friendship - spending many, many nights sitting up chatting at his house - emptying bottles of wine, discussing art, photography and film. We do not see each other as much as we once did, but we do drop each other messages from time to time - often out of interest and praise of each other's artwork.
The Knight of Wands is a showman. He is presentational and has a strong sense of both his identity and sexuality, which makes him quite a character. If you want someone to get a project on it's way, to get a party started, or to add a real spark to your love life, then this knight is your man.
4 comments:
I completely love it - You say the sweetest things too! I am always impressed by your deck. I have a question though: What will you do when you get to the less pleasant tarot cards - the devil, death, the hanged man etc... is there a positive way to spin them? x
Good question. I had been thinking about this too. It is especially difficult when using people who you know. Who wants to be associated with death or cards which talk about heartbreak, painful endings, or indulgence?
I was thinking that I might ask some people to model specifically for those cards. Kind of play act the imagery through pose, rather than the card having relevance to their personality, as this one has for you.
In tarot, I try not to shy away from the darker meanings, since I believe balance is necessary. And yes, a positive spin is always a possibility for this deck. But we can't have light without dark. We can't have new beginnings without endings. Pain is often important in helping us grow, so maybe that can be illustrated in my drawings.
Hey Stevie...
I was thinking about this a little bit today... it seems a such a shame, when the deck in general is so personal to you, to separate certain cards from your feelings - I have a sort-of suggestion thing... I was wondering if it would be cool to model the cards on people who embody the opposite traits to the negative cards, and then literally polarise the image? Could give you some really cool colours etc? Anyway, feel free to ignore that little suggestion, it was only a thought! x
Hey Rob
That's a really interesting idea. I like that a lot. Because it is not avoiding the situation, but finding a way of dealing with it, yes?
There is a deck called the Connolly Tarot, where she has changed all of the negative cards to positive ones. The names have been changed and so has all traditional imagery. I find it a bit out of balance. But in your idea, the darker imagery would still exist, but the character chosen would be an example of how they have overcome it, rather than become a victim of it. Is that how you mean? If so, it is a great idea and would be an ineresting idea for many of those cards xx
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