In the Edgewise Tarot (coming soon to a cardboard box under a merch table near you), I've taken the liberty of renaming several cards in the Major Arcana. I thought I might take some time now to talk about why I made the choices I made, if only so I can remember myself.
2—the High Priestess——the Librarian
I'm an atheist. One of my goals in assigning new names was to remove as much organized religion from my deck as possible while still maintaining a sense of wonder and reverence. The High Priestess is thought to hold all the answers, swift of thought, constantly on the edge of chaos. Coleman-Smith's artwork depicts the pillars at the entrance of Soloman's temple, the first temple, the home of the Ark of the Covenant. Filtered through the mind of a filthy heathen, that sounded a lot like a Librarian to me. So.
3—the Empress——the Gardener
Another goal was to remove as many references to imperialism as I could (see next entry for the exception). The Empress is Demeter, mother of Persephone. Love, abundance, fertility. "The root of the powers of the earth." The Empress is the Mother card. Originally I had this card nicknamed "The Nurturer" but boy is that hard to say out loud. When it came time to work on the art, she quickly became the Gardener, for reasons that should, I hope, be pretty clear.
4—the Emperor——the Monarch
Here's my one exception to the "no royals" rule. The Emperor is the Father card, tied with discipline, diplomacy, authority. Law, structure, leadership, these are all keywords that come up in a lot of interpretations of the card. Making them a gender-neutral Monarch made sense in my mind, because this one card can take on the negative impressions that a reference to imperialism could bring.
10—Wheel of Fortune——the Wheel
I could say that I removed the "of Fortune" to remove the part of the word that means "wealth" because it muddies the interpretation of the card. But I gotta be honest, I mostly just shortened it to keep from getting the game show theme song stuck in my head.
12—the Hanged Man——the Sin-Eater
The third main reason to rename cards was to attempt to take gender out of the equation. I knew I didn't want to call this card "the Hanged" or "the Hanged One", so I thought more about the meaning of the card. Martyrdom, nobility through sacrifice, surrender all stuck out to me, and I started thinking about the concept of a scapegoat. I remembered a comic series called FINDER by Carla Speed McNeil that had introduced me to the concept of a sin-eater, one who performs a ritual to consume the sins of another. The concept felt right, so I ran with it.
20—Judgement——Judgment
That's… that's just how it's actually spelled.
The rest of the cards I left alone, at least in name.
If you want to know more about my thoughts about my deck and the Tarot in general, watch this space. My 100+ page digital guidebook is almost done, should be available next week (if not sooner).
Okay. Drink some water. Wear a mask. Free Palestine. Edgewise out.
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