Since the papyrus edition of the Rosetta tarot deck is a redux of the deck first published in 2011, rather than share about the process for the art itself which is already done, I thought I’d share some of the process behind the new borders being made now, because that is what is exciting to me about it. I always said to myself that if I ever did another deck printing I would not do black borders. They do look good; you can see them here. So I understand why people do, they do make the colors pop but these colors pop next to anything through the miracle of the Golden Dawn color scales. And indeed when I did my second deck, Tabula Mundi tarot, I chose a light cream color rather than black. But for another printing of Rosetta I wanted to do something more organic looking than a solid color. What better look than that of aged papyrus with hieroglyphs written with a quill pen dipped a naturally made ink?
For the background I’ve used an authentic piece of papyrus. Actually several pieces! The lettering is done with calligraphy pens dipped in a walnut based ink.
When I first published the full size deck in I offered with every deck a handmade significator card customized with a person’s name of choice written in Egyptian hieroglyphs phonetically, inside of a cartouche held by the goddess Seshet, Mistress of the House of Books. I did those in a fine line permanent marker though, not a quill pen! The pocket size decks also have this feature so I’ve still been doing them.
As of now I’ve customized over 1200 significator cards with differing names and words on them. So I pretty much can write phonetic Egyptian blindfolded. Literally as sometimes I would write them bleary eyed while having coffee before going to work, in dim AM light and could barely see; was doing them like a 50% blind person! But they are simple and perfection isn’t needed. The hardest thing was getting the word evenly spaced in the cartouche (which is a special name ring around characters indicating it is a name, usually of royalty or deity). In permanent marker one only has one shot at it. But I got really good at it over the years.
This isn’t true Egyptian language, it is sounding out the English, or other, words and writing them based on sound as matched to letter sounds. It eliminates some vowel sounds and is more consonant based. But for most of the card names it made more sense to write the recognized title phonetically rather than seeking the equivalent Egyptian word. I chose to eliminate the word “The” such as calling a card “Fool” rather than “The Fool”. The word “the” seemed superfluous, takes up necessary room in the cartouche, and also, the Egyptian’s did not have the “Th” sound, and substitute either “T” or “D”, so there for it would have been either “Ta Fool” or “Da Fool” (Pity da’ Fool!)
In addition to the letters with phonetic equivalents, they also used logograms whereby a single glyph stood for a whole word that the picture glyph represented. Most glyphs had dual purpose in that they could be logograms, phonetic equivalents or other determinatives. So the hieroglyph for the letter R which looks like a horizontal vesica pisces is meant to look like an open mouth, and also is associated with the god Re (Ra). If used as a logogram, it has a vertical stroke after it, so in this case would mean that the glyph meant “mouth” rather than the “R” sound or the god name.
Some card names had the perfect Egyptian logogram ready made: Star, Moon, and Sun. They have obvious hieroglyphs that you can tell at a glance mean moon or sun or star. The Universe too has a logogram that I think perfectly captures the essense of the card: the Shen Ring. This is a glyph that is like a cartouche but amounts to “eternity”, “infinity” and a never ending cycle, and eternal protection. It looks a lot like an Omega or Ouroboros too; perfect for the Universe card.
The other majors all had logical ways to sound the words out phonetically. I want the cards to be written that way so that with a simple chart of sound glyphs, you can sound a card out. The unimportant vowels are skipped but ones that make a huge difference may be written. Of course you will always know what card it is because not only is it obvious in the imagery if you are familiar with the tarot, but because the roman numeral is written at the top of the card.
One card was a bit fun to do, and that was “Death”. Because there is no “Th” sound, to write the word phonetically one would write a glyph for D followed by either a T or another D. DD would be “Dead” not death and one hardly sees repeated consonants so that would be wierd. In English could be did or dad or dud, and DT could be Dit or Dat or Dot or Debt. If it had a long vowel central, I could have written it. But the “short” vowels generally but not always are omitted. So the word I felt needed a “determinative” symbol, which is one that indicates which of the possible phonetic meanings the word actually is. These are placed at the end of the word, and have no sound but indicate what the word is if omitted vowels render it ambiguous. So for Death, I place a determinative symbol of a coffin or sarcophagus, meaning “Dead” to indicate that the consonants “DT” I used stood for Death.
The writing itself, so far I’ve used two sizes of calligraphy dip pens, one thick and one a little less so. The ink is walnut which I LOVE. Because it goes on in varying degrees of transparency it has a huge variation in color as pressure is applied to the pen or where the ink pools up, leading to a gorgeous organic look. I’ve made an alphabet of glyphs that I can assemble in the cartouche.
Early in I realized that while not a 100% convention, that since Egyptian hieroglyphic writing can be read left or right, up or down, that as a courtesy to indicate direction (in this case left to right just like English) the animal glyphs should all be facing the indicated direction that one should start from, so I’ve changed some of my glyphs accordingly. When you see hieroglyphs, the animal or people faces will be looking at the direction you begin at; so if they face to the left, you read them left to right, and vice-versa.
I am finished with the Majors tonight then next up will be minors which you already have seen a sample of, and court cards, which will have their own convention. Deck is coming right along quickly. If you would like to be on the list to reserve a copy or just to be notified when it is available, email me at mm(at)tabulamundi(dot)com with “rosetta” in the subject line.
My first tarot deck, before Tabula Mundi, was called the Rosetta Tarot and was published in November 2011. I currently still have some pocket size versions in a tin for it, both with the card bank design (a version of a rose cross) on the tin, or a custom tin with either your choice of card or the Stele of Revealing, front and back, on the tin.
Pocket size tarot decks are perfect for the technique of portable magic as outlined in Donald Tyson’s book of the same name. I can attest to the effectiveness of the techniques he describes. He says “tarot is the only tool you need” and mentions that the best decks to use for the process are both smaller in size, portable, and brightly colored to assist in visualization. It seems like the bright flashing colors make the necessary visualizing so much easier. So Rosetta-in-a-tin fits the bill. Indeed it should as that is why I created it. I was so enthralled at how well it worked when I used the portable magic technique using regular size Rosetta that I really wanted it in a pocket size in a portable tin for myself.
The tins are ribbon lined in scarlet red or midnight blue. These were printed in a small edition of only 555 decks because most people prefer larger cards. The edition is approaching it’s last quarter. I’m not sure that I’d print them again just because more people seem to prefer larger cards.
Since the full size edition sold out several years ago, I’ve had a steady stream of people emailing me looking for the full size edition and asking if I’d ever consider doing a reprint. Over the years I’ve said, yeah, possibly, someday, not sure when…I wanted to do a version for the five year anniversary this past November but was too busy with the launch of Tabula Mundi tarot and the daily grind.
I don’t want to change the art; it is what it is and though my skills have improved I like it and think it is a moment in time to preserve. If I do another edition though I’d like something to be different, so I asked myself what I would change.
I would not change the rose card backs, they are perfect. But I’ve always sort of regretted doing the black borders. While they did offset the bold colors perfectly and I like the way they look, black borders tend to show wear especially in the unlaminated style I prefer.
In messing around with it, I decided to try a version with a very different look. I have some authentic Egyptian papyrus and really cool walnut based ink. How cool would it be to have the card names hand written in hieroglyphs? Not only would it be perfect for the deck called Rosetta tarot but it would also make the card names, both of the Major Arcana and the Minors with their (Lord of) xxxxxx titles more mysterious. No longer will a sitter see the word “Failure” or “Ruin” as the word will be written phonetically in hieroglyphs. There will be a number and suit indicator probably, plus once you learn the hieroglyphic alphabet it is easy to sound them out phonetically.
For the Majors, at the top of the card I’ve put the Roman numeral. Below the image, the card name will be written in hieroglyphs enclosed in a cartouche. Which is appropriate as cartouches are for royalty and god names, which the card forces certainly are.
For some cards, in Egyptian writing there is a logogram symbol that indicates the name of the card. These logograms are followed by a vertical stroke. This only applies to a few major arcana who happen to have a name that there is one symbol for: the Sun, the Moon, the Star. Possibly the Universe.
Like this, for the Sun, Moon and Star:
For cards without logogram, I will use the phonetic method, where the letters are written out based on the symbols for the sounds. In the ancient Egyptian manner some vowels, usually the “short” vowels, will be skipped unless they contribute to the sound of the word as in falling at the beginning or end of the word. Vowels with a long sound usually influence pronunciation so will be written.
Here are a couple of examples, the Fool and Hierophant:
For the minors, I’m considering options. The Egyptians had a series of strokes or dots for numbers, which I will probably put at the top of the card in addition to a suit indicator symbol. The Egyptians had symbols for fire, water, air and earth so I will probably use those though I could use alchemical symbols. The name ie “Dominion” for the Two of Wands, would be written in hieroglyphs phonetically. Here are some examples of the minors I’ve done to date. For the Ace of Wands, which in the first edition had the words “Root of Fire” on it, I’ve used the Egyptian glyph for per, meaning “coming forth” and the glyph for fire. Which I think captures the spirit of the Aces well, “fire coming forth” having the appropriate nascent energy. The other Aces will be done similarly but with the per glyph combined with the glyph for their element. For the other pip cards, at the top of the card will be the appropriate dot indicator for number, along with the Egyptian element glyph: a brazier for fire, waves for water, a sail for air, and a plot of land with plants growing, for earth. As in the Thoth deck at the bottom, the word for the card that comes from the card’s formal “Lord of” title will be written phonetically in the cartouche.
At least this is a current thought; things can change and I’m open to feedback. I could also just do the papyrus background with the names written in English in the cartouche in a nice font. It sure would save a lot of time, and be immediately clear, but I love the look of hieroglyphs and think they serve the purpose too. So I’m willing to do the big job of hand inking them if people like the idea. And maybe I’ll just do it anyway because I like the idea.
Luckily all these years of making the customized significator cards for people has paid off, as I’ve written so many of these I know the phonetic hieroglyphs by heart! I’m writing these with a calligraphy dip pen though so it takes time to get them right.
My other wish is to have the thin border around the image, instead of being the walnut ink color as shown above, be done in gold foil. But that may be a pipe dream as foiling is very expensive.
If you are interested in either a full size Rosetta or Book of Seshet, please email me and put “rosetta” in the tagline. I’m not sure if people would be into pre-ordering and if I’ll bother with that, but if you are please say so as it may make the difference between getting the foil or not. It would at least be good to know how many would be interested once these are ready, as printing is expensive and I’m not sure if I can do this if there isn’t interest.
I also want to include a redesign of the customizable significator card, where one’s own name can be written in hieroglyphs, so that it has the same papyrus look.
If you have comments or questions, or want to get on the list for these, feel free to email me to ask mm(at)tabulamundi( dot.)com and put “rosetta” in the subject line.
The Feast of Stars: Nuit, the Maiden, and the Holy Harlot
Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law.
February has some of my favorite holidays: February 1st/2nd and February 14th. February 1st, or 2nd, may be my favorite one of all.
This is one of the cross quarter days, halfway between the Winter Solstice and the Spring Equinox. Christians celebrate Candlemas, the Feast of the Blessed Virgin Mary, a time when the year’s candles are brought to be ritually blessed. Most pagan celebrations of the holiday refer to it as Imbolc, a Celtic holiday dedicated to the goddess Brigid, the maiden goddess.
It is unknown exactly what the etymology of word Imbolc is but it may come from the Old Irish word i mbolc meaning “in the belly” referring to the time of pregnancy of ewes, or it may be derived from another Old Irish word imb-fholc meaning “to wash or cleanse oneself”, referring to a ritual cleansing. The roots of the word can be traced to words meaning both milk, cleansing, and budding. Aquarius season, the time of the Star card, the Daughter of the Firmament where we see our lady of the stars pouring ethereal waters, washing herself in the milk of the stars.
The Star card from the Tabula Mundi Tarot. “I am the blue-lidded daughter of Sunset; I am the naked brilliance of the voluptuous night-sky.”The Star from the Thoth tarot
“Pour water on thyself: thus shalt thou be a Fountain to the Universe. Find thou thyself in every star! Achieve thou every possibility!” ~ Aleister Crowley
This day though is lesser known as a Thelemic celebration called the Feast of Stars. It was celebrated as far back as ancient Egypt when it was known as the Feast of Nut or Nuit, and considered the day of her birth. I will celebrate this day with joy this year, with a feast involving milk and honey and a reading of Chapter 1 of the Book of the Law, the manifestation of Nuit and the unveiling of the company of heaven.
Above, the gemmed azure is The naked splendour of Nuit; She bends in ecstasy to kiss The secret ardours of Hadit. The winged globe, the starry blue, Are mine, O Ankh-af-na-khonsu!
~ Book of the Law, I:14
It is always around this time that I feel a sense of hope awakening. The days are getting longer, and though here we are still very much in the midst of winter, one can feel a quickening, a subtle stirring. The sap preparing to rise, the buds are just beginning to form, and we are emerging from darkness. Aquarius season is here and in its most balanced form. The major arcana associated with Aquarius is the Star card, and indeed hope is something I always associate with this card.
The Star card from the Rosetta Tarot
The Fool from Tabula Mundi Tarot
This time of year also reminds me of the energy of the Fool card. While the Fool is associated with the Spring Equinox, it is also a card of all things nascent, and potential, preparing to move forth. In a sense this time is embryonic Spring. The Fool card is the trump of elemental Air or Aethyr, and Aquarius is the Air sign whose modern rulership is governed by the planet Uranus. Those who assign the modern planets to the Tree of Life most often assign Uranus to the Fool at Kether.
Six of Swords Waite Smith
In early February the Sun enters the middle decan of Aquarius, which is ruled by Mercury, giving us the Six of Swords, which to me probably the most beautiful and hopeful of the Swords cards. In Waite Smith decks, it shows a journey over water.
Six of Swords Thoth deck
In the Thoth deck, it is called Science and shows an unfolded cube as a rose cross, in the center of a fencing diagram. The steps of unfolding.
Six of Swords from Tabula Mundi Tarot
In the Tabula Mundi, an orrery of our solar system sits beneath a sextant, guiding the way and taking the sight for the journey against a background of starry space. The six is the sephira of the Sun, a star itself, and we are all suns, or stars, however you want to look at it.
Oh let the sun beat down upon my face, stars to fill my dream I am a traveler of both time and space, to be where I have been To sit with elders of the gentle race, this world has seldom seen They talk of days for which they sit and wait and all will be revealed
…Let me take you there.
~ Led Zeppelin, Kashmir
Nuit is “Infinite Space, and the Infinite Stars thereof”. The Star goddess calls to mind the Babylonian Ishtar, the Mesopotamian Astarte, and the Sumerian Inanna, all names of the same goddess of love. She is also parallel to Aphrodite, and Isis, mother of Horus. Interestingly, both Ishtar and Astarte contain the word “star”, and Inanna’s name is derived from the Sumerian “nin-an-ak” meaning “Lady of Heaven”. The “House of Heaven” was her temple, a site of sacred prostitution where the high priestess would choose a young man to represent Dumuzi, her consort, in the hieros gamos, or sacred marriage. Astarte was the deified evening star, usually shown naked alongside a star within a circle, a symbol of Venus. Ishtar also was a personification of Venus, and the courtesan of the gods. Her most famous myth describes her descent into the underworld, where in what may be the earliest striptease, she had to remove an article of clothing at each of the seven gates, until she stood naked. This gradual revealing of herself was the unveiling of truth.
~ excerpted from Book M: Liber Mundi
From Starhawk’s The Spiral Dance, one can “hear the words of the Star Goddess, the dust of whose feet are the hosts of heaven, whose body encircles the universe”:
“I who am the beauty of the green earth
and the white moon among stars
and the mysteries of the waters,
I call upon your soul to arise
and come unto me.
For I am the soul of nature
that gives life to the universe.
From Me all things proceed
and unto Me they must return.
Let My worship be in the heart that rejoices,
for behold—
all acts of love and pleasure are My rituals.
Let there be beauty and strength,
power and compassion,
honor and humility,
mirth and reverence within you.
And you who seek to know Me,
know that your seeking and yearning
will avail you not,
unless you know the Mystery:
for if that which you seek,
you find not within yourself,
you will never find it without.
For behold,
I have been with you
from the beginning,
and I am that which is attained
at the end of desire.”
Remember that all stars are Suns. Nuit is said to give birth to the Sun-god daily and he passes over her body until he reaches her mouth at sunset. One myth describes how the Sun god passes into her mouth and through her body and is reborn the next morning. Another story tells how Ra sails up her legs in the Atet (Matet) boat until noon, when he entered the Sektet boat and continued his travels until sunset.
Nuit inside sarcophagus facing occupant of coffin
Nuit was often painted on the inside lid of the sarcophagus, in a different perspective to the one we are familiar with on the Stele of Revealing. Rather than performing a wheel pose, a backbend, or over the earth as her consort Geb, she is shown facing the coffin’s occupant. She is said to protect the dead until he or she, like Ra, could be reborn in their new life.
The Book of the dead has Nut as mother to the sun god Ra, who at sunrise was known as Khepera (Kheph-Ra) and took the form of a scarab beetle. At noon he was Ra at his full strength, and at sunset he was known as Tem or Tum.
Homage to thee, O thou who hast come as Khepera, Khepera the creator of the gods, Thou art seated on thy throne, thou risest up in the sky, illumining thy mother Nut, thou art seated on thy throne as the king of the gods. Thy mother Nut stretcheth out her hands, and performeth an act of homage to thee….
The Company of the Gods rejoice at thy rising, the earth is glad when it beholdeth thy rays; the people who have been long dead come forth with cries of joy to behold thy beauties every day. Thou goest forth each day over heaven and earth, and thou art made strong each day by thy mother Nut….
Homage to thee, O thou who art Ra when thou risest, and who art Tem when thou settest in beauty. Thou risest and thou shinest on the back of thy mother [Nut], O thou who art crowned the king of the gods! Nut welcometh thee, and payeth homage unto thee, and Maat, the everlasting and never-changing goddess, embraceth thee at noon and at eve….
The gods rejoice greatly when they see my beautiful appearances from the body of the goddess Nut, and when the goddess Nut bringeth me forth.
This totally is the origin of Crowley’s Liber Resh vel Helios, (the Adorations of the Sun) my favorite rite and one I now perform daily and highly recommend. The difference is that Crowley’s Liber Resh invokes the Sun in the form of Ra at sunrise, Ahathor at noon, Tum at sunset, and Khephra at midnight as the scarab rolling the sun through the sky to emerge at dawn.
All of these star goddesses are associated with the planet Venus, shining as the brightest planet in our sky in her aspect as the morning and the evening star. Right now this week here in the Northern hemisphere there is a most beautiful sight in the sky if you look to the southwest about an hour after sunset. Venus the evening star shines in the sky like a beacon, alongside a slim lunar cresent, a budding new moon. If you look just above her and slightly left, you will see her lover Mars, a reddish star that pales in contrast to her blazing beauty. By February 4th Venus and Mars will be conjunct in the sign of Aries.
Venus, Mars, and the crescent Moon, photo by Eye Candy VisionsThe Lovers card from the Tabula Mundi Tarot. “For I am divided for love’s sake, for the chance of union.”
By Valentine’s day the archetypal Lovers will have just embraced in fiery and martial Aries. Venus and Mars, or Moon and Sun, we see the joining of the lady and the beast Chaos. Which leads us to Babalon. The Lust card for Leo, the sign opposite Aquarius, the Star.
In Nomine Babalon, the extra Lust card in the Tabula Mundi Tarot Babalon edition
Now ye shall know that the chosen priest & apostle of infinite space is the prince-priest the Beast; and in his woman called the Scarlet Woman is all power given. They shall gather my children into their fold: they shall bring the glory of the stars into the hearts of men.
For he is ever a sun, and she a moon. But to him is the winged secret flame, and to her the stooping starlight. Book of the Law, I:15-16
The star goddesses Inanna, Ishtar, Astarte, and Ninsi’anna all have their martial qualities, much like our lady Babalon, the Holy Harlot. Babalon has connections with all of these, as well as with Lilith. As Lon Milo Duquette otherwise known as Baba Lon, sings in his beautiful song Sweet Babalon, “Sweet Babalon, oh heavenly harlot, lover of all, refuser of none”. She may well refuse none, but she demands all. Babalon accepts nothing less than every last drop of the adepts blood, unlike Nuit, who says “I give unimaginable joys on earth: certainty, not faith, while in life, upon death; peace unutterable, rest, ecstasy; nor do I demand aught in sacrifice.” Babalon is a goddess of Heka, Heka being the Egyptian word for magic, meaning action of the Ka or activation of the Ka, the Ka being the vital spark or essence of a living being. She is both the Scarlet Woman of the liberated female sexual impulse and the Great Mother, the goddess of the Chalice or Graal, and a daughter of Nuit.
Lust from the Thoth Tarot
From the Vision and the Voice, 15th Aethyr:
I am the mighty sorceress, the lust of the spirit. And by my dancing I gather for my mother Nuit the heads of all them that are baptized in the waters of life. I am the lust of the spirit that eateth up the soul of man. I have prepared a feast for the adepts, and they that partake thereof shall see God.
Whoa. She is not a lady to mess with. She is both a being and an energetic force, and in both forms is potent. Give her your ego and she will return it as a pile of dust.
From the Thunder, Perfect Mind, a Coptic text found at Nag Hammadi dating from around 350 CE:
For I am the first and the last.
I am the honored one and the scorned one.
I am the whore and the holy one.
I am the wife and the virgin.
I am the motherand the daughter.
I am the members of my mother.
I am the barren one
and many are her sons.
I am she whose wedding is great,
and I have not taken a husband.
I am the midwife and she who does not bear.
I am the solace of my labor pains.
I am the bride and the bridegroom,
and it is my husband who begot me.
I am the mother of my father
and the sister of my husband
and he is my offspring.
I am the slave of him who prepared me.
I am the ruler of my offspring.
But he is the one who begot me before the time on a birthday.
And he is my offspring in (due) time,
and my power is from him.
I am the staff of his power in his youth,
and he is the rod of my old age.
And whatever he wills happens to me.
I am the silence that is incomprehensible
and the idea whose remembrance is frequent.
I am the voice whose sound is manifold
and the word whose appearance is multiple.
I am the utterance of my name.
Why, you who hate me, do you love me,
and hate those who love me?
You who deny me, confess me,
and you who confess me, deny me.
You who tell the truth about me, lie about me,
and you who have lied about me, tell the truth about me.
You who know me, be ignorant of me,
and those who have not known me, let them know me.
For I am knowledge and ignorance.
I am shame and boldness.
I am shameless; I am ashamed.
I am strength and I am fear.
I am war and peace.
Give heed to me.
In 1587 Edward Kelley, while scrying in the seventh aethyr of Deo, contacted a goddess described thusly: “All her attire is like beaten gold; she hath on her forehead a cross crystal, her neck and breast are bare unto under her dugs: she hath a girdle of beaten gold slackly buckled unto her with a pendant of gold down to the ground.” He delivered the following message from the goddess to John Dee:
I am the daughter of Fortitude, and ravished every hour from my youth. For behold I am Understanding and science dwelleth in me; and the heavens oppress me. They cover and desire me with infinite appetite; for none that are earthly have embraced me, for I am shadowed with the Circle of the Stars and covered with the morning clouds. My feet are swifter than the winds, and my hands are sweeter than the morning dew. My garments are from the beginning, and my dwelling place is in myself. The Lion knoweth not where I walk, neither do the beast of the fields understand me. I am deflowered, yet a virgin; I sanctify and am not sanctified. Happy is he that embraceth me: for in the night season I am sweet, and in the day full of pleasure. My company is a harmony of many symbols and my lips sweeter than health itself. I am a harlot for such as ravish me, and a virgin with such as know me not. For lo, I am loved of many, and I am a lover to many; and as many as come unto me as they should do, have entertainment.
Purge your streets, O ye sons of men, and wash your houses clean; make yourselves holy, and put on righteousness. Cast out your old strumpets, and burn their clothes; abstain from the company of other women that are defiled, that are sluttish, and not so handsome and beautiful as I, and then will I come and dwell amongst you: and behold, I will bring forth children unto you, and they shall be the Sons of Comfort. I will open my garments, and stand naked before you, that your love may be more enflamed toward me.
Lust from Tabula Mundi Tarot
Babalon shows us the paradox of the holy whore who remains a virgin.
And she is indeed demanding. A friend of mine was listening to this Rune Soup podcast the other day. I’d told her about how Babalon made it very clear exactly what she wanted the Babalon edition decks to be like, and it was a ton of work and during a period in which I was really run down. So she was thinking of this and sent me this via email:
My favorite quote from the interview went something like “The Goddess is not very patient with human limitations”. You say you’ve got pneumonia? Bah! Who cares! Get back to lacing my corset!
A “Scarlet Woman” Babalon corset and garter. This one is all in shades of scarlet and ruby. Red corset, scarlet lacings, ruby teddy and garter, red grommets. Every one is just slightly different.This is a “bad girl” Babalon set, a sleek black corset with black grommets and black lacing, and a black teddy and garter.
Laughing here because that is her. I have laced her corset again and again. To bring this all back to Valentines Day, who more perfect to celebrate with than the goddess of Lust? If you have a Babalon edition deck I encourage you to use it on this day. The Babalon edition decks are so very sensual. If you don’t have one, know that the edition is limited and going fast.
The decks come in a specially designed corset wrap and the extra cards come in a matching garter, all done in colors of scarlet, ruby, and black in papers with a silken feel and satin ribbons.
The booklets are bound with a braided ribbon resembling a crop, and they come with a ruby colored heavy satin bag whose black cords are tied in fancy lanyard knots, with the ends sealed in red wax and consecrated In Nomine Babalon. These decks have silver foiled fronts and 93 cards in total; 14 extra cards including the zodiacal decan cards.
Black with ruby red accentsScarlet Red with black accents
The boxes and the seal on the booklets have her seven pointed star symbol and are bound again in satin with a wax seal. Satin, silk, bound cords, laced up corsets and garters, molten wax. Simply reeks of Eros. If you don’t have one, I encourage you to consider it before they are gone. The edition of 156 is more than half gone already. I will not be crazy enough to make more of these corsets again! They won’t be repeated, and they will never go on sale as that would be an affront to the goddess. But I will offer that if you purchase one between now and Valentine’s Day and mention the word Eros, I will include not only a print of the new Lust card called In Nomine Babalon, but also a print of either the original Lust card or the Lovers card, your choice.
And it comes gift wrapped all in Valentine red. This is a gift for your beloved, even if your beloved only exists as the Khabs, the light of the star in your heart.
NOTE: BABALON EDITION OF 156 DECKS NOW SOLD OUT
I hope this year you honor the Star Goddess on her festival, from sunset February 1st to sunset February 2nd. Whatever you celebrate this month, whether it be Candlemas, Imbolc, Groundhog Day, the Feast of Stars, aka the Feast of Nuit, Valentine’s Day, or the Lupercalia, may love be with you.
(Soundtrack, just because hey the post is called the rising sun: House of the Rising Sun: Eric Burdon of the Animals – have a quick listen even for a minute and consider his voice; this 23 year old kid truly had some pipes! He has Sun conjunct Saturn, in Taurus decan 2, and Mercury conjunct Venus, in Taurus decan 3. Taurus rules the throat and produces some singers – in his case, he had so much depth and vocal power and what a voice!)
The Rising Sun. Had to post an image of the Tabula Mundi tarot Sun card in gratitude, because now that the Winter Solstice has passed here in the Northern Hemisphere, the Sun will continually and incrementally gain in strength and the days will lengthen as it rises in the sky. I’m grateful because to me one of the many things the Sun symbolizes is radiant health. I’m glad to have mine back. I have not been active here for a long time. I got bronchitis right after shipping out the big push of decks in October, and it turned into pneumonia and took me down for the count. It ended up a full two months before I felt like I was ok and um, truly not going to die. It sounds dramatic but that is how it went down.
Thanks to the advice of one of you, I finally got up off the mat right around the Solstice. Like the Sun, I am regaining strength now, and damn it feels good to have life force again. I was super sick in early December on my birthday, too sick to celebrate at all and since I am a Sagittarius and we like to party, that is saying a lot. (I did manage to eat some damn good food, so don’t feel too sorry for me.)
My annual birthday tarot reading all I wanted to know is if I was going to die this year and it very clearly told me when I’d get better: right around the Winter Solstice. It was a Sun wheel tarot reading done on my birthday at sunrise, and the first house card was the Devil and the second house card was the Sun. So that told me all I needed to know. At the time, I was relieved to see that I definitely was not going to die (because really, it was a question in my mind) and while relieved to see the markers of life force returning, I was disheartened to see how I still had weeks to go until Solstice, as at that point it had already been around six weeks. But hurrah for the Sun; I am truly back. I have a tenth house Sun and have all my life felt a strong affinity for the solar force and love for the solar gods. I don’t know why I live here in New England where the Sun’s season is so short.
By the way, here is a really cool and very short video, a fascinating glimpse of the patterns of the Sun from Solstice to Solstice put out on NASA’s “astronomy of the day” site on the Dec 21 2016 solstice. It is well worth a look. It not only shows the analemma/lemniscate but also other patterns traced in the sky by tracking the Sun over time. 93 MM miles away. A reminder of Love and Will, and so very beautiful.
The Sun card of the Tabula Mundi Tarot shows all the decans; it is actually very similar to a ground plan of the Globe Theater, a Memory Palace. Tabula Mundi’s Sun card is a Memory device. Actually the entire deck is a memory device for those that have eyes to see it.
Right now we are in Capricorn season. You can see the Capricorn Glyph on the right side of the Sun card image, at the horizon line. Capricorn season begins the day of the Winter Solstice, around December 21st in the Northern Hemisphere, and from there the Sun begins to increase in strength. But we won’t really notice it until we approach the cross quarter holiday Imbolc around Feb 1st. Before the Sun’s strength becomes noticeable we first have to pass through the last decan of Capricorn, in mid to late January. This is the decan of Capricorn ruled by the Sun; the Lord of Power. The strength and Power of The Devil and the Sun – a craving of the life force. Sol Invictus, the Unconquered Sun.
Really, one can see a stable life force is happening here in this decan. The earthy, lusty Devil, warmed by the fire of the world: the Sun. The Devil can take the heat. Here in the Four of Disks, we are in Chesed which also lends the beneficent and stable qualities of Jove. The Fours in tarot can also be considered in a sense the Aces of the more material world, or the first card below the Abyss. I often think of Disks as having an additional correspondence beyond money; they are also all about the body, the only material wealth we really can possess even if only transient. So this card in addition to the power of wealth is also stable health and strong life force but my caveat would be to not get stagnant, and to not hold the fort too tightly. Let movement bring a breath of fresh air into the fortress once in a while.
Lust, In Nomine Babalon, extra Lust card in Babalon edition
I currently have a few copies of the Babalon edition of Tabula Mundi Tarot available for purchase at www.tarotcart.com. This is a super limited edition of only 156 decks. I’m only releasing them in batches of 7, as I have to make components of each one by hand. They come in an exclusive handmade and never before seen tarot “corset and garter” wrap set in the colors of Babalon and Binah: Scarlet, Ruby, and Black, with metallic accents, and each one is unique and handmade in real satin and special art papers chosen for their seductive feel. These have 93 cards including the (no longer) secret zodiacal cards referenced in Book M: Liber Mundi (appropriately on page 77), a Minutum Mundum color scale reference card, and an all new Lust card In Nomine Babalon. They also have silver foil on the fronts in addition to the holographic backs and the sexiest deck packaging ever made. I can say that with confidence and I am not one to do so lightly. I only put them up as I make them so if you do not see them for sale at www.tarotcart.com then they are only available if you email me and ask for a Paypal invoice. If you really need images, you can Google for them as some have been posted. But they won’t do her justice. Since there are only 156 copies in total that will be made, I figure they will only go to devotees of Babalon and in a sense She will choose as She will decide who to lead to them. All I have to do is make them for her when I can and make them available.
On Christmas Eve’s Eve, over and out. I wish for you the blessings of the four quarters, each clearly seen on the Sun card of Tabula Mundi Colores Arcus: Light, Love, Liberty, Life (the Law for all).
If you have seen the movie Pulp Fiction, like everyone else you may have been wondering what was in the briefcase, as it was never revealed in the film. We see the briefcase from behind as it is opened, emitting a mysterious golden glow. Fans have all sorts of theories, ranging from:
gold
an ancient artifact
the diamonds from Reservoir Dogs
an atomic device
drugs
Marcellus Wallace’s soul
Salvation/Redemption
Tarantino himself, when asked, is quoted as saying it was “the most valuable thing you can imagine” and “whatever you want it to be”.
In one scene, Jules opens the case at gunpoint and shows it to Pumpkin/Ringo, who, stunned, says, “It’s beautiful.” In another scene, Jules and Vincent regain possession of the briefcase. Vincent opens it to make sure the contents are intact, and stares down cryptically as Jules repeatedly asks, “We happy?”
Here is an 18 second clip of the scene where Vincent opens the briefcase:
So, what was in the briefcase? Here’s what Vincent might have seen:
Now, you may be asking yourself, where are the famous holograms? Oh they are there! But they are notoriously elusive to photograph, as they only show up in motion. So here is a quick video, so you can see for yourself, something very happy indeed.
The holograms are on both editions of the Tabula Mundi deck, so both the 78 card Colores Arcus and the 93 card Babalon with the foiled fronts.
The printers have been busy with this project. Shipments of decks have been arriving all week, and more are due to come in next week, hopefully also the Babalon edition. That one I suspect they are doing next as it also has the silver foiled fronts and all the extra cards.
The fronts of the cards are as beautiful as the backs. They really went all out getting the glorious colors of the scales just right. I was very happy to hear that they intend to feature this in their showroom, and that visiting vendors from all over who have been in their shop during production have been giving them lots of praise for these. I can see why.
I have my work cut out for me now. I feel that we are still on track for the first rewards shipping on my chosen date in mid October. When you receive them, I think you will say, “Yeah, we happy” too.
On August 22 and 23, I finished the 93rd card, the last card of the Babalon edition.
On those days, the Sun was conjunct the fixed star Regulus. Regulus, meaning “prince” or “little king” is the fixed star located in the constellation Leo, the alpha or brightest star of the constellation. Regulus is also called Cor Leonis, meaning “heart of the Lion”. Regulus will always be the heart of the Lion’s constellation. But due the very slow motion of precession, in recent years it has made a change that symbolizes the new Aeon.
For a very long time, Regulus has been at the anaretic, or 29th and last, degree of Leo. Due to the earth’s wobble, it has advanced into 0 degrees of the next astrological sign, Virgo.
When did this happen? Most likely sometime in 2012, though exact dates differ.
Why is it significant? Regulus is one of the four Royal or Watcher stars, aligned with the four fixed signs. You can see these four fixed signs portrayed on the Universe card. Regulus is the alpha star at the heart of Leo, the Watcher of the North. Fomalhaut is the Watcher of the South, called mouth of the fish as the constellation Aquarius pours its waters into the Southern fish’s mouth. The Watcher of the East is the eye of the Taurus bull, Aldebaran. The Watcher of the West is the heart of the Scorpion, Antares. These are associated with the four powers of the Sphinx.You can read more about these in Book M: Liber Mundi, in the the chapter on the Universe card, in the chapters on the four Princes of the courts for the fixed signs who carry these, and in the chapters on the Princesses, who wield them. And in various other places.
Regulus was the final of the four Royal Watcher stars to “move” via precession, from a fixed (Leo) to a mutable (Virgo) sign. The other three have long been in early degrees of mutable signs. Regulus was the last one holding the fort.
When I made the original Lust card for Tabula Mundi, it was in February of 2013. The third decan of Aquarius season to be precise, which felt right because it is on the Leo/Aqua axis which is the “(wo)man” (Aquarius, man or angel) and the “lion” (Leo) axis. At the time, I was surfing the aethers thinking about the Sphinx (a human and lion combination), the Virgo Lucifera of the Chemical Marriage, the “woman clothed with the Sun”, and the concept of fall (Virgo, the Maiden) overtaking summer (Leo, the Lion). I mentioned this in the “random card notes” in Book M: Liber Mundi. Funny as at that time, Regulus had relatively speaking, just made it’s notable change into the zero degree of Virgo. Don’t think I knew that on a conscious level. The stuff that you find in the wormhole!
But I digress, as the reason I am talking about Regulus today is because the artwork for the very last card for this project was just completed. And it actually all was done during the time the Sun was exactly conjunct Regulus. (You can’t make this stuff up, it all just happens and aligns and has all the way through this project.)
This last card made is an alternate version of the Lust card, made for the Babalon edition. It shows Babalon riding the beast, Therion. This is the 93rd card! Love and Will, Woman riding the Beast, the Moon and the Sun conjoined, the Woman mounting the Lion. This card, along with the 12 “secret” decanic zodiacal cards, a Minutum Mundum reference card, and the new improved signature card with a special symbol, means the Babalon edition has, you guessed it, 93 cards.
In the Name of Babalon, the alternate Lust card was produced, during the conjunction of the Sun with Regulus, at zero degrees Virgo. Babalon rides the beast, the Lion-serpent of the letter Teth.
Babalon and Therion: Love and Will, the 93rd card! 93 93/93
Babalon and Therion
The 49th chapter of Crowley’s Book of Lies, called “Waratah-Blossoms”, is dedicated to Babalon:
Seven are the veils of the dancing-girl in the harem of IT.
Seven are the names, and seven are the lamps beside Her bed.
Seven eunuchs guard Her with drawn swords; No Man may come nigh unto Her.
In Her wine-cup are seven streams of the blood of the Seven Spirits of God.
Seven are the heads of THE BEAST whereon She rideth.
The head of an Angel: the head of a Saint: the head of a Poet: the head of An Adulterous Woman: the head of a Man of Valour: the head of a Satyr: and the head of a Lion-Serpent.
Seven letters hath Her holiest name; and it is
This is the Seal upon the Ring that is on the Fore- finger of IT: and it is the Seal upon the Tombs of them whom She hath slain.
Here is Wisdom. Let Him that hath Understanding count the Number of Our Lady; for it is the Number of a Woman; and Her Number is An Hundred and Fifty and Six.
Note the description of the seven heads (bolding mine). Sounds like the seven personalities of Crowley! Have fun guessing which head is which!
The first proof was received today from the printers. Of course today Mercury went retrograde, so there are a few things to work on, but they look fantastic! You are going to love the rainbow crystal holograms which are in certain areas on the card backs and add subtle touches of opalescent fire when the cards are in motion. I expect the Colores Arcus edition to be available for purchase in mid October. The Babalon edition is only by request currently. These will sell out quickly as Kickstarter backers have been reserving their copies even after the campaign ended as they were given an opportunity to add them after the fact and will be invoiced for them. Since the Babalon edition is limited to only 156 copies, please email me to reserve one.
The Tabula Mundi Babalon edition, as well as the Tabula Mundi Colores Arcus edition, both have the new full color holographic card backs. The Babalon edition is limited to only 156 copies and has 93 cards, and both the holographic backs and silver foil touches on the fronts. It has all 12 of the zodiacal decan combination cards, plus a color scale Minutum Mundum reference, the new “In Nomine Babalon” Lust card (as well as the original), and a signature card.
I thought I’d both show some progress on the secret zodiacal cards coming with the Babalon edition of Tabula Mundi, but also show something about the creation process, and how actually instead of 12 secret zodiacal cards that are obtained by combining the three minors of each sign, there are actually a much larger number of cards. How many? I don’t know. There could even be an infinite number of them, but of the ones that are keepers, it is greater than 12 by far but probably not infinite unless one started combining different signs instead of just the three decans of each sign. Even sticking to one sign, there are far more than 12 cards in there. I sure don’t have time to find out how many, so I am just picking them as I go.
But here is an example of how it worked out for the sign of Gemini. Gemini has some of the roughest three decans in the deck:
The Eight, Nine, and Ten of Swords, otherwise known as the Lords of Interference, Cruelty, and Ruin. Yikes!
The Gemini readers are probably wondering how their particular secret zodiacal card is going to look, given such choices. And there were multiple ways it could have come out, depending on what card elements were chosen, and which were emphasized. It had myriad ways it could have been combined into one, by leaving out or including elements. After trying many different combos, all of which looked pretty good, I finally settled on this one:
Yet it could have used the Vajra as a sword hilt in place of the Winged Lion, or left out the beasts. I liked the combination of the Lion battling the Eagle, combined with the Lion/Eagle sword hilt though, for it’s message of synthesis of opposites, a message of Gemini, the Twins. So not so negative. But another combination could have been to include the raging boar inside the egg:
To me it is a message to Gemini about speech, which is both their strength and their weakness. Words have power, use them wisely. This is hidden in a card combo that wasn’t selected but was equally valid.
Speaking of Power, after Gemini was done I moved on to working on the earth signs, or the zodiacal cards for the Disks. I started with the 2, 3, and 4 of Disks: Change, Work(s), Power. But once again it is so interesting to see some of the different ways to do the card combinations and what comes up.
So let’s first take a look at the 2 of Disks, Change alongside the 3 of Disks, Work, next to the 4 of Disks, Power. As you look at them, start to imagine what the final card might look like. See the symmetries and geometries. Take note of the different parts of each card and imagine how they might combine overlaid with each other.
The Devil, major for the sign of Capricorn
Ah sacred geometry. It was so much fun making the minors of this deck. All of the minor cards for Capricorn take elements from the Devil card. The Two of Disks, brings in the influence of Jupiter ruling the first decan of Capricorn. The card has two wheels from the Fortune card for Jupiter, and the hourglass for Capricorn from the Devil card. Similarly we see the 3 with its lightning and bricks from the Tower for Mars ruling the middle decan, and DNA from the Devil card for Capricorn. The 4 has elements from the Sun card, combined with the green man from the Devil, as the Sun rules the last decan of Capricorn. So, as you can probably see if you compare these cards, every element in each card lines up with the other two cards of the sign in a certain way. Which means you can combine them in an endless variety of ways in order to generate the secret Zodiacal Card of the Three Decans of Capricorn. Here are four of the ways:
So these are only four of the ways – there are many more – to obtain the secret Zodiacal Card of the Three Decans of Capricorn. Do any of them look like the one you imagined? Which one do you think I selected as the final?
You do realize, that while I planned these to be combinable from Day 1, on the basis of sacred geometry and symmetry, I didn’t really have any plan in mind as to how they would combine. I just thought they would, and relied on faith. Hell at times I wasn’t going to even offer them, as I didn’t think I had time to figure it out and didn’t know if it would actually work. But it did, and the only problem is, it works too well. With every one I have to make decisions.
So onward I go with these. Once I am sure which combination card will be for Capricorn, out of the 12 signs, only the fixed sign of Taurus (5,6,7 of Disks) and the mutable sign of Virgo (8,9,10 of Disks) remain. These 12 extra cards will be one of the features of the special Babalon edition of Tabula Mundi, a smaller edition limited to only 156 copies and having many extra touches over and above the Tabula Mundi Colores Arcus edition which is a limited edition of probably between 777 and 2000 decks. Both editions will have the same card backs with holographic foil flashes! The Babalon edition will also have silver foil on the front titles, thin borders, and attribution symbols – and these extra cards, among other things.
After that, I will be finalizing the files for all the cards including the original 78 cards of the deck, the all new color card back, and the all new and improved signature cards, and sending them off for print!
The decans and their rulers, shown on detail from the Sun card of Tabula Mundi Tarot
Click below if you want to return to Kickstarter to like the update:
As mentioned in the Colores Arcus Kickstarter, the Babalon edition will have at least 12 extra cards.
Ever wonder what I was referring to on page 77 of Book M, or in the Nox et Lux Kickstarter, when I mentioned that the Tabula Mundi minors contained secret zodiacal cards?
Finally I am here to reveal the “secret” zodiacal cards of the deck. Those of you who have Book M: Liber Mundi, which was released when the black and white version of the deck called Tabula Mundi Nox et Lux came out, already may have noticed a hint on page 77 of my book. It states “A final thing to note about the decanic minor cards is that the three decan cards of each sign were designed so that they fit together as one card representative of the sign. This is a secret of the cards that will be revealed in a future edition.”
Cryptic, eh? I also mentioned it in the Kickstarter for the Nox et Lux deck, but no one seemed to notice. What was said there was:
“And, a surprise reveal: through the magic of loosely held sacred geometry principles the three decan cards of every sign were designed to work together to combine and layer into a single complex image. I hope to show these in the updates and eventually offer these twelve additional cards as cards or prints, one for each sign. I still have to make them. They will be; either as a stretch goal or with the color version of the deck, which probably will be next year.” I do try to deliver what I promise. So here they are.
I know at least one of you actually read the whole of Book M or at least that part of it because someone (*waves at S*) asked about it, and even went so far as to try to figure out what that meant by combining cards. In the process they came up with some cool stuff, but they didn’t guess exactly what I was up to. They did grasp that it is based on a form of symmetry.
When I drew the minors, from Day One I made sure that each of the decanic minor cards would combine seamlessly with the other cards of the same sign.
So what are the “decanic minor cards”? These are the minor cards 2 through 10 of each suit. There are 36 of those, the twos through ten of each of the four suits. Each card represents ten degrees of the zodiac. Thus all 36 of them, times 10, form the entire Wheel of the Year or the 360 degrees of the zodiac.
There are the twelve signs. Most people know at the very least what astrological sign they were born under. Each sign encompasses 30 degrees of the circle. So each sign is divided into three decans of ten degrees.
As most esoteric tarot and astrology scholars know, these ten degree segments are called decans, and each assigned to a minor 2 through 10.
There will be these twelve zodiacal cards, included with the Babalon edition. Plus maybe if time permits, more new cards, alternate majors. But for now, twelve is enough to focus on. So 12 new cards, one for each Sun sign.
Let us start with my favorite Sun sign, Sagittarius. “The most philosophical of the signs” according to our old friend Jim Morrison, and not so coincidentally, my sign. We will work our way through the suit of Fire from Sagittarius the 10,9,8 of Wands, though Leo, the 7,6,5 of Wands, and to Aries the 4,3,2 of Wands.
How did I do this? Through the magic of loosely held sacred geometry principles, and with faith.
The three cards of each sign were deconstructed using both x-acto blades and digital technology and then recombined. Originally I thought I’d redraw and repaint them as one image more like Jofra’s zodiac series, and I may some day, but not enough time for that now.
So hereby I say, the Babalon edition will contain the secret zodiacal cards. The Kickstarter ends August 5th at 7:20 AM EDT.
Time for a little show and tell, to tell you about, and show you a little, of the inside of the world’s most elaborate deck package called “Who is HRU?”
First some information. “Who is HRU?” is a prose poem of 418 words. Some time in February of this year, I made a meaningful connection that I won’t say more about for now. But shortly thereafter the words of this verse began to take form. Take form is an understatement; they demanded to be heard.
Finally the text was written, and I thought that was the end of that. But HRU had other things to show me. It was only after the text was completed that it was revealed that it could be broken up into 22 parts. Miraculously, they seemed to fit the 22 Major Arcana in order rather astoundingly well. So I divided them accordingly, and sent them for copyright, with the idea of making a simple little illustrated booklet.
I’m not sure what happened after that other than I wanted to make a little book for someone and began. As artistic projects sometimes will, this turned into a more consuming project that spanned many months. Somehow it turned into not only a handmade hardcover, but what may be the world’s only esoteric pop up book. At least that I know of. Appropriate I guess, as the subtitle is “A waketime story for your inner child.”
As artistic obsession set in, many things had to be learned. Calligraphy had to be written, pages had to be designed, illustrations added, and then there were the mechanisms. 26 moving parts were added, some of them rather elaborate. Many models were made, tested, rejected. Many different papers were tried in order to get the tiny mechanicals to fold and move properly. The thick board of the covers had to be carved to accept the wax seals and the mica windows. The hinged spine and hidden panel had to be designed. The signatures had to be sewn in. And miracle of miracles an aspect of the construction ties into the riddle of the verse itself.
Because the story is in the form of a riddle, I don’t want to show the entire book until it is received by the recipients. There is a riddle to be solved, and a reveal at the end. But I want to show you at least a bit of it. This first video is Part I, and will show the first few pages of the book. Bear in mind that the more impressive constructs occur later in the book and this is only a taste of the introductory pages: the title pages, a pronunciation guide for some of the esoteric terms used, and the first lines of the story. I will show a few of the more elaborate mechanicals in a future update, but will not reveal all of the book, because part of the joy is the delight and surprise of discovery.
And now, with no further ado, the first preview of “Who is HRU?” The journey begins with the Fool: “It’s a riddle, it’s a koan, and we don’t have much to go on…”
The samples for the card back foil options arrived today, and WOW! They are all beautiful, whether done in silver, gold, or holographic foil. But the hologram option is so over the top cool and so fitting, that it really has won my heart and if I can work it into the card back design, well, that may be the One.
Since the papyrus edition of the Rosetta tarot deck is a redux of the deck first published in 2011, rather than share about the process for the art itself which is already done, I thought I’d share some of the process behind the new borders being made now, because that is what is exciting to me about it. I always said to myself that if I ever did another deck printing I would not do black borders. They do look good; you can see them here. So I understand why people do, they do make the colors pop but these colors pop next to anything through the miracle of the Golden Dawn color scales. And indeed when I did my second deck, Tabula Mundi tarot, I chose a light cream color rather than black. But for another printing of Rosetta I wanted to do something more organic looking than a solid color. What better look than that of aged papyrus with hieroglyphs written with a quill pen dipped a naturally made ink?
When I first published the full size deck in I offered with every deck a handmade significator card customized with a person’s name of choice written in Egyptian hieroglyphs phonetically, inside of a cartouche held by the goddess Seshet, Mistress of the House of Books. I did those in a fine line permanent marker though, not a quill pen! The pocket size decks also have this feature so I’ve still been doing them.
Some card names had the perfect Egyptian logogram ready made: Star, Moon, and Sun. They have obvious hieroglyphs that you can tell at a glance mean moon or sun or star. The Universe too has a logogram that I think perfectly captures the essense of the card: the Shen Ring. This is a glyph that is like a cartouche but amounts to “eternity”, “infinity” and a never ending cycle, and eternal protection. It looks a lot like an Omega or Ouroboros too; perfect for the Universe card.
One card was a bit fun to do, and that was “Death”. Because there is no “Th” sound, to write the word phonetically one would write a glyph for D followed by either a T or another D. DD would be “Dead” not death and one hardly sees repeated consonants so that would be wierd. In English could be did or dad or dud, and DT could be Dit or Dat or Dot or Debt. If it had a long vowel central, I could have written it. But the “short” vowels generally but not always are omitted. So the word I felt needed a “determinative” symbol, which is one that indicates which of the possible phonetic meanings the word actually is. These are placed at the end of the word, and have no sound but indicate what the word is if omitted vowels render it ambiguous. So for Death, I place a determinative symbol of a coffin or sarcophagus, meaning “Dead” to indicate that the consonants “DT” I used stood for Death.
