02/07/2026
What do you notice about these cards?
Many Tarot cards open themselves up to reinterpretation when you place them next to similar-looking ones. As you get to know your deck (I recommend working with a classic such as the Rider-Waite or Marseilles), you'll notice the repetition of certain figures. I'm not referring specifically to the repeated symbols of Cups, Pentacles, Swords or Wands but rather the arrangement or configuration of bodies.
How are these cards similar? Starting with card number 1, and the configuration of the Magician's body: We see the right-hand-up-left-hand-down-arrangement repeated a few times. Sometimes, the right-hand-up-figuration is extended symbolically with the addition of a sceptre, sword or wand. Within Tarot logic, the right hand is the side of action, masculinity, air, the disembodied, the idea, the ideal; the left symbolises the material, the passive, the feminine, the earth, the embodied or the manifested. The Idea is channeled from Above, made manifest on Earth. I always think of the line created by the Magician's two arms as a kind of lightning rod, relaying energy down to the earth. Raw power without manipulation, tempering or direction can be destructive. For me it's about creation, transmutation and alchemy.
Keeping these binaries in mind, each card adds its own "spin" to it, all interesting variations on a central theme. What would this energy-manifestation mean in light of Justice? Or of the binding and addiction represented by The Devil? Or maybe of the Will of the charioteer in trump VII?
