A bag in the making...

Apologies for not updating this blog for so long.. geez.. that was one quick year! Thing is I am doing a full on college degree and I have another blog that is currently taking up my time. Although the other blog has been mainly focused on art and college stuff recently I do post the occasional Tarot post on there, and life is all of a oneness anyway soo....

Anyway, I am still making my custom made Tarot bags, and have one on the go at the moment so I thought I would share a couple of images of a work in progress. This bag is a commission for a Thoth deck.

 

I have a 2 month college break coming up, so will be putting my efforts into my Tarot bags again, so if you are wanting a special one off bag, now would be a good time to ask :)

Tarot Life Begins....

I have officially started the Tarot Life course over at Tarosophy... took some working out but I think I am getting there!

I am using my Thoth deck as it is one I haven't used much and it will give me the opportunity to study the cards in a bit of depth as they get drawn each day. Once drawn the cards remian part of the spread and do not get returned to the deck. Of course me being me I wonder over 31 days which 14 cards will end up left undrawn in the pile at the end.

First I had to work out my Destiny Card for this year which is Four of Cups. Then each day you add to a month long spread which creates a destiny path for you to follow, hopefully ending up with you closer to where you want to be.... sounds good to me.

Four of Cups - Thoth Tarot

 I really need to focus on Four of Cups more and learn what my destiny is. Here this card is called Luxury but I really don't see my destiny as luxury.... or boring... or too square for that matter. This card is about cups overflowing, which I guess is a kind of luxury. Overflowing with love and light, the water of life. The crescent moon at the top of the card relates to my birth sign, shown below. It is a double dose of Lunar energy, this card!

I know whatever my *happy* destiny is, it will always be spiritual and emotionally fulfilling rather than material. I do need intellectual and creative fulfillment too though. Ok this path is exciting now... I will think more about this as the month goes on.

 The first two guide cards I drew last night were The Page of Disks and The Knight of Cups. I was definitely meant to have the Knight of Cups, as I tried out three other decks before settling on the Thoth and each time I drew Knight of Cups first.... cant help but wonder who he could be.... I wouldn't mind a romantic Knight in shining armour (armore!!) to guide me through the New Year!

Prince of Disks & Knight of Cups - Thoth Tarot

The cards are at angles because this is the whole idea of the game, the angle relates to how far you were from your goal that day for the card of the left and how much opportunity you may have missed to get closer to your destiny on the right.

Prince of Disks is a great card for new beginnings as it is about planting the seeds, setting a plan and small goals to follow so you have the feeling of accomplishment as you go. This card tells me to be more set in my goals and plans which I am absolutely terrible at! The bull represents determination and bull headedness... and I need some of that!

Knight of Cups..... hmmmm maybe I missed an opportunity to meet my Knight... who knows! I shall be more alert when I hear hoof beats in the distance. I found out from Angel Paths website (which I love!), that the Knight of Cups is also related to the energy flow in the home and Feng Sui principles.  Well according to a quick check the head of my bed is in the right place for learning and training. I have also felt like reaaranging and clearing things out..... Tomorrow!!!!

...... and more bags!

Three more bags I have made recently... for my very spoiled Tarot decks.

This is more of a wrap, than a bag, it is perfect for my Icelandic Tarot, and doubles as a spread cloth for up to 5 cards.

Icelandic tarot Wrap - Open

I love the size of these cards and their stark black and white contrast...I love its smudginess too :) 

Icelandic Knitted Tarot Wrap with Matching Cord.

I really love this little deck, and trying to get it back in its box was nigh impossible, but it looks great in this snuggly knitted wrap, and I made the cord from satin ribbons and wool, to match the cards. I love how the cord matches the backs of the cards.

Icelandic Tarot Wrap Closed

This next bag was for my Thoth tarot deck.... it needed a special bag and it needed to go with the deck. After a few trials this is what I ended up creating. I made the bag with layers of metallic and sheer fabric scraps, silks and lots of free machine stitching.

This photo shows the card that inspired the bag, the Two of Disks, or Change as it is labelled. The evolving circles give a feeling of movement and change.. transformation. The bag is padded and lined in cream coloured silk, which matches the edges of the cards.

Thoth Tarot Bag

My latest bag is this fluffy little beauty that I made for my newly beloved Tarot of the Silicon Dawn. It had to be fun and funky. It had to have colours from the deck in it, and some fluff, and dangly bits.... and it also needed to be soft and comforting.

Funky Bag for Tarot of the Silicon Dawn

I think the bag is perfect for this deck.... I like the way it's softness contrasts with the streetwise, futuristic feel of the deck, and yet the colours blend so well. The fluffy collar gives it added zing to fly with!

The Cosmic Tarot

Another deck I recently acquired in a trade, is The Cosmic Tarot. This is the original edition printed by  FX Schmid in 1988 according to the LWB and I love it. It is almost 70's style, has an *Age of Aquarius* feel to me and the people in it remind me of the men and women of my youth, their look and style.

The Cosmic Tarot

The colours are subtle, and subdued, they speak to me of summers long gone, they are early summer morning pink, sunset gold and lazy afternoon blue... they have a watery feeling, that life is flowing gently along, and all you have to do is lie on a raft and float with it down the river. They are not quite real and bring an air of escape, of being lost in a cinema...while the world gos on around you. The film stars featured in the cards make me think of the old movies they used to show one after the other at Christmas time. I don't recognise many of the stars, having never seen much TV, but there are definitely some familiar faces. One I thought I recognised was the Eight of Cups, I thought it was Andy Garcia but apparently it is Martin Sheen... oh well..! The High Priestess is my daughter... absolutely, she has her eyes, her look to a T! One of the things I love about the deck is that the font is actually not a font, it's all hand drawn or written..... and gorgeously done too....

Court Cards from The Cosmic Tarot

 
The deck seems to be more Thoth than Rider Waite based, which does seem to suit it's overall mood somehow. Justice is at 8 and Strength at 11, rather than the other way round as with the Rider Waite. The minors look to be fairly close to Rider Waite but I haven't studied it enough yet to really be sure.

I will look at some of the cards in more detail in future posts as I use the deck more, but I have my favourites already, and then there are some cards I am not so keen on, I really don't get all the gymnasts and sword fighters in the Minor Arcana although I guess they come from the silver screen era. The Devil has a disturbing odd cheesy kind of smirk, but one card which is just *YUK*, is the Ten of Swords... it is supposed to give this feeling though, so I guess it does a good job..... even so I would prefer something less blatantly ugly.

Cards I am particularly taken by are the Five of Pentacles and The Hierophant. The Five of Pentacles shows people leaving a scene of ruin, war and destruction.... so much of this was flashed across news screens in the past 20 years, to me it speaks of the indomitable spirit of humankind. I always tend to see this card in this light, although many see it as a bad card, to me it spells hope. The Hierophant I love because of the light shining from his eyes, like he is seeing incredible visions somewhere out in the heavens. I like to think of him as Galileo, or Dr John Dee.

The Hierophant from The Cosmic Tarot

Of course I had to make a wee bag to suit it, and I had this scrap of lemon velvet and some purple satin lying around, so...... the deck has a home and its box can be saved for another day....

Velvet Cosmic Bag for the Cosmic Tarot