Thursday 19 July 2018

Lesser Secrets of a Constellation Tarot


 Last Tuesday, Hound experienced an almost painless viewing of my latest night sky post 30 Seconds of Jupiter, and asked "Now if you can just fill in your maps of the heavens with tarot correspondences life will be perfect!"
 I replied: "I've just had a look through the Northern sky constellations and I've found a few that may just work for tarot symbols: Crater, the Cup - a perfect match; the sword of Perseus - another match; the clubs of Hercules and Orion could be Wands; and the torso of Boötes, or the heads of Leo or Cetus, could be Pentacles. I'll see if I can put something together..."

 Well, I've put something together.  Only one example from each of the minor arcana, but it's something.

You didn't expect us to do the whole lot, did you?
Ha!  If they did, they clearly don't know us at all.

Anyway, first up: the Two of Pentacles


As you can see, the head of Cetus, the sea monster (or whale) makes for a rather nice pentacle.  Clockwise from Alpha (α) Ceti, AKA Menkar, are the stars Lambda (λ) Ceti, Mu (μ) Ceti, Xi² (ξ²) Ceti, and (conveniently ignoring Nu (ν) Ceti) Gamma (γ) Ceti.
The photo that Cetus came from (below) was taken on 22nd January, and featured in post No Moon At All.


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Next: the Three of Cups


While I did have a photo of Crater, the cup, it's not very good, so I decided to use the Water Jar from Aquarius, one of my most recent constellation photographs from 8th July (featured in 30 Seconds of Jupiter, but not labelled, so I've taken the liberty of doing so, below).
The four stars that make up the Water Jar are Gamma (γ) Aquarii, AKA Sadachbia, Eta (η) Aquarii, Pi (π) Aquarii, with Zeta (ζ) Aquarii in the centre.



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Then we have the Five of Wands


Orion's club, again from a 22nd January photograph featured in No Moon At All (below), becomes a wand.  In this case, the Five of Wands.
The Wand is made up of Chi¹ (χ¹) & Chi² (χ²) Orionis at the top, and Xi (ξ) Orionis & Nu (ν) Orionis at the bottom.



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Finally, the Seven of Swords


The Sword is provided by Perseus, and is made up of just two stars: Eta (η) Persei, AKA Miram, and Phi (φ) Persei.
Perseus also came from No Moon At All back in January.




 There, Hound.  I hope that was as good for you as it was for me?  If you're really lucky (and I'm not too lazy or distracted), I might manage some of the minor arcana royalty, or even some of the major arcana.  You'd better not hold your breath, though...

oOo


This final photograph is a labelled version of the one from 30 Seconds of Jupiter featuring Ursa Major, Camelopardalis, Lynx, and about half of Auriga. 

14 comments:

  1. ... I'm ... gobsmacked ... is there more to it, did you find more ?

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  2. Beetlejuice! Beetlejuice! Beetlejuice!

    Neat integration of constellations to the tarot cards.

    That second to the last foto looks as if Perseus is trying to hit Camelopardalis, and Camelopardalis is rearing up to give him a quick swift kick in the face with a, "I don't think so!"

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  3. I never got the hang of Tarot and horoscope-y thing. But the first picture Two of Pentangles)looks like a kite I made once.
    I hope this helps.

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    Replies
    1. It does help. New project idea!
      Although, I don't know if it'll ever get off the ground?

      I'll see myself out...

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  4. It's something? I wasn't expecting you to do it at all!
    I'm gobsmacked. Impressed beyond measure. No, seriously.
    I keep saying this, you think you can't do tarot and are a lazy witch, but you're a natural!
    I wonder which member of the Golden Dawn reincarnated as you.
    Oh shit, I think I might be in luuurve...

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    Replies
    1. Not to mention jealous as hell lol. Very very impressive indeed.

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    2. Oh, no. I'm not having anyone else inhabiting the Host's body. Him and his Subconscious, plus me and mine is enough. I'm not having and of the Golden Dawn setting up camp in here, too!

      But I'm glad you like them. As I was making them, I was thinking that one would have to have more than a passing knowledge of the Constellations and their stars to be able to do a proper reading, and then I realised that that's one of the reasons why I don't get on with Tarot - the Rules. So, just do what comes naturally (or make it up as one goes along!)

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    3. And that's the secret - that they've all made up the rules!
      Do you perchance find yourself answering when someone calls 'Al'?

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Tickle my fancy, why don't you?