My mistake.  The fool picture that I posted yesterday is not the Maiden Fool from the Silicon Dawn deck–she’s the Crone Fool.  The Maiden Fool is (will be–she hasn’t drawn one she likes yet) the one jumping willy-nilly off of the cliff, which I kind of like better…  I thought the Crone Fool would be all old and wrinkly.  Don’t get me wrong–I like that she’s not.  And it makes more sense having that one be the Crone anyway since it’s the Autumn/Winter card.  I’ve been in contact with the artist, who is funny and personable and charming…  So now I’m even more determined to have this deck.  Especially since she’s got all these cool cards called the Void and 99s…and an extra one called History that’s pretty phenomenal as well.  What can I say?  I’m smitten.  Never thought I’d be smitten by a tarot deck, but there it is.  I suppose I never thought I’d find one that I’d really like.  Amazing…with all the research I’ve been doing and all the tarot decks I’ve looked at, you would think that there would be a lot more out there that I did like.  But so many of them are so silly–and the art doesn’t even impress me.  So well done, Egypt Urnash!

Well, everything I said about tarot, anyway.  I have found the perfect deck.  It’s amazing.  It’s called the Silicon Dawn Tarot. I can’t believe how cool it is.  Although reading more about the tarot, I’m beginning to realize that artists create their own interpretation of the different suits, and they’re not what I thought they were at all.  In another novel I wrote (the ill-fated Ismene retelling…), I wanted to have a scene where a character did a tarot reading, so I did some research and came up with a reading that worked (always easier to go backwards…), but in doing all of this research, I’m discovering that the cards that I picked don’t necessarily say what I want them to at all.  Cups is usually always water, granted, but Fire and Air switch (and I think the Silicon Dawn deck has Pentacles as Fire and not Earth…), and the numbers don’t necessarily follow what I originally remember about them.  For example, I have my Six of Wands as being Disappointment, and I can’t find any reference to that anywhere.  In the traditional deck, it’s the Lord of Victory.  I suppose inverted it could mean Disappointment, but…  It’s just so confusing.  I understand that Fire and Air can switch, but Pentacles seem so…earthy.  Money-grubbing and what not.  Good thing I never made the effort to get that particular book published.  It’s horrible writing anyway.  Dialogue is stilted and scenes are forced.  Whatever.  I’m on to bigger and better things now. Someday I will write the Ismene story and it will be good.  As God as my witness…

My absolute favorite thing about this tarot deck is that she’s included three Fool cards.  The Maiden, the Mother and the Crone.  Haven’t actually seen the Crone in full-size yet, although from my reading, I understand that it was the first one made.  The Crone is flying off the cliff deliberately–taking the chance and the risk.  The Mother is reading–distracted and heedless to the warning from the dog that she’s going over the edge.  Ditto on the Maiden, but she seems to have tripped, is a bit clueless, and is too focused on making sure she looks pretty for the cameras.  And then the Fool shows up in some of the other cards as well, and she’s also in the interpretation of the final Universe card.  It’s amazing.  Have I said that already?  Anyway, here’s my absolute favorite Fool card ever…