trickster’s journey, my chinese mythic reimagining of tarot, is finally complete as a 78 card deck. i wanted to share the new 56 minor arcana cards i’ve been working on all year and ideating since the major arcana was published with beloved
@endlesseditions in 2018. this new expanded incarnation will be coming to you in spring 2023 through
@runningpressbooks , and by the grace of best editor ada zhang and agent
@clare.mao and the whole amazing RP team!
my reinterpreted minor arcana syncretizes the traditional suits of cups/coins/wands/swords with the Four Symbols, guardians of the four cardinal directions who were present as constellations in ancient star maps, so that the suits become a miniature cosmos to house the worldbuilding of the major arcana. sneak peek as follows:
1. COINS, ruled by Blue Dragon, guardian of the East, tied to the element of earth and the season of spring, dealing with the realm of material concerns / 2. CUPS, ruled by Black Tortoise, guardian of the North, tied to water and winter, dealing with the realm of emotions and relationships / 3. WANDS, ruled by Red Bird, guardian of the South, tied to fire and summer, associated with creativity and action / 4. SWORDS, ruled by White Tiger, guardian of the West, tied to air and autumn, connected to matters of thought and intellect / 5-8. scans from the paper scrap i kept for palette swatching + brush wiping while working on these
slide design by the wonderful inimitable rin 🧡
