Art, Symbolism, and Creative Interpretations: The Tarot

Today, I am enjoying using a new copy of the:
Voyager Tarot, Intuition Cards for the 21st Century. 
By James Wanless, Ph.D.. Artist Ken Knutson. 
78 full color collage art Tarot cards.  117 page mini booklet. 
Fair Winds: ISBN 978-1-59233-322-6, 2017.  First edition 1984.  

Has anyone seen a chart or list correlating the 78 cards in the Voyager Tarot (or other Tarot decks) with the 64 Hexagrams of the I Ching???

For examples:

I Ching Number = Tarot Card Name

#1 Creative, Initiating = Magician, 1

#4, Childhood, Youthful Folly, Impermanence = Fool, 0

#52 Mountain = Hermit, 9

During a morning Voyager Tarot card reading, I usually select one card as the most significant for the day.  I would like to write on each Tarot card the corresponding, related, correlated, comparable, similar themed, or relevant I Ching Hexagram Number.  

Also, this is a different way for selecting an I Ching Hexagram other than yarrow sticks or coin tossing.  

A Repost from 2018:

I first purchased and used Tarot decks in 1979.  I studied numerous books on the subject of the Tarot.  I purchased numerous decks over the decades.  First, I enjoyed the variety of artwork and symbolism in the 78 cards in the different decks from different centuries.  Second, the creator of each deck brings some new insights into the overall structure and meanings for the cards in the deck.  Third, I enjoyed "reading" and creatively interpreting the symbols and images in these small art objects in the context of my own life and questions.  

I even made, in 2011, some very incomplete notes in hypertext documents on the Tarot.

My method over the years is to ask a question or reflect on my current consciousness and situation in my life.  Then, I randomly pull from 3 to 5 cards from the deck.  I try to interpret, reflect upon, and consider the meaning of each card.  I may use The Voyager Tarot book to refresh or expand my understanding or memories.  Then, I arrange the cards in some order to "tell a story."  I do this once a day, at night; then, in the morning, reconsider the meanings and relevance of that 3-5 card reading in my life.  I only look at cards right side up; although, I do sometimes reverse the meaning of the cards depending upon the story I create.  

I enjoy using the 1991 Voyager Tarot deck the most.  

This photomontage deck was designed by James Wanless, Ph.D.  The photographic collage artwork was created by Ken Knutson.  It was first published in 1984, and then in 1991 and 2008. 

The Voyager Tarot: Way of the Great Oracle Book.  By James Wanless, 1989.  Book and Deck. 

 The Fool, 0

                          

The Wheel of Fortune, 10

                   

 

               

 

String Figures from Native Americans

 Repost from 2013:

"Take a deep breath of all the stories that live here. A re-ligious act, to be true to the origin of the word “re-ligios”- to re-tie, re-link - is to find ways to re-connect, re-turn, re-imagine.”

In the winter season, we are allowed to say,

“Ts' its' tsi' nako,
Thought-Woman, the Spider
named things and as she named them they appeared.
She is sitting in her room thinking of a story now
I'm telling you the story she is thinking.”
-  Keresan Pueblo introduction

The Hands of the Spider Woman by Lauren Rain

Strings on Your Fingers by Mike Garofalo

Spider Grandmother weaves the Grand Cosmic Web and then spins off the planets and stars in the Navaho myths.  Zuni myths say the Spider Grandmother gave the art of string figures into the hands of the children.  Spider Grandmother is a powerful earth spirit being, the primary Creatrix of the cosmos and mind, a source of boundless imagination and the creation of the new.  An archaic Goddess of Weaving is essential to a pleasant life for all our people. 

Many Stars, Son-thlani, or Spider Grandmother’s Web is one of my favorite Navaho string figures to make.  I usually do the Spider Web (Jayne SF51) string figure first, for ritual purposes, to remind myself of my debt to all the people who have helped me learn to make string figures, everyone past and present are here symbolized as the Cosmic Web of Spider Grandmother.  

The image above is of the string figure called The Apache Door (Jayne SF12) known to many string players.  A different Navaho string figure, with a criss-crossing web pattern, is called Many Stars (Jayne SF51).    

Hands, Fingers, Feeling, Touching by Mike Garofalo

Strings on Your Fingers by Mike Garofalo

2024 Update

I recently found a brand of string that works fairly well when making string figures. It is called Cora's Cotton Craft Cord Dyeable Fiber 2 mm/.08 in in diameter.  

The best string I've used for make string figures with my hands was a string used by carpenters or masons or gardeners to mark out a straight line during construction.  I'm still looking for the correct brand of string, softness, strength, thickness, flexibility, etc.

Video Games

Lately, I have been playing games on an X Box One player console, and on a Sony Nintendo Switch player console.  I also use an NES and SNES player console, and a Sony PlayStation 2 player console.  I have a variety of software, old school retro to current high end video games.  Over the past four decades, I have probably spent over $4,000.00 on the hardware and software for PC and video games.

On my Samsung 4 Tablet  I play some free Android applications, e.g., for the card game Spades and for the game of Chess.  The Nintendo Switch is also a fine handheld gaming device.

I find plenty of good used and some new software titles for the PlayStation 2.  I have purchased titles with a nice box and booklet, at it worked fine on my PlayStation 2, for as low as $2.50 to $12.00.  And, I occasionally find old NES or SNES cartridges for under $5.00.

Of course, the newer the hardware, like my 2017 Nintendo Switch, the more powerful the processor and memory.  It has faster speed, outstanding screen, responsive controls, and more display options.  However, the Switch software is currently very expensive at $30.00 to $60.00 a title.

I am thinking of purchasing a new high end PlayStation 4 this coming winter. Seems like top of the line in both hardware and software.

What games am I playing now?  Mario Brothers Odyssey on the Switch, NBA 2K 18 Basketball on the Switch, Madden NFL 18 Football on the X Box One.

What games do I want to play?  1.  Off Road Vehicle, ATV, Jeep driving games for the PlayStation 2.  2.  "Okami" for the Switch coming out 8/18.  "Minecraft" on the Switch.  "Legend of Zelda II: Adventures of Link" for NES.

I hope Madden NBA 19 and NBA 2K 19 come out formatted for the Nintendo Switch.

In real life sports, I watched all of the NBA Golden State Warriors basketball games available on television, and many games of other NBA West Coast teams like the LA Lakers and Portland Trailblazers.  I also watched many college basketball games on the PAC 12 Sports network.  I watched both of my grandaughter's play on basketball, volleyball, and soccer teams in 2017 and 2018.   Since I enjoy watching basketball games, I also enjoy playing basketball video games like NBA 2K 18.  I played basketball till I was 40 years of age, and I understand the game after a lifetime of watching for over 65 years.

I watched the Seattle Seahawks on television last season along with other West Coast teams like the 49'ers, Rams, Raiders.  I watched all the USC football games last season on television, and many other West Coast college football teams on the PAC 12 Sports Network.  Since I enjoy watching football games, I also enjoy playing football video games like Madden NFL 18.  I played football till I was 25 years of age, and understand the game after a lifetime of watching over 65 years.

A Playful Spirit

"Creative people are curious, flexible, persistent, and independent with a tremendous spirit of adventure and a love of play."
-   Henri Matisse  

 

Play: Quotes, Sayings and Poetry

 

Play: It is an an activity which proceeds within certain limits of time and space, in a visible order, according to rules freely accepted, and outside the sphere of necessity or material utility.  The play-mood is one of rapture and enthusiasm, and is sacred or festive in accordance with the occasion.  A feeling of exaltation and tension accompanies the action."
-  Johan Huizinga, Homo Ludens

 

"In rare moments of deep play, we can lay aside our sense of self, shed time's continuum, ignore pain, and sit quietly in the absolute present, watching the world's ordinary miracles. No mind or heart hobbles. No analyzing or explaining. No questing for logic. No promises. No goals. No relationships. No worry. One is completely open to whatever drama may unfold."
- Diane Ackerman in Deep Play
 

Deep Play  By Diane Ackerman.  New York, Random House, 1999.  Index, 235 pages.  ISBN: 0679448799.  

 

"We may play with and pass on a garden, possessing one is an illusion.
Gardeners must dance with feedback, play with results, turn as they learn.
Some gardeners don't grow old and stop playing; they stop playing and grow old.
Nature's playfulness is a gardener's delight.
A garden is a sporting field, an area for play."
-   Michael P. Garofalo, Pulling Onions


"To play is to listen to the imperative inner force that wants to take form and be acted out without reason. It is the joyful, spontaneous expression of one's self. The inner force materializes the feeling and perception without planning or effort. That is what play is."
-  Michelle Cassou and Stewart Cubley in Life, Paint and Passion



"Play exists for its own sake.  Play is for the moment; it is not hurried, even when the pace is fast and timing seems important. When we play, we also celebrate holy uselessness.  Like the calf frolicking in the meadow, we need no pretense or excuses.  Work is productive; play, in its disinterestedness and self-forgetting, can be fruitful."
-  Margaret Guenther in Toward Holy Ground

Homo Ludens: A Study of the Play-Element in Culture  By Johan Huizinga.  Beacon Press, 1971.  240 pages.  ISBN: 978-0807046814.  VSCL. 

Play: How it Shapes the Brain, Opens the Imagination, and Invigorates the Soul  By Stuart Brown, M.D..  Avery Trade, 2010.  240 pages.  ISBN: 978-1583333785. 
 

String Figures and String Games

Years ago, in 2003, I created a webpage called "Strings on Your Fingers" served at http://www.gardendigest.com/string/index.htm 

A Sitemeter report today says that, for this html file, total visits =47,684,  total page views = 81,708, average page view per day = 70, average visit length = 1:30. 

  

This webpage is about string figures, string catches, ropes and twine knots, string and rope art designs, knotting, Cat's Crade games with string, string figures from around the world.  

Games with string help strengthen the fingers and wrists, exercise memory and coordination, give us another way to play, help us learn about different cultures and string players from around the world, let us meet and succeed with a new challenge of learning to perform a new string figure.   

 

String Figure Art and Games

In the above photograph, I am teaching some some string figures to girls at the East Los Angeles Library in 1978. I was the Community Library Manager of this large Los Angeles County public library for six years.

Strings on Your Fingers: String Figures, String Tricks, String Games, Knots. I will completely update this webpage in March, 2010.