Tarot Etc. Thursday No. 8

First things first. Whether you celebrate George Harrison’s birth on February 24 (because his birth certificate states he was born just before midnight), or February 25, which is when he celebrated it most of his life, today I’m just celebrating that he ever existed and gave us music and ideas.

From the Dark Horse tour in 1974, I WANT TO MAKE THIS LOOK at 1:6 scale. Photographer unknown.

To continue…

This wasn’t the post I intended to do today, but something made me look inside the “treasure chest” for this deck, so I’m going for it.

The Voyager Tarot was first published in 1985, which was long before I’d have gotten it sometime in the 1990s, and the book, James Wanless’s Voyager Tarot: Way of the Great Oracle was published in 1989. I don’t know which store these came from or why I was drawn to this particular deck. If we had it at the store where I worked, there might have been an open deck (not for sale, but for display so a shopper could look at it before buying a deck) that I perused. Whatever my motive or interest, I’m sure it had something to do with the heavy use of crystals and stones in the deck’s artwork. Whatever else comes and goes among my interests, my appreciation for stones/rocks/crystals never wanes.

From the time I was a wee girl and we’d go to my grandfather’s house, I’d watch my older cousins stroll with Papa up and down his driveway that was composed of loose rocks (possibly river rocks). All of them had watchful eyes as they hoped to find stones with interesting colors or shapes to pick up, maybe to keep.

When I was a little older, I remember a particular bike I had, with slightly wider tires than normal, and how much I loved riding the bike over some friends’ graveled driveway. The crunch of those rocks under my tires was pleasing, and I’d ride across the driveway again and again for who knows how long. I’m sure their parents thought I was an odd child.

When I met my future mother-in-law, she had a large collection of rocks and stones that she’d collected through the years, as well as many she’d acquired from her late uncle. She and I would sit at the kitchen table and look through the rocks. I’d roll them through my fingers, admiring their textures, and also marvel at the variety of colors, whether natural or dyed.

I knew about birthstones, of course, and the meanings associated with them, but the idea of crystals and stones having particular healing properties or meanings was mostly new to me in the 1990s. An interest in stones, crystals, and rocks seemed to have few boundaries among people’s belief systems or spiritual pursuits and was more akin to the universal appeal of birds, for example, or forests and the ocean. As more people shared their enthusiasm and knowledge with me, I began to collect my own stones, and loved getting them as gifts.

Uniqueness: In the Voyager Tarot, crystals replace swords to represent the mind; the cups, as with other tarot decks, represent our emotions; the worlds cards, representing the actions we take in the world, replace the disks or pentacles in traditional tarot decks; and the wands represent our spirit, or “the magic of life we hold in our hands.” The “people” cards are the Sage, Man, Woman, and Child.

The Major Arcana of the Voyager Tarot generally correspond to other decks: The Fool is here the Fool-Child; the Eight card, either Justice or Strength in other decks, is Balance; the Eleven card, either Strength of Justice in other decks, is here Strength; the card usually known as Temperance is Art in this deck, the Devil card is called Devil’s Play here; the Judgment card from other decks is here called Time-Space; and the standard World card is here called Universe.

Despite the small book that comes with the deck, and the more detailed book I bought for more information, if I ever used the deck to do readings, I don’t recall them. What I do recall is how often I’ve pulled a card just to study its rich, sometimes odd, images. I wanted to find things that resonated with me.

Because I love crystals, I picked the specific cards below to share with you, along with Art, as unique to this deck. If you want to know more about a card, ask in comments, and I’ll check the description in the book for you.

Art from the Major Arcana

Knower, Sage of Crystals

Guardian, Woman of Crystals

Inventor, Man of Crystals

Learner, Child of Crystals

Disclaimer: I am no expert on tarot cards. Because I don’t study or practice with any particular deck, I don’t do readings. I use the cards as a means of introspection. I also enjoy the art, beauty, and symbolism of many tarot decks and how they reflect the personalities and journeys of their creators. Tarot is like other things that inspire me and engage my interest, such as books, music, and art.