Tarot Blog Hop: A Tarot Art Project with the Kings

PREVIOUS BLOG | MASTER LIST | NEXT BLOG

Welcome to The Willow Path Tarot! If you are following along on the June Tarot Blog Hop, or are a regular reader of this blog, know that today's blog is a special entry on a topic that many other tarot bloggers are writing about right now as well. The topic is "a tarot art project for non-artists." We are all finding inspiration in non-tarot related artwork and then creating a tarot card out of that artwork.

This just happens to be something I do every Wednesday at The Willow Path Tarot! I take photos from my personal Instagram feed, which is about my travels and life outside of tarot, and associate those images to a tarot card. Eventually, I plan to print out all these images and make my own tarot deck from my travels. I'm still in the beginning phases of that process, so today I'd like to share with you how things are going with the Kings in this newly developing tarot deck.

So, in my travel tarot deck, which I'm tentatively calling The Travel Tarot Deck (ahhh, I know, so original!), the Kings are going to be represented by mountains. I've chosen mountains to represent the Kings because I associate mountains with stability, security, maturity, and rulership, all personality traits of the Kings in the tarot deck. I chose this one on the left here to be the King of Cups because of the river in the picture, bringing together the Cups which represent water, and the mountains which represent the Kings. The King of Cups is compassion and welcoming, he goes with the flow, much like a river. He brings comfort and kind words, understanding and mediation. The King of Cups is balanced and generous, bringing peace and harmony with his careful demeanor. This river in Colorado definitely gives me that peaceful feeling of the Cups and the mountains add the dimension of the strength of a King.

I've chosen this rock formation in Arizona to be the King of Wands. The red color of the rocks makes me think of dry, summer heat and the Fire of the Wands. I associate Wands with summer and this card has a summery feel to me. I think this might be a part of or near the rock formation called Devil's Bridge, and the King of Wands always seems like a bit of a devil to me. He is charismatic, passionate, and tempting. He has the energy of someone who knows what he wants and knows how he can get it. Even so, he is an honorable person, responsible and hard-working, almost tirelessly so. The King of Wands has a vision and a plan to go along with that vision. This range in Sedona prickles with a brittle heat that causes visions to dance before our eyes. The King of Wands understands the visions seen in the fire and can work with it to greatest effect.

This photo on the left is one I'm thinking about using for the King of Pentacles. There is a deep Earth energy to a canyon, and this photo is of Colca Canyon, one of the deepest canyon hikes in the world. It was a long way down, requiring a lot of the strength and determination of a King to finish. The King of Pentacles is in it for the long haul in every aspect of his character. He is practical, calculating, and under control. He is disciplined and powerful. This King is also connected to the abundance of the Earth, offering brute strength like these canyon walls, but also fertile abundance much like the oasis at the bottom which has shade, water, and a place to rest after a difficult effort. I'm not entirely sold on the image because it seems a bit dry and I associate Pentacles with winter so I would like to do something more snowy, but... for now it has got me thinking.

This photo I'm thinking of using for the King of Swords, but am also not completely satisfied with it. That's ok, though since I'm planning on seeing many more mountains before this deck is finished. :) I like this one for now because there is something dark and brooding about it, which reminds me of the King of Swords. He is the King of logic and reasoning. His powerful intellect understands the concepts of truth and justice. Something about that kind of mental prowess is dark to me. There is a tendency towards black and white thinking, when so often the world is made up of shades of grey. The King of Swords excels at interpreting that grey area, defining it and forcing it back to black and white. The light and dark interplay of the mountains in this photograph remind me of that balance the King of Swords achieves.

Okay, that's my contribution to the June Tarot Blog Hop!  I hope you enjoyed learning about the Kings in my Travel Tarot Deck and come back to the blog often to see the progress I'm making on my Instagram inspired deck. You can hop back or forward using the links below to see what other everyday picture and photos have been made into tarot cards by my fellow tarot bloggers!

PREVIOUS BLOG | MASTER LIST | NEXT BLOG