I – The Magus — Fireflies Major Arcana; Procreate; Me

[Maverick]

I – The Magus — Fireflies Major Arcana; Procreate; Me

Discussion

[JuniperFrost]

I’ve been commissioned to create a Major Arcana deck, and am using this opportunity to explore the Fool’s Journey through my own creative imagining/interpretation of a group of psychopomps I’ve called Fireflies. Each card is my attempt to de-gender the tarot (death doesn’t care what’s between your legs, we all die equally) and create distance from Abrahamic/Western ideologies (as much as possible).

The Magus is the first step the Fool takes on their Journey, and is thus defined. The swirling lines of potentiality coalesce into reality, and the Magus has at their disposal all they need to succeed and flourish: Sword, Chalice, Wand, Pentacle.

I’ll likely be going back to this card once I do my final round of clean-ups, since I’m not happy with the skull and want to tweak a few other things.

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Edit: More context.

I am trying to stay close to the RWS imagery and symbolism, though I am drawing a lot of inspiration from other sources as I tweak and deviate from their dependence on Western and Abrahamic religious symbolism and ideologies.

I am also using this chance to explore a series of psychopomps I’ve called Fireflies. I grew bored with the tired old imagery of Death the Reaper, the Harvester. It is violent and obviously intended to instill fear about something that comes as naturally to every living thing as living does: death. So I created the Fireflies, psychopomps figures who do not reap or slay or cause death but rather guide one from life into death. My own reworking removes the male aspect of the Magician. Death doesn’t care what your sex or gender is. We all die the same. The Fireflies have no gender or sex, they are simply symbolic of a transition from life into death, dreamlike entities who coax and guide those going to their final rest.

Symbolism and imagery is meant to convey the expected meanings of the card:

* The Magus links the ethereal spiritual world with the tangible material world, symbolized by both the starry sky and the foliage as well as the position of the hands and arms, mimicking a the ‘as above, so below’ gesture to denote the binding of ‘heaven and earth’.
* The four suits of the Tarot as presented; Chalice (Cup), Sword, Wand, and Pentacle. Symbolizing that the Magus has all the tools needed to manifest its will and intention.
* The symbols of infinity and ouroboros reinforce that this step of the Fool’s Journey is a connection with the infinite and cyclical.

Most of the other aspects have little context beyond I thought it looked good and worked well together.

[TheBugWitch]

This is gorgeous, lots of detail, and the two tone palette is lovely. Looking forward to seeing more cards in your Fool’s Journey!!

[Cindy_Crawfish]

Gorgeous. My only comment / question is your choice of the inverted pentagram. This is more commonly associated with banishing – whereas the right side up pentagram is used for manifesting. Personally the right side up or a combination of both makes more sense as the magician is all about manifesting.

[mbcrawford13]

Fantastic work. I’m looking for to seeing the project upon completion. Please let us know where to purchase the deck as well!!

[cosmoceans]

Wow I love the skull personally, and all the plants! Big fan!

[Nyipnyip]

I love it, can’t wait to see more of the Majors in this style.

[Mysterious_Grocery85]

Very powerful. I work with the Mary-el and I love darker imagery that asks the reader to re-learn how to understand the cards.

[BamfBurrito]

This is awesome!

[TheDamnburger]

Sweet.

[lazersnail]

I want this hung on my wall

[deltahb]

Love this! Can’t wait to see what you come up with for the rest of them!

[Adorable-Slice]

This is so rad

[Henrik_XIII]

Awesome! May I save this masterpiece to my phone? Thinking of unsing it as a background photo.

[CarmaCasto]

Love the idea of changing death from a feared, dark, entity into a light at the end of the tunnel.

[NomadicHermitTarot]

Will buy when done!!