Six of Swords...

A year or so ago I began creating a new tarot. I'd already painted 76 images to illustrate a set of meditation cards called The Mystic Rubáiyát, (one for each verse of The Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyám, plus a title card), a set of 22 tarot majors in pen and ink called The Pen Tarot and another, The Wild Green Chagallian Tarot, inspired by the work of the artist Marc Chagall and the precious wild herbs that thrive unnoticed all around us. The new tarot was (and is) to be a full deck of 78 cards plus a title card.

Working through the minor arcana, I came to the Six of Swords. When there is an image on this card (rather than simply pips, as on the Tarot of Marseille), it usually depicts a boat crossing a body of water. There are three figures in the boat; usually a standing ferryman, a woman in a hooded cloak and a child - all with their backs towards the viewer. Six swords stand upright next to them. The meaning is basically of moving on, but interpretation is very much an individual process, and can depend on the subject, the reader's intuition and influences of the surrounding cards.

I'd sketched some ideas and decided which to develop - I'd even made a small model. But that was it - all inclination to begin the painting fell away. Instead I decided to re-edit and format my books for Kindle. The process turned out to take far longer and involve more than I'd ever imagined, but I feel I have to complete it before moving on with the tarot images.

I think that what I'm saying here is that in life, or in any creative process - and life is surely creative - one needs to listen to the rhythms, feel the tides, and if possible go with rather than against them. I'm hoping I'll travel more smoothly by listening and flowing - that's the theory anyway. I'm not sure what the swords are for, but when the time is right I'll carry them with me.