“Madame Sosostris, famous clairvoyante, Had a bad cold, nevertheless Is known to be the wisest woman in Europe, With a wicked pack of cards. Here, said she, Is your card, the drowned Phoenician Sailor, (Those are pearls that were his eyes. Look!) Here is Belladonna, the Lady of the Rocks, The lady of situations. Here is the man with three staves, and here the Wheel, And here is the one-eyed merchant, and this card, Which is blank, is something he carries on his back, Which I am forbidden to see. I do not find The Hanged Man. Fear death by water.
I see crowds of people, walking round in a ring. Thank you. If you see dear Mrs. Equitone, Tell her I bring the horoscope myself: One must be so careful these days.� -- T. S Eliot
This project documents the reference, textual context, and color choices of my unique tarot card design. All characters in this deck are mythical characters Eliot alluded to in The Waste Land. However, In my version, all the characters have lost their past meaning and have become bad and pessimistic in nature.
Unknown artist, Ancient Phoenician Sailor
Here, is your card, the drowned Phoenician sailor. (Those are pearls that were his eyes. Look!)
0
The Fool
A young man drowned in deep water. The Fool fell off the cliff and drowned to death as no one is there to warn him of the danger.
“Nam Sibyllam quidem Cumis ego ipse oculis meis vidi in ampulla pendere, et cum illi pueri dicerent...�
I
The Magician
Old Sybil is trapped in a bottle. The magician has lost her power. All she wants is death.
Elizabeth Sampet, photograph of Madam Sosostris
Madame Sosostris, famous clairvoyante, Had a bad cold, nevertheless Is known to be the wisest woman in Europe
ii
The High Priestess
The high priestess is a charlatan. Dressed in pretentious array, she cannot read the future, for she is forbidden to see.
Da Vinci, Virgin of the Rocks
Here is Belladonna, the Lady of the Rocks, The lady of situations
iii
The Empress
The Empress is infertile, just like the dried land. Only her robe, in sacred red and blue, reminds of her glorious past.
Willy Pogany, Parsifal in the Legend of the Holdy Grail
I sat upon the shore Fishing, with the arid plain behind me
iv
The Emperor
The old emperor is infertile and powerless. The color of his robe and armor has faded and muted. He sits on an cracked boat, fishing. with the empty grail in hand.
left: Giulio Carpioni, The Blind Prophet Tiresias with the Baby Narcissus right: Tinder logo I Tiresias, old man with wrinkled dugs Perceived the scene, and foretold the rest—
V
The Hierophant
Tiresias, the true seer, has nothing left to see but an intercourse. An ancient statue in a lustful scene, a prophet as a Peeping Tom.
VI. The Lovers
Edmund Leighton, The End of the Song
“You gave me hyacinths first a year ago; “They called me the hyacinth girl.”
VI
The Lovers
Tristan and Isolde had a colorful relationship. Until the black sail brings bad omen to the romance.
Rogelio de Egusquiza, Parsifal
I sat upon the shore Fishing, with the arid plain behind me Shall I at least set my lands in order?
VII
The Chariot
His chariot is being pulled by rats. which ran across dead men’s bones. But still he charges, forward, searching for the holy grail.
These fragments I have shored against my ruins
IX.
The Hermit
Thomas Pennant, A hoopoe
The change of Philomel, by the barbarous king So rudely forced
VIII
Strength
The woman no longer strokes the animal’s head. Animal instinct has taken control.
Unknown artist, Ancient Phoenician Sailor
Twit twit twit Jug jug jug jug jug jug So rudely forc’d. Tereu
XI
Justice
Justice holds no scale. Through her revenge, Justice will become the new Strength.
Your father lies five whole fathoms below, His bones have turned to coral now. His eyes have turned to pearls. There’s nothing left of him, He’s undergone a complete sea change And become something rich and strange
XIII
Death
His bones have turned to coral now. His eyes have turned to pearls. Death has made him something rich and strange.
Elizabeth Jane Gardner, Philomela and Procne yet there the nightingale Filled all the desert with inviolable voice And still she cried, and still the world pursues, “Jug Jug� to dirty ears.
XIV
Temperance
She cries, but the others cannot hear. No water is there to transport. Voices do not flow. She holds to empty cups in the waste land.
Unknown artist, Ancient Phoenician Sailor
When lovely woman stoops to folly and Paces about her room again, alone, She smoothes her hair with automatic hand, And puts a record on the gramophone.
XVII
The Star
Hope, faith, purpose, renewal. The lovely woman is enjoying a record on the mramaphone. Her subconscious, and the conscious in the jar, are spilled on the floor.
Unknown artist, Ancient Phoenician Sailor
White bodies naked on the low damp ground And bones cast in a little low dry garret, Rattled by the rat’s foot only, year to year.
XVIII
The Moon
Our minds used to be dog and wolf, howling at the dream. Now they are rats, stepping on dead men’s bones, in a dark alley, chuckling from ear to ear.
Unknown artist, Ancient Phoenician Sailor
Flushed and decided, he assaults at once; Exploring hands encounter no defence; His vanity requires no response, And makes a welcome of indifference.
XIX
The Sun
The positive card of vitality has turned up side down. A conceited young man ruled by his libido. The only thing that shines is his pimple.
Unknown artist, Ancient Phoenician Sailor
I do not find The Hanged Man.
XII
The Hanged Man
Madam Sosostris, the priestess cannot see this card. Of course she can’t, since when can a character see her author?