A Muse is defined as:
A woman, or a force personified as a woman, who is the source of inspiration for a creative artist. Oxford Dictionary.
Musing is defined as:
A period of reflection or thought. Oxford Dictionary.
Just as the Greeks and Romans used Muses for reflection and thought in the form of nine Goddesses each representing their own particular theme or subject, modern day people, too, look for inspiration through pieces of art. Art has continually grown as a source of interest, pleasure and depiction since our ancestors learnt to draw.
A picture will spark different thoughts and feelings in each individual, even though it is one and the same image that is seen by all. Art has a unique way of communicating and it commands respect (and wealth) whatever the genre.
A picture that is loved will be gazed upon almost daily in one’s home – it may be a reminder of a person or a pleasant memory, it may be so pleasing to the eye that it sparks happy feelings. It may be a poignant portrait that moves us to tears or an image that drags us deep into meditation.
Bring these thoughts to the images in a tarot deck and it becomes clear why tarot is so popular. A deck of tarot images will spark thoughts and feelings regardless of what the image is about. A tarot image can disgust or please as easily as any other picture that is created.
This is why different tarot decks appeal to different people.
What made the Rider/Waite/Smith deck so popular that it became the number one selling deck of all time?
Some say it is the images themselves with their cryptic scenes and symbols. Others will say it is the meanings that come with each of the images. It may just be that it was one of the few tarot decks that appeared at the right time in the right way.
Since then, hundreds of new tarot decks have been created by a host of very talented people. Many of them are themed – cats, vampires, witches, nature, zombies, fairies, angels to name a few.
The fact that tarot itself has lost some of its unwelcome reputation and has been seen to be a helpful tool has also helped in its popularity. But a tarot deck has 78 images and 78 meanings just to start with. 78 images simply to muse upon before even creating a spread for a Reading. Each combination of cards and meanings will provoke ‘a period of reflection and thought’. What a wealth of musing there is in a tarot deck!
A muse will inspire a painting, a drawing or even a story. The tarot will inspire us to think carefully about how or why we are doing something in a particular way. With 78 images and meanings to bring together, tarot cards are able to communicate to us so many different things in so many different ways. Tarot card images can ‘speak’ to us, not just with their written meanings but what it brings alive in our minds by the picture alone. To fall in love with a particular tarot deck the images must appeal, they must inspire, they must speak to us.
We hope you are inspired by our Tarot card The Star (pictured above) which is from our own deck The Tarot House Deck.
Love and Light
Patricia
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