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The Empress

$150.00

The Empress
26x50, ink on canvas
Poplar dowels, cotton cord

One color banner for easy hanging. No frames. No glass. ALL texture.

Why tarot? It's the perfect art to me; everyone can read the tea leaves of what the image means, or they can read the hundreds of years of interpretation from books. There is ONE book in particular that has opened up the images for me, I'll tell you about it.

Rich in symbolism, the original tarot of the 1600s is still full of mystery. There are many photographic reproductions of old tarot decks. There are many modern pen and ink or computer drawn versions too. From what I can tell, I am doing the only modern hand-carved version, distilled from the many Marseille tarot decks. The carvings are compatible with the written interpretations in the Jodorowsky/Camoin "Way Of Tarot" book, which explores the deep roots of the imagery.

Black ink on HEAVY natural canvas. Poplar dowels and cotton cord for EASY hanging. First run of 12. This thick canvas can be ironed flat if it wrinkles. Avoid getting it wet, as the raw canvas can shrink.

... "AND IF THE EMPRESS SPOKE" (From the Jodorowsky/Camoin "Way Of Tarot" Destiny Books, 2004) "I am creativity without any determined end. I burst into an infinite variety of forms. It is I who colors the entire Earth green after winter.
It is I who fill the sky with birds and the oceans with fish. When I say 'create,' I mean transformation. It is I who cause the seed to burst and the sprout to emerge. If I began giving birth to children, I could breed an entire humanity. If we are talking about fruit, I produce all the fruits known to nature. My mind never rests: a word, a shout, and I engender a world. I am the creative spirit. Listen to me and allow me to act within you, for I bring healing: Every problem and all suffering comes from an ego that has become fixed by the inability to create.
"I am activity, seduction, pleasure. There is nothing in me that is not beautiful. No depreciation: I am what I am, ever full and living. From the moment I incarnate within a body, it becomes sublime. Nothing nor no one can resist me; I am carnal, spiritual, total seduction. In me there is nothing that is repulsive, ridiculous, or ugly.

"Let me exult in you: I am the pleasure of being who you are, without prejudice or morals. You are handsome! You are beautiful! Ugliness is an illusion, a limitation imposed by a sick way of looking at things.
All that lives is adorable. I teach you that all your ideas are beautiful.
You may consider even your most atrocious, most criminal, and vilest thoughts in all their splendor. Abundance of thought is permitted. Let your thoughts shine like the ephemeral stars in the firmament of your mind. Nothing obliges you to put them to practice. Let them pass by as so many fantastic shapes.
"Your feelings are also marvelous. All, without exception. What a beautiful jealousy! What a powerful rage! What wonderful sorrow! Do not remain caged up in your fortified castle! Make it a temple with all its doors and windows open: all emotions are at your disposal, like a rainbow of subtleties.
"All your desires are respectable. Allow yourself to be permeated by desire; everything in your body is in harmony. The smallest cell is a world. Life is a constant miracle.
"If you adopt my ideas, you will become a luminous being. If you believe in my feelings, you will attain grace. Every sensation you have of yourself is a path to beauty. Trust your power of seduction. When the Virgin seduced her Creator, I was there. If she had not known me, she never would have been able to attract him. Seduction is a mystical state: it the amorous dialogue between the creature and its creator."