Major Arcana: The Fool's Journey (2020)
I've always felt attracted by the mysticism of the Tarot. The artwork, the iconography and symbolism are windows to a forgotten age of discoveries and magic. I've had many reading through my life, always discovering something new, so I decided to make my own deck, but where to start? There are already many, many artistic interpretations of the Major Arcana, so, researching I stumbled across a page called learntarot.com and it helped me dearly. Because I found there, the perfect interpretation for my deck "The Fool's Journey" version.
Quoting: "The Fool's Journey is a metaphor for the journey through life. Each major arcana card stands for a stage on that journey - an experience that a person must incorporate to realize his wholeness"
That opened my mind into a diferent take of the cards, beyond all interpretationg I found a narrative, and everything came organicaly.
Now I had one new problem, almost all major arcana decks I've seen have human iconography, and I didn't want to blend with that trope, so I invented a new setting and world building based on a fantastic alternate world where magic still exists.
For the main character, The Fool, I imagined him as a humanoid bird creature, an avianoid, if you will. The avianoid tribe is weak and peacefull, but there are also the dominating species, mollusk like creatures who have full access to tha magic of the planet, these magic users are called Mysticles. Regarding the wild life I came to a solution, there are no mammals in this planet, so I thought of arthropods that filled that niche, based on earth cambrian creatures, my imagination made the rest.
I structured everything like a videogame, with an arc for the main characters, items to collect, skills to unlock and bosses to defeat. This work could be easily be translated into a videogame, or make pretty fancy printed deck.
Here's the source of my inspiration: http://www.learntarot.com/journey.htm
0 - The Fool starts his journey, innocent and unaware of the perils of his quest to find himself. He is a fool because is unable to do magic without an artifact. Not knowing that the rock where he stands leads to a painful fall.
1 - After his first fall, The Fool breaks his battle stick, so it takes it to The Magician so he can fix it, but the wise mollusk has ulterior plans for the Fool and grants him an elemental artifact of his choice.
2 - Having chosen the Fire Cactus, The Fool goes with the High Priestess in order to get her blessing for the magic weapon. Instead she secretly gives him the key of The First Garden.
3 - While inside the Sacred Garden, the Fool has an encounter with the Ancestral Mother, who explains him the gift of Elemental Channeling, in this case: Fire.
4 - But not everything runs smooth for The Fool, as he is arrested for trespasing sacred grounds and is taken to the Elder who banishes him into the wilderness.
5 - While on his journey, The Fool arrives to the coast, where he meets The Hierophant, monk of arcane knowledge and mysteries. The old mystic takes The Fool as his acolyte and leads him into the realm of formal education and religous belief.
6 - During his training, The Fool falls in love with Her, another acolyte, challenging his own beliefs of unity and celibate as he yearns for relationship.
7 - As The Fool becomes more capable of dominating the Fire Cactus, he confidently casts his first Materialization. The most crowning achievemt so far.
8 - The Fool witnesses Her calming a wild Hurdiana with nothing but love and patience. She doesn't wield an artifact, but easily materializes the Infinity symbol on top of her head, meaning that she has unlocked a new skill: The taming of wild beasts.
9 - Tired of everything, Her and The Fool decide to escape from the monastery and head to the mountains to live alone and find the most unaswered questiong of all "Why?"
10 - Deep within spiny forest beyond of the mountains, they find a forgoten temple and decide to experiment with materialization and will-power to build something together.
11 - The monastery sends a Paladin to get Her back, as she left without permission. The Paladin carries a combined Artifact, capable of wield Earth and Wind.
12 - After confronting The Paladin, The Fool is easily defeated and left hanging on a tree. Without Artifact and alone, channels his inner wisdom and looks for a way out of his misery.
13 - After finding his materializations, he escaped on a Hurdiana into the Southern Lands, leaving everything behind and start again with his training.
14 - Fully embracing his Hermit self, The Fool finds two Water Artifacts and start manipulating the new source of energy. Meanwhile he develops his spiritual balance through his training.
15 - The Fool has reached new levels of being, so he returns to the monastery to find Her, but she now carries an egg with her. Is his? The Fool, once again finds himself unaware and that ignorance to an inner core of despair.
16 - The Fool now has to battle his own ego and take Her out. But they are chased by The Paladin and the Hierophant. Then The Lovers combine their new techniques and break apart the materialization creating a vortex that strikes their enemies down.
17 - Finding the peace of a simple life with his love, The Fool stands proud overlooking with hope and inspiration, for he has his faith in himself back and the future is also restored. Her bathes the nest with the water artifact, helping it grow strong.
18 - Bewildered with the moon cycles, The Lovers are carried by anxiety and fear of the unknown, the time of birth approaches, and uncertainty dominated their illusions.
19 - A new day arrives and The Lovers also have a new companion, The Child rides joyously to face greatness over a tamed Anomaloequus. The Fool feels enlightened and full of vitality after finally finding the goodness of the world.
20 - During their journey, the Family encountes a Photophagus, symbol of realization and blessing. The Fool, now old and wise makes up with his past and embraces the ultimate knowldege: That joy, not fear, is at life's center.
21 - The Child rests over the tomb of her parents surrounded by the four elemental artifacts ready to face the world and start her very own adventure. The Fool has fulfilled his life and become one with eternity in company of Her and honored by his memory
Card Reverse
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