I studied the RWS system. That is, I read a ton of books on the RWS Tarot, regurgigated again and again the individual meanings of the cards until I finally reached a point where I feel comfortable reading cards pretty intuitively. Since many decks are based on A. Waite and Pamela-Coleman-Smith's famous rendition of the Tarot, reading intuitively usually just means connecting the keywords in my mind to the image I see on the card.
6 times Death:
RWS (top) (left to right) Morgan Greer, Triomphes de la Lune, Fairy Tale Tarot, Prisma Visions Tarot, Sakki Sakki Tarot
As you can see here, I laid out 6 renditions of the Key XIII, or Death, card. The uppermost one is obviously both the most famous and also lends itself to inspiration for other artists. While many decks are direct RWS clones borrowing from Coleman-Smith's art without questioning the symbols and composition of the image, many new interpretations are seen, especially in the Major Arcana. The Majors, unlike the Courts or Pips, are often reinterpreted, leading to entirely different meanings.
In this set of 6, you can see Death as a skeleton that ends the life of rich and poor, young and olf alike (RWS). Then, there is Death as the classic grim reaper, shown to be more of a boogey man than a fact of life (Morgan Greer). Next, Death is both the end with a sdword through her head and rebirth, with the newborn already crawling out of her belly (Triomphes de la Lune by Patrick Valenza). Lisa Hunt's Fairy Tale Tarot goes as far as to give the card a new title. Instead of choosing an actual occurence of death in a fairy tale, the artist chose Beauty and the Beast to depict Key XIII. Beauty and beast look at each other and realise that this relationship between woman and animal must end to make way for man and woman (as seen in shadows above their two heads). This death is not simply an end, but a Transformation.
The Prisma Visions Tarot, while not a direct RWS clone, borrows a lot from Coleman-Smith's symbology. In this card, a skeletal hand holds the white rose that is also depicted in the RWS and Morgan Greer decks. A very clear, but slightly more abstract and less morbid way to present Death.
Finally, the Sakki-Sakki Tarot is a complete clone of the RWS deck, but has its own sense of humor. Death, while the symbols and depiction remains nearly the same as the original Key XIII, doesn't seem frightening but rather comical. The horse looks more like a dog and the skeleton has funny features.
Depending on which deck I use, I see the Death card in a different light. I don't like to read the Fairy Tale Tarot with the RWS meanings without questioning what I see. The same goes for every other deck. The picture decides what the cards want to say to you.
This is the reason why I decided to add new titles to some of the cards in the Romantic Tarot. As I said before, the Romantic Tarot is my most customized deck. It barely ressembles its original form, having been stripped of its box and its borders and having gained red edges and some glitter.
"ACE" written in gold pen
I was afraid edging would ruin the cards and smudge them. Then I was afraid the glitter wouldn't look good. Finally, I didn't want to take a gold metallic pen and draw on my beloved deck. I overcame this fear by doing this to a deck that doesn't have a great material worth. Also, I bought a second, replacement deck of the Romantic Tarot (it being one of my favorites), in case I ruined my copy.
Key XIII Death retitled "Black Widow"
Many Majors in the Romantic Tarot have some symbology from the RWS deck, but they use it differently and the cards simply don't feel the same. As you can see above, Key XIII: Death in the Romantic Tarot shows a young widow wistfully glancing at a grave. It is unclear whether she loved the person or not, or whether she has gotten rid of an unwanted husband and now basks in her success. The soft coloring and the wistful style of the illlustration make it hard to view this as a classic Death card. The end has already happened (the person in the grave has been dead long enough to set up a stone) and the new beginning has already started. Thus I retitled this card "black widow", as the woman has now reached a new identity and phase of her life.
Key 0: The Fool and Key XXI: The World retitled as
"sans-soucis" (French for "without worries")
Another thing I did is to use my own interpretations of certain core ideas and form them into words. The Fool and The World - being the beginning and the finale of a full circle, always formed a couple to me. Those two cards really needed a deeper connection, because the RWS Fool and World are disjointed and don't allow for the reader to grasp the journey or at least the circular nature of the Tarot.
I had a striking inspiration for this dilemma while visiting Castle Sanssouci near Berlin.
Castle Sanssouci in Berlin. Picture credit: wikipedia
The castle and adjoining gardens are beautiful, and Frederick the Great aptly named his new abode "Sanssouci", which is French, for "without worries". It suddenly occured to me that the Fool and the World did have one single, connecting idea: that of being free of worries.
Obviously the Fool is worriless for different reasons than the character of the World, which is complete instead of foolhardy. However, the word does connect both concepts seamlessly.
In the Romantic Tarot, we see both the Fool and the World with a blue sky in the background. While the confident Dandy steps onto a flying dove, the parents in hold up the globe on which sits the child. This connection is really renedered more obvious to me now that I added the titles.
Have you ever changed the titles on your decks? And if so, did you write the changes down or did you simply start viewing cards differently?
Blessings and balance ~
Peachess
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