Clocking in at just under two years of intermittent work, I’ve completed the drawings for Tarot von Borax. Begun on October 22 of 2018, and completed on October 3 of 2020, this deck has been the largest single sequence of art I’ve ever attempted: 78 drawings, comprised of this Major Arcana, and the previously posted suits of Toast, Forks, Quills and Tins. The descriptions of the cards were very roughly sketched out- generally as an afterthought as I posted these on Instagram, so there’s still more writing to come before I publish in coloring book form, and probably as a deck of cards. I had planned on coloring it as well, but the world has changed in such a way that I no longer care to define any character’s skin tone. You’ll have to color them your OWN self, with whatever rainbow is appropriate for your consciousness.

The entire project has been a Jungian journey for me, as I drew each card, with little preconception, on one page of a single inexpensive notebook, with no starting over on a fresh page. I didn’t know what the suits were until I got to them (Basically, Toast=Cups, Forks=Swords, Quills=Wands, Tins=Discs, and the elements switched for Forks and Cups).

Some of the standard cards of the Pamela Coleman Smith/Arthur Waite deck just didn’t work for me- like Pages, which I replaced with Oracles, and a number of the Major Arcana Cards, like the Witch that replaces the High Priestess, Enlightenment instead of Judgement, etc. I seem to have depicted very few men, except the Kings. I just don’t find men very interesting to draw, maybe because I’m stuck looking at one in the mirror EVERY DAY. Anyway, it’s possible that some of these characters are trans, or nonbinary, or whatever they like, I suppose. Who am I to say? The Toast works with the Fork and it flows to the Quill- you can Tin that however you like.

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Posted at 11:34 PM