The Vernal Equinox Tarot Blog Hop
For this Tarot Blog Hop, Bonnie of Quiet Bonnie asked us, “What eggs are you called to develop and place for others to find?” Tarot readings can be Easter egg hunts. As we look at the card images in a spread, our eye seeks out repeated symbols and graphics that can guide us through a spread. Essentially, any time you search a spread for answers, you are looking for the easter eggs. In this post I’ll share some examples to illustrate this practice. Then you can go on a tarot Easter egg hunt with your next spread and see how it adds to your reading.
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Tarot Easter Eggs in Cirque Du Tarot
I selected three cards at random from the Cirque Du Tarot by Leeza Robertson and Michael Joshua Tufts. The Page of Cups, King of Cups, and The World came up. One caution when looking for tarot easter eggs is not to focus on details that are ubiquitous throughout the deck. If your deck has butterflies everywhere, that symbol loses its meaning of transformation and becomes simply a decorative theme. So the first thing I noticed in the three cards from the Cirque du Tarot was that all the cards had stars on them. A quick flip through the deck revealed that stars are a common decorative element.
However, as I looked more closely, I realized that there was a story arc for the star. In the Page, many stars floated in a mist of potential, hovering around the edges of the scene. In the King, one star from this mist embossed itself on the cup. Then in the final card, our astral protagonist flashes across the sky as a shooting star, over an actor on top of a globe. People cheer below and fireworks fountain at the edges of the stage.
The Story in the Cirque Cards
The resulting story? As our Page prepares for the show, all is in potential: his talent, connection to the audience, whether he’ll be “on” or not. Once ready, as King he uses his experience to call in his star quality. He becomes a vessel, and empty cup, to receive the influx of theatrical magic. In The World, he takes his curtain call to a standing ovation. The shooting star above shows that as he previously drew in his star quality, on stage he released it in an explosive tour de force.
the Zillich Tarot
The Zillich Tarot by Christine Zillich is a watercolor deck with an impressionistic feel. So when I look at the three cards I pulled, what jumped out immediately is the red swoosh in each card. The Ten of Disks shows a couple clasping hands over the back of a horse on the grounds of a beautiful estate. The man’s hand is yellow and the woman’s is red. The color and shape of her hand, particularly the portion from wrist to forearm, is quite similar in color and shape to the portion of the scarf draped over the woman’s shoulder in the Nine of Cups. It’s picked up again in both the rainbow and crystal in the Eight of Wands.
To find the story, I observe that the red portion is small and centered in the first card, then grows until it stretches from edge to edge in the last. But what does the red swoosh represent? We can take that from the question. Before pulling the cards, I had simply requested, “show me a good example of an easter egg in the Zillich Tarot.” So the red is the easter egg.
The Story in the Zillich Cards
Perhaps we could say that at first it is clearly seen, yet doesn’t seem too prominent. Guided by the hand of an experienced leader (that’s how I see the horse), we are willing to follow it and see where it goes. As we identify it clearly in the second card, we swirl in a dance of success. Then no longer needing the leader, we leap forward guided by the symbol itself in a freeing epiphany. The small dash of color from the first card, now shown as the crystal in the last, refracts meaning and we follow it like a rainbow leading to further tarot treasures.
Shadowscapes Tarot
The exquisitely gorgeous Shadowscapes revealed the Ten of Swords, High Priestess, and the Chariot for our random draw. Artist Stephanie Pui-Mun Law hits the watercolor trifecta with strong lines, flowing movement, and rich color.
A woman hangs, held aloft only by a billowing sail the color of drying blood. Nine aggressive, shadowy, stiletto-beaked birds fly in front of her, while a tenth pierces through her supporting parachute, leaving a gaping puncture. The tiny moon turns its points straight up as if to catch her in its too small boat. A bleeding drip from her gown descends toward the promise of the moon’s crucible cup. The beauty of the scene invokes poignancy to the heartless violence.
The High Priestess also floats suspended in a watery, starry firmament, but her outstretched arms and emanating rays demonstrate that she has secured her proper place. Twin crescents adorn the long drape of her lavender bandeau. She looks toward a russet pomegranate she displays in her left hand. In shape, size, and color — even in its position in the frame — the pomegranate remembers the blown-out hole in the previous woman’s cloak. Perhaps it is the memento of the torn parachute. Or maybe it’s a stopper used to repair the damage. Golden-green, bird-shaped leaves fall away from the Priestess, in a surprising magical turn of the demented raptors into innocuous fluff.
Frying up the Easter Egg
In the concluding Chariot, the round, red-brown easter egg appears as a crab holding perhaps a flat disk with a hole in it, but what winks at me as a cooked egg with unbroken yolk. Our eponymous symbol has been hunted, found, and fried up for breakfast. The crab with his treasure sits on his full moon domicile just beneath the surface of the watery road along which the coursers prance. The original deflating hole is now at the bottom of the frame, in a position of support. Our protagonist, so vulnerable and lost to impending doom in the first card, now rides, regal. She is armored, secure, and strong.
The Story in the ShadowScapes Cards
The story is one of strength through repair. Similar to the practice of kintsugi, the golden yolk of wholeness is the light of healing. And the frail slip of a moon evolving to the full disk is the passage of time. That which is broken is not lost. The heroine has repaired, reclaimed, and restored herself to her wheeled throne. She now knows her way through the three worlds.
Your Turn: What Tarot Easter Eggs Do You See in the Forest of Enchantment Tarot?
Here are three cards from the Forest of Enchantment Tarot by Lunaea Weatherstone and Meraylah Allwood. If you like, take a moment to ask a question before looking at the cards. Or you can hunt for eggs just to see what comes up. What tarot Easter eggs do you see? Please share your eggs and the resulting story in the comments!
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I do love your interpretations Joy, you always spot something interesting or unique. These decks are wonderful, and so very you <3
Thanks, Jay! <3 <3 <3
Hi Joy,
What an interesting way of looking at the cards. I always love your posts. I struggled with the Forest of Enchantment, but I finally realized it is the three bears or in this instance wood. In the first, the giant is using an entire tree as a toothpick so the wood is too small a tree should not be a toothpick. In the second, even though the sticks (wood) are smaller, they are burdening the small boy so they are “too big.” However, in the last, the trees are just right as they are in their proper place. The message is that everything is a matter of perspective. Thanks for a great post.
Wow! What a fabulous interpretation! What I saw — LOL — I saw the giant’s big nose, and the boy with two baskets was another nose (the baskets were the nostrils), then the poochy things on the side of the woman’s skirt were also like nostrils so she was a nose as well. All I can say is that I was really tired when I was scanning those cards. (Maybe I needed to do some deep breathing to energize myself!)