The King of Pentacles Promises 2016 Prosperity!

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Here’s the King of Pentacles–at nearly four feet high it’s the biggest assemblage for the Tarot of Bones! I ended up using an Ikea tabletop a neighbor had left out by the trash this summer as the backboard, and yes, I had a LOT of fun painting it up. I’m hoping this old bison can bring some prosperity to the new year–and hopefully other positive changes as well. This animal was, and still is, incredibly important to many indigenous cultures of the American Plains, each animal providing food, hide and bones that could carry a community for weeks, if not months. The slaughter of the bison was meant to destroy these cultures, and so the reversed King of Pentacles reflects that greed and excess.

Just one…more…assemblage…left! I’m a bit behind on it, as I had some engineering issues I’ll discuss later, but I should have no trouble sticking to my promise to have all the assemblages done by the end of 2015. So close!

I Told You There’d Be a Happy Squirrel!

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So. Back when I ran my IndieGoGo campaign in the spring, one of the stretch goals was that I would create a Happy Squirrel card for the Tarot of Bones. We met that goal, and so I added the card into the list of assemblages to create. An in-joke among tarot readers, the Happy Squirrel originated from an early episode of The Simpsons, but has found its way into more than one deck–including the Tarot of Bones! The card has come to represent the “vague and mysterious” elements of tarot–more specifically, the fact that nothing is set and stone and even the most on-point reading is affected by subjective factors. Reversed, it may mean that you’re putting too much emphasis on the outcome of your reading and need to diversify your outlook.

The articulated squirrel skeleton is by the good folks at Custom Cranium, who also articulated the snake skeleton for the Magician. Also, I have three assemblages left, two of which are this close to being done–we’re coming down to the wire here!

The Nest of the Page of Cups

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The Page of Cups is a card of preparing for creativity, and what better animal than the chicken, whose nest is the site of hundreds of little creations a year? In this assemblage, a chicken skull puts the finishing touches on a cozy nest, ready to become the site of new possibilities of many sorts! But there’s a bit of a surprise–rather than using a box or the ground, she’s chosen a coyote rib bone as the base for her work. Will she think of new ways to outwit her enemy, or is she perhaps drawing on the coyote’s cleverness? Be careful if this card shows up reversed, though: it can symbolize a creative block, a lack of maturity or forethought, or inability to cope with changes and stresses in one’s life. All of these can put the kibosh on even the best-intended creative efforts.

This is the 75th assemblage for the Tarot of Bones, which including the Happy Squirrel means I have just four assemblages left! Better yet, all four of the remaining assemblages are in varyinf stages of completion in my workspace, and I should have no trouble meeting my deadline of completing all of them by the end of 2015.

The Toad in the Moon

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Many different animals have been associated with our planet’s celestial satellite; wolves would have been the easy cliche, but I decided to go with a more obscure lunar creature, the toad. Both the Chinese and the Salish saw a toad in the dark markings on the moon’s face, reproduced in a stylized manner on this assemblage. The common Indian toad skull brings that sky-amphibian back to earth, so that they mirror each other in the warm summer night.

The toad is a particularly apt symbol for the Moon card. Amphibians were the first vertebrates to bridge the water and land on a full-time basis, which reflects how we have one foot in the waking world, and one in the land of dreams and visions. Our sometimes revulsion for toads is similar to our fear of the weirdness of the dreamscape, yet we respect the ecological sensitivity of the creatures–and of our own minds. In this, the toad embodies the ambivalence of the Moon, and the ability to balance mixed feelings and experiences.

I am SO CLOSE to being done–I have just five assemblages left including the Happy Squirrel. Onward crazy artist!

The Sun Also Rises

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Here’s the next card for the tarot of Bones, the Sun! It features a resin replica golden eagle skull, and a vintage plaque that got a bit of a makeover with some tempera and acrylic paints. It’s one of my favorite cards, full of joy and optimism, and the choice of the golden eagle as its representative reflects how cultures across the Northern hemisphere see this bird as a sign of good fortune, blessings and other positive messages. Beware its reversal, though, for you may be tripped up by pessimism or incautious optimism.

….and this leaves me with six assemblages to go!

The Emperor is King of the Mountain

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We’re in the last month of the year, and I’m working on getting the last few assemblages done, amid other activity in my studio. The Emperor here features a goat skull resting upon a mountain of stones that I had to glue in place one…by…one. It was worth the time spent, though, and I’m really happy with how this card turned out.

This is 71 out of 79–on to the next!

The Queen of Swords Watches From Overhead

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The Queen of Swords has always been a difficult card for me to deal with; in many ways she is my antithesis, head-leading rather than heart-leading. It’s not that I don’t engage in rational thought, but that my emotions are a constant simmering presence on the surface of my existence. However, there are times when her cool head is exactly what I need to keep myself on an even keel.

In order to settle my discomfort with this card, I chose the red-tailed hawk to represent it. The hawk has always been my symbol of the East and all intellectual considerations, and so it made a much better segue into working with the energy of the Queen of Swords. It’s not that hawks can’t be affectionate; rather, they possess great skills in being focused and hunt dispassionately. The goal is not to torture or coddle the prey, merely the practicality of eating and staying alive.

This is not, of course, a real hawk skull. It’s a rather nicely crafted resin replica. As with the other Court cards in the Swords suit, the jaw is detached from the skull to both show the card’s lower standing compared to the Major Arcana, and to symbolize this card’s suit.

This is the 70th assemblage completed; including the Happy Squirrel card, I have nine assemblages left–I bet I can get them done by the end of the year, too!

Return to the Wild With the High Priestess!

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This past weekend was my very last vending event of the year, which means I’m free to get back to studio work! I finished up the High Priestess assemblage, which I started a couple of weeks ago. A gray wolf skull rests between a pair of trees while the crescent moon just begins to rise over the horizon.

To me, the High Priestess represents a return to our wild selves. We are mammals, apes, animals–we are Homo sapiens sapiens. We’ve forgotten that, though, convinced we are above the rest of nature. Unfortunately, this attitude has been detrimental to everyone, ourselves included. We have romanticized the gray wolf as the greatest symbol of wilderness we have in our culture, and we should use that power–not to further destroy, but to reconnect.

And that is why the wolf skull holds the High Priestess’ energy–she is beckoning us back to the wilderness and to our deeper selves as animals. We see only the human-specific parts; we ignore the complexity of who we are as whole beings born from billions of years of evolution and experience. If only we reconnected with that ancient heritage, we could change the world for the better–and the High Priestess, in her lupine form, is ready to guide us back to that.

The King of Swords’ Carefully Drawn Blade

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The King of Swords is another one of those cards where the animal I chose may not be the one you’d initially suspect. Beavers are neither aggressive nor swift; even in the water they can only swim so quickly. But unlike the hot-headed Knight of Swords, the King has had years to temper both his blade and his intelligence, learning to plan carefully rather than act rashly. In the same way, the beaver only uses its teeth to defend itself as a last resort; instead, it has turned them toward building fortresses of sticks and logs to provide a safe haven for its family. This reduces the need for violence and shows the wisdom of years of evolution. When building a dam and lodge, a beaver does not consider its neighbors either way. Many animals will benefit from the pond the dam creates, but sometimes this may cause unnecessary flooding of land where smaller creatures may have lived. So reversed, the King of Swords in the Tarot of Bones also represents an abuse of power, authority and resources.

This is the 68th assemblage–I’m getting so close to being done! I have the bones I need for the remainder of the assemblages, and now I just need to make the time to create them. My goal is still to have them done by the end of the year–about six weeks and change left.

Also, just as an important reminder, if you have not yet filled out the survey to help me determine which perks I’ll offer for the next Tarot of Bones IndieGoGo campaign, you can find it here–it’ll only take a couple of minutes at the most, and it would help me a great deal. Thank you!

November Opens With the Tower

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Here’s the first completed assemblage for November, the Tower! It’s a card with a lot of destructive symbolism, particularly on a physical level. It also represents the downfalls of hubris, particularly when your foundation isn’t well-supported. In the assemblage, a European starling skull falls to the ground, its jaw flying away with the sticks it chose to build its nest with. Above, we can see the thin twig it was building on has snapped.

I chose the starling deliberately. Starlings were introduced to the U.S. in the 19th century by someone who–in their hubris–thought it would be a good idea to have every bird Shakespeare mentioned in his plays living in Central Park. A century and change later, and starlings are an overpopulated invasive species elbowing native birds out of the way at nesting sites and feeders. It’s the perfect example of how we have had this idea that we can fuss around with nature however we like and not feel the effects, all the while putting more weight on our tenuous perch.

But destruction is a chance for rebirth, and even as we’re moving toward environmental collapse, it’s an opportunity for us to make things right again, as best as we can. And even if we end up doing ourselves in as a species, the planet will continue, and other species will evolve to fill the niches we and our fellow extinctions have left behind. Sure, it’s not the happiest outcome for us, but then we’ve been thinking only of ourselves for too long, haven’t we?

The Tower is the 67th assemblage completed–with the Happy Squirrel included, I have just twelve left to go!