I drew the Four of Cups, the Eight of Cups, and the King of Rods (wands). The Four of Cups illustration has its typical RWS connotations; dreaminess, willful ignorance, but with an Airy, intellectual quality. I like to think of it as the absent-minded professor card. That's been me lately: diving in and out of Tarot books, spending time with my decks, and forgetting about most everything else! The Eight of Cups is less traditional; the landscape remains the same but the only person pictured is staring at the cups in the riverbed rather than traveling away from them. Picard's interpretation is balance and reason. I ought to be trying for a bit more balance in my life at the moment! The King of Rods represents genius, or great talent; it seems to be saying that I'll have more luck with the tarot if I put down some books for a bit and get myself involved in life.
I used Pixie's Astounding Lenormand for my Lenormand pair. Clover + Garden seems to say that I'll have good luck or fun at a social event; I'll be heading out this evening, so hopefully that holds true!
After spending some time with Eudes Picard-inspired tarots, I've come to see and appreciate a few things about them. I believe they're intended, and represented faithfully in the El Gran Tarot Esoterico and Universal Wirth Tarot, to be a more 'natural' tarot, sort of an offshoot of the Marseilles vine and flower decorative elements. The Minors are the 'effects', as Picard says in his book Manuel synthétique & pratique du tarot, and they are also intrinsically connected to the world, especially the natural world, around us. I really appreciate this interpretation of the Tarot, and I hope to revisit Picard's designs again in another series.
