Major Arcana Artist Statement:

This series illustrates many things for me (pun intended). I began this series in a sort of audition for a book cover that I did not get.

Illustration I, The Fool, was my first of these illustrations. I spent lots of of time developing this illustration because it was my only submission to this book cover “audition.” I developed many new techniques through this piece. I had never limited myself to black ink on white paper; most of my work has been in vivid color. I found myself using everything from contour line to stipling to cross-hatching to delineate depth, shape, light and shadow, texture and tonal value. I also started to let myself doodle some in the creation of whimsical patterns. Detail became the dominant feature of this budding series.

I was so surprised to dig into each of the archetypes/characters of the Major Arcana. I had always shrouded the idea of the tarot deck in a mystical ignorance. Come to find out, the tarot deck is on many ways the cast of every great story- of life in fact. So many truths we wrap into our fiction and myth are plainly represented in the Major Arcana.

Furthermore, as I looked to traditional decks, I found that they all reflected history and specific religious and cultural traditions. It seemed to me that the culture of the world today requests a reimagined deck. I felt that a deck that represented an array of diverse religious and cultural traditions and challenged some aspects of gender roles represented in the traditional decks was called for. What an interesting opportunity for me.

Some of these illustrations represent nothing more than the workings of my imagination. Card II, The Magician, is one of those. Cards like this one provide an interesting opportunity to reimagine the world as we would like it to be- aesthetically and otherwise. The cards in the deck that asked more of my imagination I’d typify as whimsical and a playful balance of light and dark. The Devil, the Hanged Man, and many others fit into this category.

Other cards, such as Card III, the High Priestess, provided an entirely different opportunity for me to culturally challenge the traditional (most commonly Catholic) representations of the past. In the High Priestess illustration I represented an Egyptian woman with three faces and referencing the Shiva of the Five Faces). Representing such a high archetype as a female artist gave me a wonderful opportunity to rifle through history and culture to re-paint the High Priestess and others with some of the richest cultural traditions as symbolism from across the globe and across time.

A few themes from this deck as I alluded to are a new view of cultural diversity and a new view of womanhood and sexuality. Visually this deck is also a departure from the original deck in that it does not use color, does not adhere to one visual or cultural tradition and is far more detail intensive. My original inspiration for the visuals came from Art Deco and nouveau illustration (specifically Harry Clarke’s illustrations of Edgar Allen Poe)- including elongation of lines, liberties taken with the figure and whimsical pattern.

The differences in the way that I have chosen to address femininity, culture, religion and sexuality are perhaps best left to personal interpretation by the viewer of the deck in contrast to the original Rider-Waite deck. However, some of the points may bear elaboration, which I will do here.

In several of the cards and traditional decks, I got a sense of femininity being sort of cloaked, sexuality being shameful, and the chaotic feminine associated with wiles, temptation, etc. I have recently studied Eastern religions and have been particularly taken with some of the undertones of the view of women. The feral woman- in the sense of mate and mother- is acknowledged and celebrated. In many Hindu temples, there are sculptures: beautiful, nude, voluptuous female sentinels guarding the outside of the temples. There are female goddesses that illuminate this nature. Calypso, Venus, Aphrodite, Athena… These are some of the most familiar names of the goddesses. From Egypt to tribal pantheons worldwide, the chaotic and feral feminine is feared, loved, protected and adored. In many traditions, however, the feminine is artificially tamed and sterilized. Ironically, we (women) are less powerful and less beloved in this state. Female ferocity is entirely like male ferocity in that it is better to be matured and channeled than it is to be eliminated or crushed. This is a personal subject of study and an ongoing theme in my works. I believe that many women are wolves, birds of prey… That we thrive in tribes, howling over our loved ones, mates and young. I further believe that when we do not howl and fly, we become destructive chaos- pernicious and unhealthy. I believe sexual choice and pride to play a role in our ability to live in harmony with our feral selves. I don’t mean to say that I think overt sexuality or open relationship is a solution to what ails woman; rather that freedom of choice and honoring our deep and chaotic feminine natures allows us to wisely choose our mates of our own accord. I do not propose to have all the answers for woman, culture or the female spirit by any means; I only have to challenge the “perfect” and contained, victims way in which many women have been trained and have chosen to view themselves. We are archetypical mothers, warriors, hunters and fighters, and it behooves us to acknowledge and live in that power. So the female figures that you see in this deck were created in that spirit.

If the deck is intended to be universal, there is almost no way to represent every culture and minority in one deck, but I did make an effort. This deck alludes to aboriginal art (Polynesian, African and Australian), Native American art, Hindu art, Buddhist art, Egyptian art and more. This deck also represents a wide array of visual eras- favoring Art Deco and art Nouveau. Our modern world is a beautiful melting pot- an increasingly global community. It is my sincere hope that in that we still continue to honor, celebrate and delineate our diverse and rich cultures- rather than dissolving them. This deck is a celebration of that diversity.

This deck in many specific instances openly addresses sexuality with a more open, arguably more pagan tone. In my studies of world religions, I have been fascinated to discover widely carried views of sexuality and reproduction. Having grown up within the Christian tradition myself, I found it revolutionary that fertility goddesses and phallic statues were in fact sacred totems of other cultures. Oddly, the Bible does celebrate sexuality and reproduction; Song of Songs being my personal favorite illustration. Somehow in trying to create Biblical culture, there seems to have been a strange and taboo relationship develop with sexuality. We avoid the discussion, we shroud it in ignorance and shame… In so doing I think that we feed perverse relationships to sexuality. At the very least we create a difficult climate to have a healthy, well informed view of the issue. I think that a more open, reverent, honest discussion ongoing around the issue would better us all. So this deck is more open and direct toward that issue; many of the characters do allude to the fertility totems mentioned.

The tones in this deck surrounding gender also bring my thoughts on another hot topic of our time to bear. In my studies of history, culture, human nature and current events- have come to the developing conviction male and female are both deep, real and powerful orientations. I believe that all people have masculine and feminine traits. I believe that we all have a true nature that we function best in deep harmony with; for some people hearing this voice is an easier journey than others. I believe that the deep masculine and feminine form a perfect, unbreakable yin-yang with each other. This can take shape in relationship between people or within oneself. Every trait needs a complement- an inverse and a balance. Many characters in this deck are loudly and archetypal feminine, many are masculine, and many are androgynous. This is intentional, and I believe it truthfully reflects our world.

As with all of my works, I hope to provoke thought, dialogue, and engagement more than I hope for assent, praise and attention. These works are carefully considered thoughts that I sincerely hope are worth considering and challenging. My work is a reflective fact-finding mission more than it is a search for fame or anything like. Feel free and invited to share your thoughts.

Any message perceived to be disrespectful or negative is unintended by the artist.

THESE ARE THE ORIGINAL ARTWORKS OF CAROLINE NICOLE HAAG ARTIST. PROTECTED BY COPYRIGHT. DO NOT APPROPRIATE OR USE WITHOUT PERMISSION OF THE ARTIST/OWNER OF THESE IMAGES.

The Fool, I:

Traditional interpretation According to A. E. Waite's Pictorial Key to the Tarot: Folly, mania, extravagance, intoxication, delirium, frenzy, bewrayment. [If the card is] Reversed: Negligence, absence, distribution, carelessness, apathy, nullity, vanity.

He is Don Quixote I’m afraid. He’s hopeful, he’s arrogant, he’s gallant, he’s less than worldly wise. He’s a conspicuous idealist on a noble crusade. He’s either our salvation or a laughing-stock or both. Who’s to say? Will he succeed? We don’t know. Does it matter? We don’t know that either. But someone has to believe in magic. Someone has to be willing to be Beowulf or die trying. Someone has to be Saint George to the dragon. It’s quite possible that his value is less in his success or failure than it is in his belief itself.

The Magician, II:

Traditional interpretation According to A. E. Waite's Pictorial Key to the Tarot: symbolic of power, potential, and the unification of the physical and spiritual worlds.

Is he comforting or terrifying? Both. His eyes roll back into his skull as he’s overtaken by a power outside us all. He’s a medium and a channel- so who knows what will come forth? The term “magic” itself leaves us with wonder, uncertainty and fear. In facing the bending of the natural we must confront chaos in the world and inside ourselves. He’s Merlin and every witch doctor. He’s shrouded in fragrant smoke and ambiguity. Reality as you know it is negotiable for him. The only thing you can be certain of is that nothing is as it seems.

The High Priestess, III:

Traditional interpretation According to A. E. Waite's Pictorial Key to the Tarot: Secrets, mystery, the future as yet unrevealed; the woman who interests the Querent, if male; the Querent herself, if female; silence, tenacity; mystery, wisdom, science. Reversed: Passion, moral or physical ardor, conceit, surface knowledge.

She. The Nile pours forth from the open wrists. Her wings enfold the pyramids at Giza. She is oracle to pharoahs. Her closed eyes see all. She is both the Great Mother and the untouchable celibate goddess. She is unknowable. Though she is ultimately benevolent, she is also terrifying. She chaos and protection. She is beyond. She is other. And she sees you.

The Emperor, IV:

Traditional interpretation According to A. E. Waite's Pictorial Key to the Tarot: Stability, power, protection, realization; a great person; aid, reason, conviction also authority and will. Reversed: Benevolence, compassion, credit; also confusion to enemies, obstruction, immaturity.

He is the banner of his lover, his family and his people. He is warrior and general; tenacious teacher and unrelenting student; he is king, and he is his people. His lover, his pups and his people rely on him, and this gives him godlike strength- for he fights for more than himself. He is his lovers pride and her peace; he is his children’s refuge and their best companion. He is the raging sea that swallows his enemies while his wife and pups frolic in his warm, gentle shallows. He leads his people into the wars of ages when he must, and washes the blood off of the hands that hold his sons and daughters. He can carry as much as he must- for he carries the full weight of his own, which they give to him freely.

The Empress, V:

Traditional interpretation According to A. E. Waite's Pictorial Key to the Tarot: Fruitfulness, action, initiative, length of days; the unknown, clandestine; also difficulty, doubt, ignorance. Reversed: Light, truth, the unraveling of involved matters, public rejoicings; according to another reading, vacillation.

She is the woman that knows and needs no confirmation that she knows. She’s impervious to ridicule and especially to flattery. She wields all the weight of the feminine: the jealous lover, the cornered wolf mother, the burned witch, the enraged ruler. She wields it with a look, a word, a blade. She also wields womanhood: floral, fragrant, nourishing and soft. She is queen. She is wife. She is mother. She is lush and fertile; she is chaos and severity. She is balance and paradox. She tends her people with the same nurturing tenderness she shows her lover and her pups; she governs with compassion and deep empathy, but only as far as she can allow. For she is also responsible for the survival of her people, she must also be harsh, ruthless and just. She doesn’t bleed herself for the cares of any not in her own tribe- for she knows her loyalties, and she knows her limits. She guards her own with bared teeth and sharpened claws. 

The Heirophant, VI:

Traditional interpretation According to A. E. Waite's Pictorial Key to the Tarot: Marriage, alliance, captivity, servitude; by another account, mercy, and goodness; inspiration; the man to whom the Querent has recourse. Reversed: Society, good understanding, concord, over kindness, weakness.

Somewhere high in the Himalayas sits a being. Neither man nor woman; not exactly human, and not exactly inhuman. Impervious to the elements, hunger, time, natural law. The Heirophant is the archetypal shaman- the one who leaves to know. The Heirophant knows the end of all journeys; the moral of all stories; both sides of the veil. The Heirophant is the truth.

The Lovers, VII:

Traditional interpretation According to A. E. Waite's Pictorial Key to the Tarot: Attraction, love, beauty, trials overcome. Reversed: Failure, foolish designs. Another account speaks of marriage frustrated and contrarieties of all kinds.

They might be rich; they might be poor. They might be living or dead. It makes no never mind to them. They built what most of us spend a lifetime trying to find tolerable substitutes for: love. Their intimacy is both orgasmic and stable. It carries them through both the turbulent and the mundane. They lie coiled in eternity- as though preserved by the molten rock of Pompeii.

The Chariot, VIII:

Traditional interpretation According to A. E. Waite's Pictorial Key to the Tarot: Succour, providence; also war, triumph, presumption, vengeance, trouble. Reversed: Riot, quarrel, dispute, litigation, defeat.

The chariot is the divine messenger, Hermes of the tarot. This is also reflected in his connection with war. He is in flight more than on the run. He is impossible to imagine static. He and his sphinx steeds seem made to run. They are power in speed. Their strength is more like unto the wind than like a tower. 

Justice, IX:

Traditional interpretation According to A. E. Waite's Pictorial Key to the Tarot: Equity, rightness, probity, executive; triumph of the deserving side in law. Reversed: Law in all its departments, legal complications, bigotry, bias, excessive severity.

Justice serves as a unique opportunity to discuss a minority. We all know the adage “History is written by the victor,” but I would imagine few of us know the extent of the pain that that concept can cause. 

I find so much beauty in Native American lore and culture. There is a sort wisdom beyond worldly wisdom. I have some amount of Native American blood in me. It is a bold concept to explore Native American culture as Justice in the deck, but I do it with genuine and compassionate intention. What has happened to the Native American people since the occupation of North America by European settlers has been tragic and downplayed. Even what is going on now, with the culture itself struggling to survive on reservations covered in casinos. I still see so much dignity and pride in their history and heritage. This chief and his braves were my choice to represent Justice. 

The Hermit, X:

Traditional interpretation According to A. E. Waite's Pictorial Key to the Tarot: Prudence, circumspection; also and especially treason, dissimulation, roguery, corruption. Reversed: Concealment, disguise, policy fear, unreasoned caution.

Like many characters in this deck, the Hermit is androgynous. He or she stalks down a crooked path to a crooked moutain-top under cover of night. There’s a chill in the air. We don’t know if the hermit is threatened or threatening. Likely both. Like the Heirophant, the Hermit seeks isolation- but, rather than enlightenment as a motivator, here we have fear. This is the makings of the old hag or the terrifying old man at the end of the street.

Wheel of Fortune, XI:

Traditional interpretation According to A. E. Waite's Pictorial Key to the Tarot: Destiny, fortune, success, elevation, luck, felicity. Reversed: Increase, abundance, superfluity.

The Wheel of Fortune has more symbolism in it than the average card in this deck. It almost has a cultic or illuminati quality to it. This illustration is a new visual flavor, but most of the symbolism is traditional and true to form. The night sky surrounds the wheel. The Lion, Ox, Eagle and Scorpion keep watch from the four corners. A sultry little sphinx sits atop the wheel. On the Wheel itself, the traditional markings are there: the letters TARO alternating with the Hebrew characters for YHWH (Yahweh). I was striving to maintain the original imagery and symbolism and integrate a new sense of playfulness. We never know exactly what’s going to happen, yet we try to. Regardless of our wisdom, knowledge and experience- there’s still a roll of the dice. Everyone holds their breath as the wheel turns.

Strength, XII:

Traditional interpretation According to A. E. Waite's Pictorial Key to the Tarot: Power, energy, action, courage, magnanimity; also complete success and honours. Reversed: Despotism, abuse of power, weakness, discord, sometimes even disgrace.

If there is a character in this deck that I consider to be autobiographical, it is Strength. The traditional portrayal depicts a woman standing- hold the mouth of the lion forcibly shut. An alternate name for this card is Lust. This implies the strength of the woman to control, trammel, cage the Lion- and equates this to strength. I was interested in a different portrayal of the “taming” of the lion. I’d contend that the best relationships with wild beasts do not consist in de-clawing, caging, chaining and de-wilding them; but rather in forming a trusting bond with them. Perhaps a few creatures on this earth are evil, but most are decent, but not harmless. In my limited experience, strength can calm the lion to allay the threat rather than holding his mouth shut. So she sits- unarmored and unadorned- on floor with the King of Beasts. 

The Hanged Man, XIII:

Traditional interpretation According to A. E. Waite's Pictorial Key to the Tarot: Wisdom, circumspection, discernment, trials, sacrifice, intuition, divination, prophecy. Reversed: Selfishness, the crowd, body politic.

The Hanged Man seemed to me such a grim thing to illustrate. I love my villains and my gothic themes, but this concept had no lift for me. I thought how can I address and invert the concept? What if “hanging” doesn’t pertain to execution but play? So we have our female danseuse on aerial silks. I don’t think that this is necessarily a denial of the true nature of the card. What is anything but a perspective? If the heart of this card is transcendence and sacrifice, it seems better to me to do that from a place of willingness, hope and play even than from a place of martyrdom.

Death, XIV:

Traditional interpretation According to A. E. Waite's Pictorial Key to the Tarot: End, mortality, destruction, corruption; also, for a man, the loss of a benefactor; for a woman, many contrarieties; for a maid, failure of marriage projects. Reversed: Inertia, sleep, lethargy, petrifaction, somnambulism; hope destroyed.

She is the grim reaper- the harbinger of death. The thunder cracks, the lightning flashes, and the shadow of the supple female warrior is only her bones. She comes for you. 

Temperance, XV:

Traditional interpretation According to A. E. Waite's Pictorial Key to the Tarot: Economy, moderation, frugality, management, accommodation. Reversed: Things connected with churches, religions, sects, the priesthood, sometimes even the priest who will marry Querent; also disunion, unfortunate combinations, competing interests.

She’s the angel that shows you mercy, grace, unmerited compassion. She’s demure without weakness, gracious without compromise. The most delicate of feminine strength. She protects and nurtures- either with abundance or with temperance as needed. She knows when to give and when to take away- though she will never remind you of this. 

The Devil, XVI:

Traditional interpretation According to A. E. Waite's Pictorial Key to the Tarot: Ravage, violence, vehemence, extraordinary efforts, force, fatality; that which is predestined but is not for this reason evil. Reversed: Evil fatality, weakness, pettiness, blindness.

The air smells like seduction- burning wicks, spilt wine, and crushed flowers. There’s a music in the air that hangs thick- romantic, opaque and disorienting like opium smoke. The rooms reels in a sensual haze. Truth, clarity and objectivity yield to carnality, frenzy and indulgence. Prince of this carnival beckons come hither with an irresistible cool aristocratic bearing. Who could resist? 

The Tower, XVII:

Traditional interpretation According to A. E. Waite's Pictorial Key to the Tarot: Misery, distress, indigence, adversity, calamity, disgrace, deception, ruin. It is a card in particular of unforeseen catastrophe. Reversed: Negligence, absence, distribution, carelessness, apathy, nullity, vanity.

Calamity befalls us all. Some of us constantly; some of us when we expect it least; some when we expect it most. Tragedy is cruel and unpredictable. Much like entrapment in a burning tower, we cannot always escape with creativity or ingenuity. Do bad things happen to good people? Are there good people? Do bad things happen at random? If disaster is in fact democratic, there is a sense of anarchical justice to that. But who is in fact to say? The beauty of disaster is the opportunity for choice in the face of it: not a choice whether or not it strike, but what to do when it does. Your actions may not save your fate or anyone else’s, but always we have the choice between what is upright and what is easy. 

The Star, XVIII:

Traditional interpretation According to A. E. Waite's Pictorial Key to the Tarot: Loss, theft, privation, abandonment; another reading says--hope bright prospects, Reversed: Arrogance, haughtiness, impotence.

Some readings of this card suggest negativity, but as evidenced most of my interpretations of these cards, I think that a large part of negativity is outlook. How could one interpret the stars in any way other than wondrous and hopeful? If nothing else, that is the world as I believe it should be. So here she is- a star. She fills the frame with her visibly strong yet vulnerable form- pouring water into the water and onto the land. She seems magical and of religious importance, but we don’t quite know what she is in fact up to- much like the stars. 

The Moon, XIX:

Traditional interpretation According to A. E. Waite's Pictorial Key to the Tarot: Hidden enemies, danger, calumny, darkness, terror, deception, occult forces, error. Reversed: Instability, inconstancy, silence, lesser degrees of deception and error.

The moon does bring a sense of foreboding, doesn’t she? Why else would we have prolific fear of the dark, endless lore of terrifying creatures that only come out by moonlight? There’s also a certain mystery and romance to the moonlight- a sensual danger that only comes with a hint of uncertainty and melodrama. We are all of us creatures of the day. And of the night. We are all different by moonlight than by daylight. Psychologists and doctors call it “our shadow.” How very appropriate. By moonlight we have no shadow at all; we are the shadow. 

The Sun, XX:

Traditional interpretation According to A. E. Waite's Pictorial Key to the Tarot: happiness and contentment, vitality, self-confidence and success

There are always times in every life that represent simple, honest celebration- unadulterated, uncomplicated victory. Our sun- we see her as warm, life-giving, hot even. Places closer to the equator and therefore the sun teem with heat, life forms, and tropical waters. It was recently pointed out to me that even our beloved sun must also be feared- come to close to her you’ll die. Remain exposed with no shelter, you’ll die. Even our warmest, most simple, glowing celebrations and victories must be balanced, tempered and even feared. 

The Judgement, XXI:

Traditional interpretation According to A. E. Waite's Pictorial Key to the Tarot: judgement, rebirth, inner-calling, absolution, karma, causality, second chance

Human beings fear death. The most enlightened among us try to claim we don’t fear death, but dying. We all fear both. Human beings fear the unknown, and unless there is a totally unpublicized level of attainable enlightenment, then no one does in fact know precisely what dying, death and the afterlife entail. At best, we have our conjectures- everything ranging from superstition to faith to possible echoes of other lifetimes or whispers from the other side. The nature of the human condition is in large part a confinement to the human condition. Dogs are furry balls of basic instinct and impulse; they likely do not consider or solve eternal problems because it would seem that their senses respond to their temporal needs for the sake of their bodily survival. Humans are much the same, and vary a little in our ability to perceive other, larger frequencies so to speak. We all find ourselves alarmingly equal in the face of death and the afterlife. If we have any merit, we at the very least have no idea if that has any bearing on the afterlife. It would seem that at death or at the judgement, the slate is cleaned; we are rendered equals; judged by otherworldly standards; laid bare; in a new game entirely. It would seem that very few cultures believe in death as the end; we seem to believe it’s a new birth of some kind. Even total oblivion would be a new beginning of some kind. Natural law indicates that nothing really dies; energy is recirculated, reincarnated and reborn. Matter as well. I personally believe that- regardless of what corner of the world you hail from and whatever you believe- that facing that uncertainty with love, bravery and humility behooves us all. 

The World: 

Traditional interpretation According to A. E. Waite's Pictorial Key to the Tarot: Assured success, recompense, voyage, route, emigration, flight, change of place. Reversed: Inertia, fixity, stagnation, permanence.

The World as a woman becomes sort of the Venus of our deck. She’s our eve- standing alone in space with her serpent companion. Representing the earliest of all archetypes, she is mother of all; she is the whole thing; she is the world.