The Tarot

[anarfea]

 So, I've been brushing up on my tarot study since I applied to be on the Tarot panel at 221b con. Who knows if I'll be accepted, but it certainly won't hurt me to study the tarot a bit more in depth for a couple of months. Not sure if anyone would be interested in me posting about tarot or what kind of posts you would want to see. But anyway, I did an exercise a couple years ago where I assigned Sherlock characters and concepts to all the tarot cards, and I thought it might be cool to review it. I've also been studying the Thoth tarot specifically, and some of those cards are different than in more traditional decks, and also we have new characters since I've done this since I last did it pre S4, so I thought I'd re-vamp my headcanons for those.

0 The Fool: John Watson
I The Magus: Sherlock Holmes
II The Priestess: Molly Hooper
III The Empress: Mrs Hudson
IV The Emperor: Greg Lestrade
V The Hierophant: Mycroft Holmes
VI The Lovers: Sherlock and Molly
VII The Chariot: The Mind Palace
VIII Adjustment: Sally Donovan
IX The Hermit: Wiggins
X The Wheel of Fortune: London
XI Lust: Irene Adler
XII The Hanged Man: Anderson
XIII Death: Eurus Holmes
XIV Art: Mary Watson
XV The Devil: Jim Moriarty
XVI The Tower: Appledore
XVII The Star: Soo Lin Yao
XVIII The Moon: Janine Hawkins
XIX The Sun: Rosie
XX The Aeon: The Work
XXI The Universe: Anthea

Anyway, these are my headcanons. Let me know if you agree or disagree with them. Let me know yours! And let me know if you want me to babble more about the tarot.

Comments

[eloquated]

Ooh, these are really interesting! And of course, the details would change, depending on the deck (my father swore by Rider Waite, and I've used a Mythic deck for years).

I think I'd put Mary Morstan as Death, personally. Just something about that combination of death and new beginnings that sort of resonates with the way I see her. And my deck uses this image of Persephone for the Priestess, and that, with your suggestion of Molly? Perfect fit!

Now I'm wondering what the different characters would think of tarot, and what decks (or other variations, like Ogham sticks, or runes!) they'd be drawn to. I have a fic with Mycroft and Sherlock being raised in a very Gardnerian/Alexandrian sort of Pagan tradition, so this is right up my curious alley!

[anarfea]

I had Mary as death when I did this last time, right after S3. There's a compelling argument to be made for Mary as death because of the way she symbolizes reinvention and rebirth, but I like her for Art, because while she changes herself, she's also the catalyst for change of everyone else. She teaches Sherlock to understand death, and that to me is the lesson of the Art card.

As for Eurus, well, she undergoes a pretty dramatic death and rebirth, too. But I could easily have reversed those two.

[eloquated]

I can see that, for sure! I've never worked with other decks, and the Mythic deck doesn't have an Art card (or an Adjustment card, for that matter) so I'm just trying to puzzle out what their correlating card would be. Not that they're entirely parallel, but just as a reference!

Ok! So.. Adjustment seems to be Judgement, and their positions in the Major Arcana are reversed... And Art might be the Temperance card? Maybe?...
Mythic also has Justice in the Lust position, and those cards are quite different!

That's interesting! (Sorry, I'm rambling!)

[anarfea]

No, you've actually stumbled on one of the major differences between the Thoth tarot and earlier decks (like the Raider-Waite).

So, Adjustment is the Justice card, but the Golden Dawn (an esoteric order of which Aleister Crowley, one of the Thoth tarot's co-designers, was a member) switched the positions of Justice and Strength (Lust is the Thoth tarot's Strength card). This is because 12 of the trumps (Emperor, Heirophant, Lovers, Chariot, Strength, Adjustment, Death, Temperance, Devil, Star, Moon) are associated with the 12 signs of the zodiac. The Golden Dawn wanted to assign Libra to Justice and Leo to Strength for obvious reasons. But they also wanted to assign the signs of the zodiac to the trumps in sequence. In order to keep the zodiac signs in order, they switched the positions of the cards Strength and Justice.

Crowley keeps with the tradition of assigning Libra to Adjustment and Leo to Lust (which is actually quite a different card from Strength, though both are embodied by Leo, IMO. Lust is the card I'm using in this icon. She's meant to be the whore of Babylon riding the 12 headed Beast. It's a blasphemous image, but to Crowley's mind it's the whore, not the virgin, who is the symbol of the sacred feminine in the new Aeon. Because the whore accepts everyone. He describes her as "the servant of each... therefore mistress of all." And I think Irene Adler as dominatrix is the absolute embodiment of that.

Art is the temperance card. But again, the meaning is slightly different. Raider Waite temperance is about moderation, and the harnessing of disparate energies. Art is about alchemy and transformation and goes hand and hand with Death. Art is the child of The Lovers, they are the fusion of masculine and feminine energy, an androgynous figure.

And the more I write about this the more I'm thinking I should maybe have swapped Mary and Eurus and made Eurus art and Mary Death. It was a close decision.

[eloquated]

That's absolutely fascinating! I know there are a ton of different kinds of decks, and different spreads to read them, so it makes sense that different creators would put their stamp on it.

I haven't read regularly in a long, long time. But I've talked with a lot of people who are both very nervous, and very curious, about the whole process-- so it's a lot of "No, they aren't going to change your future for you... they can give you information, and you have to choose how to use it."

In the media we see tarot readers as these wizened crones, and people gasping in horror and shock when the Death card is turned. Personally, I think there are a lot more intimidating cards! We don't see people who sit down, hoping and hoping that their marriage is going to get better, or the person they love is going to somehow change their mind. Or wanting some guidance, but unsure if it's against their faith to seek it /there/.

Anyway! Sorry, rambling again! That description of the sacred feminine makes so much sense, when I just stop and think about it. And you're absolutely right about it being Irene, no question there. An acceptance of her own nature, without shame.

I was just thinking, you could almost make the argument that Eurus' whole hellish maze is a good allegory for the Tower. "All of your preconceptions are going to be torn down, whether you're ready, or not. It may be violent, and painful, but you will have clarity when it's done."

The Temperance in the Mythic deck is about acting to overcome things, and to bring opposites together... So it's all in the same vein, just slightly different.

[yvannairie]

Hmm. I'm not familiar enough with the Thoth tarot to be of any help but I run a tarot & cartomancy server on Discord if you want somewhere to jam about tarot stuff?

[pangodillo]

I'd be super interested in hearing about the differences between this set, and the traditional Major Arcana; the latter being what I'm familiar with ("familiar with", I have a vague understanding of a few of them). If you've already gone into this in the comments, I will read them tomorrow morning, but I'm replying from my reading page so I haven't yet.

I have a WTNV tarot deck that someone else designed, matching characters and concepts to each card (including the minor arcana), and I love it for the added layer of symbols that I get to play with. So like, The Sun is Strexcorp, and idk if you're familiar with Welcome to Night Vale, but Strexcorp carries its own whole set of feelings and connotations, and I enjoy reading The Sun (which is traditionally, like, happiness) as "capitalism" or "rampant religious oppression" or "gore" or etc etc. And every card gets this extra layer, which may diverge more or less from traditional symbols, depending on how close a match the designer was able to get.

It's been a long time since I consumed anything Sherlock so there are a couple things here I don't recognize (idk Wiggins, and I only vaguely recognize who Euros is/what role she played), but Appledore as The Tower and Anthea as The Universe both strike me as particularly excellent.

[pangodillo]

"I won't read the comments tonight it's almost 2am and I'm cold I'm gonna go to bed"
//reads the comments

Raider-Waite yeah that's the one I mean; I'm sooo familiar with it I can even remember what it's called! I also fucked up Eurus' name but I'm not gonna fix it whoops.

This whole conversation has me itching to go back to my deck, since it's been so long, but not tonight. (For real this time!) Maybe tomorrow I'll find it and try to refresh myself at least on the deck I'm "familiar with"...

[drinkingcocoa]

Gasp! Soo Lin Yao as the Star! Perfect!

[anarfea]

I think most of the "intimidating" cards are actually in the minor arcana? Most of the trumps I think are neither good nor bad, though I'm not a huge fan of seeing either the devil or the tower or the moon in a spread, but the really intimidating cards are I think the 3, 5, 9, 10 of swords, not Death lol.

Yes, I think Sherrinford could have been the tower as well as Appledore. Eurus's maze certainly stripped away all preconceptions. But I liked Appledore because it's one of the few times in canon where Sherlock is really, dangerously wrong. And everything crashes down after that (or should have, had the writers not written the Deus ex Mycroft and gotten everything wrapped up and resolved within the first 5 min of T6T)

[anarfea]

You know, I don't actually regularly use the cards for cartomancy/divination. I'm more about studying the concepts. But the fact that there's a discord out there for it is awesome.

[anarfea]

Yeah absolutely I can do a post on the Thoth tarot and what makes it different from say, the Raider Waite (which I also own), and why people might want to use the Thoth tarot.

I am familiar with WTNV, though I stopped listening a couple of seasons ago. That's certainly an interesting take on the Sun. The Sun to me is usually happiness and childlike innocence. I can see how ascribing it to Strex would give it a different connotation.

The only fandom specific deck I have is a LOTR deck. And that one has really beautiful art, but I don't read with it because I don't particularly agree with some of the decisions they made with the ascribing of cards and characters and I don't like the extra layer of connotations it has.

I don't think that my Sherlock list is a perfect way of looking at the cards, either. There really is no good Sherlock figure for the Empress, for example. Hudders is maternal but not a mother herself.

Wiggins is Sherlock's drug chemist/babbysitter. Making him the hermit is kind of a tongue in cheek thing. The hermit carries the light of the sun to mankind, and he's also associated with warnings. And Wiggins warns Sherlock when he's gone too far into the drugs.

Eurus is a really complicated and polarizing figure in the BBC Sherlock canon. She was introduced as S4. She's Sherlock and Mycroft's younger sister, and she's totally psycho and tries to kill them (or well, to make Sherlock kill Mycroft). The reason I associate her here with Death is because of the way that she reinvents herself? And because of the way that she teaches Sherlock about Death. But honestly, I could easily have put Mary on the Death card also.

[anarfea]

Lol sorry to have kept you from your sleep. Raider-Waite is probably one of the best known decks, so I'll do a post on the differences between that one and Thoth.

[anarfea]

Yeah. Beautiful and fleeting.

[eloquated]

I absolutely agree about the Devil and the Tower... But even if you get those cards, they aren't necessarily terrible. Often painful and difficult, but necessary, too. The Tower, in particular, is very transient, and those huge changes always come with some grief. Still, doesn't make them bad! There's personal agency in those cards, too.

"You can't stop this from happening, but you can control how you deal with it."

"You need to be honest about your own motivations, and where you're leading yourself wrong."

Deep personal introspection, really honest introspection, isn't easy though! Not at all!

Oooh... I hadn't thought of Appledore like that, but I do like that take on it! See? I do need to rewatch the series, now you've given me all these wonderful perspectives!

[yvannairie]

Hey, I mostly use my Special Interest Powers to analyse the cards and contribute to fan tarots, and I run the place :D You'd probably fit right in, although I'm not sure if we'd have anyone else who's into Thoth specifically. My hat is RW and RW-descendants.

[anarfea]

Yeah, I'm pretty intimately acquainted with the Tower, lol. It's definitely a painful card. But you're right, the pain usually doesn't last for very long (unless you're going through cycles where you encounter it repeatedly).

I see Appledore as a tower moment for Sherlock, but Sherrinford is one too, as you pointed out. I hope you do re-watch the series, and I'm curious what you think.

[anarfea]

I'm a discord novice. I've only done like one, for a fandom book launch thing. How do I find you?

[yvannairie]

I'll DM you an invite later :D

[eloquated]

Ouch, yeah... those are the moments you look back on and think "They made me stronger. But I NEVER want to do it again!" O_O

There's a good point, though. And maybe the Appledore is for Sherlock, and Sherrinford is for Mycroft... Different lessons for different characters!

[anarfea]

I totally buy the idea that Appledore is Sherlock's Tower and Sherrinford is Mycroft's.

[eloquated]

Which almost makes you wonder... if the boys were to have someone read their cards and warn them, would they have listened?

[anarfea]

I suspect that Mycroft has an understanding of the tarot and of the occult generally. Crowley worked with the allies during WWII and explained the Nazi's occult beliefs to them. He's said to be responsible for Winston Churchill making the "V for victory" sign because it's the symbol of Mars, which counters the energy of the swastika. He wanted Churchill to be photographed often making that sign because it freaked the Nazis out.

Also a lot of freemasons and other occultists have held positions in government/politics.

So I feel like Mycroft would have an understanding of the occult, but I don't think he believes any of it, and I doubt he'd take any tarot based advice seriously.

As for Sherlock, he didn't know the earth revolves around the sun, so I doubt he'd know anything about the zodiac or the tarot, lol. And again, I think he'd dismiss any tarot reading as twaddle.

[eloquated]

I agree with all of that, especially considering Mycroft isn't in the habit of deleting any information.

When I was writing 'Solstice', I ended up really thinking about how they would have interacted with the Pagan faith they'd been raised with-- while still being science and logic based as they usually are. And I ended up deciding that Mycroft would be much more willing to play along, and learn what he was expected to.

After all, it's important to his parents, and it was how he was brought up. Respect for the faith, even if he grew not to believe it.

Sherlock, on the other hand, is much more likely to take the piss, and have fun with it. He definitely doesn't take any of it seriously! (But he doesn't want to come up the unfortunate end of his mother's swatting hand, either!)

[anarfea]

Have you read The Straw Man Fallacy by Vulgarweed? That's a really interesting take on Sherlock and paganism. It's a Johnlock fic.

[eloquated]

Ah no, I haven't.. I don't read Johnlock, but the concept sounds interesting.

edit: I did look it up, but I'm afraid I don't know The Wicker Man either, so probably not the target audience for that one!