Speak and Move into Power; Prepare and Step into Valor

A pathway to Judgment

Welp! A confession...

While I engage with tarot quite often, it's been nearly a year since I last allowed myself the intense focus needed to create in this space. There are a number of reasons for this. Mostly, they're kinda boring.

I will say that if you're here, you probably know that I'm a musician, and I've always been one. I'm so accustomed to deep, moving communication through music that my hands don't reach for pens or computer keyboards as often as for instruments.

And yet, here we are.

In the past several years I've begun to explore the inter-connectedness of combining different types of art-making, and one idea in particular has followed me for a while now. In fact, the more time passes, the more demanding it is of attention... So much so that I've finally been moved to bring it out of my inner world and will allow it to exist in the eyes and minds of people just like you, a supportive community.

The game: Combining a musical writing/performance practice with a tarot practice.

The goal: One song per card.

I first tried this as a musical experiment back in 2020. After seeing the same card hopping around between different decks for about a week or so, I knew there was something I needed to investigate. By the time I finished writing this first experiment, I was a little taken aback by the results. The music and words seemed to pretty much write themselves. What's more, it sounded fresher to my ear than anything I'd made for a while, and it came together more quickly than I could have imagined.

And now, a disclaimer: it's still not finished. Not done, done, as some of my composer musician friends might say. (womp, womp) It's a demo version; there are certainly improvements to be made, and things I cringe at every time I listen back. But, in the spirit of allowing my creations to be imperfect, I suspect it's time to share it.

It's simply called Seven Wands. I enjoyed finding 3 versions of this card for your eyes to take in. They are (from left to right above) the Thoth, Motherpeace, and Rider-Waite-Smith renderings of the 7 of Wands archetype.

By spending time not only looking at the cards, but also letting your ears have a say in the impressions they give, you allow yourself to experience the 7 of Wands with both sight and sound. Below is my own interpretation of the energies of the 7 of Wands. Feel free to let me know how you think it compares to the imagery of the 3 cards above.

By the time I finished hashing out the recording, I felt I had managed to capture some of the essence of the card in the song's musical and lyrical elements. That one moderate success was enough for this idea to really get its claws into me.

These days, I am seriously considering whether there might be up to 77* more tarot-inspired songs that may decide to descend upon me.

Here's the thing: it's an idea that excites me, and yet undertaking it alone (both the musical and lyrical aspects) feels pretty huge. Beyond that, the more I develop my own relationship to tarot, the more I can't deny my curiosity about the common, but often hidden, experiences of being human that the cards can illuminate.

So here's an invitation to you, dear reader:

Any chance you're interested in sharing even a sliver of your story with me?

Through creating music, I will do my darnedest to explore and evoke the different shades of the experiences the Major Arcana** bring to our lives.

You don't need to know what that, or any other tarot word, means to participate.

It's worth mentioning that. I'll never share your name, personal information, or any unique identifiers in my musical synthesis of the content you share. (Unless you want me to, for some reason... then I may!)

Your musings can be as general or as specific as you wish them to be. Feel free to share a brief anecdote, a few sentences, or even just some key words or phrases with me by email: lizziesgriffs@gmail.com.

If this seems interesting, I invite you to spend some time in thinking about the first concept that came forward, from card XX: Judgment.

If that word feels too loaded (it really is a weight-y one, isn't it?), consider instead an Eon (Aeon), or the Time-Space Continuum. (That last prompt is a different take on card XX that a friend recently shared with me. I haven't been able to stop thinking about it!)

My goal is for us to be able to put on headphones and actually listen to a reasonable demo of our song on Thursday, March 24, so please send any contributions you wish to share by Thursday, March 10.

I have no idea what's going to happen, how it's going to go, if anyone will even send me any material, if it will sound any good.... etc. Ha! Regardless, I can't wait to see what comes out of this, even if it's me plucking away at a musical or typing keyboard by myself.

Hope to hear from you soon.

*For a blog about tarot, I must acknowledge that the cards/concepts I've discussed so far have been dealt with in a pretty non-linear fashion. It's quite possible that you're someone reading this who is completely unfamiliar with tarot. The scope of this space is to give just a taste of the deep dive that's possible into this massive subject, so a brief treatment of some basic tarot concepts may be helpful:

- There are 78 cards total in a typical tarot deck.

- These 78 cards are split into two groups: Major Arcana, and Minor Arcana.

- The **Major Arcana typically consists of 22 cards, usually numbered 0-21. Tarot practitioners often think of them as reflecting the nature of events that take place out in the world, past the scope of our inner lives, well beyond the ability of any single human to influence or change on their own.

- The remaining 56 Minor Arcana cards consist of different suits: clubs (fire), hearts (cups), diamonds (disks), and spades (swords). They're numbered 1-10 in the same way as a common deck of playing cards. Tarot practitioners tend to think of them as presenting information about situations that are not fixed, subject to change, or directly influenced by individuals' choices, actions and changing relationships.

- The Minor Arcana also includes 4 Court Cards cards in each suit, in a similar way a common deck of cards has Kings, Queens, and Jacks.

If you're interested in learning more, the work of Rachel Pollak, a prolific and significant contributor to the field of tarot for over 40 years, is a good starting place.