Review by Mafalda Serrano
Thoughts on the LuminaDivinae Tarot by author, Mafalda Serrano
Art History and Tarot wisdom tell us that every image has a secret voice. The major gift of meditative reading is the unveiling process of our most intimate inner nature. Several authors and international researchers have been touched by the invaluable speech and transformational power of images and myth.
The essence of Tarot seems to be deeply connected to the ageless process of drawing signs and building metaphors. LuminaDivinae tarot deck is a natural consequence of this personal belief because my experience as reader is mostly rooted in the love for imaging, sketching and recreating links between signs and symbols through meditation techniques. In this sense, I conceived this deck as a visual alphabet and an empowering key to the unconscious mind, joining the kabbalistic perspective and the Jungian tradition with the legacy of European Renaissance.
The combined practice and researches in the fields of visual symbolism and meditation have been the deepest references of my creative work in for Radio and Graphic Design. My programs about ancient and contemporary art helped me to develop an intuitive method of reading and communicating upon shapes, lines and colours. Every child loves coloured papers and scissors; so I started isolating and collecting images very early and this have been an important contribution for LuminaDivinae Art & Tarot cards. I used to clip everything I could, including old figures and photographs, the perfect characters of my small paper theatres. A few years later, the long drawers of my home office seemed to be a sort of inspiring magic factory inhabited by these nameless reproductions of old postcards and sliced magazines; sketches whose symbolic value was always flourishing with every new free association.
These preliminary words may be helpful to the understanding of LuminaDivinae tarot deck, a divinatory game with a double face function of divination and art study. Being a true art inspired work, the 78 original images of the cards were not changed by collage. In fact, the main purpose of my deck is the celebration of Renaissance Art & Tarot in their true essential nature. Image reading was a common social practice inside Italian Courts during the XVth to the early XVIIth Century. In order to respect this historical legacy, every artwork was digitally restored by me; reframed and combined to compose an independent and set of reciprocal visual signs, according to Tarot symbolism. Some cards show the whole artwork, others will cover a special outline of a significant detail. Majors and Minors are coloured and numbered according to the Tarot de Marseilles tradition to suit most experienced readers and beginners. Renaissance times in Europe were deeply enriched by Eastern, Greek and Roman cultural and spiritual heritages: Christian narratives are pictured besides pagan myths and daily characters. This is the puzzling atmosphere that gave birth to Modern Age and will inspire us in times of challenge and global change. Renaissance masters were profoundly skilled in religious art and portrait; their aim was the spiritual and earthy levels of existence. This is the reason why Majors, Courts and Minors present sacred and profane elements in close proximity.
Early decks in Italy had no numbers attached to the cards, but this would amplify enormously the difficulty of simple readings. So, I had to choose a system of numbers very close to the Latin origins of the deck. Renaissance scholars were deeply attracted by the kabbalah, alchemy and some other mystery schools of ancient knowledge. In order to celebrate this common heritage of the Mediterranean basin, LuminaDivinae deck is entirely ordered according to my personal view of the spiritual science of letters and numbers.
I The Magician
II The High Priestess
III The Empress
IV The Emperor
V The High Priest
VI The Lovers
VII The Chariot
VIII Justice
IX The Hermit
X The Wheel of Fortune
XI Strength
XII The Hanged Man
XIII Death
XIV Alchemy
XV The Devil
XVI The Tower
XVII The Star
XVIII The Moon
XIX The Sun
XX The Judgment
XXI The World
XXII The Pilgrim
The deck has 78 bilingual cards in English and Portuguese. Court cards mirror the familiar structure of Renaissance Italian courts inhabited by Kings, Queens, Princes and Princesses. Trumps are numbered from Ace to Ten following the Marseilles structure: Coins, Spades, Staves and Cups. Suits are ascribed to the four cardinal directions.
Lumina is an old Latin expression for Inspiration, Disclosing and Sharing of the Light, Clarifying. Divinae stands for what is Mythic, the Sacred Feminine, but also to everything that is Natural. I use to say that LuminaDivinae is a free composed expression of mine, referring Tarot to the Lights of the Goddess. The booklet of the deck is conceived as a special companion guide to the celebration of Tarot wisdom that will encourage the public main sensibilities to the fruition of XVth and XVIth Centuries art. LuminaDivinae Art & Tarot has divinatory and educational purposes. This deck is meant to be an invitation to the experience of ancient art, myth and Tarot wisdom in our daily lives".
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