Inspiration- lost in translation
Personally, I feel reading Tarot is 50% intuition (psychic ability if you prefer)- that way you can understand the bigger picture, even though you can’t quite put into words how you know it.
Tarot is also 50% wisdom, knowledge & practice. All the intuition in the word is useless if you can’t express it, or use it to answer the questions that need answers. You must be able to translate that intuition.
Recently I decided I wanted a logo, a symbol, to represent me as a shaman & a tarot reader. Something to reflect the person I have become. After some research it became clear that the process is much cheaper if I have an idea of my design. So I spent some time drawing ideas, collecting runes & bind-runes, and headed off to a friend who is a much better artist than me.
(I promise I will get to inspiration & translation soon…)
Showing my friend my ideas made me realise how much like an A-level art project my designs were (I remember it well). She was very patient, finding the ideas important to me, using my work as a basis for a great logo.
We ended with a symbol I have used for many years, and a bind rune, in the end the Norse shamanism is who I am. It was O.K, but I was disappointed- I have used that symbol for nearly 20 years. I wanted something new (ever the page of wands).
We put it to one side and I was lucky enough to enjoy a gong bath (she is a very talented friend). During the gong bath inspiration struck. My runic symbol needed to have a circle around it to balance the masculine & feminine.
Once the gong bath ended I told my friend & quickly drew a circle around the symbol. It looked fairly stupid and I was yet again disappointed. Inspired- yes, but lost in translation.
My friend understood this was important so started to deconstruct my symbol with the circle, trying to draw it by starting at different points to see how she could create a cohesive image that had all of the points I needed- but remained simple and pleasing to the eye.
In the first drawing she had it. My heart lifted, it was my symbol.
The world tree axis from earth to sky (or the ace of wands-my favourite suit)
The spiral- such a profound and ancient symbol.
Frey’s rune- he is my constant companion in life in so many ways.
And surprise, surprise, even Odin’s rune can be found. He refuses to be left out.
I always loved my colours of blue & gold, and a designer took my symbol & colours to create the image I now use.
Inspired? Yes, but it took a while to translate, as is so often the way.
