The World Card
alt text
Finished another card for the Feral Path Tarot. This is the World card starring author Jason Mankey.
The World card traditionally has the four creatures that represent the traditional astrological animals: lion, a cherubim or angel, a bull or ox, and an eagle. I did not want to use the Bald Eagle as that is so associated with the US and I would like this deck to be more global. So I chose an African Bateleur Eagle, because it has beautiful plumage. I took several years of French in school and thought, “I know that word ‘bateleur’ but it’s escaping me.”
So I looked it up. Bateleur means juggler, and the Bateleur eagle is indeed highly acrobatic. But juggler is also the original name of the Fool card in many of the oldest decks, and the World card is meant to be the end of the Fool’s journey. Weird, huh?
The World card traditionally has the four creatures that represent the traditional astrological animals: lion, a cherubim or angel, a bull or ox, and an eagle. I did not want to use the Bald Eagle as that is so associated with the US and I would like this deck to be more global. So I chose an African Bateleur Eagle, because it has beautiful plumage. I took several years of French in school and thought, “I know that word ‘bateleur’ but it’s escaping me.”
So I looked it up. Bateleur means juggler, and the Bateleur eagle is indeed highly acrobatic. But juggler is also the original name of the Fool card in many of the oldest decks, and the World card is meant to be the end of the Fool’s journey. Weird, huh?
We know more about the bottom of the ocean than we do about the brain.