Robert Place Tarot Illustrator

These illustrations are from Tarot artist Robert M. Place's newest deck, The Tarot of the Sevenfold Mystery, a work in progress. Prints are $25 each. The details for purchasing are at the bottom of the page. You can also use the Pay Pal shopping cart as you go. The Fool and all of the trumps for this deck are complete and an annotated deck with all of these major cards is available. See the bottom of the page for details. Scroll down to view the images. Use the name listed below when ordering.
	The Fool The woman dancing with the Greyhound represents the Wise Fool of the deck. This illustration is a homage to the Pre-Raphaelite painter, Burne-Jones, and the figure is based on his drawing called Folly. The Latin motto on top, "stultitia," means foolishness. It is the root of the word stultify.
	The Magician The Magician holds his seven-pointed wand above his head and forms a lemniscate in the air. He is surrounded by symbols of the four suits and the four elements. This illustration contains elements that connect it to the earliest Tarots yet joins them with elements from modern occult decks.
	The High Priestess This illustration of an ancient sibyl with her hound is the High Priestess for the deck. The image is based on figures of Thessalica or Europea Sibylla, one of twelve ancient sibyls who were often depicted in Renaissance art. Thessalica lived in Greece near the town of Thebe, the walled city seen in the background.
	The Empress The Empress, with her dog and her eagle, is a symbol of sensuality and abundance. She has elements that are derived from the Waite-Smith deck, such as the heart emblem, but also from the oldest Renaissance decks, such as the eagle. Her Eagle is ready to fly to the center of the world where it will meet the Emperor's eagle.
	The Emperor The Emperor is both rugged and refined. He has elements that are derived from the Waite-Smith deck but also from the oldest Renaissance decks. The Eagle on the back of his throne is ready to fly to the center of the world.
	The Hierophant The name Hierophant comes from the name of the high priest of the Eleusinian Mysteries. It literally means sacred priest. Our High Priest has elements that connect him to Egyptian, Pythagorean, and Eleusinian priests, Popes, and Rosicrucians.
	The Lovers The young knight in the center of the the Lovers card must choose between two lovers, a woman wearing a crown of laurel, representing virtue, and a woman wearing a crown of flowers, representing sensuality. The whippet that leads the way symbolizes fidelity. The knight is the hero of the story told in the trumps and he always chooses virtue so that the story may continue to the next level.
	The Chariot The Chariot illustrates the myth that Plato presented in the Phaedrus. The dark and the light horses and the charioteer each represent one of the three aspects of the soul: the Soul of Appetite, the Soul of Will, and the Soul of Reason. When we divide the twenty-one numbered Tarot trump cards into three groups of seven cards each, we find that the three groups correspond to these three aspects of the soul.
	Justice As in the earliest known Justice cards, created for the Duke of Milan in the mid 1400s, Justice is seen here with her champion the knight. Ideally, as the embodiment of the code of chivalry, knights were sworn to uphold the virtue justice and to defend the honor of women. Justice passes her sword to her defender.
	The Hermit The Hermit has climbed to a deserted mountain plateau where he can experience the seven-pointed star directly in its environment. The figure is based on Burne-Jones' painting, The Pilgrim at the Gates of Idleness
	Fortuna Fortuna or Fortune stands blindfolded in the center of her wheel. As often found in Renaissance art, Fortuna's wheel, of time and fate, is represented by the celestial wheel of the zodiac. This is the oldest meaning of this symbol. Fortuna is a goddess of fate and the astrology chart was designed to map her influence at the moment of an one's birth.
	Strength In the Tarot the virtue Strength is usually depicted as a woman who has tamed a lion. Her strength is not the physical strength of the lion but the greater strength found in love and friendship. Here, her friends include a greyhound and a Siamese cat. To make friends with animals one has to discipline one's self. This is the real training and this is the virtue Strength.
	The Hanged Man The Hanged Man depicts a man hung from an arch by one foot. This card was originally called the Traitor and in the Renaissance this type of punishment was reserved for traitors. The Hanged Man represents a loss of position or an ordeal that our hero must suffer to complete his journey.
	Death In the Tarot, Death is usually depicted as the Grim-Reaper, who harvests the heads and limbs of his victims. Here, Death is depicted as the goddess of the poets, who harvests the body so that the soul is free to return to the sevenfold mystery.
	Temperance This illustration is a homage to the Pre-Raphaelite painter, Burne-Jones, and the figure is based on his paintings of the same theme. It was the first card designed for this deck. Temperance is quenching the fire with water but she is connected to the fire and may not succeed in killing it without harming herself. She also may not let the fire consume her but must maintain a balance between the two.
	The Devil The Devil, as a fallen angel, is the evil twin of his enemy, St. Michael, the archangel. Although he represents the irrational forces of the unconscious, he introduces us to the final stage of the trumps, the stage that represents the Soul of Reason. His captives, who remain unconscious, represent the first and second stages. The female represents the Soul of Appetite and the male the Soul of Will.
	The Tower The Tower card depicts a proud tower bursting into flame as it is struck by lightning. The Tower represents the vice pride or egotism, which is being shattered so that one can make the journey to the higher plains depicted in the next sequence of trumps.
	The Star Seven smaller stars form a heavenly ladder ascending to the sevenfold mystery. The woman ascending the ladder is based on a painting by Burne-Jones titled the Star.
	Merhounds of the Moon This ilustration is the Moon card for the deck. The seadogs are part greyhound and part dolphin. Along with their nauitcal Diana they attempt to connect the depths of the sea with the celestial orb.
	The Sun The mermaid from the depths of the sea, depicted on the Moon card, has ascended to meet Apollo, the god of the sun, music, art, and logic. This is a meeting of the unconscious and the conscious minds.
	Judgement On this card the Angel of Judgement calls the dead back to life in the sevenfold mystery.
	The World "Wisdom hath builded her house, she hath hewn out her seven pillars." Proverbs 9:1 This woman is Sophia, whose name means wisdom, the seven symbols represent the seven virtues - her seven pillars. In the corners are the four cardinal virtues, Temperance the vessels, Strength the lion, Justice the scales, and Prudence the mirror and snake. Prudence is principle and the other three represent its parts. With Prudence we have wisdom or Sophia and she is the mother of the three Christian virtues , Faith the cross, Hope the anchor, and Charity the heart. The realization of these seven virtues is the sevenfold mystery.

The Annotated Tarot of the Sevenfold Mystery

The Annotated Tarot of the Sevenfold Mystery is a portfolio of images that is a deck, a book, and a work of art all at once. Although this is an innovative approach, this idea does follow a Renaissance tradition, as I will explain below.

Traditionally, there are two parts to setting up a magical act. First our intent has to be clearly stated. Second, we must call for helpers from the inner world and make a connection to their stories or myths. Magical traditions accomplish this in two ways, either by using words, such as quotes from the Bible or the Koran or images such as an idol or the paintings on the walls of a temple. To the Egyptians, however, words and images were one and the same; they were hieroglyphs. This was the advantage of the Egyptian magical practice; words and images were united and the left and the right sides of the brain acted together.

Renaissance artists, philosophers, and magicians fell in love with Egyptian hieroglyphs and attempted to make their own contemporary versions. This practice led to the fifteenth century fashion for enigmatic symbolic images that filled philosophical and alchemical texts. The Tarot is another result of that passion. Because of their reliance on the written word, however, hieroglyphs did not work as well for the people of the Renaissance as they did for the Egyptians; therefore, the artists and thinkers of the Renaissance worked out a solution in which symbolic imagery was combined with words - beautifully rendered in calligraphy - to complete the communication. The Annotated Tarot of the Sevenfold Mystery is created in that Renaissance tradition.

The deck started with my love of the paintings of the 19th century painter Burne-Jones. I wanted to see what a deck designed with his sensuality and sense of symbolism would look like. It quickly became clear, however, that just as Burne-Jones’ paintings were a reexamination of the sensuality and the mystical themes of the Renaissance this deck would also be rooted in the Renaissance tradition, and it would be the perfect vehicle to express the mystical philosophy that was incorporated in the Tarot by its 15th century creators. The Annotated Tarot of the Sevenfold Mystery is the realization of that vision.

Like all magical works, this deck falls in the cracks between common definitions. It can be used as a deck of cards for divination but it is also a book of unbound pages that explains the philosophy and allegory of the Tarot. The written message on each card explains the symbolism and the theme of the card but not necessarily its divinatory meaning. The text is open ended and invites us to contemplate the image on a deeper level.

This deck is also a work of art that is larger than an average Tarot, 8.5" by 5.5" and printed on archival rag paper. Each card is suitable for framing. Lastly, it is a deck for meditation or contemplation and each card can be displayed on an easel for this purpose. The Fool and all 21 trumps are represented. There is also a title card, three cards containing introductory text, a glossary of unusual terms, and a card with a chart of the seven ancient planets and their correspondences to soul centers, virtues and vices and other references, 28 cards in all.

These images can also be ordered as seperate prints at the same price as the unannotated ones. Large, 11" by 17" prints of this series are on exhibit at the Los Angeles Craft and Folk Art Museum from January 23 to May 9,2010. The exhibit has been reviewed in the Los Angeles Times, on Sunday, January 24, 2010.

The Annotated Tarot of the Sevenfold Mystery

Ordering Prints and the Annotated Deck

Any of the illustrations on this page can be purchased as signed limited edition prints on 100% cotton rag paper for $25 each. The image size is 9.5" by 6.25"centered on an 8.5"" by 11" paper with a rag mattboard backing and enclosed in a protective plastic envelope. Larger prints 17" high printed on heavy cotton rag paper with archival ink (designed to last for 100s of years) may also be purchased for $300.00.

The Annotated Tarot of the Sevenfold Mystery is $50.00 and includes 28 cards, 8.5" by 5.5".

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Robert M. Place the Illustrator

Robert M. Place has designed five published Tarot decks, The Alchemical Tarot, The Tarot of the Saints, The Buddha Tarot, The Vampire Tarot,and The Angels Tarot. This deck will be his sixth. It is titled The Tarot of the Sevenfold Mystery. Illustrations form this deck have been used in an advertising campaign and have won a 2004 ADDY award from the American Advertising Federation and they have been the subject of an article in the January 28, 2010, Los Angeles Times.

To contact Robert M. Place to ask for a quote on an illustration project or to ask for a CD with samples of more of his illustrations:

call: (845) 246-0180

write:

Robert M. Place
34 Moon Rd.
Saugerties, NY 12477

e-mail: robroseplac@aol.com

all art copyright R. M. Place

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