The Legacy of the Divine Tarot

This month, November, is all about the art. And at this poignant and somewhat bittersweet time of year, we’ll look at some of the more poignant and bittersweet cards. Often when writing about decks, especially for marketing purposes or packaging, we focus on more positive cards, for obvious reasons. But here, among friends and tarot lovers, we can also appreciate the loveliness in some of the less-than-happy cards. And some of the most poignant and beautiful are, in my opinion, to be found in the Legacy of the Divine Tarot.

This deck has drama and power and agony in the images. And perhaps this is why when I ask a client “what brings you here today,” and she puts her head in her hands and moans “my life, my life,” I always pull out the Legacy deck. When people are feeling like this, I like a deck that can express and clarify their experience and for me, this deck does that. It is not all doom and gloom! Do not misunderstand. This is a very balanced deck with joy and sweetness and hard work and satisfying experiences…all of life. But it also helps heighten my own compassion and empathy.

Nothing says “feeling trapped” to me like the 8 of Swords:

Heartache is depicted in this touching 3 of Swords:

But lest we get too maudlin, let’s find some hope and promise in the Ace of Cups. I include this because I am such a fan of Dutch realism and am especially fond of still life paintings that include glass. Ciro does glass very, very well and this image highlights that skill.