I don't know if it's easy, but I do know that it can be tricky. Dichotomies are often a lot more vague and ambiguous than they appear at first glance.

This image was one of the few of your images that I couldn't connect to at first. I didn't get it at all, but often I don't feel I need to "get it" to connect with your images.

At first, I thought Ms. D was standing behind some kind of small table, with the legs being the table and the coat tails being stylized legs. In that imagined pose, She looked more like a bored Blackjack dealer than the Goddess of Desires. (She still looks a little bit bored to me, I'm afraid.)

There are some intriguing variances. I suppose that the briefcase replaces the chains, but why are the couple clothed? (AFAIK their nakedness is symbolic of the affinity between innocence and depravity.) Why isn't She winged, and where is the reference to Cups? Why is She looking sideways instead of straight into my desirous heart? Why am I so anal about the symbolology of this card?

Good work, anyway. I think it will grow on me in time.

Edit: Um, the levitation replaces the wings, doesn't it?

I'm trying, in a lot of these, to not just redraw what Pamela Smith drew for Waite. I'm bringing in threads from Crowley's version, and from readings on what Tarot was before all the Mystickqs started finding all these correspondences to other symbol sets. This one happens to be more about my take on divinity, binary worldviews, and a bit of Voudoun than it is about the Christian devil, or about symbolizing Magic or Creativity as Waite and Crowley respectively cast it. Plus a bit of the version of the Devil as 'a man of wealth and taste'.

She is bored with being blamed for all the evil in the world; she has better things to do than to put her fingers in every little mortal pie. A tiny little part of her will come whisper secrets in your ear if you invite it. But she doesn't really care.

At some point the coat-tails will probably be tweaked and the legs will get a bit more contrast added. I was tired when I finished this one. *grin*

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egypt.urnash.com. minimal stuff.

I'm trying, in a lot of these, to not just redraw [...]

And doing a wonderful job of it: your cards are original and refreshing, a Tarot with roots but not very much baggage. For me, this suite has rekindled my (never very serious) interest in the Tarot. It's enlightening to hear your thoughts about the specific choices you've made, that's all.

BTW, this isn't really my soapbox, but my view of the Lady in question (I try to avoid calling her the Devil because of the misleading Christian connotations) is that She revels in Her work, because She is the great eye-opener. She confronts everyone with the challenge "You want more than this. It can be better. Baby, we *can* get higher.", and in doing so She helps people grow and realize their potential. She's not the enemy of any man or deity, She's the enemy of sterile innocence.

I suppose that's why I wanted her to be a bit more enthusiastic. I'll shut up now

Oh, no problem on the discussion - that's been one of the neat things about this project, the discussions I've had about what these cards symbolize for different people, and how I sometimes really align with that, and sometimes go a completely different direction. Some conversation has resulted in revisions, or will be rattling around in my mind when I come to other cards that relate.

My take on Tarot, so far, is generally a kind of 'chaos magic' one. Several of them have Kali grinning at the viewer from beneath a veneer of lip service to the medieval Christian symbolism at the core of the deck. I'm not sure who's wearing the mask of 'the Devil' here but she clearly has no interest in the 'good OR evil' place she's been stuck in by the role; she'd rather be out doing something. My theme for this card, I think, is the lies commonly associated with the Devil - and my opinion that the whole system that gives us a choice between a Jehova or a Lucifer is a lie.

A lot of the other cards I'm doing are about celebrating and embracing change/chaos/challenge, and looking to the future; this is one about being trapped in old mindsets.

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egypt.urnash.com. minimal stuff.

I don't know much about the Tarot, can't comment on the iconography and whatnot, but I love this as an -image-.

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"Creativity is the sudden cessation of stupidity." -Edwin Land