The Servants of the Light Deck:
The symbolism in this card is almost entirely traditional. A larger-than-life figure, ostensibly angelic, with glowing, solar hair against a solar disc, raises her arms above the figures of the lovers. In her forehead is a blue jewel: the robes dropping from her shoulders to the ground do a spectrum-shift from violet through to light-blue. At her feet is a stony island rising out of a choppy sea: on the very edge of a green land stand two naked figures, a woman on the left side of the card backed by a fruiting apple tree, a man on the right side backed by a tree carrying only a few orange Autumnal leaves. The lovers are stretching their hands to each other, but while the man is looking wholly at his partner, she is much more focussed on the angelic figure filling the skies. This card speaks of the tensions in relationships, of the difference in focus between partners (straight or same-sex) that can sow the seeds of failure, of the transcendence of the ordinary in the state of love (after all, how often *is* the sky usually filled by an obvious angel?), and so forth. The fruiting apple tree, symbol of the Summerland and of the hidden mystery of the Goddess (for that is whom the woman is as well), while belonging to Autumn, is entirely different in energy to the deciduous tree losing its coloured foliage, also belonging to Autumn, that links the man with the Green Man, Lord of the Forest. The reaching of their hands and almost-contact of their fingers shows that these different energies are still a part of the same system, and belong with each other. Looking at the angelic figure for a moment through the eyes of a reader interested in the romantic aspects of the card rather than the mystical, we see a seriousness of expression, a sense of remoteness. This indicates that a not unalloyed path lies ahead for the couple and their love - perhaps it will be necessary for both to keep their own counsel and to be compromising in the relationship, for her face is not the smiling face of an angel bringing ineffable bliss.

The Granny Jones Deck:
This is a much more homely card. As couples have done since the dawn of humanity, we see a middle-aged couple, the Granny Jones-figure and the Emperor-figure, with their backs to the observer, watching in perfect harmony the rising of a huge, swollen, yellow moon. I am reminded of one of Kenneth Slessor (Australian poet)'s more poignant line concerning an abandoned orchard: "No orange's gold is globed in moonrise here". The roundness and silence of all those long vowels expresses the hush this couple feels as they stand bathed in mooonlight almost as bright as day, looking at the Moon as symbol of the divine and as symbol of lovers everywhere. At Granny's feet are two Siamese cats, her companions in all cards: at her spouse's feet are two of his shaggy, loyal dogs. These animals are used throughout the deck in a continuous way to express their spirit-nature. Behind the couple, very close to the observer, is a ginger cat, the only creature in the card that is unpaired. It equates, thus, directly to the Angel-figure in the SOL deck, its colour just as solar and flame-like. Unlike the Siamese cats and the dogs, its ears and head are drawn in the shape of a cup-crescent, emphasising the lunar and especially the crescent-goddess symbol. This cat is watching the couple watching the moonrise, and is watching the paired animals watching the moonrise, and is watching a few small birds flying across the moon, but is not watching the moonrise itself. This is a guiding spirit, then, who is wholly concerned with the wellbeing of the creatures it is assigned to accompany through life.

Both these cards are an expression of lust, joy and even love, the SOL card in youth as it is conventionally expressed, the Australian card in later life, when life can become calmer, more stable and more loyal as people realise they have fewer chances of replacement partners and thus are prepared to take more care with each other's feelings. The younger couple have a long way to go and troubles to meet, but they have an angelic presence helping them. The older couple are more settled, more able to enjoy their surroundings and pets (ie, they are facing their moonrise, while the young couple have their backs to the sea and the angel), and I have a feeling that they will be partners in life come what may, although most cards will show them fulfilling their separate lives and expressing their separate talents.

... All the answers to life's Mysteries are to be found in particle physics.

Nisaba Merrieweather
nisaba@primus.com.au