A Daily Note: 6.2.22

The "horsey" post . . .

I grew up with horses. In fact, I rode several days a week from the time I was six til my early teens. But I haven’t thought a lot about the world of horses since then. And I definitely hadn’t thought of horses in connection with Tarot.

However—other people have! I found this out by a typically serendipitous route, which began when I came across listings for a horse named Tarot on several1959 racing forms.

I was curious about who owned the horse, and chose the name, but couldn’t find out. However—the search led me to several interesting discoveries.

First: It turns out there have been several race horses named Tarot, in several countries.

I find that interesting, though I’m not sure what to make of it.

Second: I came across a new and very handsome “Tarot-style oracle deck,” created by Hillary Schneider and artist Zuzy Rocka. Schneider owns a retreat in British Columbia, and has developed the 35-card Medicine Herd Wisdom Deck to share insights from her work with horses. Here’s a glimpse:

Of course, I also discovered there are other horsey oracles, such as Way of the Horse, by Linda Kohanov and Kim McElroy—reviewed at length by Benebel Wen. And I remembered that horses appear on specific trumps throughout Tarot history, from Visconti-type decks right up to the present.

Third: The final stop on my equine serendipity tour led me to Worlds Inside Worlds Inside Drawings, a master’s thesis and art installation by E. A. Marshall. I’m going to follow up soon with some excerpts from the thesis, in which Marshall discusses spirituality, horses, and Tarot in relation to art. But for now, I’ll just share this work—Judgement—from the installation.

And you can see more of Marshall’s work in posts created during a digital residency at Southern Heat Exchange.

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Thanks for reading! C