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Wagner’s Ring Tarot; 2005 ♫
Opera
fans now have their own tarot. Esotericist and artist Allegra Printz created this haunting deck, extracting her scenes from the classic illustrations of
Arthur Rackham. Inspired in the year 1909, after attending Wagner’s Ring Cycle
in Germany, Rackham began
painting the characters in 1910 and completed sixty-four works in 1911. The mythic paintings are provocative and dark, almost
mesmerizing in their ability to preoccupy. In comparison to the dynamic scenes, the colors are subdued, primarily earth tones.
Printz
chose Rackham’s depiction of the elated hero Siegfried as the Fool. Here, having reunited and reconstructed the pieces
of his rightful magical sword, Nothung, he grasps the hilt, raising his arms in jubilation, ready for the world. Dressed in
animal skins and sandals, he is down inside the dim earth, in Nibelheim, and must find his way out. The god Woton, known elsewhere
as Odin, is able to take many forms. In his wanderer aspect he becomes the timeworn Hermit, standing in the nocturnal wilderness,
dressed in a large-brimmed hat and simple blue cloth. He still has his spear, but his bushy, brown beard has grown so long
that it touches his chest. His downcast eyes cause a shadow to cover his face so that we cannot see his expression. Nude blonde
Loge bursts forth from an inferno as the Magus. The earth goddess Erda is the High Priestess.
Most
will immediately see a connection to Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings. It is true
that both epics focus on a struggle over a ring of power and are set in Middle Earth, a name taken from the Old Norse Midgard.
Both Wagner and Tolkien were motivated by the Norse Eddas, Viking sagas and the Nebelunglied, with Wagner retaining more of
the original plot, timeline and cast. Wagner’s four music dramas are arranged with a prologue, Das Rheingold, or The Rhinegold, followed by a trilogy; Die Walküre, or The Valkyrie, Siegfried,
and Twilight of the Gods, or Götterdämmerung.
His operas relate the confusion and disorder during the fatal end of the Age of the Gods.
Siegfried,
son of Siegmund and Sieglinde, is the hero of the story. His parent’s illicit, one-night affair starts trouble with
Sieglinde’s husband Hunding. Brünnhilde, a valkyrie, was originally sent by her immortal father Woton to defend Siegmund,
but is told to switch sides when Woton’s wife Fricka intervenes, demanding that Sieglinde’s marriage vows be honored.
Brünnhilde disobeys, taking Siegmund’s side and although she cannot protect him, she saves Sieglinde, who keeps the
fragments of Siegmund’s shattered sword. Wotan puts Brünnhilde into a trance, condemning her to sleep on a rock at the
peak of a mountain until a mortal awakens her to make her his bride. Thus Brünnhilde loses her immortality, but has put her
faith in Siegmund’s unborn child, having spirited the pregnant Sieglinde away into hiding earlier.
Meanwhile Alberich
the Nibelung, encountering the seductive Rhinemaidens but meeting rejection, in his rage steals their Rhinegold and forges
a ring from it, which gives him power over all of the Nibelungen. Yet Wotan soon relieves him of it. Alberich’s brother
Mime, in hopes of gaining the ring, happens to find Sieglinde in the woods. After she dies in childbirth, it is he who raises
Siegfried. As payment for building Valhalla, Fasolt the giant demands possession of the ring from the god Woton, but is killed for it by his
brother Fafner. Woton cannot kill Fafner directly without breaking his spear, thus enters the now grown Siegfried, who stabs
Fafner through the heart with the reconstructed sword Nothung. Siegfried accidentally tastes Fafner’s blood and can
suddenly understand the language of birds, who tell him of the immobilized Brünnhilde. On his way to find her, he meets Wotan
in the guise of a wanderer and shatters his spear with Nothung, breaking Wotan’s power at the same time. Siegfried awakens
Brünnhilde with a kiss, gives her the ring and journeys to the land of the Gibichungs. In an attempt to get the ring, Alberich’s
son Hagen succeeds in a plot to drug Siegfried with a potion, causing him to abduct Brünnhilde and take her down the mountain.
Not knowing of the conspiracy to deceive Siegfried, Brünnhilde reveals his Achilles heel and he is killed. Blaming the gods
for this transgression, Brünnhilde initiates the fire that ends the Age of the Gods when she lights Siegfried’s funeral
pyre and, wearing the ring, jumps into the fire herself.
The four primal
elements are seen in the story in various forms. The Rhine and Rhinemaidens are of water. The sword Nothung, referenced as
“out of thin air”, like no-thing can be related to air, while Valhalla is thought to be set in the air.
Loge is the fire god who decimates Middle Earth. Erda is the goddess of earth, and like dwarves, the Nibelungen live below
the earth in Nibelheim.
Printz is currently
working on a dedicated companion book for her cards. This richly rewarding mythology should be studied by all, and the breadth
of the storyline has long deserved a complete deck unto itself. The Wagner’s
Ring Tarot helps to make both the Nordic legends and Rackham’s classic art more accessible in today’s world,
and is thus highly recommended for experienced readers who would like to increase their level of dexterity with the tarot.
Mix: 78 = 22 trumps + 16 courts + 40 pips, Suits:
4 x 14, Walsongs (W), Gibichungs (A), Gods (F), Nibelungs (E), Trumps: English series – Fool(0) to Universe(21),
with Sacrifice(12), Magic(14), and Aeon(20), Pips: Enacted scenes, Courts: King, Queen, Knight, Page, Titled:
English – All, Numbered: Arabic – Trumps & Pips(2-10), Keywords: None, Elements: WAFE,
Extras: None, Audience: General, New Age, Art, Tribute, Shape: Squared – 3 ⅞" x 7 ⅞",
Back: One-way – Four detailed but abstract stripes representing the four elements in earth tones, Book:
Guide scheduled, A: Allegra Printz, P: Self published, Web: http://home.earthlink.net/~deckfinder/
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