The Tarot Series 3

7. Pushing up the Daisies (Death)

Oil on Canvas 30 x 40 cm (2024)

INFLUENCES

Vanitas: The presence of a skull is a theme found in the Vanitas genre. This is a particular form of still life painting that emerged in the 16th century. Symbolically a skull is a reminder that life is transient. The implicit message is to seize the day.

The Death card in the tarot pack. It is one of the cards thought to instil fear in a tarot reading, but depending on the surrounding cards it does not necessarily imply physical death. It can be interpreted as a symbol of transformation and regeneration of the soul.

Under the Volcano by Malcolm Lowry. (1947).

Theme Tune: Don’t fear the Reaper by Blue Oyster Cult (1976)

8. Wheel of Fortune

Oil on Canvas 30 x 40 cm (2025)

INFLUENCES

Theme Tune: O Fortuna from Carmina Burana by Carl Orff (1936).

 Liberation. Escape from the karmic wheel.

9. The Inner Eye (The Hanged Man)

Oil on Canvas 30 x 40 cm (2024)

INFLUENCES

A singular inner vision.

The myth of Odin who gladly sacrificed an eye in order to drink water from Mimir’s well and gain wisdom. On another occasion he hung on a tree for nine whole days and nights as a sacrificial act in order to gain the runes.

Shani Oates, The Hanged God: Odin Grimnir. (2019)
“Whereas Christ saves peoples from their sins, Odin strives to save themselves from ignorance, the oldest and greatest sin – a stark contrast to the Old Testament ethic that deemed the acquisition of knowledge was sin itself.”