Jeremy Lampkin:
I began painting the tarot at the very end of January 2006, using gouache on bristol board. Unfortunately I didn't realize how bad that medium was, or I would have used acrylic on canvas board. I might not have known anything about painting at the time, but that wasn't going to stop me. By early January 2007, the bifrost Tarot was complete. I began to write a book as the companion of the deck, but I had really gotten to like painting. I temporarily abandoned the project to develop my painting skills before its final completion...
There are a few things about the bifrost that may make it seem controversial, but most of this is fairly easy to explain:
Let's begin with the use of the swastika to represent the sun. In the occult, the clockwise swastika does in fact represent the sun and Tiphareth. I like this symbol better than the dick head version that is so popular, not that I don't appreciate the phallic sun symbolism, but because of the unappreciated or perhaps unknown gnostic symbolism of the swastika. It is tragic that in our culture the swastika most often invokes nothing more than a hateful image of Nazi Germany, when it has been used by many cultures all through history. Clearly I am in favor of putting such bitterness, hatred, and ignorance behind to reopen the skies to this potent solar symbol. The swastika is a representation of the number 6, the number of man. It also represents the 4 seasons and the totality of time; similar to the lemniscate.
Next there are the nude court cards. While all court cards are based on the Thoth system, the Prince-Queen pairings also work with a system of classifying people called the LaVey Personality Synthesizer. Since the LPS uses body shape as a means of identifying one's general type of personality, it is important to show the dimensions of the bodies as clearly as possible. Rendering the courts nude also avoids any kind of fashion statements. The lack of clothes is perhaps reminiscent of the '60s, the era of occult prominence that Crowley had set the table for. Bifrost is particularly influenced by the occultists and underground activity that took place during this time. Finally, Tarot is all about uncovering secrets. What better way is there to symbolize this than to expose the courts?
Another area of confusion may be the 2 extra cards in the deck. Bifrost is the first and only Tarot to reflect the wisdom of the great Dr. Timothy Leary. The Black Hole and The Aeon have been added to fulfill the system of 24 which was proposed by Timothy Leary. Leary claimed there were extra trumps that had not yet been revealed, as man had yet to unlock those new awarenesses. At the end of the Tarot, 2 extra cards now reveal the journey home, breaking the cycle of reincarnation. Leary posited the idea that the Major Arcana is a symbolic blueprint of mankind's growth both as an individual and as a race. Better understanding of this system of 24 keys can be gained by reading The Game of Life ©1979 by Timothy Leary.
One last area of confusion to some with the Thoth may be due to the conclusions drawn from fragments of gnostic scriptures. Since the more recent discovery of the Nag Hammadi codices, it can be seen that mistakes were made, not in the art, but perhaps in terminology. For example, in The Book of Thoth Crowley names the lion-serpent seen flying above the tower Abraxas. It's not hard to guess how he could have made such an error, considering the texts that were available on the subject in those days. In 1945, shortly after Crowley's death, the Nag Hammadi codices were unearthed, revealing that the lion-serpent was indeed the demiurge, the creator of the physical universe, otherwise known as Ialdabaoth to gnostics, and as Jehovah to others. Abraxas is in fact the guardian of the highest heaven, a much higher office than that of Ialdabaoth, creator of the earth-hell.
Awareness of these issues as well as many others led me to remake the Thoth in a version that spoke with modern spiritual understandings. Since Thoth was made, a lot of things have happened in the spiritual underground that could be called the world of the occult. A lot of important figures have come and gone. It was my goal to make this Tarot in the highest spiritual tradition. The Tarot is a sacred oracle that reflects what man has come to understand about his place in the universe. For a Tarot to be true to its name, its seed must be planted by an angel.
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