An Historical Relationship with the Tarot and the Hive Gallery

January 8th, 2017 Cody will participate once more in the annual Tarot exhibition held by the Hive Gallery and Studios in Los Angeles.  Seekins himself has a deep history of interest and association to the symbolism of the Tarot archetypes, having first indulged into the mystery and meaning as a young teen.  In late teen and early adult years he collected various decks, eventually finding his most “familiar” deck to be the beautifully crafted Aleister Crowley Thoth collection.

“The Star” and “The Universe” Major Arcana cards from the Thoth deck.

The Crowlean deck is of course a very modern interpretation, not merely within the larger tradition of the Tarot, but within the occult canon specifically.  Originally Tarot cards began as playing cards, a sort of Magic the Gathering of antiquity, which later evolved into a system of archetypes  designed to provoke the intuitions of the given oracle.  The common Bicycle playing card deck known to most, having 4 suits, derived from the Minor Arcana. The Joker wild card addition to the modern deck possesses similarity in both its role and sometimes visual appearance, to the traditional Major Arcana image of “The Fool”.  A decent visual example of this can be inferred from the Industrie und Glück Tarot’s “Fool” :

Original uploader was Ervín Pospíšil at cs.wikipedia

A quite famous occult interpretation is the Rider-Waite Tarot, originally published circa 1910.  This deck stands now as an interstice between the old aesthetic occult interpretation and the new.  It is also the foundation that the Hive Gallery chooses as its reference for its participating artists to consider for each of its annual events.

Rider-Waite Major Arcana “Fool”, By Pamela Coleman Smith – a 1909 card scanned by Holly Voley

Each year The Hive assigns a selection of artists to represent each one of the cards, either of the Minor or Major Arcana suits.  This January 8th, Cody will present his “The Lovers”, as one of 22 Major Arcana artists:

A visual comparison of Seekins interpretation (left) next to the classical Rider-Waite.(right)

The full artist roster and their card assignments include:

MAJOR ARCANA CARDS (for the Hive’s 8th independently published Hive Tarot deck):

The Fool- Grace Kim
The Magician- Sayuka Bloodstone
The High Priestess- Anthony Ausgang
The Empress- Ai Ohkawara
The Emperor- Craig Cartwright
The Hierophant- Jose Bican
The Lovers- Cody Seekins
The Chariot- Anastasia Kalivas
Strength- Presone
The Hermit- Nate Seubert
Wheel of Fortune- Joe Kowalczyk
Justice- DELA
The Hanged Man- Leegan
Death- Ts.Linszey
Temperence- Deirdre Beeman Sullivan
The Devil- Vakseen
The Tower- Inga Lena
The Star- Ivonne Escoto
The Moon- Ray Young Chu
The Sun- Hakka Chan
Judgement- Xian Pitt
The World- Weijia Kang

MINOR ARCANA CARDS (For Hive Tarot App available on Android):

WANDS:
2 of Wands: Gregory Rodriguez
3 of Wands- Lauren Jenson
4 of Wands: Sarah Ganis
5 of Wands: Yanis Zambeis
6 of Wands: Jeffrey Seydel
7 of Wands- Joy Heliotrope
8 of Wands: Greg Gould
9 of Wands: Lady Beaver
10 of Wands: Jennifer Korsen
Page of Wands- Sam Hale
Knight of Wands: Nicole Filiatrault
Queen of Wands: Joon Alvarado

PENTACLES:
2 of Pentacles: My Wicked Eyes
3 of Pentacles- Champoy
4 of Pentacles- Joe Holliday
5 of Pentacles: David R
6 of Pentacles: Takuya Ichinose
7 of Pentacles: Kaoru Samidare
8 of Pentacles- Sma Litzsinger
9 of Pentacles: Bryan Anthony Moore
Page of Pentacles: Eriko Tsogo
Knight of Pentacles: Patrick Haemmerlein
Queen of Pentacles: Deanna Adonna
King of Pentacles-Dominic Polcino
Ace of Pentacles: Kat Bingley

CUPS:
3 of Cups: JT Steiny
4 of Cups: Atsuko Yoo
6 of Cups: Armando Norte
7- Sarah Rocheleau
8 of Cups- Ricardo Cisneros
9 of Cups: Mable Song
10 of Cups: Benedigital
Knight of Cups- Rick Strieck
Queen of Cups- Josephine Huang
King of Cups: Starskee Suave
Ace of Cups: Dillon Kroe

SWORDS:
3 of Swords: Stephanie Weitekamp
4 of swords- Jess Jerome
5 of Swords: Auberi Zwickel
6 of Swords: Gian Norte
7 of Swords: Emma Rose Laughlin
8 of Swords- Sunol Moss
9 of Swords: Hope Doe
10 of Swords: Marissa Lamour
Page of Swords: Taylor Hammond
Queen of Swords: Jennifer Michelle Long

— — —

Seekins’ first Tarot card for the Hive was the “Page of Wands” in 2009:

Page of Wands
“Page of Wands – Prodigal Son” 11″ x 14″, Oil on Canvas

And then again in 2011 with the Major Arcana “The Empress”:

“The Empress” 11″x14″ Oil on Canvas

Each new Tarot interpretation brings with it a unique opportunity to not merely consider a new archetype to express, but also, occurring each in different periods of life, a new set of living impressions from which to construct the image.  To this end Seekins has enjoyed what is becoming a kind of tradition in his relationship to the Hive, which at this stage has extended over 7 years.

 

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