Tarot: Queen of Coins

[pyraxis]

Photoshop, Wacom and MotionComputing tablet

T'noui is an elder of the Tirothi, a shapeshifting people from Karn. Their other form looks something like a triple-jointed lemur with fangs. They live on woven platforms high up in trees in the jungle. They're known for their gemwork and craftsmanship of all kinds, their love of sweet fruit, and their constant chatter.


This has been brought from the shashigai, the storytellers of Karn.

T’noui told us this story:
At one time the Tirothi had only the mother tree, and it was enough, because the Tirothi had no enemies. But the tribes became bigger and bigger, and the fruit trees did not increase, and people began to fight and do bad things to each other.
The elders of the villages did not know what to do, because many times one man would kill another, and say he had not done it.
At the same time, the tirothi discovered caves in the jungles, and in the caves there were all manner of things that were shiny and glowed when light was on them. These things were soft metals and gems, and the tirothi made many beautiful things, but they fought over them too, and one man would kill another and take his gems.

There was one man who was very greedy, and he killed many men, but no one saw him do it, so the elders could not control him.
This man followed a cave digger to his cave, and when the cave digger had dug up some gems, Sai’weree killed him and took the gems. And among the gems there was a crystal that was blue, and glowed blue even in the light.
The elders guessed what happened to Sai'weree, because some tirothi found him later, next to a young tree, and the tree and Sai'weree both had shards of the blue gem embedded in them.
Something Sai’weree had done caused the gem to explode, and Sai’weree was killed when the shards penetrated his body.
The elders said the gems and the tree were cursed, and that people should stay away from them. But two other men, their hearts hard with greed and their fangs full of poison, went to the tree to pry the gems out.
They were found by the tree the next day, frozen in the midst of a fierce fight. They were biting and clawing each other’s throats, and lust and greed was still visible in their eyes.

The elders had the men removed to the mother tree, and after much discussion they declared the tree to have judged the men on behalf of the mother.

After that men were given a choice regarding wrongdoing. They could confess, try their case with the elders, or spend the night in the judgment tree. Only the pure of heart and the innocent would survive – the greedy and the guilty would be found the next day, dead and frozen.

The tree lives to this day, and from time to time a branch breaks off, and it is found to contain a shard of the crystal. These are made into pendants for the elders and the holy ones, for it is said that when one is not worthy to lead, the pendant will call demons to judge them and send them to the mother tree.


Aeclectic.com on the Queen of Pentacles (Coins).

Comments

[tigerweave]

That queen sounds like leonie hahaha! *scampers off cheekily*

[pyraxis]

Hehehe did Leonie find a way to go to Karn?

Maybe she would be a tiroth if she lived there.

[tigerweave]

she goes through lots of places, how she know its Karn?

[pyraxis]

Uhh.... good question! hahaha! I don't know. Cause it feels like it? But what's the feeling. Maybe if she sees people turning into lizards and monkeys and bird-things and... what to even say for a nethik. Kinda like deer?

[tigerweave]

ok, um. I'l tell her ok!

[tigerweave]

Not sure if this has any connection to the card but the tree bit reminded me of this song my brother wrote, how he had been on the foreshore and was looking rock puddles amongst the mangrove trees. And how for the crabs and other creatures in the rock pools beneath a mangrove tree, the tree and its roots (You know how mangroves' roots stick up above ground?) and trunk and leaves etc must seem like the whole world. Like Yggdrasil.


So his song went kinda through that, then he sang "Here in my home town, stands that tree" Like yggdrasil is here! In Darwin, in our little town-city is the tree that shelters all the worlds.

I just love that concept/idea :-)

And it is a kewl story too, the one you told that shashigai told. *smiles*

Oh oh oh that reminds me, memry has to go tell him her Opinion of his latest two comics. We read them but she didn't get in the centre to comment. And us Big Girls love how much she loves the comic so we want to let her express it for herself :-)

[pyraxis]

Hey that's a good idea! I should do a mother tree card.

That's not my telling of the story though, I just copy-pasted it from shashigai. And yeah I'm sure he would love to hear what memry thought of his latest comics.

I think I would like your brother's song.

[tigerweave]

Shashigai is a good storyteller :-)

Yeah, my brother has a gorgeous baritone voice, so imagine it in that lol!

yup yup, we can handle getting memry in to write for a bit now :-) *goes over to shashigai's journal*

[exodus]

beautiful picture. i've always respected how accurately and unabashedly you draw human bodies. many, many artists would shy away from sagging breasts such as these because they're 'imperfect'. i love the story too. just the little tale i needed to make me feel alive.

[tigerweave]

yes I love the drawing of the woman, sagging breasts and all :-)