A lovely urn by 18th century decorative artist Michel Angelo Pergolesi. Makes a lavish Ace of Cups.

In contrast to the severe and elegant portrait of the Empress Dowager Cixi, there is this lush Madonna and Child by Carlo Crivelli. The beautiful bower which surrounds her, her serene attitude, and her glorious garment all convey the ideas of fecundity, nurturing, and majesty that one typically associates with the Empress card.

Her authority is an expression of the earth's own life giving and life sustaining powers, and is tied into the seasons, in particular its times of birth and growth. Thus, the Empress manifests in the affairs of people through the acts as cultivating, harvesting, and preparing food, as well as in pregnancy, childbirth, and raising of children. She represents nature in full bloom, and her power is the natural power of the earth, in contrast to the man-made power of her masculine counterpart, the Emperor.

A Sun by Alfred Latour for Edgar Allan Poe's Eureka (1923).

A 1905 portrait of the Empress Dowager Cixi. The embodiment of the Empress card.

This lovely image, taken from a late 15th century Book of Hours from the Netherlands, recalls the Strength card.

These engineering inspired playing cards, designed by American civil engineer William Barclay Parsons, caught my eye. Above is a two of diamonds.

This is a five of clubs.

This is an early 19th century theater poster showing actor Edward A. Gomersal portraying the Blood Red Knight. It makes a wonderful Knight of Swords.

"People always ask me if I 'believe' in Tarot cards. It's pretty easy to do: I own five decks of them. What they mean, of course, is 'Do you believe that Tarot cards can tell the future?'"
—Rosemary Edghill, Bell, Book, and Murder

Via Brokelyn, I came across an article about a bar that recently opened in Brooklyn called The Minor Arcana. Owner Jesse Levitt was inspired to give it that name after receiving a tarot card reading on Coney Island.

I wish Mr. Levitt much success in his new venture - it sounds like exactly the sort of place where I would enjoy a drink with friends.

The Fairy of Paradise with a star in her hair, from Hans Christian Andersen's "The Garden of Paradise."