Five star tarot : an accessible & compelling Singapore tarot deck.

• Main Author: Wu, Shermin Qiulin.
• Other Authors: Lucy Davis
• Format: Final Year Project
• Language: English
• Published: 2013
• Subjects: DRNTU::Social sciences::Communication::Cultural studies; DRNTU::Visual arts and music::Drawing, design and illustration; DRNTU::Social sciences::Communication::Visual communication
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/10356/52405
• Institution: Nanyang Technological University

Five Star Tarot: Psychological Insight is an investigation on the relation between the psychological beliefs of people and their visual culture. The project examines a way of self-introspection through tarot cards. This examination focuses on the usage of the Major Arcana of the tarot (cards) system. Tarot reading is a process of interpreting images on the cards and reflecting on what it is telling the reader’s mind. Tarot cards have gained popularity as their images have evolved, becoming more intricate and peculiar than in the past. According to local tarot practitioner Rowen Ong, Singaporeans are more interested in tarot reading in recent years, with frequent questions being asked pertaining to career or relationship, and these reflect the typical Singaporean’s imaginations, aspirations, hopes and fears. Observation and participation was carried out to understand how tarot readers perform a reading and how they interact with a querent. Since there is no available tarot decks with a Singaporean-related theme, tarot readers pick out their own preferred decks and learn to work with its images. With the lack of familiar, true-to-home Singaporean images to read upon, even when tarot decks are available in a myriad of different themes, how will these tarot images work? Can we combine Singapore’s own mythological intercultural heritage and contemporary urban folklore to create a Singaporean-theme deck? How does our local beliefs and culture reflect their role in symbolism and meaning in the form of tarot cards? Can the cards be portrayed in such a way that a non-tarot reader Singaporean will be able to understand the meaning of the cards?