Shadow Arcana

Sorry for the change in trajectory. I've got a bunch of posts in progress dealing with basic stuff, but I haven't been able to work on them recently. So here's a fluff piece to distract you.

On page 84 of Major Arcana, the author speculates on other "Shadow Arcana" beyond the traditional 22 in the Rider–Waite tarot deck. These include "the Ship, Prudence, Misery, the Drowned Sailor, or the Merchant."

Most of the cards named come from unorthodox tarot decks–the Ship from the Lenormand tarot deck, Prudence from the Thoth tarot deck, Misery and the Merchant from the Mantegna tarot deck–except the Drowned Sailor which comes from T.S. Eliot's "The Waste Land."

The passage speculates on the origins of the these Shadows: are these paths founded by Agarthans that were not revealed to Akhenaten? Tools of the Saurians, the Dragon, or the Black Star? Creations of the other immortal traditions indigenous to China, Africa, the Americas, et al? Creations of the Wheel to be allies in the Final Quest?

The idea of Shadow Arcana is neat, but I feel that it risks lending itself to splat bloat. We already have 22 Major Arcana and factions thereof. Do we really need more? 

On the other hand, the Arcanum Exaltation Table on page 9 does leave room for a few unused exaltations. There are 12 astrological months, 7 planetary influences (i.e. days of the week), and 8 elemental influences. Of these, Saturn/Saturday and Earth-Ka, Solar-Ka, Black Lunar-Ka and Orichalka have no exaltation. It's also unclear whether the High Priestess' "Moon" exaltation applies to Lunar-Ka, to Dominant Ka on Mondays, or both? (Ophiuchus doesn't have an exaltation, but it's hidden in Scorpio which is the exaltation of the Unnamed Arcanum.)

There are also a number of organizations from the French version, such as the Cult of the Dragon, the 666, and the Orichalcians, who may not necessarily fit as factions of the Major Arcana. 

I did have some ideas for what I called "dark arcana," basically factions of the Unnamed Arcanum for the various different cultural traditions like the Afro-Caribbean gede loa, Chinese xixuegui, Mesoamerican xibalban, the Cult of Lilith, etc. I'm very interested in the Santa Muerte stuff going on in Mexico right now, which I thought could tie in nicely with a plot hook involving the revival of the xibalban traditions and the current demonization of European colonization of the Americas.

Let me know what you think in the comments.

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