THE JAZZ TAROT

Your tonality card
 is the King of Trumpets.

As you might guess, this is an auspicious beginning,

A fanfare that may announce a royal entrance,

Or may signal danger, or both.

 (We will come back to the significance of the King of Trumpets by itself and as your tonality card)

Sure enough, the next two cards are more royalty.

Not only that but brothers of the same suit!

Cards in tension, the King of Saxophones (often pictured as a Hawk)

opposite the President of Saxophones.

The more prosaic interpretation is

A good natured but fierce competition,

one harmonic and one melodic, one wide and throaty and the other smoothly humming,

calling and responding with another call.

But the deep reading identifies a balance of two approaches.

You see here how the President is holding his saxophone sideways?

This is the powerful energy of underplaying, a quality also associated with

the Black Prince of Trumpets and the Count of Rhythms.

Here The President indicates an indirect approach balanced by the firm structural sounding of the Trumpet King,

Even the same suit can clash in rhythm and harmony.

If one of these Princes had been the Bird of Saxophones we would

sense a mild polarity, but with exciting consequences.

You must sometimes get in awkward and asymmetrical positions

in order to see outside the boundaries of your situation.

This arrangement of cards, so far, is rare and rather grand.

The King of Trumpets is your Tonality card,

and B flat is a dark but durable key.

Something big is going to happen.

In your counterpoint position you have the President and King of Saxophones

indicating a meeting of two great minds who think differently.

By the way, the two jacks or Princes of Saxophones

are not in as much tension as President and King.

They rarely appear together.

They go their separate ways, remaining brothers in the same suit.

They are known as the Giant Prince and the Sainted Prince of Saxophones.

Now we come to your Harmony card, 

The Dark Gentleman of Keys.

This represents inconsistent brilliance and future vision.

If you had drawn The High Priest of Keys, instead,

there would have been good feedback between him

and both the King and the Sainted Prince of Saxophones,

indicating a short but fantastically creative period.

The rest of that suit includes the Blind Priest of Keys, 

this of course indicates some form of virtuosity under duress,

and the Righteous Father of Keys, pictured with a wide smile.

You always like to see him and the Trumpet King pop up together.

Next is your Trump card.

You have drawn the Brown Prince of Trumpets.

This card in this position reminds you how little time you have.

If you had drawn the The Black Prince of Trumpets here

it would indicate a long journey through different time zones.

This is very unusual, to have two trumpets and four saxophones on the board.

All this power needs a Conductor, and that is your next card,

which turns out to be more royalty, the Duke of Bridges.

This is a very good omen. See how elegantly he is dressed,

pictured with a pen in his hand, composing at the keys.

Your Minor arcana over here, include

The Three of Horns represented persistence

 the Seven of Steps representing innovation

the Four of Hands representing discipline and cooperation

and the Five of Takes, indicating a period of rest which is

at odds with all the other cards.

Now for your Bass card and Time card.

You have drawn the Baron of Ming

and the Messenger of Art.

This pairing represents a strong but volatile relationship,

and in this position might mean a hypothetical meeting

that may or may not happen.

Looking at the entire array,

this is an auspicious time in which your every breath,

your every muscle, your reach, your strength,

you foresight and your ability to listen

will be put to a thrilling test of skill and discipline.

There are many good signs in this reading that you will succeed.