Chicago tarot - beginings

In no particular order, these are icons, images, symbols etc that could be incorporated into a tarot deck that expressed the spirit of Chicago. Personally, I wouldn’t want it to be a monopoly board, with all the landmarks represented; nor would I want every group or thing represented simply because Chicago had it. I’m sure Chicago has a very active Tibetan population… but the city is not defined by them in any commonly held light.

That’s the thing, I guess… when the world at large thinks of Chicago, when Chicagoans think of their city, what comes to mind? It’s from this pool of imagery and archetypes that I’d draw source material for a Chicago deck.


And of course, there’s endless fodder here for more decks…. “Heart of the City Series: a tarot exploration of where we live.” Chicago, Miami, Honolulu, New Orleans, New York, San Francisco, and so on. After that you could expand of course… Paris, Rio de Janeiro, Tel Aviv, Istanbul, and so on.



Anyway, Chicago imagery:

• The Picasso
• Navy pier
• The Ferris wheel
• The World’s Fair
• The Bean
• The Chicago fire
• Ms. O’leary’s Barn
• Sears tower
• Chicago style pizza
• Construction
• Gangsters
• Prohibition
• Political corruption
• Field Museum & campus
• Richard Daley
• Adler
• Frank Loyd Wright
• Cardinal Bernadine
• Holy Name Cathedral
• O’Hare
• Michigan Ave
• Water tower place
• The Blues ( who? )
• The Blues brothers
• ( House of Blues? )
• Fire department
• Police department
• St. Patty’s Day parade
• Chinatown
• Pilsen art district
• Taste of Chicago
• The lakefront
• Lincoln Park Zoo
• University of Chicago
• Greektown
• Gold Coast
• Northwestern
• Manhattan Project
• The Cubs
• The Bears
• The Railroad
• Meatpacking industry
• The El
• The Loop
• Chicago Board of Trade
• Sears & Roebuck
• Windy
• Snow
• Lake Shore Drive
• Route 66 start
• Chicago River
• Cabrini Green
• Interstates
• Buckingham fountain
• Homeless
• Chicago theater
• Dance ( Hubbard street )
• The Art Institute

Artists?
Are there famous artists from Chicago that are just not coming to mind?

Other cultures? ( definitive, not merely “present” )
What cultures define Chicago? Irish, Hispanic, Polish, and Greek, certainly… else?

Other institutions?
There’s the Chicago Police Department, Fire Department. Heh… maybe the election commission of the Public Works Dept. : ) What institutions define Chicago?


Themes:

• Hard work
• Change ( construction, movement, evolution, destruction )
• Community (?)
• Bad weather
• Street festivals (?)

Elemental associations, a start:

Air

• Pigeons
• Leaves blowing
• Newspapers floating
• Smoke
• The wind(y)

Fire

• Fire
• Barrel fire
• Lighter
• Cigar, cig, etc
• Building lights

Water

• The lake, lakefront
• river
• Open hydrant
• Rain
• Snow
• Fountain
• Puddles
• firehose

Earth

• Excavation
• Hills, trees
• Parks
• Buildings
• Masonry & architecture