My Dumb Idea to “Get” Somnia Tarot
Alright, so I saw this Somnia Tarot deck pop up online. The pictures looked seriously cool – dark, moody, kinda weird but beautiful, like something out of a dream (duh, Somnia, right?). I thought, “Hey, tarot’s deep, this art is awesome, let’s dive in and see what it’s really saying.” Spoiler: It was way less straightforward than I pictured.
First thing, I grabbed the cards. Just pulled ’em out of the box. Didn’t even shuffle properly, just kinda fanned them out on my crappy coffee table. Figured I’d just look closely at a few that caught my eye, try to see the details.
Getting Confused By All The Pretty Pictures
Started with the “Fool” card. I know the Fool usually means beginnings, innocence, that leap of faith vibe. This Somnia Fool? Total head trip. It wasn’t some dude stepping off a cliff. Nah. It was a… person? Maybe? Walking towards these giant, impossible pillars, sky all swirly purple and green. Felt less “yay adventure!” and more “entering a weird, uncertain void.” Messed with my head.
Then I pulled the “Hanged Man.” Classic Rider-Waite has that dude just chilling upside-down. The Somnia version? Oh man. Looked like someone floating underwater, tangled in roots or something, glowing bubbles rising. Super peaceful but also kinda trapped? And the colours were all deep blues and eerie greens. Didn’t feel like sacrifice, felt more like being stuck in suspended animation. I kept flipping the card upside-down, trying to get it. Total nonsense at first.
Where Did My Meanings Go?
I got annoyed quick. I knew the traditional meanings, but these images were telling a different story, or at least a weirder version. I dug around online a bit, found scraps about the deck’s creator wanting to capture dream logic. Okay, that kinda clicked. Dreams aren’t literal, right?
So I tried harder. Just stared at the pictures and wrote down whatever popped into my head:
- Instead of “sacrifice,” I wrote “forced pause” or “deep surrender” for the Hanged Man.
- That impossible Fool walking? Maybe “stepping into the unknown” without the naive optimism, just… doing it scared.
- The Death card? Oof. Forget skeletons. It showed this beautiful, crumbling statue face with moths flying out. Less “end,” more like “inevitable change” or “old parts falling away”. Felt surprisingly gentle and creepy at the same time.
Suddenly, meanings weren’t textbook points anymore. They were feelings. Weird images started making a strange kind of sense for dream states and subconscious junk.
Finally, Kinda Getting The Vibe (Maybe)
Okay, deep breath. After basically throwing my traditional knowledge out the window for a minute, things got clearer. The art wasn’t ignoring the old meanings; it was filtering them through dreams. Stuff like:
- Water everywhere: Emotion? The Deep Psyche? Who knows, but it felt significant.
- Lots of distortion and unstable structures: Like how dream reality wobbles.
- Glowing light in weird places: Insights? Trapped energy? Creepy highlights?
- A huge theme of being small in a big, strange world. Made me think of dreaming feeling powerless or insignificant sometimes.
Looking for that stuff – the dream logic, the surreal mood – made the “deep dive” actually happen. Felt less like reading cards and more like interpreting bizarre dreams captured on cardboard.
Still Got No Solid Answers
Honestly? I barely scratched the surface. It was fascinating, frustrating, and made my brain hurt. This deck is not for pulling out quick answers. It’s more like… staring at abstract art in a dim museum and arguing with yourself about what it means. You gotta meet it halfway with your own imagination. Is it “cool art”? Hell yeah. Does it give clear meanings? Nah. It gives vibes. Deep, weird, captivating vibes that make you think harder than usual. Feels like a real deep dive into your own head, using the cards just as a crazy trigger. Probably gonna keep fiddling with it, feeling confused half the time. But that’s kinda the point, right?
