#TBT: Pi Necklace Inspired by the Thoth Tarot

For as long as I can remember, I've been fascinated by the esoteric and the occult. It doesn't really jibe well with my whole STEM niche here, so I don't talk about it too often. Besides, there's not usually much to say except "Wow, it's fascinating how humans will build complex systems out of almost anything!"

One of the more infamous Tarot decks is the Thoth Tarot devised by everyone's favorite British occultist, Aleister Crowley, and illustrated by the much less notorious Lady Freida Harris. (There is one thing the occult has in common with the sciences: men enjoy the lion's share of the credit and the fame.) While the deck is considered a classic among Tarot enthusiasts today, neither Crowley nor Harris lived to see the actual deck put into commission. Harris finished the art, but nothing came out in a deck form until the 1960s. Its notable for its symbolic use of color and sacred geometry, which is a fancy way to say that it's one of the more abstract decks around. Still, the imagery is arresting.

Image courtesy US Games, Inc.

Once in a while the colors and the geometry get me to thinking about jewelry, and I end up incorporating some of those elements into this or that piece. That's how this pi necklace was born sometime in 2013.

Pi necklace by Kokoba

In addition to trying to recreate Harris's color palette in beads, I also deliberately chose the yellow Swarovski crystals to echo the crisp lines and angles of the yellow light emanating from the lantern.

I read an article years ago—I want to say that it was in Jewelry Artist but I'm not 100% on it—about one artist's ongoing project of creating a ring for every Major Arcana card. My Google-fu is failing me, but it looked like an interesting project and I would love to see how the whole thing turned out!

Pi necklace by Kokoba

Sometimes I think about opening up another store for jewelry inspired by Tarot rather than STEM. Maybe one day?