14 - Sif

Please check out Thor's card again! I redid him. C:

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The fifteenth card in the major arcana is Temperance, no. 14.

I chose Sif to represent Temperance. Basically, Temperance means, "control over excess." And in the Tarot, Temperance is suppose to represent harmony, balance, and health. I felt that Sif possessed these traits as she is a mother and wife.

Sif is the wife of Thor. She has a son, Ullur (who is Thor's STEPson), and a daughter, Thurd by Thor.

You may notice that her hair is golden. Once, while Thor was away, Loki happened upon Sif while she was sound asleep. Being the always mischievous one, Loki thought it would be funny to shave her head of all her hair. Now, Sif prized her hair very much because it was the most loveliest of all the Æsir and Thor always told her how much he loved it.

So when she awoke and found all of it gone, she was thoroughly upset. She refused to go out and covered her bare head with a shall. When Thor came home, he called for her, but she wouldn't come to him. He found her, upset, and asked what has happened. She reluctantly revealed her head and told him of what had happened.

Thor stormed over to where the Æsir kept court with Sif and showed them poor Sif. The Æsir all agreed there was no one but Loki who could do such a thing and called for him. When he arrived, Thor grabbed hole of him and demanded he restore Sif's hair to her, one way or another. Loki then sought the help of the dwarves, the Sons of Ivaldi, and had them fashion a wig of pure gold that would fit to Sif's head as if it were grown there all along.

Additionally, he also had the dwarves make Skidbladnir, a ship so big it rivaled Noah's ark but could fold up as flat as a single sheet of parchment to slip into his pocket, which was given to Frey, and the Gungnir, a spear that, when thrown, would never miss its mark, which was given to Odin.

The card itself is made of ash wood. The darker ash for the main body of the card is an overlaid stain. The character is painted on parchment. Everything was done in PS. (Check my s for the resources.)

For more cards in this set, check this gallery.

The next card will be released Sunday, September 20th.

~Shizu