17 - Idunn

The eighteenth card in the major arcana is The Star, no. 17.

I chose Idunn to represent The Star.

Idunn is the wife of Bragi and the keeper of the golden apples. Every day, she goes out to her apple tree and picks enough apples for everyone in Asgard. Everyday the Æsir come to receive one from her hands and eat them to halt their age and remain strong and healthy.

If someone else tries to pick the apples or take them from Idunn without her handing them to them, then the rot away. Without the apples, slowly but surely, the Æsir will age and become weak.

It happened one time that Odin, Loki and Hœnir set out on a journey and eventually grew tired and hungry. So they killed an oxen and attempted to cook its meat but they could not. Loki happened upon the jotun Thiazi who knew how to cook it but he wanted the apples of Idunn for himself.

So Loki lured her out of Asgard to be captured by Thiazi (who can become an eagle) but of course, Idunn would not give the apples to him and he could not get to them otherwise.

Meanwhile, in Asgard, the Æsir began to grow older without her apples and everyone demanded that Loki fix what he'd done. He devises a plan in which he knocks Thiazi from the sky using Freyja's falcon shape. When he falls, he lands in Asgard and the Æsir kill him.

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 next Saturday, December 17th!

~Shizu