Plushy Doctor's office

            Ghostly pale skin, sunken cheeks, dark circles under the eyes framed by scruffy, overgrown hair. That was the view that greeted Tintin in the mirror that morning. Slowly, he ran his fingertips down his face, a sense of horrified curiosity taking hold, not letting him look away from his own disheveled form.

          “…Is that even me…?”

          Snowy, who lied at the foot of Tintin’s bed, let out a small whine, his head falling to his paws.

          Tintin passed his hand through his hair trying to get it out of his face but quickly pulling away. The greasy sensation of the unwashed mess on his head made him cringe and make his way to the bathroom to start a bath. He had felt gross and unkempt for long enough for it to shove through the cacophony of his thoughts – they were like ants on an anthill, crawling non-stop, the feeling of filth being one of them.

          14 squared is 196.

          The rushing, bubbling water gave respite. It was loud, consistent and comforting. And warm. How he had missed warmth. Days on end locked in a ship’s hull really puts into perspective how nice regular, every-day things are: warmth, cleanliness, being able to see. The little things.

          Having cleaned himself up and feeling so much better - lighter somehow - Tintin took a moment to look in the bathroom mirror and decide what was to be done with his hair. It was too long for his usual quiff to stand so an alternative was necessary. He found a comb in the medicine cabinet behind the mirror and slicked all of it back.

 I sort of look like Skut with hair like this.

 Then he combed it over to the right. A sense of primal familiarity, a sort of nostalgia even, hit him. It was overwhelmingly strong but he couldn’t exactly place why.   

0 - The Fool - Kaķēns, kurš atteicās no jūras skolas (Prāta Vētra)

 The song can be interpeted as a breakup from a toxic/disfunctional relationship and therefore a new beginning, that's why I chose the song to start though it could technically work for the Lovers (reversed) as well. 

1 - The Magician - Viena meita govi slauca (Autobuss Debesīs)

 The song is orginally from the LV movie "Elpojiet Dziļi" aka "Četri Balti Krekli" and tackles the question of artistic freedom, specifically in music, during the USSR occupation of the time. The struggle between what the creator wants and what they're allowed to create also reflecting the spirit and material world like in the card. The song may come across as absurd at first but absolutely reflect these themes as well. 

2 - The High Priestess - Par podu (Prāta Vētra) 

 "Par podu" is told as a classic fable about a man taking his horse and cart into town to the market amid modern traffic and modern people, coming across a pot full of money but before taking it he sits down thinks about what he would do with it. In the end, he realized he would rather have a peacful life wihtout the money and it disappears. The song also poses the question of if young/modern people should judge these kinds of decisions. In this story, the man takes a moment to know himself, to think about what he will do and if it's something he actually wants, instead of lying to himself about doing something different. He knows himself too well, so he doesn't take the money. The High Priestess card similarly expresses ideas of intuition and one's inner voice. 

3 - The Empress - Kukainītis (Viegli)

 The Empress as a card represents ideas of motherhood and a sort of childhood safety and that's similarly found in the song "Kukainītis". It is sung by Māra Upmale-Holšteine in a very soft, sweet, caring tone and the lyrics are about not being scared of the world - "The bug doesn't seek to be small again, so why are you, big one, so scared?" It's a really nice, comforting song. 

4 - The Emperor - Emīla nedarbi (Autobuss Debesīs) 

 This is the main theme of the LV movie "Emīla Nedarbi" - about a little boy Emil getting into all sorts of trouble, mostly from his father and that's why I associate this song with the Emperor card. The Emperor is representative of a father role, similarly to the Empress being a mother figure. Emil's father in the movie is the classic, sort of cartoonish, paternal figure and the song (at least on the disc I always listened to it on) starts with him angrily calling out "Emil!" I find it fitting. 

5 - The Hierophant - Gribēju būt rokstārs (Prāta Vētra) 

 The interpreation of this song fitting into this card mostly comes from the music video. The Hierophant is about a sort of generational/power divide - about the youth wanting to be free and the older generations or traditional instotutions wanting to control. This is also seen in the music video. 

6 - The Lovers - Tu dejoji naktī (Prāta Vētra) 

 This card is very obvious in it's meanings but my choice of the song may not be. The reason i chose "Tu dejoji naktī" is because of the singer's clear adoration and awe of the subject, the girl dancing in the night, and being pulled in to join her by her energy. I see this as very romantic because there is no discussion of her looks, of what she could give to the singer (implicitly male because it's sung by Renārs Kaupers). She is allowed to exist and do what she wants and the singer loves her for it and that is just wonderful. 

7 - The Chariot - Balāde par Johanu (Autobuss Debesīs) 

 This song tells a very good, fun fairytale subversion story and I love it for it. It tells the sorty of Johan, who is a poor knight in love with a princess betrothed to another. But alas! A three-headed dragon is ALSO in love with her and one day tries to take her away! The king calls to her betrothed - another kingdom's prince - to come and save her, that if he does, he will get to marrry her and take half the kingdom. The prince says he can't becuase his teeth hurt that day. But never fear - the brave knight Johan is here and he defeats the dragon. He asks the king to marry the princess and get half the kingdom since he slayed the dragon and that was promised to the prince but the king gives him some bandages and half a barrel of beer instead. The princess and prince are married while Johan is mourning this unfrotunate situation. Years pass and the princess and prince do not get along - they never really seemed to like each other to begin with. With this, Johan start courting the princess once again. A silly story that ties into the Chariot card's themes of willpower and ambition. 

8 - Strength - Melnais karogs (Grēcīgie Partizāni) 

 Both the song and the card reflect ideas of inner power - "learn to listen what your heart tells you"

9 - The Hermit - Vakardienas trakums (Prāta Vētra)

 For the Hermit card this might also seem like an odd pick since suring the entire song the singer is reffering to how he's been "born in the crowd" and is describing scenes of a very intense party. Here the saying "sometimes you're the most lonely in a crowd" is what I'm going off. The singer is unable to listen to his inner voice or connect to anybody around him while inn his mind he is being thrashed and torn appart by "the winds of destiny". This is consitent with the Hermit reversed. 

10 - The Wheel of Fortune - Ugunspuisis (Skandenieki) 

 "Ugunspuisis" is explicitly a summer solsitce song and has very big crossover with the Wheel of Fortune. In LV tradition, during the solstice, we light a bonfire which is usually a round shape and all sorts of other circle/circumpunkt imagery is used and appears in the song. In the song, the singers reffer to offering to the Ugunspuisis (Fire boy), like "Jāņa siers", a traditional milk cheese that's usually round in shape, a little ball of red yarn, etc. The solstice is all about inviting good luck and change, just like this card. 

11 - Justice - Skauģu dziesmiņa (Carnival Youth) 

 I added this one as a sort of ironc twist to the card. It's the card reversed to the fullest. "Skauģu dziesmiņa" is about the singers demanding that a person share their wealth and possesions with them with no basis - "Why are you so stubborn about wanting everything for yourself? Let's evenly split what's yours". I find this very funny personally. 

12 - The Hanged Man - Ai nu lai (Prāta Vētra) 

 As the card, "Ai nu lai" is about stopping and sometimes sacrificing something for a little to be better off later. "Ai nu lai" is basically like saying "oh, let them" or soething similar. The lyrics go "when I can't sing over the chorus, I swallow the pain and try to reach my people". Easy going, being or trying to get to where you want to be. 

13 - Death - Sēd uz sliekšņa Pasaciņa (Mirdza Zīvere) 

 This song is here because of some very personal reasons that I don't want to really put here completely out of the blue, so I won't. Besides that, "Sēd uz sliekšņa Pasaciņa" is a song about revisiting and letting go of one's childhood therefore opening yourself up for changes and transformation just like the card. Also the sound of this song, especially surrounded by these other ones, is very different and ehterial which mathces the energy of this card very well. 

14 - Temperance - Nekā jau nepietrūkst (Viegli)

 The song literally translates to "Nothing is lacking". It centers around the idea that even though it would always be nice to have more and nothing may ever FEEL like it's enough, "the sun, sky and bread is here, and the bread rises, and children are born, nothing is lacking". 

15 - The Devil - Ja tikai uz mani tu paskatītos (Prāta Vētra) 

 The Devil card has the themes of materialism, indulgence and a sort of obsession that can be seen in this song as well. The singer is desperatly listing everything he is ready to be if only his romantic interest would just look at him. A very passionate decleration to please the other person at the cost of the singer's personhood. 

16 - The Tower - Lec Eglīte (Skandenieki) 

 "Lec Eglīte" is a very interesting song because it combines the lyrics and melody of traditional folk music with the backing is, what I assume to be, heavy metal or some other more edgy style (I'm not great at identifying musical genres and I'm very unfamiliar with more alterantive music, so forgive me if I'm wrong). The effect definietly is that of a tower crashing to the ground or any other disaster but is still very cool to listen to. 

17 - The Star - Zin' Dieviņi Kālabate (Skandenieki) 

 The Star represents ideas of hope and faith and in a way this song does too. The singer is coming to terms with her upcoming death and is fully at peace with it, as the title of the song says "God knows best". 

18 - The Moon - Siāma (Prāta Vētra) 

 The song is played on some sort of string instrument, it might be an acoustic guitar or a lute, I'm not 100% sure. There is no other backing track, making it sound rather lonely and the anxious strum of the strings evoces the image of pondering. The card refers to one's intuition and inner self, similarly to how the song creates the same image. 

19 - The Sun - Alvas zaldātiņi (Carnival Youth) 

 The Sun card's themes are joy, life, happiness, warmth, confidence, energy and can be easily associated with childhood. "Alvas zaldātiņi" is sung from the perspective of a child inviting another kid to come play with their tin soldiers at the steps of their home instead of being upset. It mentions somewhat grusom ideas like the dead rotting body of Napolion and being burried while at the same time mentioning kittens and gold fish - like a kid saying some of the scariest things you've ever heard while innocently laughing. 

20 - Judgement - Lapsenes nāve (Viktors Lapčenoks) 

 The song is concerned about the question of the value of a life. The singer notes a dead wasp and immediately finds that strange - a bee has worked to make honey, a human has taken care of cows and dried hay but what has a wasp done with its life? And since we don't know where it came from or what it does, does the wasp deserve to die? It puts into perspective the absurdity of our society being built on work and labor when other creatures can just exist peacfully but our end will all be the same. It also shows the human tendency to judge everyhting and everyone when the Judgement card is explicitly about how in the end our own judgement will be out of our own hands. 

21 - The World - Pamodini mani (Prāta Vētra) 

 "Pamodini mani" is the last song in the album "Tur kaut kam jābūt" and caps it off beautifully. I was torn between this one and "Piena ceļš", however, the latter might be too predictable and corny even though it fits really well too. "Pamodini mani", similatly to "Piena Ceļš" is about home and how no matter where one is, home is always with them, how the real treasure is within you. The finale to a journey of self discovery. 

 Every time I go through the cards in order, I get the same feeling of wholeness, like the journy has actually taken place and all these shifts and changes have happened. This is why I love the Tarot Journey - it's so many twists and turns and challenged while also being so focused on it's goal of self discovery. I hope making your own playlist will also bring this feeling to you too :]