Mythical Creatures Tarot Deck

[Avery Moore]

So right now I'm working on a story that contains a lot of divination magic and there's a character in it that reads tarot cards, so I'm putting together a fictional deck of tarot cards made up solely of mythical creatures. I've put together a list of potential tarot cards and their meanings, for example:

Unicorn: Peace and healing (physical or mental)
Pheonix: Change and rebirth
Banshee: Death and loss
Kelpie: Deception and betrayal
Succubus: Lust and desire
Sphinx: Wisdom and personal growth
Pixie: Mischief and playfulness
Leprechaun: Luck and wealth
Vampire: Draining (physical/emotional/financial)
Werewolf: Inner turmoil/Loss of control

Etc, etc... Obviously, I've got no shortage of mythical creatures to choose from (thank you wikipedia) the issue is sifting through all of them to find creatures that fit specific meanings. So for instance, I'm having a hard time finding a creature that represents love. I guess I could use a cherub/cupid type being but I'm not particularly keen on those and would prefer an extremely benevolent animal type creature. Anybody got any ideas?

Also, any ideas for a creature that could represent any kind of emotion/life event would be great. Things like:

Anger
Hatred
Revenge
Danger
Parenthood
Power
Loyalty
Sacrifice
Hope
Fear
Freedom
Family
Destruction
Or any other concept that you might relate to which ever creature you're suggesting.

The creature can be from any culture, but I would prefer if the names were easily read (i.e. you can pronounce them in your head without having to think about it.), so no Ceffyl Dŵr or Tsuchigumo please. Also no Gods as the story I'm working on has it's own religions and I'd prefer not to use creatures where only one exists in legend (like Pegasus or the Rainbow Serpent). Thank you!!!

 

[pmmg]

Troll: Anger
Devil: Hatred
Ghost/Revenant: Revenge
Cerebus: Danger
Bear of Stars: Parenthood
ThunderBird: Power
Gold Dragon: Loyalty
Lamb: Sacrifice
Angel (deva): Hope
Dire Wolf: Fear
Roc: Freedom
Mother Nature: Family
Red Dragon: Destruction
Sky Father: Love

Edited it a little. I see I need a mythical sheep.

 

[Avery Moore]

Avoiding things like devils and angels as they are more related to religion than mythology, but thanks so much for all the suggestions! There's some really good ideas in there.

 

[pmmg]

Okay

Ki Rin: Hope
Ogre: Hatred
Minotaur: Sacrifice (instead of lamb)

 

[Ned Marcus]

I like this idea and used it in one of my novels, although I called them oracle cards. For me, it was easier to make up the cards when the situation arose in the story as I was writing it. So I never developed a complete deck—just the cards I wanted. I like your choices so far; some of them could lead to amusing scenes. If you're going to have a succubus, then why not an incubus, too?

 

[Avery Moore]

If you're going to have a succubus, then why not an incubus, too?

Could do, but seems a bit pointless as they'd be representing the exact same things.

 

[CupofJoe]

Could do, but seems a bit pointless as they'd be representing the exact same things.

Only if you ignore gender. One is male, the other female [or at least their prey is...]
I've heard Concubus used as a term to cover both...

 

[Avery Moore]

I've heard Concubus used as a term to cover both...

That could work.

 

[Finchbearer]

Boggart: true fear
Wyrm: greed
Elf: knowledge and wisdom
Leshy: reverence for nature
Goddess: love

Love is a tricky one, so slippery and elusive.

 

[Avery Moore]

Boggart: true fear
Wyrm: greed
Elf: knowledge and wisdom
Leshy: reverence for nature
Goddess: love

Love is a tricky one, so slippery and elusive.

Oooh! I hadn't actually heard of a leshy before. That one looks cool. Was planning on using a dryad for reverence for nature, but could always use the leshy for something else. Might also use elf, though I think I'd keep the sphinx for wisdom though. Elf could be youth and beauty or something. I don't think I'd use boggart for fear because, while they do exist in folklore and are malevolent, I'm pretty sure the idea that they can shape shift to take the form of your greatest fear was invented by J.K.Rowling.

 

[Finchbearer]

I do love a dryad or two. Boggarts have become synonymous with Rowling - but I always thought that their affiliation to fear was older than her creation.

Will-o-the-wisp: guardian or guide

 

[pmmg]

My first encounter with boggarts was in one of the monster manuals for D&D, and it was not like the one JK presented. But...they are, of course, creatures of folklore and legend. There are many renditions.

Boggart

BTW, even if you dont play the games, some of those RPG manuals have a lot of stuff writers might want to use. They've put numbers and stats to all of it, but mostly, there just trying to mimick what might happen in the real world. They've done a lot of the figuring out for you.

 

[Avery Moore]

I do love a dryad or two. Boggarts have become synonymous with Rowling - but I always thought that their affiliation to fear was older than her creation.

Will-o-the-wisp: guardian or guide

Yes! Definitely with the Will-o'-the-Wisp.