The Sound of Archetypes: A Case Study in Immersive Sonic Translation of the Major Arcana

This case study paper reports on the development and implementation of an aesthetic sonic translation methodology for three cards from the Tarot's Major Arcana. While extensive work exists in data sonification treating source material as value-neutral information, the sonification of culturally symbolic systems such as the Tarot remains underexplored in both scholarly and technical literature [19]. Through practice-based investigation, I document the design process of creating immersive sonic environments for The Tower, The Fool, and The Moon, where each archetype becomes a navigable world with distinct acoustic physics and production rules. The paper presents a three-stage pipeline, archetype extraction, acoustic mapping through production, and spatial staging, showing how production techniques create meaning through sound perception. Mixed in Dolby Atmos, these sonic worlds offer insights for sound designers, artists, and researchers interested in the intersection of ancient wisdom systems and contemporary spatial audio technologies.