They're he-e-ere!

The long-awaited box of goodies arrived on Thursday. Due to commitments that day, I had to wait until Friday before I could open it...twitch, twitch.

DruidCraft Tarot feels like long-lost friends and relations to me, to the point where I'm looking at the people and trying to "remember" what their names are! I feel so at home with that deck. I think it likes me too, because when I asked how we'd get along, up came the Princess of Wands, upon whom my eyes had already lingered when I browsed through the deck. She strides confidently down the road, and reminds me greatly of the heroine of a novel I had been writing for myself, and is thus dear to my heart already! And although the princesses are youthful, and take the place of pages, there is nothing inherently incompetent about them. They all seem focused on their learning, possessing the good habits and attitudes with which I would start the school year. In answer to the question "what will you teach me?", the Wheel (of the year/of Fortune) showed up. It is a card of seeing the patterns in one's life and in all of nature, and of ending and beginning cycles. How auspicious! The Wheel is one of my favourite cards, esoterically. I asked "What do I bring to this deck?", and The Lady (The Empress, and a birth card) turned up. "Much" might be the one-word answer. Between my medieval recreationist experience and practice of the Craft, and with a smattering of Celtic lore thrown in, I think I'm well primed to work with these cards. Will I use them in the Primary Deck Reflection? Perversely, probably not, unless I need a break. A break from what?

I see the PDR exercise as an opportunity to Study with a capital S, something that I might otherwise be lazy about. It is also an opportunity to share a deck that other people may not be familiar with. Thus, officially, I am choosing to study the Quantum Tarot, published just last year, although it's not an immediate love-in. I am fascinated by the concept of blending the physics of outer space, and the inner atom, with tarot. I see no paradox whatsoever. Understanding the invisible and subtle forces that affect us has been the province of tarot for centuries. This is an update of the science involved. No problem--except that I haven't touched the theory behind physics since Grade 8 science class where, let's just say, I failed to distinguish myself. I asked the cards how we'd get along: the 2 of Pentacles showed up. Well, if that isn't about ambivalence, I don't know what is. What I make of this deck is pretty much in my hands...science is neutral, and all that. What will I learn? The Knight of Wands showed up, linked in this deck to the planet Mars. Going by the Little White Book, "he symbolises the sustained drive and enthusiasm needed to see through a project"; "the brave companion who will support you unflaggingly--even if he does tend to get into arguments". Oh, great. The lesson of this deck may be persistence, and altering my views about things I thought I "knew". How very scientific. The Queen of Swords showed up in answer to "what do I bring to this deck?". In this deck, she is linked to Cassiopeia, traditionally considered to be a bold and scheming woman (how unfeminine: didn't she know her place?). "Traditionally, the Queen of Swords represented widowhood, but these days she embodies independent and mature womanhood. She makes her own choices, has a discerning mind and is not swayed by emotional appeals from others." Well, that sits better with my feminist, or at least humanist, ego. Maybe that's a vignette of me choosing this deck because it's a challenge, not a shoe-in.

The deck I will not be using in this study is the Revelations Tarot. It has built-in reversed images, which I thought was very clever, and still do, but now that I have the deck in my hand it seems uncommunicative to me in its imagery. The cards themselves are the easiest to handle. I will be studying them off-line in a comparison of all four of my decks, and reading the companion book. How will we get along? King of Cups. "This card urges going with your gut feeling...". What can I learn from it? Hanged Man (a birth card) reversed. Loss of self in a situation that runs away with one...bad investment...reversal of luck.... What do I bring to this deck? The Sun. All the optimism in the world. But I think I'd better apply the energy of that optimism to a more talkative deck.

I have not yet heard from any of the publishers, so I won't post photos yet. But I have the technology, and would love to brighten the page with pictures!