Pagan tarot

Thread originally posted on the Aeclectic Tarot Forum on 16 May 2002, and now archived in the Forum Library.

catlin	16 May 2002
I FINALLY GOT IT! I still have had no time to check it properly. The first thing which I found striking was the fact that the background colours in the Minor Arcana seems to be a bit arbitrary selected, eg red was for the swords which I 'd have preferred to be added to the wands. In the Major Arcana "Juno" was selected to represent the High Priestess. I am wondering if this refers to a much older interpretation of the Goddess Juno which is nowadays a bit neglected. Any ideas/comments from others about this deck?

Kiama	16 May 2002
Hi Catlin! I got this deck not too long ago (Thanks Fairyhedghog! :* ) It seems the creators used the older HPS... Juno. Juno was used in this card quite a long time ago, in some of the older decks. It could have been cuz of the dislike of a Female Pope card at the time... The High Priest is also changed, and in this deck he is Juno's consort, Jupiter... This too was common in quite a few older decks. (1JJ Swiss does this too.) Kinda like the Divine Spiritual couple I suppose. Any help? Kiama

catlin	16 May 2002
Hi Kiama, Yep, I know that but I did not expect it to get it in a Pagan deck. I think it is somehow restricting you to the Greek pantheon but maybe I am a bit stingy about that (I can't help, I am a virgo by sunsign ;) The more decks I get the more prissy I becom eover them, maybe a sign to get on collecting until I found MY deck (hey, I am good at finding excuses for my tarot vice).

Kiama	16 May 2002
Hi Catlin: The creators of this deck were trying to stick to the 'original' Pgan Tarot... At least, thats what the book says. I was a bit miffed that they put Juno in there.... I don't really equate her much with the HPS.... What do you think of the non-illustrated Mnors, Catlin? Kiama

catlin	16 May 2002
Hi Kim, I am usually not so fond of "plain" pips but in this deck I can live with them. It is pretty colourful and maybe pics on the pips would have been a bit "too much". I cannot help but there is something gypsy like about this deck. B/W do you have the book with it? I only got the LWB and I'd love to learn more about the intentions of the artist, especially about why he had coloured the background of the pips in that way and in no other.

Jewel	16 May 2002
Catlin, I got the deck and book from the Tarot Garden. The book, like the deck is OOP. I have only skimmed through it (not read it) and it looks really interesting. If you get a chance to get a copy go for it! It really seems like it will be a good book.

truthsayer	17 May 2002
i just got the pagan tarot today. just glancing thru the book, my first impression is that the deck is well-researched. when i read the HP, athena and diana are also included in juno's description. athena is the goddess of wisdom. diana, the moon and the hunt. juno is like the mother side of god as the wife of jupiter is the father side of god. if i'm not mistaken, hera and zeus are juno and jupiter's names in the greek pantheon. jupiter and juno are their roman names. since the roman empire conquered britain, i think that roman gods and goddesses fit. there seems to be an attempt to combine roman and pagan god/desses instead of being clearly one or the other. if i see this deck being done in the context of when early rome had conquered britain then i can see where the authors are coming from. if they had gone totally pagan, then the deck would have had a more celtic flare. if it had a more roman flare then it would have been a more italian deck but it's neither and both. i see no christian symbols in it so this deck is definitely pre-christian. both the celtic and roman religions are considered "pagan". so i can make sense of what's going on here. does this help any? i think diana and athena fit the idea of the high priestess b/c they are seen as the more more virginal side of the mother. juno as a great mother symbol works as an empress but demeter, the mother of persephone, works better b/c she is the goddess of fertility and the harvest. i used maiden persephone as my HP in the aeclectic deck and in my mind demeter was the empress so it works for me. if the hierphant is considered the pope then it makes sense that jupiter would be the hierphant b/c he was the ruler god of that religion. they couldn't use persephone b/c she married hades, lord of the underworld. that wouldn't match the consort jupiter in the #5 card. hades would be more the death card but he isn't mentioned. i think they did a pretty good job trying to mix and match the 2 religions. i tihnk they had certain goals in mind that i'll unravel eventually. i look forward to studying this deck more. btw, i like the minor arcana, too. i really like the colors and the symbols.

Kiama	17 May 2002
Quote: Originally posted by catlin B/W do you have the book with it? I only got the LWB and I'd love to learn more about the intentions of the artist, especially about why he had coloured the background of the pips in that way and in no other. I have the book, but it doesn't say why the pips are those colours... I keep on getting confused when I see the Cups as green though, cuz I immediately think, 'Pentacles'! However, I agree with you, this deck is probably better with pips... I think the book would be very helfpul for you... In it, it explains the Italian history of the Tarot, and its possible Pagan connotations. The creator tried to create a kind of'original' authentic deck, which gave the user the old Pagan connotations of the cards, set in the Italian culture from that time... Its very difficult to explain what exactly it is, as its not said in any summarised way aywhere in the book... I think the whole book needs to be read to fully nudersand the deck... Hmm... I've got an idea. Kiama

jmd	17 May 2002
I do not have this deck, but I thought I would respond to Kiama's comment about Green and the elemental association. There are various traditions between colours and the elements. I suspect that the association Kiama uses is the first of the following most common variations: Fire - Red/ (White) Water - Blue/Green Air - Yellow/Blue Earth - Green/Yellow The second term tends to be more common in Continental Europe (where the Green is river-sea green, the blue is sky-blue, the yellow is brownish-yellow earth... this was the allocation I grew up with).

The Pagan tarot thread was originally posted on 16 May 2002 in the Tarot Decks board, and is now archived in the Forum Library. Read the active threads in Tarot Decks, or read more archived threads.