Masculine vs Feminine

halimah

I'm trying to understand the subtleties of all these cards! Not only court cards but the Major arcana has masculine and feminine cards as well. The Emperor / Emperess (Lord and Lady in my DruidCraft deck), The high priest and High Priestess? The King of Cups vs. the Queen of Cups.

Its funny I don't think in other ages anyone would have been in doubt, but in todays society... sigh.

Outward/Inward: I think of Masculine as more outwardly focused than Feminine. So the Queen of swords may be introspective directing thoughts on a more spiritual / inward growth path or philosopy, education, law, abstract science and the King of Swords would be more external.. business, politics, concrete sciences.

Direct/Indirect: Archetypically I see women as having subtlety. We'd use poison over a knife. We're more manipulative and sneeky, while men are stubborn and immobile. Women are the umm female dogs and men are hotheads. I think this might show in the princes/princesses (knights/pages).

Hard/Soft: It may be cliche but I can't help but think women are softer than men! So the Queen of Cups is more of a pushover than the King, wants everyone to be happy and content, lets everyone into her heart and is more easily hurt, whereas her counterpart limits it to family and friends, protects his huge heart more & is more angry when he or anyone he loves is hurt. ??

I know there's something else I'm missing (I really don't understand my priest and priestess). Any ideas?

Halimah

p.s. Is there a way I can 'watch' this thread - be notified when there are responses? thx! :)
 

rwcarter

halimah said:
I'm trying to understand the subtleties of all these cards! Not only court cards but the Major arcana has masculine and feminine cards as well.
You have to realize that you're talking about masculine and feminine energy, not necessarily men and women. A man can have Queen Cups energy just as easily as a woman can have Emperor energy. So just because a card may depict a particular sex, doesn't mean that its meaning only applies to that sex.

So in Outward/Inward, you're talking about masculine and feminine, but for Direct/Indirect and Hard/Soft, you're talking about men and women. There are lots of men who exhibit indirect (feminine) energy and lots of women who exhibit hard (masculine) imagery.

halimah said:
p.s. Is there a way I can 'watch' this thread - be notified when there are responses? thx! :)
At the right of the bar where you see the link for "View First Unread" is a little drop down that says "Thread Tools". Click the drop down and select "Watch This Thread". That's how you can selectively watch particular threads. If you want to watch every thread you post in, you make that change in your User CP. You can find more info here in the FAQ.

Rodney
 

halimah

I'm confused.

So you don't think feminine energy is soft and masculine energy more direct?

Thanks for the thread info!!
 

rwcarter

halimah said:
So you don't think feminine energy is soft and masculine energy more direct?
I'm making a specific differentiation between the terms masculine/feminine and male/female or men/women. Feminine energy can be said to be soft. But both men and women can exhibit that soft energy. And masculine energy can be said to be more direct. But both men and women can exhibit that more direct energy. I think you limit yourself if you only think of feminine energy as applying to women and masculine energy only applying to men.

Hope that makes more sense.

Rodney