Fantastical SG-- Aces

The first impression I had of the Aces was of a gentle beauty. There is no bursting of energies or Hands of God. They simply are.

Then comes the second impressions...

Common to them all is dragons. To me, dragons represent ancient established energy. As the aces are considered the Root of the Energy of the suit, I find dragons very fitting.

(Quick aside: At times, I look at a suit as a plant. Roots, stem, leaves, flowers, seeds...)


Wands, the enegry suit. It might be seen that the Wand is actually growing from the ground. The plant growth here is wild and untamed-- it almost moves. The curves of the tendrils flows up on the wand, the shape repeating as spirals around the dragons. And the bottom dragon-- he looks as if he's about to spring off the wand. Energy here... but soft.


Cups, the emotion suit. Are the dragons handles, or are they about to climb in for a swim?? The heart-shaped jewel (the Heart Chakra?) centered on the cup lies at the center of the card itself. The butterflies (the transformational power of positive emotions) flit out in all directions. There are six butterflies-- the number of the sphere of Beauty. Beauty is at the center of the tree of life. Lots of centering here.

The growth is tamer-- almost a cut lawn. I take the flowers to be daisies (he loves me, he loves me not...) And there is not a great expanse behind the Cup-- we are right up on the entire scene...


Swords, the intellect. The sword appears to be rising from a small mound in the foreground. And we see the mind reflected in the castle rising on another mound in the background. This castle is the only 'unnatural' thing in the images-- the mark of man.

Here the grass is sparcer and the dragon appears to be clinging tightly to the sword. So too is the vine which wraps around it. I take these to be morning glories ('mourning' glories??) Swords are at times a most frightening experience.



Pentacles, the physical. The gold coin with dragon. His power is still here, in waiting but evident. And here I realized a paradox in the Aces. The image of Aces I am used to has the Wand, Cup and Sword presented in some way through its element. But here, these three are shown as 'grounded'.

And the pentacle?? It's the only one that's not earth-bound. It rises above an almost endless field of flowers. At first, I took them for sunflowers, but I think they're Black-Eyed Susans. (More eyes that are blank...) There are two flowers in the sky on either side of the Pentacle. Two is the number of the sphere of
Wisdom-- so we might consider this card as representing Eathly Wisdom.

Lots to ponder. I'm going to do some pathworking on these. I'll post them as they happen. First the Ace of Wands.


fly well
Raven

heres a few of my musings, though Ravenswing has touched on alot of the main things in the Aces.

Wands - I get the impression of the first stirings of spring. The Wand itself looks fairly phallic, and so a constructive wand, rather than usual decorative pretty wands - if you get my meaning?
There are birds, which to me remind me of Canada Geese coming over to the UK for the spring and summer, as the earth is warming up and theres lots of warm and high energy.

Cups - very lush and green due to lots of water. Also fairly well kept, because cups energy is never scruffy!! THe two dragons to me show the ancient wisdom and balance, beauty and necessity of all emotions, happy and upset. The butterflies reflect the changable nature of water, the ups and downs of emotions and how they open wonderful things in our lives.

Swords - lots of logic and determination! The sword seems fairly stuck and secure in that stone and reminds me of the sword in the stone myth (where arthur got excalibur from). Only those worthy can use the sword and benefit from it to get a groovy house like the castle in the back . However, the Fantastical deck isnt about war and battling, maybe they have evolved and dont need conflict with eachother because self conflict is enough to deal with?

Pentacles - Lots of life and warmth here, it reminds me of the Sun and a typical RW sun card with all the sunflowers, though i think Ravenswing has proved that to be wrong lol. Why would an earth sign need to be grounded? It is the ground!! With earthly wisdom, a slow and steady etc we can gain and help through experiencing the physical worlds.
Maybe the fantastical isnt as physical so this element is highly valued and has yet to be 'controlled and grounded' but the world, which is (another) paradox with our world, where the physical is all we know and dont believe things unless we see them and touch them, whilst maybe this world is more open to things beyond the human eye - hence no pupils!!

Sezo
x