Llewellyn Tarot - The Horned One

Dwaas

A party animal! Brilliant! :D
 

LixiPixi

sunflowr said:
I dont see anything "evil" here, so it's hard to read it as such. He loves animals, he's on his own.. he's more like the Hermit. Or "High Priest" (as he is in the Druidcraft, am I right?).

I have to agree with that one - I see the Hermit in him as well.

sunflowr said:
So, very confusing. How am I going to know, when I do a reading and he shows up, that this represents bondage, addictions, obsessions, etc??

I don't think he does, nor is he supposed to represent those things in general. However, I would assume that if the surrounding cards, or maybe even the placement of this one, indicates the possibility of such things like oppression, starvation, cruelty (things that may be inflicted on an animal) then that's when the interpretation of the more traditional devil comes in. Now I've read this in the book several times, but it wasn't until responding to you that it actually sunk in for me. Thanks, sunflowr! :D I hope it helped you too!

LP~
 

Barbaras Ahajusts

The Horned One/Attachment

This is cropped so you can see it a bit clearer.

I wanted to post this picture before I finished reading up on it. I want you to look into the mans eyes. The lurid grin, he sports.

Edited:
I wanted to do a couple of quotes from the book, but can't remember the rules, so here it is in my words.
Unless surrounding cards suggest a negitive read, then look at this card as a free spirit. All natural. Move over Parkay Butter! ;)

Barb
 

Baroli

Ihave this deck, and he reminds me of "the green Man" that keeps appearing in my dreams, sans the rack on his head. Now I see this guy as part of the bigger picture of the universe. I don't see anything evil, or "devilish" about him, he is part of, to me, the spirit of nature. We always talk of mother nature, well how about this guy "the Horned one" as the connecting spirit of nature; a man/boy/animal spirit. Oh, now how about that. I managed to get a trinity working there. ;)

Baroli
 

Barbaras Ahajusts

We always talk of mother nature, well how about this guy "the Horned one" as the connecting spirit of nature; a man/boy/animal spirit. Oh, now how about that. I managed to get a trinity working there. Baroli

Oh sweety, thats the "Horney Trinity" that hooked up with Mother Nature! Thats why there is a part Stag and part tree behind him! Thats their son!

Shut up BA!!! ;)
 

Emily

I haven't got my deck (yet) so I'm going on the scan.

I like the addition of the fox to the picture - foxes can be cruel and tricky, if they get in a hen-house, they will kill every hen. But they are also very resourceful, lots of urban foxes live very comfortably in cities and towns.

This fox is alert and watching what is around him, even though he's lying down. It gives the element of possible deception to the card.

I really can't wait to get this deck. :)
 

Leo62

A fox? LOL, I thought that animal was a wolf! But looking at it again, I guess it could be either...

This is one of my favourite cards. The misty, slightly damp and gloomy atmosphere sums up the reality of Welsh weather for me. And I love the palpable sense of mystery and danger that both man and animal evoke. I look at this card and it's as if I'm creeping up on them both. The wolf (or fox) has just become aware of my presence, and looks me directly in the eye. The Herdsmen? Perhaps he knows I'm there...perhaps he doesn't...yet.

I don't quite buy Anna-Marie's characterisation of the Huntsman as some kind of proto-new age peaceful vegetarian.

I think her image - and even the rest of her explanantion in the book - sits rather at odds with that.

There's one phrase she uses that rings particularly true for me: that this card represents "the tension between order and chaos."

This is what makes the card so attractive - there is a tension as the man struggles with wildness and madness. He maintains his consciousness as a human being but immerses himself in the power of nature. It's a tricky balance to pull off. To me, it makes him both unpredictable and attractive. I think this is actually a pretty sexy card! But perhaps that's just me...lol.

This is a man attempting to embrace the entirety of being human and the entirety of nature - no mean feat. He is alone, yet he is never alone; for nature and the wilderness is his constant companion.

He kinda sums up the rugged landscape of North Wales to me; full of beauty and grandeur, but also harsh and potentially dangerous.

And are those tree branches behind his head or horns? Or both?
 

sharpchick

He embodies the earthiness that we all possess, and "civilized" people try to bury deeply, only willing to let surface when they have something they can blame it on. . . "I was drunk, stoned, upset, grief-stricken, etc.," rather than admitting to themselves that at times, we simply are what we are, warts and all.

He requires none of the external trappings of modern society to exist - he simply is, an innate part of creation and connected to all within. I think the imagery on the card shows us how deeply grounded to the earth he is and it calls to us to slow down and ground ourselves as well.

We make him complex because what he stands for is so simple in spirit that we feel there has to be more to it.
 

Leo62

sharpchick said:
He requires none of the external trappings of modern society to exist - he simply is, an innate part of creation and connected to all within. I think the imagery on the card shows us how deeply grounded to the earth he is and it calls to us to slow down and ground ourselves as well.

We make him complex because what he stands for is so simple in spirit that we feel there has to be more to it.

I disagree. I don't think he "simply is." He is not nature itself. As Anna-Marie makes clear in the book, he represents an archetypal encounter between human consciousness and the "simplicity" of nature. He sits in balance upon the earth, but he is not the earth itself. And this balance has been hard-won - Anna-Marie refers to the tale of Myrddin and his long struggle with madness - and the wisdom that emerges from that struggle.

This also ties the card to the more traditional tarot Devil, in the sense of confronting the dark, difficult, shadow (and animal) side of our natures.

For me, he represents a consciousness that is both aware of animal drives and desires but neither represses them or is ruled by them.
 

Sophie

In addition to what has been said already - and prompted by Leo's last post, with which I agree - I'd like to share a short reflection I've had on this card. I have only just received the deck - it was waiting for me as I got home. On the way home, I heard a fascinating programme on the radio, about neuroscience and ethics. There was a lot in it, but this item particularly struck me: in the past 10-15 years, and thanks to neuro-imaging (MRIs and the like), it has become possible to show what many had intuitively grasped before: that emotions play a crucial role in creating consciousness. In particular, emotions (not feelings, I mean emotional reactions such as shivering or increased heartbeat, etc.), precede ethics and social behaviour, and are a necessary condition for ethical behaviour and socialisation. Emotions are situated mainly in the frontal lobe, and when it is impaired, patients lose the capacity to make moral and ethical choices. They can still reason - but they no longer have a "conscience". The frontal lobe is one of the oldest parts of the brain - it was formed long before humans were humans, when our forebears were still animals - and it has evolved very little. But the rest of the brain - in particular the larger part capable of reasoning and invention, evolved later and is still evolving. Reasoning can only become ethical choice after the emotions have played their role and triggered a feeling - pity, anger, indignation, etc. - at which point reasoning builds a moral structure on the foundations of the emotions.

When I took out the deck and looked at the card, it occurred to me that here was an image of the original emotion that precedes moral choice and socialisation, but is a necessary condition for them. The Wild Hersdman is all emotion - his heartbeat will increase or he will start shivering and that guides him immediately in a direct reaction. He is at a stage of proto-ethics, if you like, before reasoning has taken hold of what is happening and built a moral and social structure, but he already acts morally, without reasoning - instinctively. That's how I understand "pre-civilisation".

The reason why such a creature would appear evil to a religion (Christianity) that puts such a high value on morals, is because he has not built a formal moral structure, and so his emotions very evidently rule him. More "evolved" human beings have fooled themselves that their ethics are based on reason, not on emotion...we know better now! The Wild Herdsman is our moral foundation and without him, we have no ethics and cannot make any moral choice. He is our shadow in as much as we fear the power of our emotions. Those who resist emotions are perhaps those who are truly bound and obsessed, in the sense the Devil card has in other decks. But those who accept the role of emotion and work with their emotions, and with the feelings these evoke, are more likely to make moral choices that are loving and useful - in fact, are truly ethical.

The Horned One is removed from the society of men and is often rejected by them, though he also fascinates - as though to show how we often reject and repress our emotions.