Druidcraft Favourites and Least Favourites

Little Baron

I don't think I have seen a thread of this nature, but feel free to delete it or move it if it doesn't fit in with the Study Group Guidelines.

I opened my Druidcraft at the weekend and was very happy with what I found. There were so many cards that I liked and hardly any that I wasn't fond of. The only one I really didn't gel with straight out was the 'Sun' - just didn't like the boy's rosy face. Not so keen on the Magician either, but I am sure I will get used to him; probably because I am used to much younger magicians/bateleurs in other decks. Also, the 'world' seems a little plain in comparison to a lot of the richer cards in the deck.

As for favourites, there are too many to choose from. The artwork on the 'Star' card is beautiful and so is she; I cannot express how beautifully relialistic the water is painted in this deck. I also feel complete calm when looking at the 'four of swords', and also the 'seven of cups'. I feel strength and clarity when I look at the' Ace of Swords' - and the cups ace.

For out and out faves, I would settle on the 'Prince of Wands', 'Princess of Cups', 'Two of Swords', 'The Lord', 'High Priestess' and 'Hanged Man'.

Despite my little (and they are little grumbles) at the start, I absolutely love this deck. Would be interested to find out which are your favourites and least favourites ... if they are like mine or different.
LB
 

Sulis

Favorite cards...let me see..

Princess of Cups
Princess of Swords
Queen of Swords
Queen of Cups
10 of Wands - that green is just so lush
The Wheel
8 of Cups
2 of Swords
The Moon
All of the Aces

Least favorite cards - this will be a much shorter list
3 of Cups - this is the one card that I don't really like and I think it's because I like this card to have more feminine energy than this one has
3 of Swords - I find this card very beautiful but I don't really understand it.

Every time I look through the cards I find more that I really like :)

Love

Sulis xx
 

Little Baron

I understand what you mean about the '3 of Swords' Sulis. There are cards here that I think will be firm favourites when I understand them better. The 'Wheel' is an example. I havnt read up on that one yet so it means very little to me at the moment. The otherone I forgot to mention, that I initially was not so keen on was the 'Two of Wands'. Don't get me wrong; there is no card in the whole deck that I hate. The only problem I had with that one was that the drawring on the hill looked a little too three-dimentional and not as if it was actually carved into the grass. It looks how it would look if we were directly above it. Maybe the artist intended to make it look as if he had got up and was beginning to wander off. I am sure that a lot of these cards will be much more appreciated when they start showing up in my readings.

LB
 

Pipistrelle

Cards I REALLY like:

(And this is a very narrowed down shortlist!)

Ace of Cups
Six of Swords
Ten of Swords (I love the perspective)
Cernunnos (don't understand it yet, but love the image!)
The Star
The Lovers
The Lady (love, love, love!)
Two of Swords (even with the wrinkle in the card that my deck came with)
Princess of Cups
Ace of Swords

Not awfully keen on:
Ten of Pentacles
King of Cups
Two of Cups (the colours seem quite wishy-washy)
Six of Cups
Three of Cups (for the same reason as Sulis)

Pip
 

rhianna813

I also love the cards and feel many of them are print quality that could be displayed outside the deck as independant art.

My favorites are:

Empress - beautiful depiction
Princess of Swords - really shows the artists love for PreRaphelite art
The Fferyllt - this reminds me of Brighid who is my favorite Goddess
4 of Cups - the artwork is so detailed
Death - I love the details and use of the Crone instead of Skeleton dude

Least favorites are:

3 of Cups - It's a nice happy card but I too miss the usual feminine depiction
3 of Swords - I agree that the interpretation is unusual.
Justice - Just something about her face and how it looks way too small for her lower body and gigantic feet LOL
4 of Wands - it's too plain. I miss would have perferred to see people in this card.
High Priestess - this card is growing on me but at first I didn't like it compared to so many other decks where She looks more "radiant".

Rhianna
 

Sophie

How do I love thee? Let me count the ways...

I could write and write and write about how the Druidcraft is growing within me - more paced but deeper now, past the first coup de foudre - or should I say - visitation from Taranis.

In general, what I love - the use of symbols - very present but not overdone (except in some cards), the quality of the painting and the expressions on the faces of the characters. I have always liked the pre-raphaelites (those that aren't overly sentimental in the Victorian fashion), so that style of detailed but generous strokes and colouring fills me with delight. I also like the opportunity it is giving me to explore Celtic mythology and symbolism - which I have always been aware of (Gaul and Helvetia being Celtic), but never got to know and feel as much as the Graeco-Roman.

But what really blows me away in this deck is the depiction of the British countryside, grassy, mossy, hilly, dappled, sensual - the impression, when one looks at these cards, of standing in front of an door that opens on unspoilt nature. The trees, shrubs and flowers are so well done! Gnarled mossy barks of oaks that serve as seat, refuge or marriage bed to various characters, young-old peeling barks of birches, soft grasses mingled with curling ferns, flowers delicately drawn and coloured; waters that reflect the skies, the surrounding vegetation and the moods of the characters...

Can anything be more beautiful than the fresh sharp beauty of the Princess of Swords card - the loveliness of the girl standing - or dancing? - in the new day revisited in the dainty snowdrops and primroses, her fine incisiveness in the flowering hawthorn and the kestrel swirling overhead and her firm but gentle steps towards the future in the mossy granite stones under her feet?

Can anything be more naturally sensual, full of sexual and aromatic joy, than Cernunnos and the Lovers cards? Both show that wonderful world-within-a-world that opens after love, before more love, in which the trusting couple's spirits and bodies fuse all together. There again the depiction of nature fully participates in the sensuous atmosphere: grasses, mosses, ferns, oak, primrose and blossoms...

When I first saw him, Cernunnos created a shockwave in me that I am still trying to absord and understand. I am fascinated by that huge hairy figure in the sunny glade - which could be frightening but instead draws me with all my heart and spirit - and body. The card plays on all our myths and fantasies of the man of the wood, the antlered god, a wild and abundant life free of the trappings of civilisation; the two lovers asleep in the glade lie in Arcadia...with the dark presence of Cernunnos, at the same time benevolent protection and dark cthonian promise, fulfilling and haunting paradise...

Other cards I love? The High Priestess, that wiry woman - as thin as a diviner's rod and twice as powerful, and her twin card, the Moon, which shows the same scene from another angle, and recoloured eerily green.

Death, with the crone holding the skull, and her cauldron of endings and transformation; the pregnant and alluring Lady bearing her baby, her bounty and her sex-appeal like the trees their leaves and moss - she is one of the two Lovers. The Hanged Man becoming Green Man, his hair pouring into the blackberry brambles - altogether an astonishing sight. The Lord with his Burt Lancaster face and his antlered helmet worn both casually and ceremonially; the señorita in Strength, dancing with her wild boar - the sword on the ground imply that this scene began as two wits and physical powers facing each other off before reaching this respectful loving accommodation because neither woman nor boar could win through force.

In the courts - I love the sensual romantic King of Cups; the bon viveur but stuffy-looking King of Pentacles; the princes of Wands and Swords - dashing movement so well evoked here! - both horses leaping over waves of grass. The gorgeous Queen of Wands.

I like the Six of Wands, with its scene of successful return from the hunt and the intimate bond of respect between chief and followers; the Samhain harvest of the mistletoe in the Seven of Pentacles (they forgot the bull sacrifice...); the arm flung out of the lake to present us with the Ace of Swords - an interesting mingling of air and water, because at its most vibrantly new, the mind is as receptive and flexible as water; the beautiful waterfall/mountain spring emerging from the Ace of Cups, flowing among the hazel branches with a salmon leaping up its cascade to reach its source...we see here that the emotions at their birth are wise and full of energy.

The Three of Cups, unlike some here, I like: because I see Cups as feminine anyway, the male fellowship raising the cups (of mead?) gives me a happy balance - men enjoying the mellower side of life, in friendship and trust. I also like the Seven of Swords, which gets away from the odd "thief" image of much RWS tarot, and instead concentrates on the study and mysticism of the Seven - its cleverness, which can become deception when ill-used (so when the card is ill-aspected). I like the Two of Swords, its "Two roads diverged in a yellow wood" imagery and that gigantic oak delimiting the choice to be made - and suggesting a way to overcome the duality of the situation. I like the Three of Swords, because of its emphasis on creative thought - it also shows how thought linked to nature and endurance (the oak) can help us overcome trouble. The blacksmith in the Eight of Pentacles speaks to me at the moment, and I love the wonderful Nine of Wands colouring and the posture of the character - relaxed watchfulness, with a suggestion of banked power.

There are many more cards I like than not like - but inevitably there are those I don't gel with. The biggest disappointment for me is The World, which looks like these tacky Saint pictures you see in Catholic tourist shops. Other than that it is more some elements of some cards that bother me - the dim expression on the face of the woman in the Two of Pentacles; the melodramatic one on the Queen of Cups; the camp-looking Magician (I do like him - I just get distracted by the campness); the hideous UFO Pentacle in the Ace (but I love the bear emerging from his cave).

I have more to say about what I love than what I dislike. Every time I look through this deck I see more, deeper, richer, more intriguing. It is changing, in many subtle ways, my philosophy of life.

LittleBuddha - see what you think after a while. I have worked with this deck together with the Marseille and find they complement and enhance each other, if both are approached without dogma.

Cernunnos, here I come!
 

Little Baron

Thanks Helvetica ... that was a pleasure to read ... I challenge anyone to not buy that deck after reading your post! Baeutifully spoken.

I will definitely be working with my Marseille again and probably together with this one. For the moment, I want to sink into the beautiful richness of this deck alone.

LB
 

Sophie

Yes, I know, LittleBuddha - it has that effect - you've also been touched by Taranis ;)
 

Leo62

This deck is still pretty new to me;I've only had it a couple of weeks, but I am finding more things to like about it all the time.

I love:
The Queen of Wands - I love her! Her expression, the way she is brandishing that wand, the very contented-looking cat under her chair.

Star, Moon, Ace of Swords - Just beautiful...I can feel myself falling into these cards when I look at them

Three of Pentacles - I love the way the cat is rubbing against the man's leg.

The High Priest - I've never seen a Hierophant that was actually...sexy..before! ;)


A couple of cards that really bug me:
The Sun - yes that kid is a dork. Too cherubic for words - I just want to slap him!
Rebirth - ditto above. In fact, shock horror, I have coloured over him with a black pencil and now you can only see a faint, shadowy form in the gateway - works much better for me.

And...what is it with the horses? They all look like My Little Pony. I don't get it - all the other animals are so beautifully and sensitively drawn.

But these are minor quibbles. Looking at this deck is like dreaming when you are awake...so powerful...no wonder everyone has fallen under it's spell!
 

WolfSpirit

How am I going to list all my favourites ?

The Fferrylt and Death - the warm colours and the way they mirror each other.
The High Priest - speaks so much more to me than any Hierophant every could.
The Ace of Cups - total abundance. Is it possible to look at this card and not say yes ?
The prince of Pentacles - he is still a pillar of strength but has shaken off his stuffy image.

I've done this off the top of my head, if I start going through my deck I'll come up with many more !

I like the 3 cups - maybe I am a bit of a tomboy (tomman ;)) but I can see myself having a pint like that. I like this image.
I also like the 3 swords - it is still barren and empty (like the RWS) but at least the heart is not pierced, instead the three swords form the symbol for Awen: out of the pain new inspiration is born.

I think the only card I think should have been better is the 10 swords, I never liked it in RWS and I had hoped for something better.
And now that Little Buddha mentioned it: the kid in the Sun card looks a bit weird, but that is a minor point for me.