MAAT - I don't get the Devil--Do you?

I don't have this deck, but my best friend Autumn just bought it. She's trying to join AT, but AT won't accept AOL email addresses (?) and thus far, she hasn't had time to set up another email somewhere in order to join here. But she and I have looked at this thread together.

It's a beautiful deck... and it often makes no sense to me. The Devil is a prime example. Even with everyone's input here, I still cannot reconcile this image with the Tarot Devil I know. It just don't fit.

And about a tenth of the cards include images of embryos, or pregnant bellies... why?

And the book is beautiful to look at... but then if you read it? Oh my word... the Queen of Cups means "you're pregnant?" (How Irresponsible to Write! And... What If You're Reading For a MAN???) The book's organization doesn't help me at all - yes I know, she's using astrology, but without the Table of Contents, you can't find a card in her book to save your life.

Gorgeous artwork... but I wonder at the content on some of the cards. And the book didn't make my grade in the least (but is beautiful eye-candy on your metaphysical shelf).

(Go ahead and get your tomatoes, I need a workout today anyhow....)

edited to add: Ms. Cuccia-Watts, I see you are a new member here... I'm sure you're input will be extremely welcome and helpful... especially to people like me, who had the Hanged One in a Maat reading I did last night... (why more babies? Babies babies babies?) The gestation metaphor is heavy in this deck.

My first off the cuff thought at looking at that card was to hark back to a recent discussion with my oldest daughter, who had a baby a few weeks ago - she noted that she was buried under pregnancy advice, had (she thought) a fair idea of what birth itself would be like, but that what no one told her, at least in a way that she comprehended until after is was done, is that forever after you are a different person - your priorities shift, your philosophies shift and from that point on, you're no longer your own person. Every decision you make or refuse to make impacts someone outside yourself so that you can never be fully autonomous again. The pregnancy and birth itself certainly traps you inside your body's needs, but the aftermath also ties you to the another physical being in a way far more permanent than any other relationship you have possibly can.

She was amazed at how little choice she felt in whether or not becoming a mother would transform her entire world - it just does, whether you think it will or not. Done deal, and you can't go back to who you were before.

Beautifully put, Le Fey. And soooo true.

I am not familiar with this deck- but looking at the card, the phrase that popped into my mind was 'to light a candle is to cast a shadow.'

perhaps by giving birth to light she is creating the capacity for the shadow side as well?? And the brighter the light, the darker the shadow.

just a thought, but I could be totally off with this one.

Elnor

Elnor said:

I am not familiar with this deck- but looking at the card, the phrase that popped into my mind was 'to light a candle is to cast a shadow.'

perhaps by giving birth to light she is creating the capacity for the shadow side as well?? And the brighter the light, the darker the shadow.

just a thought, but I could be totally off with this one.

Elnor

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Oh Elnor, I love the insights you have shared here! Indeed, in order for light to be balanced, there simply MUST be darkness as well.

weaver

"Your Pregnant?"What if your reading for a man?

Alissa said:

<snipped repectfully>
"And the book is beautiful to look at... but then if you read it? Oh my word... the Queen of Cups means "you're pregnant?" (How Irresponsible to Write! And... What If You're Reading For a MAN???) The book's organization doesn't help me at all - yes I know, she's using astrology, but without the Table of Contents, you can't find a card in her book to save your life."

I admit to lurking last night I was going to post but didn't want to intrude on spontanious discovery. It was too marvelous to shatter. But truly I will respond to this. All the cards are metaphors personifications for facets of nature. Babies therefore are new beginnings, fresh starts and if a man gets
the newly pregnant Queen of Cups, so newly pregnant that she my not even know... then depending on what other cards are surrounding her... he has a new project, brain child, a venture that he is about to manifest.
What else? He hasn't a clue what he is about to get himself into however
whatever it is, it is just the beginning.

The time of the year in the northern hemisphere is the time for sowing and trees are flowering, bees are making honey. Her symbol is the bee with all its benefits to the fruits of growing plants as well as its sting, she is the queen bee and for a man this can mean something too.

This is a deck with an unabashed pagan female world view and I make no apologies for creating a deck that reflects that through the symbols of tarot. It does not follow the systems of other decks it follows the cues from nature, light and darkness, the waxing and waning of that light, cycles of the moon, cycles of the seasons and the sun, the balance of the opposites. It reflects the waxing and waning of life itself, death, spirituality, fertility, infertility birth and rebirth. Plain and simple, truthful and yet deep and abiding. This truth may be unsettling at first for some but one needs not to take symbols too literally just let them rinse over you and see what settles. Now I am going to shut up and let you process, it took me 47 years to learn this system. Take your time.
Julie

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Thank you for sharing your input with us here; I am a firm believer that by opening such a unique dialogue with a Tarot deck creator, AT members are really blessed to be able to share in their vision.

juliecucciawatts said:

...if a man gets the newly pregnant Queen of Cups, so newly pregnant that she my not even know... then depending on what other cards are surrounding her... he has a new project, brain child, a venture that he is about to manifest. What else? He hasn't a clue what he is about to get himself into however whatever it is, it is just the beginning.

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As a Tarot reader for over a dozen years, I really do understand that this is a metaphor you're using - that birth does not indicate only a child, but inception of any new project, work endeavor, even tending a garden. But the exception I took to the card was in the phrasing in the book, which leaves no room for this as a birth metaphor, but actually implies it signifies a coming birth. Since there is a chance the deck and book may find itself in the hands of a new user, one with less experience in Tarot symbols and metaphors, there is the real possiblity (in my eyes) that a new or less sophisticated user may take such an interpretation literally. And that I disagree with.

This is a deck with an unabashed pagan female world view and I make no apologies for creating a deck that reflects that through the symbols of tarot. This truth may be unsettling at first for some but one needs not to take symbols too literally just let them rinse over you and see what settles.

Click to expand...

No deck creator need ever apologize for their vision, and Tarot decks are certainly so subjective there will always be various opinions on any work (much like other forms of art). Unabashed pagan feminism is not something I take exception to... for myself, the Maat's gestation metaphor is sometimes more prevalent than I care for. Yes, conception, birth and children are truly amazing... and I agree with my friend magpie, the Magician is a beautiful example of the metaphor being used in a way that (to me) is inspirational and lovely. But when I also see babies/embryos in another dozen cards, as well as being the content behind even more cards that don't show the imagery, it begins to seem overdone and the iconography loses its potency in my eyes.

However, your artwork is luscious and rich, and your choice of borderless cards is inspirational. I've always enjoyed how borderless cards allow the reader to really enter the picture before them. And as I've only read with the deck once, I have only had one glimpse at how well the deck itself acts as an intuitional tool - but the one glance I had was helpful. If anything, the times the birth/gestation metaphor seemed incongruous only served to push me further into intuitional reading (such as the Hanged One, which I interpretted in the moment as "One aspect within you must die in order for the next to be born"; the image being the sheaf of wheat must die, fall to the earth, in order to allow the seed to be buried productively in the soil, taking root).

Thank you very much once again for being willing to discuss your artistic choices, and share your vision with us here and for responding to criticism with grace.

What is the ratio of babies and embryos in MAAT Tarot?

Alissa~
Maybe you got ALL the baby stuff in one reading. I have never done an exact count of babies and gestation in this deck wonder what the ratio is?

Now someone else may only see the really graphic images like the 2,4 and 10 of swords even the princess of swords where the deer lies dead or the 5 of cups with the cat that killed the bunny.

Or male to female ratios. I tried to keep things balanced but never did the actual math.
Julie

A balanced critique - thanks!

It was good to see Alissa's comments (and Julie's responses).

I've been wondering whether to buy the deck and have held off. The images are quite beautiful. I'm also a lover of the Ancestral Path and was very curious about Julia's most recent work.

I'm not pagan and feel that one might need to be to get the most from this deck. Another hesitation is that the Maat is a very different system and I'm trying to really get to know the Marseille and some specific RWS type decks at the moment. I fear there may not be enough emotional or intellectual space to accommodate a new deck altogether.

One last thing, I live in the Southern hemisphere, and the cycles of just about everything are different here. Not having seen the deck I'm uncertain about what adjustments one would have to make. Some northern hemisphere customs, myths and cultural understandings just don't fit easily in geographic locations that are so different.

Ummm ........ there is just so much to learn. I'm not a collector and want to use what few decks I have. But I have been very interested and congratulate Julia on her intriguing and beautiful work. This time, however, I will simply be an onlooker to any discussions - and there are several all over the net.

All the best

switching hemispheres

Hi Northwind,
Clearly MAAT Tarot has a northern hemisphere bias and I did
stuggle with that dilema in a global society. Ultimately all I could
do is follow the symbolic similarities I was seeing in the cards. I also
considered that if the symbolism I was seeing was based on
full moon cycles and cross-quarter days it would have been
the moon cycles and cross-quarter days of the northern hemisphere.
However it could be a challenge for someone to produce a southern
hemisphere version of a MAAT style deck. As Solstices and Equinoxes
do occur in the southern hemisphere, your May 1st would be the equivalent
of our Halloween(Samhain) and the First Harvest of Lammas would occur
February 2. Our moon cycles are in sync it is the cycle of the sun that is reversed.
Not trying to sell you anything just clarifying to help translate what would need to be done to make the hemisphere switch.
Julie