New deck, Hexen 2.0

gregory

Intelligence agencies. All those are acronyms for them. And they do sort of BREED, so that trad pregnancy thing would fit :D
 

Le Fanu

Every day I keep thinking "surely today it'll come".

And it never does.

I'm in the mood for a strange, rambling, wordy, indecipherable - and big - deck.

I suspect it's like being shouted at by a madman (or madwoman) in the street. I'm looking forward to trying to read with it.
 

dorfmeister

Just ordered a copy of this as well as the book.

This looks to be my kind of Tarot.
 

Le Fanu

I received this today. I have to say, this deck really surprised me. Not what I was expecting at all.

It is basically a deck about the USA and all the great things they have contributed to the world. All that is important in world culture and history is basically attributed to the innovations and wonders of the USA. It's really quite unsubtle. I mean, there's nothing wrong with feeling patriotism and love/fascination for one's history but this deck is a little bit one-sided in its history of the world. I wonder what it is supposed to mean to non-USA citizens?

60 out of 78 cards are about the USA and what they have done for culture, knowledge and civilization. Even those that figure non-American citizens - i.e William Blake - are significant because they had an effect on - you guessed it - America. It ends up sounding a little inward looking. William Blake matters because he influenced the beat poets. English scientists matter because they went to the USA. The Empress card feature lots of other countries but the USA is mentioned twice.

It's really very US-centred. I'm sure it'll be very meaningful for Americans but it has that tone of "American culture is the world", which can get people's backs up. Is that too controversial a thing to say?

I really didn't expect the deck to be like this. As a European I'm not quite sure what this is supposed to mean to me but there you go. A bit of a surprise...
 

dorfmeister

You realize it was made by a British artist, right?

Here is a short bio of Suzanne Triester.

http://ensemble.va.com.au/Treister/info/bio.html

I don't think the deck is a celebration of American culture though at this point I am not ready to make any major pronouncements about it. I don't want to pass judgement on the deck too quickly.

I think using the deck and doing some deep research guided by it could be very fruitful. I'd like to explore it and see what it can teach me. I don't want to assume I know it before I've done that.

YMMV.

I received this today. I have to say, this deck really surprised me. Not what I was expecting at all.

It is basically a deck about the USA and all the great things they have contributed to the world. All that is important in world culture and history is basically attributed to the innovations and wonders of the USA. It's really quite unsubtle. I mean, there's nothing wrong with feeling patriotism and love/fascination for one's history but this deck is a little bit one-sided in its history of the world. I wonder what it is supposed to mean to non-USA citizens?

60 out of 78 cards are about the USA and what they have done for culture, knowledge and civilization. Even those that figure non-American citizens - i.e William Blake - are significant because they had an effect on - you guessed it - America. It ends up sounding a little inward looking. William Blake matters because he influenced the beat poets. English scientists matter because they went to the USA. The Empress card feature lots of other countries but the USA is mentioned twice.

It's really very US-centred. I'm sure it'll be very meaningful for Americans but it has that tone of "American culture is the world", which can get people's backs up. Is that too controversial a thing to say?

I really didn't expect the deck to be like this. As a European I'm not quite sure what this is supposed to mean to me but there you go. A bit of a surprise...
 

Le Fanu

You realize it was made by a British artist, right?

Here is a short bio of Suzanne Triester.

http://ensemble.va.com.au/Treister/info/bio.html

I don't think the deck is a celebration of American culture though at this point I am not ready to make any major pronouncements about it. I don't want to pass judgement on the deck too quickly.

I think using the deck and doing some deep research guided by it could be very fruitful.

YMMV.
Yes, I knew she was British. I know her work. It was also published in the UK. I'm also not "passing judgement" on the deck; I'm just noting first observations... And many, though by no means all, of these characters are familiar to me from counter-culture reading. I'm also a direct descendent of the man on the 10 of Pentacles... :)
 

vee

Le Fanu, this is taken from her website:

HEXEN 2.0 charts, within a framework of post-WWII U.S. governmental and military imperatives, the coming together of scientific and social sciences through the development of cybernetics, the history of the internet, the rise of Web 2.0 and increased intelligence gathering, and implications.

So I gather she doesn't think America is the whole word, rather she just focused on that particular time/location as it was particularly relevant to her thesis. I can appreciate that Americentrism is obnoxious, however in a deck that is studying military & technological imperalism, where better to look than the worst offender? (So basically what I'm saying is that if this deck paints a portrait of American exceptionalism, it's not necessarily a pretty one and it's definitely purposeful.)
 

Le Fanu

Something along those lines is written on the box. I think the deck is a work of art. I can definitely see that. It almost feels like it wasn't created to be read as tarot. I had such high expectations - with all the text - and the alchemical aspect - but I'd be curious to see someone reading with this deck. I have to be honest, it doesn't make me want to delve any deeper and try it as a reading deck. And of all the decks not to be published with any LWB pointers...

It is a deck that looks quite interesting from afar. I mean that literally. Distant scans are when it looks best; the overall chaotic effect of the cards is more welcoming, more intriguing than the content up close. I'd like to see if anyone is actually reading with it (that's not a provocation, just genuine curiosity), "mapping out future narratives" as the box says and what results they are getting. It feels like conceptual art. What matters is the deck as a whole rather than as a set of individual cards, if that makes sense.
 

vee

Hexen 2.0 has been my deck of the week this week. I have not been able to find a way to use it at all. It's too cluttery and paranoid for intuitive meanings--and even deeper studies don't seem to bring out meaning that would be relevant for an individual.

I think you are exactly right in that it is conceptual art. If you read this essay, you'll have some more context for what the deck is talking about: http://www.suzannetreister.net/HEXEN2/HEXEN_2_LBLessay.html. It's certainly interesting, but yeah, I have a lot of Tarot decks that I'd rather spend my time studying, so *shrug*. I'll keep it, but for now, it's not one I see myself returning to again and again. I think the only time I'll bring it out is when I have friends over who are interested in the sort of academic/artistic things she's exploring.