Mary El Tarot - Five of Disks

[Bat Chicken]

http://www.mary-el.com/disks1.html

My immediate feeling here is that this gentleman is the Greenman. He is covered in earth symbols, and the oak leaf is, well not in the usual place! The Ouroboros over his heart depicts the endless cycle of Life. The white animal is a little difficult to see, but a moon appears reflected on the water. His hair is made up of many serpents and I get the sense of being UNDERground. He is handsome and calm.

He strikes me as a gatekeeper, but not one who will block your path – just show you what you have not been seeing. We sometimes have to go through the mountain. This too shall pass…

Thoughts?
Ideas on the ID of the white animal?

[Debra]

I love this card. He's a familiar character, this one.
So interesting to have snakes in his hair; he's nothing like a medusa.
Green men usually are invaded by vines; they're being taken over; the foliate bursts out their nose and mouth. This one is intact so he can smile.
I don't know what the white animal is but I'd like it to be a rabbit because of the Japanese story of the rabbit in the moon. (eta: but I suspect a unicorn from the size and posture of an animal kneeling before the water, or perhaps relatively short-legged)
That oak leaf--seems to me it's in exactly the right place, just a bit...larger than usual

[Bat Chicken]

Wandering back over Marie's post in that thread I forgot about - he is Adam - the hand that appears in the 5 of Swords.... Fascinating!

[Debra]

Ah ha. Adam.

Guess he didn't let that little "evicted from the garden" incident (as they say in the South, "the late unpleasantness") sour him on snakes. He's got the leaf, and isn't it traditionally a fig? Figs have big leaves.

So is that Eden in his heart?

I think the animal at the stream is actually an adult and a young one of something.

[Bat Chicken]

Originally Posted by Debra

Ah ha. Adam.

Guess he didn't let that little "evicted from the garden" incident (as they say in the South, "the late unpleasantness") sour him on snakes. He's got the leaf, and isn't it traditionally a fig? Figs have big leaves.

So is that Eden in his heart?

I think the animal at the stream is actually an adult and a young one of something.

I would guess you are right about the figs... They are in the 5 of Cups...
And the Garden of Eden makes total sense too!

That animal might be the unicorn?

[Debra]

Oh good! Fig trees behind the unicorns. Unicorns are Garden of Eden animals, supposedly the first named by Adam.

If you look hard enough (thank you google) it turns out that everything has a mythological root of some sort.

Wikipedia actually has an article called "Figs in the Bible." Here's a picture from the web.

Apropos the Five of Swords, if it's Lilith, hm, once she dumped Adam and went off on her own she supposedly transformed into a serpent from the waist down. Here's something on Lilith from Nigel Suckling, who did the Dragons Tarot. http://www.unicorngarden.com/bkshe4.htm