Lillie
Got the Alchemical yesterday.
Weird or what?
Weird or what?
Alchemical
lunakasha
Lillie said:
Oooooh I am so jealous, Lillie!
LOLSo are you saying the deck is weird, or it is weird that you just got it???
Seriously, have fun with it....but if you decide it is too "weird", I would be happy to take it off your hands, hehehe!
LunaLillie
I got it in the normal way.
It's the deck that is weird.
Weird images.
The elephant standing on the pots is particullarly 'Terry Pratchett'.
Though elephants often are...
Te star, which is usually a card I like, is rather unplesant to look at (for me at least) It's not so much the squirting nipples (though that brings back some memories) It's the two tails...
I like the rabbits/hares though.
And the ravens. Big fondness for ravens.
The book is very interesting.
I found out more about alchemy from that than I had ever known before.
I'll have to give it a bit more time. See if it grows on me.
It's the deck that is weird.
Weird images.
The elephant standing on the pots is particullarly 'Terry Pratchett'.
Though elephants often are...
Te star, which is usually a card I like, is rather unplesant to look at (for me at least) It's not so much the squirting nipples (though that brings back some memories) It's the two tails...
I like the rabbits/hares though.
And the ravens. Big fondness for ravens.
The book is very interesting.
I found out more about alchemy from that than I had ever known before.
I'll have to give it a bit more time. See if it grows on me.
Cerulean
I thought the Alchemical was unusually done until...
I saw images of the Luther bible and began finding Renaissance alchemical images...then I realized the Robert Place art was much more pleasantly presented. Notice the page below with the four evangelists...one of the more benign engravings
http://www.awesomestories.com/history/stories/book_burning/images/lutherbible.jpg
Sometimes historical engravings and older art make me find the Thoth and Alchemical much more pleasant to behold!
Regards
Cerulean
P.S. Those floating heads and wings are supposed to be pleasant and kindly cherubs, not evil imps.
I saw images of the Luther bible and began finding Renaissance alchemical images...then I realized the Robert Place art was much more pleasantly presented. Notice the page below with the four evangelists...one of the more benign engravings
http://www.awesomestories.com/history/stories/book_burning/images/lutherbible.jpg
Sometimes historical engravings and older art make me find the Thoth and Alchemical much more pleasant to behold!
Regards
Cerulean
P.S. Those floating heads and wings are supposed to be pleasant and kindly cherubs, not evil imps.
Lillie
Ick!!!
Nydia
"Weird or what?"
I'm going with weird.
I like the style, but I don't like certain images. I like The Star because it's still pretty to me.
I don't like:
5 of Staffs, a hand with all fingers on fire.
10 of Coins, an older man's face covered in 10 coins.
7 of Vessels, 7 different vessels--not scary at all, but boring. I don't get anything out of it. I prefer to have dreams or different things coming out of the cups.
The Kings, a lion, a whale, an eagle, and a dragon. I thought I would like the animals instead of people, but I guess not.
I'm looking through the book. There are pictures for the Majors, but not the Minors. I actually like the Majors very much for the most part! I especially like The Empress! I like Justice(#8), but when I first saw the card, I didn't like seeing her head on fire! I have the deck in a hard to get to spot, but after seeing the Majors in the book, I remember liking the colors in them!
Cerulean, thanks for that example. It is on the creepy side with those heads flying around! Another thing I've noticed from the alchemical stuff is the tendency to make a male and female in one body, like The Devil in The Alchemical Tarot. Those kinds of pictures always seem "off" to me. I've recently seen another in The World in The DruidCraft.
I'm going with weird.
I like the style, but I don't like certain images. I like The Star because it's still pretty to me.
I don't like:
5 of Staffs, a hand with all fingers on fire.
10 of Coins, an older man's face covered in 10 coins.
7 of Vessels, 7 different vessels--not scary at all, but boring. I don't get anything out of it. I prefer to have dreams or different things coming out of the cups.
The Kings, a lion, a whale, an eagle, and a dragon. I thought I would like the animals instead of people, but I guess not.
I'm looking through the book. There are pictures for the Majors, but not the Minors. I actually like the Majors very much for the most part! I especially like The Empress! I like Justice(#8), but when I first saw the card, I didn't like seeing her head on fire! I have the deck in a hard to get to spot, but after seeing the Majors in the book, I remember liking the colors in them!
Cerulean, thanks for that example. It is on the creepy side with those heads flying around! Another thing I've noticed from the alchemical stuff is the tendency to make a male and female in one body, like The Devil in The Alchemical Tarot. Those kinds of pictures always seem "off" to me. I've recently seen another in The World in The DruidCraft.
Cerulean
Oh, the Salkamis and Hermadophrites legend..
A slightly more pleasant illustration of the legend:
http://ist-socrates.berkeley.edu/~ah172/history/salmacis.htm
The Greek tale from Ovid is Salkamis was a beautiful naiad that was ignored by the son of Hermes and her prayer and chasing in the son of Hermes caused the joining of one being...the fusion pictures one can find can seem off, but as the Alchemical does present such items more neutrally than period pictures...
I always appreciated hanging on to the Alchemical because it gave a good history briefly...and I was more able to enjoy this version of alchemy than any of the historic texts...I notice he presented Buddhist art in a concise and more pleasant manner to some tastes...and until I see the Sevenfold Mystery,
I'm keeping the Alchemical as one of my favorite Robert Place titles...
Cerulean
A slightly more pleasant illustration of the legend:
http://ist-socrates.berkeley.edu/~ah172/history/salmacis.htm
The Greek tale from Ovid is Salkamis was a beautiful naiad that was ignored by the son of Hermes and her prayer and chasing in the son of Hermes caused the joining of one being...the fusion pictures one can find can seem off, but as the Alchemical does present such items more neutrally than period pictures...
I always appreciated hanging on to the Alchemical because it gave a good history briefly...and I was more able to enjoy this version of alchemy than any of the historic texts...I notice he presented Buddhist art in a concise and more pleasant manner to some tastes...and until I see the Sevenfold Mystery,
I'm keeping the Alchemical as one of my favorite Robert Place titles...
Cerulean
baba-prague
Alchemical imagery
This link may also be of interest. Alchemical imagery can seem very strange when you first encounter it. It's very common to see it here in Prague (a major centre of alchemy historically - and the Great Work is still practised by a few people here). I have to say I've become so familiar that I don't find most of the images odd any more - although I do still find them very evocative.
http://www.levity.com/alchemy/images_s.html
I have the Alchemical and like it very much, but I haven't yet used it in any serious way. I think it ideally requires considerable knowledge of alchemy, and I don't yet have enough - but that's just my opinion, I guess others might be able to use the deck more intuitively.
This link may also be of interest. Alchemical imagery can seem very strange when you first encounter it. It's very common to see it here in Prague (a major centre of alchemy historically - and the Great Work is still practised by a few people here). I have to say I've become so familiar that I don't find most of the images odd any more - although I do still find them very evocative.
http://www.levity.com/alchemy/images_s.html
I have the Alchemical and like it very much, but I haven't yet used it in any serious way. I think it ideally requires considerable knowledge of alchemy, and I don't yet have enough - but that's just my opinion, I guess others might be able to use the deck more intuitively.
blackroseivy
I love this deck!!
You are right about those images being a little off, Nydia - but with me, creepiness is an attractant! (I'm heavily into anything & everything Goth/Gothic, including Alchemical imagery!!!) I have used it seriously, & gotten results from it. Yes, I use it intuitively; I know rather a lot about Alchemy, but being as that I am no Alchemist per se, I still get a lot out of the deck.
You are right about those images being a little off, Nydia - but with me, creepiness is an attractant! (I'm heavily into anything & everything Goth/Gothic, including Alchemical imagery!!!) I have used it seriously, & gotten results from it. Yes, I use it intuitively; I know rather a lot about Alchemy, but being as that I am no Alchemist per se, I still get a lot out of the deck.
mythos
Nydia said:
This is the 'coniuntio' sometimes spelt 'conjunctio' ... it means the marriage of the sun and the moon - in other word, psychologically, bringing into consciousness the anima (inner feminine) and animus (inner masculine) and 'marrying' them to create a more individuated and aware personality.
In addition to Adam McLean's site ... which is a marvel ... you can look at alchemy and alchemical imagery as symbolic of our personality's development in Jung's work ... it is what he bases his theory of personality upon.
There are also some amazing primary source alchemy documents available on the web in .pdf form, as well as a summary/quotes of some of the main features by Waite in his book 'The Hermetic Museum' ... also available freely in pdf form.
It is a fascinating area of study even if your don't do more than get a basic understanding of the imagery and meaning, because it is was part of the syncretic environment from which tarot arose, thus it informs it to some extent ... and thus deepens our understanding of the cards.
Of course, you have to be a research-obsessed nut ... to go down that path because it will take you right into the whole Western Mystery Tradition ... LOL ... when you can just read what the deck author wrote about it LOL.
mythos
