Cat*
On my last day in Canada, I pulled the Greenman as my card of the day, and Mi-Shell pulled the Greenwoman. This prompted us to look at these two cards next to each other, which neither of us had done before. Here are a few of our unfinished observations, thoughts, and questions, as well as I remember them now (and as they occur to me as I'm writing this). Please chime in with your takes!
They seem both so similar, very different from the RWS Empress and Emperor. Both show a cauldron on a green hill above which rises a leafy face that doesn't actually show (m)any gender characteristics.
But while the Greenwoman is pretty connected to her cauldron (Mi-Shell said she sees her leaf-hands as drumming on that spiral/labyrinth in the middle) and hill, the Greenman floats above his, looking a bit forlorn.
The Greenwoman is a force of Nature, she is growth, bloom, (creative) power, and magic. The dancing tree suggests (shamanic) shapeshifting or Spirit Guides, and the head of the Uffington Horse in the center of the card only reinforces that (the head is where you go to go off into trance). Both of us had no problems understanding her.
The Greenman, however, is a different matter. The card has a lot of (male) power symbols in the bottom half: the Cernes Abbas giant with his huge club and erected penis (also in the 5 of Wands), the Dagda (Irish father-figure god) surrounded by mythological beasts on what looks like the Gundestrup cauldron with a throne in front of him. They seem like a strange contrast to the gentle face of the actual Greenman above the cauldron which actually takes up two thirds of the card and therefore probably is much more important than the small figures below. What does this card actually tell us about masculinity in the Greenwood? Is it always violent/physically overpowering, always operating on the principle of "power over" (instead of "equal power") and mostly disconnected from the Earth/Nature? Does the Emperor maybe even have to be disconnected from what's going on around him to actually BE an Emperor? Is that why he needs to summon all these mythological beasts? Because he has lost the connection to the actual local animals? Is the Greenman (leaf-face) the same as or different from the Dagda/Cernes Abbas giant? What does that tell us about the concept of masculinity portrayed by this card.
And IF the Greenman depicts the archetype of "male energy (in Nature)," how is he different from Cernunnos (whom we can see in the 9 of Stones and possibly 9 of Cups)? And who is the guy in the 9 of Wands? Are these all aspects of what amounts to more or less the same god?
And seriously, not as a rhetoric question, can someone please explain to me what "(fe)male energy in Nature" even means? Which (fe)males are we supposed to look at to find out what characteristics are being referenced here? Seahorses (where the males get pregnant)? Lionesses (who do the hunting)? Bears (where Papa Bear may be grumpy but Mama Bear can actually be dangerous, to quote Mi-Shell)? Snails (who are hermaphroditic)? And, since we are not even dealing much with animals here but with huge leafy faces, what exactly does gender mean for plants? Do human/mammal gender concepts even make sense when it comes to plants?
Honestly, whenever one of these cards show up, I groan. I have so much trouble making sense of them, especially of the Greenman. (In comparison, I have no difficulties with the RWS Empress and Emperor, and I actually like the idea of the Emperor. Are the Greenwood cards maybe influenced more by the Thoth deck? Anyone reading this who could tell us a bit more about the Emperor/Empress in the Thoth universe?
But enough of these ramblings for now. I'm sure I have forgotten many other interesting points we raised. I'm not sure, however, if any of the above makes any sense. I'd be very grateful to hear other takes on these two cards because I'm honestly pretty much stumped here. Help?
They seem both so similar, very different from the RWS Empress and Emperor. Both show a cauldron on a green hill above which rises a leafy face that doesn't actually show (m)any gender characteristics.
But while the Greenwoman is pretty connected to her cauldron (Mi-Shell said she sees her leaf-hands as drumming on that spiral/labyrinth in the middle) and hill, the Greenman floats above his, looking a bit forlorn.
The Greenwoman is a force of Nature, she is growth, bloom, (creative) power, and magic. The dancing tree suggests (shamanic) shapeshifting or Spirit Guides, and the head of the Uffington Horse in the center of the card only reinforces that (the head is where you go to go off into trance). Both of us had no problems understanding her.
The Greenman, however, is a different matter. The card has a lot of (male) power symbols in the bottom half: the Cernes Abbas giant with his huge club and erected penis (also in the 5 of Wands), the Dagda (Irish father-figure god) surrounded by mythological beasts on what looks like the Gundestrup cauldron with a throne in front of him. They seem like a strange contrast to the gentle face of the actual Greenman above the cauldron which actually takes up two thirds of the card and therefore probably is much more important than the small figures below. What does this card actually tell us about masculinity in the Greenwood? Is it always violent/physically overpowering, always operating on the principle of "power over" (instead of "equal power") and mostly disconnected from the Earth/Nature? Does the Emperor maybe even have to be disconnected from what's going on around him to actually BE an Emperor? Is that why he needs to summon all these mythological beasts? Because he has lost the connection to the actual local animals? Is the Greenman (leaf-face) the same as or different from the Dagda/Cernes Abbas giant? What does that tell us about the concept of masculinity portrayed by this card.
And IF the Greenman depicts the archetype of "male energy (in Nature)," how is he different from Cernunnos (whom we can see in the 9 of Stones and possibly 9 of Cups)? And who is the guy in the 9 of Wands? Are these all aspects of what amounts to more or less the same god?
And seriously, not as a rhetoric question, can someone please explain to me what "(fe)male energy in Nature" even means? Which (fe)males are we supposed to look at to find out what characteristics are being referenced here? Seahorses (where the males get pregnant)? Lionesses (who do the hunting)? Bears (where Papa Bear may be grumpy but Mama Bear can actually be dangerous, to quote Mi-Shell)? Snails (who are hermaphroditic)? And, since we are not even dealing much with animals here but with huge leafy faces, what exactly does gender mean for plants? Do human/mammal gender concepts even make sense when it comes to plants?
Honestly, whenever one of these cards show up, I groan. I have so much trouble making sense of them, especially of the Greenman. (In comparison, I have no difficulties with the RWS Empress and Emperor, and I actually like the idea of the Emperor. Are the Greenwood cards maybe influenced more by the Thoth deck? Anyone reading this who could tell us a bit more about the Emperor/Empress in the Thoth universe?
But enough of these ramblings for now. I'm sure I have forgotten many other interesting points we raised. I'm not sure, however, if any of the above makes any sense. I'd be very grateful to hear other takes on these two cards because I'm honestly pretty much stumped here. Help?