Psycards Study Group - 17. The Libido

Now here's a rather intriguing card. We see the male and female peacocks, a snake in the grass, and a rather suggestive flowing brook that could be the cousin (do brooks have cousins?) of the stream on the final card in this deck, "Union." This seems modern. Is the libido identical to the id? I'd like to see an id card in an oracle deck.

This card is supposed to be "about sex and the joy and beauty of life." But what about that banded snake? Is this the "safe" snake with red bands touching black or the "dangerous" snake with red touching yellow (from Wikipedia: " There are several mnemonic rhymes to help people distinguish between the coral snake and its non-venomous look-alikes, such as "If red touches black, it's OK, Jack. If red touches yellow, you're a dead fellow.") It's hard to tell, at least on the computer screen. The snake makes me think of Adam and Eve, and that makes me think of guilt, which is not at all, in my mind, about joy and beauty in life. So I'm not quite sure where this card is really coming from.

That's interesting about the snake's colors, on it's body red touches black, but on it's head red touches yellow.

I see growth and abundance in this card, as well as loads of sexual symbols. I have to find a picture of a female peacock because I thought both birds on the card were male, with one being the dominant/mating male. That brings the idea of competition into the equation. Vanity too.

Here's something to consider about the possibly poisonous snake and its juxtaposition to the peacocks or peacock and peahen: in far Eastern lore (I have a more specific reference back at home) the peacock is believed to take poison into its body and transform it into the beauty of its feathers. Maybe it's farfetched but I can see snake and bird as representing the "poison" of desire and the "cure" being the satisfaction of the desire.

I was looking at this card again because it came up in an odd context and I was thinking about it could also stand for those things that are impossible to ignore. On the other hand, it could also stand for someone needing to be more outgoing, to "flaunt their feathers", perhaps others want to see more of the person in question... a more definite presence.


Does anyone think it would be useful to start a thread on interpreting card combos? We could discuss how we would read the cards in context?

.traveller. said:

I was looking at this card again because it came up in an odd context and I was thinking about it could also stand for those things that are impossible to ignore. On the other hand, it could also stand for someone needing to be more outgoing, to "flaunt their feathers", perhaps others want to see more of the person in question... a more definite presence.


Does anyone think it would be useful to start a thread on interpreting card combos? We could discuss how we would read the cards in context?

Click to expand...

Yes, that's a great idea, although I'm not sure how systematic it would be . Perhaps just a thread with that title. Wanna start one, traveller?

Master_Margarita said:

Yes, that's a great idea, although I'm not sure how systematic it would be . Perhaps just a thread with that title. Wanna start one, traveller?

Click to expand...

Okay-dokey, I'll post one this evening when I have my cards in front of me. I don't think it will be systematic at all, more of an open discussion I think.