Heart of Faerie: Exercise One

[Satori]

but I already knew that the card that I disliked the most was the Dreaming ....

I have drawn this card quite a bit in daily readings and I always overlooked it, never thinking it had any depth, or any kind of deeper meaning .... I thought it was superficial and that it could easily be banished from the deck and not be missed. The keywords from the book are creative thoughts - imagination - permission to dream. I never gave it any more thought. Until today.

Great way to choose your card study. I love that you thought...I'm chucking you out...but then took a moment to plumb the depths. Awesome!

Now, that I can see another, darker apsect to this card I feel ok with it I can see another angle to it. But, I still haven't completely warmed to it ....

I know what you mean. Not with this card maybe, but with others. And why warm up? Some of these cards are supposed to scare the bejeesus out of us. This is part of our problem as moderns. We don't scare so easily anymore, at least not so much by the supernatural. The Devil card in Tarot is supposed to terrify us. Truly. We moderns are more afraid of Uncle Stanley than the Devil.

And if not fear of the card, which is I know a little strong, then the dis-ease is good. When it pops in a reading....you get a sense of something not quite right in the life of your sitter, right?

 

[Satori]

I love the Fixer! She is so sweet!!! And I think she must work for one of the Queens...she is a house faery! She is keeping the floor clean for the faery court!

But I totally agree about the Bon Jovi hair of the Magician and Hero.

It seems like Froud decided to cross a line with this one. Like, Tink, the Pan they have their mythology and I don't know how I feel about them being in the deck.

I saw Tink and I was a little let down. She is cute...but when I think Tink....I admit I think more Disney. Not Froud....I sort of shut her out. The Pan? What?

Now with 33 The Faery of Growth...what a stunner. Lovely misty colors, the wings, she is a beauty. 32, The Faerie of Youth, she could be straight out of Faeries Oracle.

What I don't like about the Thief 18 is that he is a portrait. I want to see more of his surroundings....Instead we have Val Kilmer! LOL.

What saves 25 The Hero is the background. The outline of the man's figure. The girl/boy with the sword is practicing but the well muscled man behind her/him is what will some day be...this card hints at growing up to me. Practice, work at it, don't give up, a goal.

What I like about Faeries Oracle is that Froud created the mythology for the most part. Faery Godmother was of course not his creation, but boy do I love the FGM in the FO. Love her. There are others in HoF that can stand in, but FGM in FO is pretty close to perfect if you ask me. In HoF, well known names of 'existing' or more stereotyped fae were brought in and I'm still wrestling with whether or not it is successful.

I admit that for now I'm not letting any of the cards go. I need to explore more and see how the cards work together and gel. I feel like I need to use those cards with question marks in a few exercises or readings to see if they hang with the rest of the community.

That we all share the dis-ease with the same group of cards is pretty interesting.

What do you guys think about 60 and 54? The Question and The Leaving. I just don't know what to do with those two cards. They are so different! I mean I don't hate them, but the characters are so unique in those cards, that they just stand out. I don't think they are faeries. They look like....Giants and a small boy....

And even the Smith...he seems more Goblin or Dwarf than fae. I don't know.

 

[Satori]

I also love the Prince of Air as it is the only masculine representation of faerie that feels right to me. And it was with this card that I finally found a way into the deck.

I don't have a Prince of Air....do you mean the Prince of Light??? Am I missing a card???

 

[Le Fanu]

I don't have a Prince of Air....do you mean the Prince of Light??? Am I missing a card???

Sorry. I was thinking Thothy elements!! yes, it's Prince of Light!

 

[Lokisen]

This is a clever and creative exercise. I agree with you about "the Boy", he creeps me out too. Anyway: least favorite (for right now anyway) is "the big behind" and from the favorite pile is "speaker of truth."

The big behind would probably say "lighten up, you're too serious" to the speaker of truth, who strikes me as kind of arrogant and might try to avoid the big behind as much as possible.

The speaker of truth seems like a straight man, who probably would be honest with you most of the time, while the big behind is most likely a jokester and would play tricks on both you and the speaker of truth. Therefore, these two fairies might not get along well, and while not disliking each other outright, might be annoyed by each others' presence.

If the big behind were to never be heard from again, I'd have no problem with that; in effect, the deck would be more peaceful.

This exercise was interesting b/c it helped me compare and contrast opposite traits/characteristics.

Also, I think I like HoF better than FO b/c, to me, HoF is a more serious, darker deck than the FO, at least in terms of artwork.

 

[tarot heart]

Ok, I went thru the deck and really there is only one card that I truly dislike altogether and it is The Queen of the Night. She seems not only deceptiive but also appears to be a real shit-starter. Yep, she's a standout from the other cards. However, I wouldn't remove it from the deck because it could be a great "source of conflict" card. There are a few cards that I could do without but not really can say I hate them such as The Boy. He looks like something out of a Norman Rockwell painting. Don't really "get" the costume or the shirt of leaves...he's just out of place in this deck...The Lady of the Forest, sorry, looks like a man..

Now one card I really love, and it's a standout card for me is The Magician. I don't know if this person is supposed to be woman or a man but I want it to be a man. I love the way he is making the Marseilles? cards fly around him as if to say "only I know what is the secret of these cards!" And I can't help it, I just love the horizontally striped pants. I really dig the card the most out of them all. The Magician would definitely win in a face off with The Lady of the Night. And by the way, isn't that the same person in The Hero card?

The only card I'm not sure if I like or not is The Fixer, it's perplexing me.

That's it then, the rest I like.

Looking forward to working more with this deck.

 

[Ivy Rhiannon]

So as we assemble and get ready for our readings Le Fanu and I decided we'd like to post some warm-ups for all of us to try. These are just fun getting to know your deck exercises, nothing earth shattering.

I like to sift through the deck and create two piles. One pile is the cards I love. The other is of cards that confuse me or that I dislike.

Well happy to report that my like pile was much, much bigger than my dislike

Sort through the piles and find your favorite card and your least favorite card. Imagine these two Fae face to face.

It was tough decision on the favorite part but The Pan won! For my least favorite it's The Sorcerer easily. The Pan is about newness and adventure, taking that joyous leap into the unknown, about having more curiosity than fear, the desire for more fun than a "what if?". I love this card As for mr scrouge of the fae deck I don't like his big nose, his nasty frown or the way he is hiding in the shadows. He seems up to no good for sure! A big ole stubborn mule of a grouch. Eh....

What would they have to say to each other? Are they friends?

The Pan is jumping around playfully, and The Sorcerer looks more than annoyed. LOL This pair almost reminds me of Dennis the Menace and his neighbor Mr. Wilson. Interesting...

Are they enemies? Do they get along or do they fight?

They are definitely not friends. The Sorcerer doesn't have any, and The Pan is too much of a free spirit for most, so in a sense they are both loners. However they don't fight. The Sorcerer might have some choice words about being bothered by the Pan. And the Pan might pout and shake his fist at the old fae but they are not ready to kill each other.

What secrets do they know about each other?

The Pan doesn't really know much about the Sorcerer. He may have played a few pranks, or "borrowed" random things from him but mostly he stays out of his way. The Pan sees him as a grouchy old man, one who grew up and doesn't know how to have any fun. The Sorcerer sees the pan as an immature brat. Someone who doesn't have a lick of common sense about the worlds and how they really work. He seems like one with a lot of wisdom from experience but he has let him harden him. The Sorcerer values silence, acquired knowledge, and power. Things he knows the pan has no interested in.

Do they like you?

The Pan does! I'm a fellow adventurer, and I admire his spontaneity! The Sorcerer doesn't dislike me per say. But he is untrusting, he looks suspicious of humans to say the least.

If they mention other fae from the pack, pull out that card and add it to the conversation...

The Pan liked my second favorite choice The faerie of Naughtiness, but he doesn't say much about her. I have the sense that they might be secret partners in crime.

If the fae that you dislike were to disappear and never again be seen or heard from again, how would that change the community/readings you might do with the deck?

Mmmm even though I can't say I like the Sorcerer he does have his place in the deck. I wouldn't want him to not be there. Everyone we encounter the positive and the negative have things to teach us.

Talk about how the exercise helped you, changed your mind about either fae, and if you would do this again with all the cards in the deck?

This was very neat to say the least. Seeing them paired up like that seemed like two different parts of myself. The things I like, the things I don't like. Thanks for this exersize! I liked it a lot

 

[autumn star]

I know what you mean. Not with this card maybe, but with others. And why warm up? Some of these cards are supposed to scare the bejeesus out of us. This is part of our problem as moderns. We don't scare so easily anymore, at least not so much by the supernatural. The Devil card in Tarot is supposed to terrify us. Truly. We moderns are more afraid of Uncle Stanley than the Devil.

I agree with you there, when I first started reading Tarot with the Morgan Greer and the Devil came up it used to make me stop and think ... it was striking and to be honest did scare me a little.

And if not fear of the card, which is I know a little strong, then the dis-ease is good. When it pops in a reading....you get a sense of something not quite right in the life of your sitter, right?

Yes, this is how I feel about this card - I felt like it's book meaning didn't reflect the image because to me it looks like something more sinister is going in the Dreaming.

It was funny because the same night that I wrote about all my issues with the Dreaming card in this thread. I put my deck back together and shuffled thoroughly to pick a card for my daily draw and the card I got was the Dreaming There must be something with me and this card.

 

[Satori]

Ok, I went thru the deck and really there is only one card that I truly dislike altogether and it is The Queen of the Night. She seems not only deceptiive but also appears to be a real shit-starter. Yep, she's a standout from the other cards. However, I wouldn't remove it from the deck because it could be a great "source of conflict" card. There are a few cards that I could do without but not really can say I hate them such as The Boy. He looks like something out of a Norman Rockwell painting. Don't really "get" the costume or the shirt of leaves...he's just out of place in this deck...The Lady of the Forest, sorry, looks like a man..

Oh my. See we are really starting to see the way certain cards just pop, and in so many different ways for different people. I love Queen of the Night. She seems to just ooze....all kinds of things....and she changes. Very chimeric. More on her later.

Now one card I really love, and it's a standout card for me is The Magician. I don't know if this person is supposed to be woman or a man but I want it to be a man. I love the way he is making the Marseilles? cards fly around him as if to say "only I know what is the secret of these cards!" And I can't help it, I just love the horizontally striped pants. I really dig the card the most out of them all. The Magician would definitely win in a face off with The Lady of the Night. And by the way, isn't that the same person in The Hero card?

As for Magician and Hero I just started a new thread about them. I thought that your comment and well, my own comments are similar and yet disparate enough to warrant a look at them through a more focused lens. Please go over and post your ideas...this is an important discussion to have I think. How shall we treat them? As male or female? Will they change sex as the readings begin and perhaps, are they related? Does it matter?

This is a clever and creative exercise. I agree with you about "the Boy", he creeps me out too. Anyway: least favorite (for right now anyway) is "the big behind" and from the favorite pile is "speaker of truth."

Least fave is Big Behind? I love her!!! Now loki. We will need to discuss this. And speaker of truth...I swear she looks like Mi-Shell....and actually Mi-Shell agreed!

The big behind would probably say "lighten up, you're too serious" to the speaker of truth, who strikes me as kind of arrogant and might try to avoid the big behind as much as possible.

The speaker of truth seems like a straight man, who probably would be honest with you most of the time, while the big behind is most likely a jokester and would play tricks on both you and the speaker of truth. Therefore, these two fairies might not get along well, and while not disliking each other outright, might be annoyed by each others' presence.

If the big behind were to never be heard from again, I'd have no problem with that; in effect, the deck would be more peaceful.

This exercise was interesting b/c it helped me compare and contrast opposite traits/characteristics.

Also, I think I like HoF better than FO b/c, to me, HoF is a more serious, darker deck than the FO, at least in terms of artwork.

Awesome remarks. So happy this exercise worked for you, and for so many others. The ideas is to get behind our likes and dislikes, our judgements really, and try to see the court from a new perspective.

It was tough decision on the favorite part but The Pan won! For my least favorite it's The Sorcerer easily. The Pan is about newness and adventure, taking that joyous leap into the unknown, about having more curiosity than fear, the desire for more fun than a "what if?". I love this card As for mr scrouge of the fae deck I don't like his big nose, his nasty frown or the way he is hiding in the shadows. He seems up to no good for sure! A big ole stubborn mule of a grouch. Eh....

Well you may not know this yet, but The Sorcerer is one of my favorite favorite cards. I wanna pull him out of his hidey hole and smooth that frown away and hug him and feed him broth-not sure if he has any teeth left.

Fantastic details here. You like to do what I like to do. Get into the minds of the characters on the cards. I got a real kick out of what you did here. I'm a storyteller myself, and weaving these stories helps me to find the personalities behind the pictures. Love it!


Really great responses to the exercise. I will be tallying up the names, see how many we have in our group and preparing the list for the group readings. Great stuff in all the posts, and really great responses in the other threads as well.

 

[Ivy Rhiannon]

Well you may not know this yet, but The Sorcerer is one of my favorite favorite cards. I wanna pull him out of his hidey hole and smooth that frown away and hug him and feed him broth-not sure if he has any teeth left.

Fantastic details here. You like to do what I like to do. Get into the minds of the characters on the cards. I got a real kick out of what you did here. I'm a storyteller myself, and weaving these stories helps me to find the personalities behind the pictures. Love it!

Really great responses to the exercise. I will be tallying up the names, see how many we have in our group and preparing the list for the group readings. Great stuff in all the posts, and really great responses in the other threads as well.

Thanks! I do love stories! Happy to meet another storyteller! Lol I think I get that from writing and roleplaying Funny how one's favorite card is another's least.