Heart of Faery: Faery world and landscape: What do you imagine?

Using the pictures of the fae in the HoF and FO as your guide, what kind of world do you imagine for the characters of the deck.

I ask because we usually read and each individual fae sort of comes in and talks to us about what our topic/spread/or their position in the spread is.

But now that we've done an exercise and understand that maybe Queen of the Night is enemies with Lord of Light, we can imagine these fae in interactions with each other. They may have relationships outside the groups or individuals they are pictured with.

The fae in the Troops cards, of course the fae on the cards are closer to them, but are there other relationships going on? Do these personalities have history with each other?

Do you see another universe where the Fae all frolic together, or are they forever winking in and out of our 'real' world. Are they here and other places too, and when they are here, in our realm, are they here just for us, just for the reading?

I'm trying to see if it will deepen the reading to look at the Queen's (or any of the cards, the courts and so on) and if they appear in a spread with cards that are not titled as court cards....do they trump the other fae in the spread?

(I know in some books I've read about faery there are very specific and very strong rules in the fae world. Almost like a caste system. We already see major differences in the fae: some are clothed, some are not. Some have frog like legs. Are the frog legs a certain kind of fae? Are the more human fae more powerful or of a higher class than the dark skinned ones? You see what I mean? Do they rich or poor fae? Or is it all about the Troops and power?)

Are there societal rules that your fae will have to abide by?

So if you see Queen of the NIght as a dark or more evil force, and the Thief pops up in the reading, what are the two of them up to? Is the Queen over the Thief? What are they showing you? And if they come in with a card that is not a dark card, but shows more innocence and light....how will that affect your readings?

Will you have hierarchies in your courts? Will you abide by courts? Will you follow a system in your faery world, or will you allow each reading to teach you about the faery world as you go along?

Are these questions I am posing important to you or not? Does it matter?

My own answers to follow.

I've been working with the FO for many years now, and honestly, the FO seems a different world than what I see in HoF. My FO is an old friend, the fae in those cards are...well they are family.

I see Gloominus Doom and I have an immediate emotional response to him. I feel compassion. Even though I know that he has caused his own problems and brought the sadness and doom down on himself I see him as the youngster who has tried to fix something and ended up only making it all worse.

If Nelys comes face to face with Epona's Wild Daughter in a reading I know that Nelys is showing Wings something, and that Wings is listening intently. Nelys knows things Wings doesn't...how do I know this? I just...know it. It is there in the card for me, all the times that Wings has listened, and she may be the Wild Daughter, but she is a very good listener. She'll stop and take the time for you...She didn't choose to be the wild daughter, but somehow, she was made the wild daughter.

I know little things like this because I spent years with these cards....but I do not know all their secrets. I know things in the instant of the reading....but some of what I know is because of seeing Indi so many times. Listening to Piper.... Or getting hexed by G. Hobyab so many times.

Heart of Faery is new to me. I don't feel so comfortable there. There are a shadows in HoF, places that make nervous. I don't particularly like the Queen of Passage. She is holding a heart in her hand. I mean, that makes me a little bit nervous. She is one of the only fae I've ever seen veiled, her crow is wreathed with fire, and well, she wears metal. I don't know any fae who wear metal, and who wear armour. (What kind of faeries wear metal anyway? That is a little scary.)

The fae in HoF hide more than the FO fae. They seem to have more masks, more secrets, and at the same time they show us something we didn't see happening in the FO. They are showing us themselves doing magic. We get to see them...capturing or about to capture humans. We seem them working magic, judging other fae (The Queen of the Golden Bough), and we see them at work (The Fixer, The Smith, The Rox). We go a little deeper into the culture of the fae and we have to make some decisions about who to trust and who to befriend.

I'm seeing more of a structure interms of the characters in this deck, and I admit, the more I'm studying it the more I see that the two decks have no business being mixed together, at least for me. I could see myself using them together, and I have, but as for mixing the two decks up together....not happening here ever.

Now having said that I see more structure a couple things do bother me, and don't see to fit. Four cards stand out for me, and I admit, they don't seem to work with the deck for me. I am closer than ever to leaving them out.

They are:
54 The Leaving
60 The Question
25 The Hero
28 The Magician

I have major problems with these four. They really bug me. Just when I think I'm okay with them...I keep returning to them and I just sort of don't like them.

I have to add In Two Minds to this list as well.

Now I cannot take them out of my deck yet...I'm not someone who would do that lightly. But anyway...that is a start to what I was asking about in the first post.

When I think of their world, I imagine it was very vast, so to me, it's like they exist within the same place...but perhaps very distantly from each other? The fae in the HOF feel like they're more...closer to the human world. The FO doesn't really feel like there's much human anything going on in the cards. It feels very otherworldly to me, especially the Singers, which seem to be on a higher realm of existence than the other fae. The HOF is more like...perhaps on a sort of bordering area to the human realm? Like there's longer interaction, and maybe the lines of where is where isn't so heavily defined. I'm not sure if I'm making much sense. ^^'

With the Leaving and the Question, they give me mixed responses. On one hand, I don't really feel like they fit with a lot of the other cards in the deck. But...I also want to know--who is this boy? Where is he going? What is it he's seeking? He seems to have set off into that realm intentionally--or did he? I want to know his story. He's someone who definitely comes off as being human in the deck. It's like there's a story going on that I'm only getting a glimpse of.

The Magician and Hero I'm more okay with being in the deck. They still feel a little...odd being there. They have this very in between sort of feeling. Fae but...there's still some sort of human connection going on. They're intriguing to me.

I think what bothers me more may be the Pan and Tink being in the deck. I've gotten more used to them being there, but hmmm. I think they were a little offputting at first.

I usually view the fae in different cards as knowing each other, or at least, of each other. Some being closer to others, others avoiding each other or there being a dislike between them, etc. I can't see say, the Prince of Shadows wanting to hang around the Queen of the Golden Bough, but I could see the Speaker of Truth or Lady of Faith visiting her from time to time.