Sorting Cards

Has anyone tried the initial sorting activity that Jessica Macbeth suggests in the beginning, putting together the faeries in different "groups"?

What groups did you find that worked? I have to find my journal that I started when I got this deck. I did find some interesting groupings of them.

One of the wonderful aspects of this deck is that it is not in "suits" or categories as the tarot is. There are no real "Majors" or "Courts" or elements determined, which helps make it a more intuitive deck. And even as Macbeth stated, there are some that don't really fit categories, or rather, some that fit different categories. I guess this capriciousness is part of the very nature of the fae!

So, what interesting groupings did all of you find?

I don't remember all the groups I sorted into, I had so much fun doing this I kept going and going.

Ones I remember though would be first, just which ones I liked and which ones I didnt (didn't matter why). Then, I sorted out the ones that looked more abstract, like singers.

Other groups included : Which looked more human, which ones were in midair or suspended, which ones had one eye closed (which I mentioned in response to your O Gnome post ).

I think I did a few others, but these I do remember doing.

OH one other ... which ones were male and which were female and which were gender neutral -- interestingly as I was doing this, my husband asked me what I was up to. I told him (he knew I had been expecting this deck for week's and was sitting next to me while I was sorting them all the night of Their "blessed arrival").

I showed him my piles and he asked why Death was in the female pile. I blinked in amazement. "I didn't put it there, I put it in the neutral pile." (Mind you, the piles were going all over on the couch, over me and around me).

That was pretty much when I figured out these Cards would be fun to have around alright.

Great thread Khatruman, I'm looking forward to more Fae keepers' responses.

I divided mine into 5 categories:
1) Abstract cards
2) Introduction cards (cards show one character of faerie)
3) Cards with 2-4 characters
4) Cards with multiple (5+) characters
5) Dark cards

This exercise was a lot of fun ... now that I have worked with the cards for several months I think it might be fun to go back and do all the exercises again to see how my thoughts have changed ... ~mumbles something about needing to find some time to go play with the faeries~

Jewel said:

~mumbles something about needing to find some time to go play with the faeries~

Click to expand...

Yeah, I hear ya, Jewel... I think the faeries are grumpy with me for ignoring them. Yet, I have let my Faeries and the Fairy Ring group become acquainted for a bit in their Crown Royal bag together. I think I am going to graduate them to a Royal Salut bag (the 20 year old scotch that previously inhabited the bag cost $250!!!). They are entitled to that luxury.

Khatruman, I love both of these Faerie decks. I think it was my Froud Faeries that made me get the Fairy Ring *LOL*. I love reading with the Fairy Ring. The Froud Faeries are more like my guides and friends. I also have Healing with Faeries, but have not worked with the deck. The Fairies Oracle is the deck that I use most by far.

I think it is a great idea to upgrade faeries when ever they want it. I would not call them grumpy ... they are just really sensitive . Hope we both find more time for our good friends the faeries.

I just re-did the exercises, as Jewel suggested in another thread.
An interesting thing as I went through them this time was Solus wanted to be off by himself!! So he got a group all to himself!
Then also for some reason the Singers needed to be split into two groups. What's funny is I can't even explain what the difference is between the two groups! They just told me it had to be this way! LOL
It was so much fun (and helpful) doing the exercises again after so much time -- around 8 months since the first go 'round!!

I re-did this exercise too and this time I came out with 10 groups! Only one group remained the same:

1. Abstract cards: these range from the Faery Guide through card 12. All the singers except Souls.

2. Intense cards: these cards have a powerful gaze or something very intense about them that just draws me in. Cards in this group are: Souls, Himself, the Sage, The Dark Lady, The Faery Godmother, The Oak Men and Death.

3. Faerieland Dreams cards: these cards are in a setting that seems right out of a dream. There is a central character and many other faeries on the cards: The Bright Mother, The Lady of the Harvest, The Faery Who was Kissed by Pixies, Undressing of a Salad, Iris of the Rainbows, Faeries of the Future, Sylvanius, Tobaira of the Waters, and Losgunna.

4. Contemplative Faeries: these faeries are deep in thought or feel meditative: The Maiden, Nelys the Alchemyst, The Laume, Laiste Moon's Daughter, and Epona's Wild Daughter.

5. Mischevious Faeries (this does not mean bad faeries): O! That Gnome, The Topsie Turvets, Luathas the Wild, The Bodacious Bodach, G. Hobyah, and GaWatcha.

6. Faeries in Movement: Penelope Dreamweaver, Spirit Dancer, Lys of the Shadows, Taitin the Sylph, A Collective of Pixies, The Rarr.

7. The Lonely Faeries: Indi, Ffaff the Ffooter, and The Soul Shrinker.

8. Expressive Faeries (like most aren't!): these faeries communicate their message through their body language: The Faun, Honesty, Ilbe the Retriever, Arval Parrot, Gloominous Doom, The Pook, The Glaconer and The Fee Lion.

9. Nature Faeries: these all seem a direct part of nature: The Green Woman, The Piper, Ta'Om the Poet, Myk the Myomancer, Geeeeeooo The Slow, and Mikle a Muckle. Ffaff and the Oak Mean fit nicely here too, but I prefer them in the other categories.

10. Mood Faeries: The Journeyman, The Master Maker and The Friends.

There are so many groupings I could make and sooooo many crossovers that this exercise could be done a million times and never produce the same results. I love the variety of the faeries. They are quite complex and multifaceted.

Jewel said:

...There are so many groupings I could make and sooooo many crossovers that this exercise could be done a million times and never produce the same results. I love the variety of the faeries. They are quite complex and multifaceted.

Click to expand...

The first night I had these cards, I started sorting them out...next thing I knew, I was at it for almost 2 hours! I just kept sorting and re-sorting them. It was fun! When I first opened the box, I didn't care for the cards much. It was the sorting process that got me hooked on them.

Still Having Trouble with the Singers

Wildchild said:

When I first opened the box, I didn't care for the cards much. It was the sorting process that got me hooked on them.

Click to expand...

Yes, that was very canny of them to allow that. I found when going through that some were obviously related by negative or positive feelings or by colour and style, but every now and then they'd throw one into a group in the book that was not related in style probably to get you thinking.

It's a very enjoyable exercise. I didn't write mine down, I just had fun. I was very pleased with them though, I remember that. The pixies look a lot like my Bluepoint Siamese cat.

One thing I've noticed is the Singers, they are all very much like computer generated images. I wonder if Brian even did them on the computer first and then painted them. I have a hard time with these. it looks like he got fed up doing detailed work and just picked a totally different looking style and went with it to augment the deck.

Anyone have thoughts on this?

I had wondered about the Singers too. I still don't know what to make of them. They don't seem to fit right with the deck...at least, not to me. I had wondered if he needed a few more cards & did them quickly. Overall, I'm happy with the deck but I had considered taking the singers out. On the other hand, that would make the deck incomplete.