Medicine Woman Tarot - Opinions?

G6

Hi All!

This deck has been popping up for me quite a bit lately and then a 1st Edition was practically gifted to me, so who has this deck and what are your thoughts?

It seems to have a pretty specific intent and potentially transformational. Have you found this to be so and what are your experiences?

Medicine Woman Tarot

http://www.aeclectic.net/tarot/cards/medicine-woman/

Thank you!!! :)
 

Alta

Did you read Kim Huggens' review on the main page? She is a knowledgeable and thoughtful reader and her views would be well worth considering.
 

Aeric

I used to frequently use MWT. I approached it as a man using a deck intended primarily for women. This is one of the few such decks in existence whose book not only openly invites men to use it to learn something of women's perspective, but also uses gender-neutral pronouns "hir" in the text and refers to the subject as a "Medicine Wo/man". It's very welcoming and I was thrilled for that. That a man is the subject of the suit of Bowls as a matter of balance was sheer delight.

The art is very dynamic. I love the use of a circle as the standard template with additional details built around it. Just like the Gay Tarot and Prisma Visions decks, a single figure is the subject of the Minor cards Ace through Exemplar (King) and she or he goes through a process of transformation and enlightenment along the way.

This deck has the most powerful Death card I've ever seen. It's so simple yet a perfect interpretation of what Death represents to me, and the subject willingly embracing ithe inevitability of change rather than entreating its approach. I've meditated on this card many times and I feel transported to end of the day in the Chihuauan Desert.

My favourite Minors are the Totem and Lodge cards, especially Snake, the Crawlers.

My only issue with it is that this isn't a deck made for a reality check. It's very fluffy and uplifting, every negative reframed as a positive. I primarily used it as a deck for healing during depressive episodes. It carries you away from the harsh reality of the world into a safe space where you can see your environment as nothing but happiness and light.
 

G6

Aeric said:
I used to frequently use MWT. I approached it as a man using a deck intended primarily for women. This is one of the few such decks in existence whose book not only openly invites men to use it to learn something of women's perspective, but also uses gender-neutral pronouns "hir" in the text and refers to the subject as a "Medicine Wo/man". It's very welcoming and I was thrilled for that. That a man is the subject of the suit of Bowls as a matter of balance was sheer delight.

The art is very dynamic. I love the use of a circle as the standard template with additional details built around it. Just like the Gay Tarot and Prisma Visions decks, a single figure is the subject of the Minor cards Ace through Exemplar (King) and she or he goes through a process of transformation and enlightenment along the way.

This deck has the most powerful Death card I've ever seen. It's so simple yet a perfect interpretation of what Death represents to me, and the subject willingly embracing ithe inevitability of change rather than entreating its approach. I've meditated on this card many times and I feel transported to end of the day in the Chihuauan Desert.

My favourite Minors are the Totem and Lodge cards, especially Snake, the Crawlers.

My only issue with it is that this isn't a deck made for a reality check. It's very fluffy and uplifting, every negative reframed as a positive. I primarily used it as a deck for healing during depressive episodes. It carries you away from the harsh reality of the world into a safe space where you can see your environment as nothing but happiness and light.
Click to expand...

Thank you! Yes, it does seem to have a specific purpose as you describe. Sounds like a good tool for self reflection and empowerment. I'll only have the LWB. I wonder if the companion book would be more helpful?
 

Aeric

The companion book is indispensable. It's long, and Carol lays out the medicine wheel and cycle of the year patterns that go with the cards. The spreads are very detailed.

Each card comes with prayers, meditations, and exercises. Carol Bridges' group, the Church of the Earth Nation, is very New Age, so the book is full of all kinds of practices like colour therapy, chakras, visualizations, vegetarianism, etc.

I find it's definitely a deck about self reflection and empowerment but not as useful for divination. One author who specializes in shamanic Tarot decks found that although she liked the images, she wasn't able to use it for shamanic insight since it's too soothing and doesn't express negativity well.
 

G6

Aeric said:
The companion book is indispensable. It's long, and Carol lays out the medicine wheel and cycle of the year patterns that go with the cards. The spreads are very detailed.

Each card comes with prayers, meditations, and exercises. Carol Bridges' group, the Church of the Earth Nation, is very New Age, so the book is full of all kinds of practices like colour therapy, chakras, visualizations, vegetarianism, etc.

I find it's definitely a deck about self reflection and empowerment but not as useful for divination. One author who specializes in shamanic Tarot decks found that although she liked the images, she wasn't able to use it for shamanic insight since it's too soothing and doesn't express negativity well.
Click to expand...

So, it's more like an oracle than a tarot deck? I'll have to see how I feel about the LWB. If it doesn't seem enough and I can find the companion book for a little bit...
I'm guessing since it seems more like it's own thing as you describe I would want the companion book. Thanks for the info! :)
 

feynrir

Wow, so insightful reading the firsthand impressions about the Medicine Woman Tarot here! :love: I love AT, thank you guys! (Even though I'm not the OP, haha.)

This deck is always sitting there at the New Age shop that I frequent(ly support with way too much of my paycheck). I'm so sorry...but to an outsider, it just looks like another Motherpeace knockoff. Not to say that this is a bad thing; I've coveted the Daughters of the Moon deck before. I just never saw anything engaging or special about it.

But NOW I'm intrigued! It seems that the literature and the ideas behind the deck are a lot nicer in regards to men than the Motherpeace is. For example, my birth card is The Emperor, and it tends to be dear to my heart, empowering and important to me. However, the Motherpeace books I have read have really cast a discouraging light on this card! It made me laugh how negative they were about it, and simultaneously really ticked me off! I'm an unapologetic feminist (and a lady), but to act like male energy is something to shun is just sad. Get it together, Motherpeace.

I love the Motherpeace regardless--I really dig the art and the round cards, and did I mention the unapologetic feminism?--but now I really wanna give this one a try! Thank you (especially to Aeric)! :D
 

Aeric

Men are visible in several of the Majors, such as the bare-chested Warrior (Chariot), and a man's journey to find his true love is the subject of the Bowls suit because it was felt that men need to reconnect with their emotions for balance. Three women are the subjects of the other three suits. Many times a character is drawn androgynously so you can't tell who it is. The Lovers for example shows two nude people. The one facing towards you is visibly female, but the other has their back to you, and hair in a long braid; it could be male or female. The Medicine Wo/man (Magician) and Peacemaker (Hierophant) are also androgynous.

Medicine Woman is mostly definitely not in the vein of Motherpeace or Daughters of the Moon. It isn't politically feminist, and there was no desire to rearrange the cards because of the original Tarot's inclusion of men. Men are employed deliberately to bring balance to the deck, and they aren't ridiculed or minimized, but upheld as the tender, loving, emotional people they can be.

However, Medicine Woman comes very close to being more oracle than Tarot, though it shares a Tarot structure. It has a unique learning system that takes a long time to grasp. The LWB doesn't come close to the breath of individual information packed into each card.

http://divinedolphin.com/blog/index.php/2015/05/23/a-circle-of-dolphins/

http://divinedolphin.com/blog/index.php/2015/05/23/touched-by-dolphins/

Here is an old blog where the author went on a dolphin sighting trip and took MW cards with her. There are transcriptions from the guidebook of the text of the cards she chose. The one for Totem of Bowls, Dolphin, is the entire entry. The laundry list of LWB meanings fades next to the richness of the meditations.
 

G6

feynrir said:
Wow, so insightful reading the firsthand impressions about the Medicine Woman Tarot here! :love: I love AT, thank you guys! (Even though I'm not the OP, haha.)

This deck is always sitting there at the New Age shop that I frequent(ly support with way too much of my paycheck). I'm so sorry...but to an outsider, it just looks like another Motherpeace knockoff. Not to say that this is a bad thing; I've coveted the Daughters of the Moon deck before. I just never saw anything engaging or special about it.

But NOW I'm intrigued! It seems that the literature and the ideas behind the deck are a lot nicer in regards to men than the Motherpeace is. For example, my birth card is The Emperor, and it tends to be dear to my heart, empowering and important to me. However, the Motherpeace books I have read have really cast a discouraging light on this card! It made me laugh how negative they were about it, and simultaneously really ticked me off! I'm an unapologetic feminist (and a lady), but to act like male energy is something to shun is just sad. Get it together, Motherpeace.

I love the Motherpeace regardless--I really dig the art and the round cards, and did I mention the unapologetic feminism?--but now I really wanna give this one a try! Thank you (especially to Aeric)! :D
Click to expand...

Lol, Motherpeace knockoff! ;-) Actually, I like the Daughters of the Moon art the best. I missed out on a vintage one a bit ago. Round cards though not sure about those.
 

G6

Aeric said:
Men are visible in several of the Majors, such as the bare-chested Warrior (Chariot), and a man's journey to find his true love is the subject of the Bowls suit because it was felt that men need to reconnect with their emotions for balance. Three women are the subjects of the other three suits. Many times a character is drawn androgynously so you can't tell who it is. The Lovers for example shows two nude people. The one facing towards you is visibly female, but the other has their back to you, and hair in a long braid; it could be male or female. The Medicine Wo/man (Magician) and Peacemaker (Hierophant) are also androgynous.

Medicine Woman is mostly definitely not in the vein of Motherpeace or Daughters of the Moon. It isn't politically feminist, and there was no desire to rearrange the cards because of the original Tarot's inclusion of men. Men are employed deliberately to bring balance to the deck, and they aren't ridiculed or minimized, but upheld as the tender, loving, emotional people they can be.

However, Medicine Woman comes very close to being more oracle than Tarot, though it shares a Tarot structure. It has a unique learning system that takes a long time to grasp. The LWB doesn't come close to the breath of individual information packed into each card.

http://divinedolphin.com/blog/index.php/2015/05/23/a-circle-of-dolphins/

http://divinedolphin.com/blog/index.php/2015/05/23/touched-by-dolphins/

Here is an old blog where the author went on a dolphin sighting trip and took MW cards with her. There are transcriptions from the guidebook of the text of the cards she chose. The one for Totem of Bowls, Dolphin, is the entire entry. The laundry list of LWB meanings fades next to the richness of the meditations.
Click to expand...

Thanks for all the info! I'll start looking for the companion book, sounds necessary.
 
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