Robin Hood Tarot/Oracle cards?

I discovered this site while trying to discover a Robin Hood deck of cards. Three days ago, there was no doubt in my mind that there had to be one, and I am woefully disappointed to find that, as far as I can tell, there isn't.

Surely I am not the first to think Robin Hood would make an excellent theme for a Tarot deck? Or even an Oracle deck (which I would almost prefer).

The Robin Wood deck does have a few similarities to what I imagined this non-existant Robin Hood deck would be, but it just isn't quite right, and while some of the cards in this deck do speak to me, a lot of them don't.

Now, if any of you have read my previous posts, you know that I am not very well versed in the meanings of all the Tarot cards, so perhaps I am wrong in thinking Robin Hood would be a perfect theme for a deck, and eventually, as my knowlege of the tarot grows I will realize the error of my ways, but in the meantime, I'd like to open my theory up to discussion by more experienced readers than myself.

Would a deck with Robin and Marian as Emperor and Empress be a viable, readable deck?

I can see, in my limited knowledge of the cards and the archetypes portrayed, the bishop of Hereford as the Hierophant, Alan a Dale and his sweetheart could be the lovers, Friar Tuck would be the hermit, maybe an executioner as Death, and Will Scarlet might make a good Temperence. King Richard could be either Judgement of the King of Swords... or strength, what with the lion theme of that card....

I've given this more thought than I should, given how little I understand the decks that I do have, and now that I've blathered for so long, I'll stop and give you all a chance to give me your thoughts.

The Whimsical has Robin and Marian as King and Queen of Pentacles, and Friar Tuck is the Hierophant!

I would love a Robin Hood tarot! I encourage you to get right to work on it!!!

I would definately consider a tarot deck based around the legend of Robin Hood, I'd been thinking about which characters I would think of for each of the Major Arcana and Court Cards. However, I agree with you, I think a Robin Hood Oracle set would work even better.

I love Robin Hood so I would definitely be interested.-

divinest said:

However, I agree with you, I think a Robin Hood Oracle set would work even better.

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It's great to see that I'm not the only one who thinks this would be a good idea. As far as Decks go, though, I only have experience with one set of Oracle cards, so I'm not sure how they generally work. I imagine creating an oracle deck is a lot more difficult than creating a Tarot deck, where the symolism and meanings of each card are, really, pretty well set. It would be a great project, though, and knowing that I'm not imagining the connection between Robin Hood and the Cards is very encouraging. Maybe when I'm more familiar with how all of this stuff works, I really will look at creating a Deck.

The only concern I have with it being a Tarot deck is that I don't know who would represent the court. Especially the queens: the Robin Hood story may be a lot of things, but a wealth in female characters it is not. Any suggestions for this?

See, I'd be tempted to say to just have a major's card deck if you went along with a tarot deck. With an oracle card deck, I'd have to think about it more I think.

Amashelle said:

The only concern I have with it being a Tarot deck is that I don't know who would represent the court. Especially the queens: the Robin Hood story may be a lot of things, but a wealth in female characters it is not. Any suggestions for this?

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My wife and I were discussing this last night. At one point, back in the 80s, I became very interested in the Robin Hood legends, mainly through the tv show 'Robin of Sherwood'. I visited Nottingham several times, and immersed myself in the whole Robin i' the Hood thing. Please don't take me to be an expert, however... it was quite some time ago, and I don't remember half of what I read!

The legend of Robin Hood has remained popular throughout the years as each age has brought something new to the story. For instance, I believe that the first mention of a Saracen fighting alongside Robin and his men was made in Robin of Sherwood - every subsequent version that I've seen has also featured a Saracen (notably Costner's movie, and the new Robin Hood show that recently aired on BBC America). The BBC America one even had the Saracen character played by a woman! What I'm trying to suggest here is that subtle re-rights are okay! Bring in additional characters, fit them into the legend as you know it, and have some fun with it!

Okay, next thing to know is that no-one knows who Robin Hood was! Three are various theories, but none are more accepted than the others. What this means for the court cards is that you might choose to make The Earl of Huntington and his wife act as Robin's mother and father for one set of court cards, on another it might be a peasant and his wife. Robin of Sherwood alluded to Robin's father being a guardian of 'Herne's' (a woodland god) sacred arrow - presumably, this mystical father was married... and there's another woman for the court!

And now for my wife's suggestion! Why not make each of the various female court cards into an aspect of Maid Marian? For coins, have her deciding how Robin and his gang should distribute their loot to the poor... Show her caring for the wounded in Robin's party... Perhaps the calming, feminine influence to Robin's rambunctiousness?


To summarize;

1 - Create our own Robin Hood stories and populate them with the female characters you need.

2 - Explore Robin's relationship with possible mothers and fathers.

3 - Use Marian, or an aspect of her, for each of the cards that you need a female image.

I hope this helps, and I'd love to see what you come up with for this deck!

Something like what was done with the Mona Lisa tarot could also be done with a Robin Hood deck - have different storylines (and different time periods) flow in and out through various cards. Have Robin be a man and a woman. Make him a child, a king, a nobleman, an outlaw and someone on the sheriff's staff. Explore th differences those different perspectives put on the legend. As rassillonn said, so much is not known about the legend that it's OK to fill in the gaps, as long as how one does it makes sense.

Rodney

I've had this idea myself and was quite serious about persuing it, but various other things have pushed in front of it- I'd like to see one done well. If one never emerges, then eventually I may get round to it myself! One of the things that made me grind to a halt during conceptualisation was the imbalance of male and female characters. You would have to use Marion in different aspects perhaps for the female cards. Then when you get into the minors and courts...phew. Tricky.

But Marion would have had handmaidens, ladies-in-waiting so could you not
take a bit of poetic licence and have females then?
And yes, I think I love this idea as well.


eta: Maybe if the deck is an Oracle that could bypass the problem?