Nemia
Yes, it's the tetragrammaton.
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Night Sun Tarot
Barleywine
I just received this and I see what everyone is talking about. There are a few anomalies and probably a couple of intentional changes in the LWB:
Wands are described as "Creative/Sexual Centre - Fire," while Swords are "Intellectual Centre - Fire." The color scheme of the cards and the court card elemental attributions make it clear the latter is an error in the LWB. The suit packs were also sequenced in a non-traditional way, but I quickly fixed that.
The numerical sequence of the court cards is altered but the elemental assignments are the same: Knight (old King, Thoth Knight) is still the 14th suit card and "Fire of . . . " its particular element; Queen is now the 12th suit card but is still "Water of . . ."; King (old Knight, Thoth Prince) is now the 13th suit card but still "Air of . . ."; and Page (Thoth Princess) is still the 11th suit card and "Earth of . . ." The deck when I opened it was sequenced Page, Knight, Queen, King, so it didn't agree with the LWB even though the elemental symbols on the cards did. I'll just swap the position of the King and Knight, move the Queen back where she belongs and stick with the Thoth designations, and should have no trouble. At least I don't see any numbers on the courts to add to the confusion.
I hardly ever pay attention to an LWB, so I'll just handle this as a straight Thoth clone. The sequence of the courts as altered above would then align.
Wands are described as "Creative/Sexual Centre - Fire," while Swords are "Intellectual Centre - Fire." The color scheme of the cards and the court card elemental attributions make it clear the latter is an error in the LWB. The suit packs were also sequenced in a non-traditional way, but I quickly fixed that.
The numerical sequence of the court cards is altered but the elemental assignments are the same: Knight (old King, Thoth Knight) is still the 14th suit card and "Fire of . . . " its particular element; Queen is now the 12th suit card but is still "Water of . . ."; King (old Knight, Thoth Prince) is now the 13th suit card but still "Air of . . ."; and Page (Thoth Princess) is still the 11th suit card and "Earth of . . ." The deck when I opened it was sequenced Page, Knight, Queen, King, so it didn't agree with the LWB even though the elemental symbols on the cards did. I'll just swap the position of the King and Knight, move the Queen back where she belongs and stick with the Thoth designations, and should have no trouble. At least I don't see any numbers on the courts to add to the confusion.
I hardly ever pay attention to an LWB, so I'll just handle this as a straight Thoth clone. The sequence of the courts as altered above would then align.
Myrrha
Is anyone still using this deck?
looking at pictures on line I am wondering how much of the esoteric trappings are just there for effect. Many of the cards seem to have the same sacred geometry design in the background, the "seed of life". There are other uses of sacred geometry in the deck but I always feel that when a symbol or image is repeated in many cards it looses its value as a symbol to be interpreted and becomes decorative. On the other hand there is a give and take going on in this deck between a dark momentum and a lighter journey, so maybe having the seed of life in the background is part of that and makes sense.
I can tell that many cards have ceremonial magic emblems in the background but I can't tell if it is the same one or two repeated over and over as a decoration or if they are unique to their cards and can be expected to relate to the card's meaning. Can anyone tell me if they are repeated or unique?
Several figures wear crown's of thorns and several wear haloes. I will look again to see if there is some pattern to this but for now it looks like just more "atmosphere" or decoration. the same kind of flowers appear throughout the deck.
The artwork is gorgeously strange, it provokes feelings in me and that often makes for a good reading deck.
It is hard for me to see elements that repeat like this as proper symbols. Maybe I could just see them as repeated elements that create the visual world these characters inhabit rather than as fake symbols there to make the deck look enticingly occultish.
looking at pictures on line I am wondering how much of the esoteric trappings are just there for effect. Many of the cards seem to have the same sacred geometry design in the background, the "seed of life". There are other uses of sacred geometry in the deck but I always feel that when a symbol or image is repeated in many cards it looses its value as a symbol to be interpreted and becomes decorative. On the other hand there is a give and take going on in this deck between a dark momentum and a lighter journey, so maybe having the seed of life in the background is part of that and makes sense.
I can tell that many cards have ceremonial magic emblems in the background but I can't tell if it is the same one or two repeated over and over as a decoration or if they are unique to their cards and can be expected to relate to the card's meaning. Can anyone tell me if they are repeated or unique?
Several figures wear crown's of thorns and several wear haloes. I will look again to see if there is some pattern to this but for now it looks like just more "atmosphere" or decoration. the same kind of flowers appear throughout the deck.
The artwork is gorgeously strange, it provokes feelings in me and that often makes for a good reading deck.
It is hard for me to see elements that repeat like this as proper symbols. Maybe I could just see them as repeated elements that create the visual world these characters inhabit rather than as fake symbols there to make the deck look enticingly occultish.
Nemia
I'm ambivalent about this deck. I don't know what made me buy it, some strange, morbid fascination I guess ;-) I'm not usually into CG aesthetics, the female figures are stereotypical, and I still can't decide whether the symbols on the cards are there for a real reason or to make it look mysterious. Is this for real? or is it the kind of deck you'd see in a movie to get this spooky "ooooh fortune teller knows all my dark secrets"-vibe...?
I can't make up my mind. I trimmed the deck and edged it black which seems to make it "more real" for me, more personal and less synthetic. There is something snarky about this deck, is this the right word? I don't read with it often. Yet, I'm really glad I bought it. I'm sure that I'll click with it one day and then I'll know what to think about it.
I can't make up my mind. I trimmed the deck and edged it black which seems to make it "more real" for me, more personal and less synthetic. There is something snarky about this deck, is this the right word? I don't read with it often. Yet, I'm really glad I bought it. I'm sure that I'll click with it one day and then I'll know what to think about it.
Patrick Booker
I hadn't looked at this deck for some time, but oddly enough, I started to think about it yesterday evening and dug it out. I need to look at the symbols more closely.
The description of Wands as relating to the 'Creative/Sexual Centre - Fire' comes, I think, from Jodorowsky's book, who got the expression from Gurdjieff.
Patrick
I just received this and I see what everyone is talking about. There are a few anomalies and probably a couple of intentional changes in the LWB:
Wands are described as "Creative/Sexual Centre - Fire," while Swords are "Intellectual Centre - Fire." The color scheme of the cards and the court card elemental attributions make it clear the latter is an error in the LWB. The suit packs were also sequenced in a non-traditional way, but I quickly fixed that.
The description of Wands as relating to the 'Creative/Sexual Centre - Fire' comes, I think, from Jodorowsky's book, who got the expression from Gurdjieff.
Patrick
Barleywine
To be honest, I have never used it and I'm not sure I ever will. The art appeals to me but I don't find it very open or communicative for the purpose of reading.
mayan
Must be something in the air...Out of nowhere, I have been thinking about this deck for several days. I don't know it well enough to hazard any guesses or thoughts regarding its symbolism but, nonetheless, for me, it has been exuding a very raw and visceral power that has been calling and calling. Probably the election season here in the US. Yup.
Myrrha
I hadn't looked at this deck for some time, but oddly enough, I started to think about it yesterday evening and dug it out. I need to look at the symbols more closely.
Patrick if you get a chance to look at some of the background Solomonic seals and post on if they are mostly unique to their cards or if they repeat I would really appreciate it.
@Barleywine: Sometimes I just like to write about the cards, what they could mean or make me feel, rather than reading with them. This could be one of those decks. If many of the details on the cards are decorative and repeating then that could be why they aren't communicative for readings. But some cards look like they are from a great reading deck - like the Wands card that shows a woman climbing up out of a pit.
Thanks everyone for answering.
Laura Borealis
I keep going back to look at this deck and think about buying it. Each time, I talk myself out of it, but I'll probably get it eventually. The art is really compelling, though it's a style I usually don't go for.
As far as the sigils go... from looking at them online (on a page with decent sized scans that I can't link here) on the minors they mostly seem to be the Seed of Life/Flower of Life. I see a pentacle or two in there, and a few other random symbols, and some cards don't seem to have any background sigils.
The ones on the Majors appear to be mostly unique. It looks to me like the Fool and Death share the same sigil, a triangle inside several concentric circles. The Hermit and the World share one also, a sort of mandala of overlapping hexagons. Other than those I think they're different to each other (but I might have missed something).
I don't know anything about Solomonic seals or sigils, so I don't know if any of them are appropriate or if they're purely decorative. They certainly give it a mystical air, though.
As far as the sigils go... from looking at them online (on a page with decent sized scans that I can't link here) on the minors they mostly seem to be the Seed of Life/Flower of Life. I see a pentacle or two in there, and a few other random symbols, and some cards don't seem to have any background sigils.
The ones on the Majors appear to be mostly unique. It looks to me like the Fool and Death share the same sigil, a triangle inside several concentric circles. The Hermit and the World share one also, a sort of mandala of overlapping hexagons. Other than those I think they're different to each other (but I might have missed something).
I don't know anything about Solomonic seals or sigils, so I don't know if any of them are appropriate or if they're purely decorative. They certainly give it a mystical air, though.
Myrrha
I keep going back to look at this deck and think about buying it. Each time, I talk myself out of it, but I'll probably get it eventually. The art is really compelling, though it's a style I usually don't go for.
As far as the sigils go... from looking at them online (on a page with decent sized scans that I can't link here) on the minors they mostly seem to be the Seed of Life/Flower of Life. I see a pentacle or two in there, and a few other random symbols, and some cards don't seem to have any background sigils.
The ones on the Majors appear to be mostly unique. It looks to me like the Fool and Death share the same sigil, a triangle inside several concentric circles. The Hermit and the World share one also, a sort of mandala of overlapping hexagons. Other than those I think they're different to each other (but I might have missed something).
I don't know anything about Solomonic seals or sigils, so I don't know if any of them are appropriate or if they're purely decorative. They certainly give it a mystical air, though.
Thanks for posting that. I am on my cell so I can't see the details very well. I am surprised that there are at least some unique seals in the background cards... Interesting! I am pretty sure it won't work for me as a reading deck but I might pick it up sometime. The male/female imbalance is irritating though, especially when I compare to the Mutational Alchemy Tarot, another somewhat dark-appearing esoteric deck. It doesn't have to be this way!
