Satori
I went through the marker cards and selected those that seemed to be the most pertinent to me. I kept all but 9 of them, and this may change as I use the deck more.
I actually have been enjoying the readings so far, but again, I'm using some of my own interps, not always sticking to what the deck creator uses. I have to say that I hope to see more from the artist of the deck, hopefully paired with someone else. I think that if the material had more substance as Aulruna said earlier, the artist could have really taken the material to a whole new level. As it is now, the artist is what saves the deck from being a total loss.
I say this because I don't really see much of Avalon in the deck. The idea is a great one, but other than Merlin and the The Lady in the Lake I don't get a sense of anything really steeped in the culture for which the deck takes it's name.
Part of the failure for the deck is that the system isn't discussed. So perhaps from this we must postulate there is no system. The Sacred Marker cards are given no special instruction or status. Just that 21 of the cards, nearly half the cards in the deck are no more than pictures of keywords printed upon signposts in a forest. To me this is either laziness or they ran out of money to pay the artist and settled on a quick fix.
Perhaps at some later date the artist or the deck creator will come over here to the forum and clue us in as to what the idea there happened to be, but it is what weakens the deck, imho.
Many of the people posting in this thread are names I recognize and several of you are pretty good readers, so we can probably squeeze some good readings out of the deck using our own ingenuity and expertise. I read professionally and I use found object oracles often enough to take a deck like this out and get a fairly useful reading out of it.
It is just that when you dig into the deck and really look at the pictures you don't feel that the artist and the writer of the book were in sync. For instance the Wasp card is really a great example. Anger and retaliation, jealousy are the keywords. What we see is a gorgeous wasp flying toward it's nest. Now to me the picture is about homecoming, protection and return. I feel that if the deck creator was really meticulous she would have looked at that picture and requested a change....
Both Merlin and The King stand for Justice...we already discussed Butterfly, and as for Horse, I understand assistance, but delegating authority? What about swiftness, messages, strength. Dragon was given the job of Strength, but isn't dragon about mystery, challenge, perhaps even an opponent? Also wasn't dragon somehow linked to Arthur's claim on the land??? The magical breath of the dragon and the heritage that was Arthur's genetic claim to the throne?
Also I wondered why Stonehenge made no appearance in the system, no Druids, no mention of Ogham, the Tor or of the Chalice or Grail other than the beautiful cardback. The Mystery marker would have been lovely had they used the scene on the cardback.
If I had this deck to do over, I would have asked Marion Zimmer Bradley to create it with Gary Lippincott. Wonder what would have come of that union.
I actually have been enjoying the readings so far, but again, I'm using some of my own interps, not always sticking to what the deck creator uses. I have to say that I hope to see more from the artist of the deck, hopefully paired with someone else. I think that if the material had more substance as Aulruna said earlier, the artist could have really taken the material to a whole new level. As it is now, the artist is what saves the deck from being a total loss.
I say this because I don't really see much of Avalon in the deck. The idea is a great one, but other than Merlin and the The Lady in the Lake I don't get a sense of anything really steeped in the culture for which the deck takes it's name.
Part of the failure for the deck is that the system isn't discussed. So perhaps from this we must postulate there is no system. The Sacred Marker cards are given no special instruction or status. Just that 21 of the cards, nearly half the cards in the deck are no more than pictures of keywords printed upon signposts in a forest. To me this is either laziness or they ran out of money to pay the artist and settled on a quick fix.
Perhaps at some later date the artist or the deck creator will come over here to the forum and clue us in as to what the idea there happened to be, but it is what weakens the deck, imho.
Many of the people posting in this thread are names I recognize and several of you are pretty good readers, so we can probably squeeze some good readings out of the deck using our own ingenuity and expertise. I read professionally and I use found object oracles often enough to take a deck like this out and get a fairly useful reading out of it.
It is just that when you dig into the deck and really look at the pictures you don't feel that the artist and the writer of the book were in sync. For instance the Wasp card is really a great example. Anger and retaliation, jealousy are the keywords. What we see is a gorgeous wasp flying toward it's nest. Now to me the picture is about homecoming, protection and return. I feel that if the deck creator was really meticulous she would have looked at that picture and requested a change....
Both Merlin and The King stand for Justice...we already discussed Butterfly, and as for Horse, I understand assistance, but delegating authority? What about swiftness, messages, strength. Dragon was given the job of Strength, but isn't dragon about mystery, challenge, perhaps even an opponent? Also wasn't dragon somehow linked to Arthur's claim on the land??? The magical breath of the dragon and the heritage that was Arthur's genetic claim to the throne?
Also I wondered why Stonehenge made no appearance in the system, no Druids, no mention of Ogham, the Tor or of the Chalice or Grail other than the beautiful cardback. The Mystery marker would have been lovely had they used the scene on the cardback.
If I had this deck to do over, I would have asked Marion Zimmer Bradley to create it with Gary Lippincott. Wonder what would have come of that union.