Tristram Shandy
Rosie Björkman: Jolanda den tredjes book om tarot (in Swedish)
The Swedish Witch Tarot deck
This is a review of both of them, but more about the book, so I posted this to the books forum. I originally intended to post this to the de-enabling tread.
I became enthusiastic when I saw some pictures of this deck. They pleased me stylistically, and I thought I could use the deck. I finally prepared buying it and the book online.
Then I noticed that a library in the neighbouring municipality had the book on its shelf. I decided to pay a small fee to order that book. It was worth it: I saved money, when I realized that I would neither like the book or the deck.
I finally could see the cards of the whole deck from the book. The major arcana looked great, just I had thought earlier. But there were several cards in the minor arcana that were under par compared to the major arcana. They had blank backgrounds, or otherwise lacked detail. Many cards look enigmatic in my eyes, they have all kinds of animals and objects, which meanings I would like to find from the book. But the book didn't explain them. On the other hand, the author of the book, Rosie Björkman, hadn't drawn the images of the cards.
Were the card interpretations in the book any good? Frankly, I don't care about it any more. The book had more room to its author's religious views than to the cards, and I was frustrated by it. Björkman is a neo-pagan who swears by prehistoric European matriarchal religions. But it isn't certain that such great historical phase has ever existed: the evidence on it can be interpreted in many ways. But not according to Björkman. She calls her religious views as "ancient Nordic" (fornnordisk), which means that they would be the same as the Nordic, matriarchal ones.
The book repeats too often the misconceptions found in neo-pagan literature, which diminishes its credibility. The book says that Artemis is maiden, Isis mother, and Hecate crone - altough the Greeks depicted Hecate as a young woman, too! The European witch hunts were not mainly run by the inquisition. Word Lilith doesn't come from the lily etc. The book is guilty of Christian-bashing because it claims that the Christian god is primarily a war-god. This is contrary to the beliefs of countless Christians. The neo-pagans ask for tolerance, still, several of them try to trample Christianity by giving distorted descriptions on its views. Notice that I am not a Christian, I am most interested in Sethian Gnosticism. Then there is plenty of text about neo-pagan meditations and other practices, which don't interest me, but some people could like it. In general, I think that only people, who understand Swedish and are interested both in tarot and neo-pagan practices, could like this book. Still, they should read the "herstory" sections with caution to avoid becoming fluffy bunnies. I don't understand the popularity of this book in Sweden.
The Swedish Witch Tarot deck
This is a review of both of them, but more about the book, so I posted this to the books forum. I originally intended to post this to the de-enabling tread.
I became enthusiastic when I saw some pictures of this deck. They pleased me stylistically, and I thought I could use the deck. I finally prepared buying it and the book online.
Then I noticed that a library in the neighbouring municipality had the book on its shelf. I decided to pay a small fee to order that book. It was worth it: I saved money, when I realized that I would neither like the book or the deck.
I finally could see the cards of the whole deck from the book. The major arcana looked great, just I had thought earlier. But there were several cards in the minor arcana that were under par compared to the major arcana. They had blank backgrounds, or otherwise lacked detail. Many cards look enigmatic in my eyes, they have all kinds of animals and objects, which meanings I would like to find from the book. But the book didn't explain them. On the other hand, the author of the book, Rosie Björkman, hadn't drawn the images of the cards.
Were the card interpretations in the book any good? Frankly, I don't care about it any more. The book had more room to its author's religious views than to the cards, and I was frustrated by it. Björkman is a neo-pagan who swears by prehistoric European matriarchal religions. But it isn't certain that such great historical phase has ever existed: the evidence on it can be interpreted in many ways. But not according to Björkman. She calls her religious views as "ancient Nordic" (fornnordisk), which means that they would be the same as the Nordic, matriarchal ones.
The book repeats too often the misconceptions found in neo-pagan literature, which diminishes its credibility. The book says that Artemis is maiden, Isis mother, and Hecate crone - altough the Greeks depicted Hecate as a young woman, too! The European witch hunts were not mainly run by the inquisition. Word Lilith doesn't come from the lily etc. The book is guilty of Christian-bashing because it claims that the Christian god is primarily a war-god. This is contrary to the beliefs of countless Christians. The neo-pagans ask for tolerance, still, several of them try to trample Christianity by giving distorted descriptions on its views. Notice that I am not a Christian, I am most interested in Sethian Gnosticism. Then there is plenty of text about neo-pagan meditations and other practices, which don't interest me, but some people could like it. In general, I think that only people, who understand Swedish and are interested both in tarot and neo-pagan practices, could like this book. Still, they should read the "herstory" sections with caution to avoid becoming fluffy bunnies. I don't understand the popularity of this book in Sweden.