Aeric
http://www.aeclectic.net/tarot/cards/daughters-of-the-moon/
I was gifted Daughters of the Moon yesterday! I regularly use feminist decks for myself but Daughters is one for which I've only owned the book, that I've about worn through. A wonderful soul gave me her deck and a replacement book as a thank you present.
For the first time I've seen the cards in colour in person rather than online, as the book's illustrations are b/w only. What an explosion! It's an absolute riot of joy, passion, dignity, and pride. The artwork is better than Motherpeace by leaps and bounds, with glorious painted colours on fully detailed figures. Many of the goddesses chosen to represent the cards are well researched and extremely dynamic.
The essential difference between Motherpeace and DOM is that Motherpeace maintains a more traditional Tarot structure with some inspiration from the Thoth deck's family of court cards. There are also fewer actual goddesses among the cards and more depictions of human women in social-cultural settings. DOM restructures the courts as Maiden, Mother, and Crone, and absorbs traditional male characters into the female counterparts: Isis the Priestess combines the High Priestess and Hierophant, and Mawu the Mother combines Emperor and Empress.
There are two versions of the Lovers, a male-female pair and a female-female pair. While there is no male-male pair, this deck is reflective of women's experiences, so they're left out. Maybe the colours are what it took, but I don't even mind the Pan card, the sole male card in the deck, intended to illustrate a man who has attuned himself with the deck's principles and the Goddess. It's a lovely vision. Originally I found the card somewhat difficult to attune with as a man, but now I've embraced it.
There are three Devil cards: Oppression is about the legacy of abuse and destruction of women, a thoroughly negative card and the most negative of the Aether (Majors) suit. Pan is the male Devil reclaimed as a positive image, and Coyotewomon is a female Devil card representing a trickster figure.
The Swords suit in Tarot traditionally carries many more negative cards than the other three. So more negative cards have been distributed throughout the deck to balance it out. The Two of Cups, for example, is now a negative card called the Whirlpool.
This is a deck that I believe would appeal more specifically to lesbians amidst all women. Although it was designed with all followers of Women's movement and Goddess spirituality in mind, some of the imagery involves nude women in intimate (but not necessarily sexual) situations. A spiritual lesbian might find the deck much more accessible than a spiritual straight woman, since there are only two men in the entire deck. Followers of dual-gender systems, such as traditional Wiccans, might find the lack of male balance unappealing as no God is mentioned save the Pan card.
Why do I, a gay man, particularly like this deck? For me, it's one of the most successful restructured Tarot decks, that any Tarot veteran could easily see where changes were made. But it also beautifully fits Goddess movement ideology without having to sacrifice or squeeze a lot of its principles to fit the deck. If you enjoy women's spirituality, this is an extremely appealing deck, and people of all sexes and genders have something to learn from it.
http://shekhinah.net/AboutShekhinahsTarotDeck.htm
http://www.tarotpassages.com/aradia.htm
Daughters of the Moon is considered a sister deck to two others: the Book of Aradia now out of print, and Shekhinah's Tarot, unfinished and unpublished since Shekhinah Mountainwater died in 2007. You can see obvious visual similarities between the three decks as they were collaborated upon by many members of the same group of ladies.
I was gifted Daughters of the Moon yesterday! I regularly use feminist decks for myself but Daughters is one for which I've only owned the book, that I've about worn through. A wonderful soul gave me her deck and a replacement book as a thank you present.
For the first time I've seen the cards in colour in person rather than online, as the book's illustrations are b/w only. What an explosion! It's an absolute riot of joy, passion, dignity, and pride. The artwork is better than Motherpeace by leaps and bounds, with glorious painted colours on fully detailed figures. Many of the goddesses chosen to represent the cards are well researched and extremely dynamic.
The essential difference between Motherpeace and DOM is that Motherpeace maintains a more traditional Tarot structure with some inspiration from the Thoth deck's family of court cards. There are also fewer actual goddesses among the cards and more depictions of human women in social-cultural settings. DOM restructures the courts as Maiden, Mother, and Crone, and absorbs traditional male characters into the female counterparts: Isis the Priestess combines the High Priestess and Hierophant, and Mawu the Mother combines Emperor and Empress.
There are two versions of the Lovers, a male-female pair and a female-female pair. While there is no male-male pair, this deck is reflective of women's experiences, so they're left out. Maybe the colours are what it took, but I don't even mind the Pan card, the sole male card in the deck, intended to illustrate a man who has attuned himself with the deck's principles and the Goddess. It's a lovely vision. Originally I found the card somewhat difficult to attune with as a man, but now I've embraced it.
There are three Devil cards: Oppression is about the legacy of abuse and destruction of women, a thoroughly negative card and the most negative of the Aether (Majors) suit. Pan is the male Devil reclaimed as a positive image, and Coyotewomon is a female Devil card representing a trickster figure.
The Swords suit in Tarot traditionally carries many more negative cards than the other three. So more negative cards have been distributed throughout the deck to balance it out. The Two of Cups, for example, is now a negative card called the Whirlpool.
This is a deck that I believe would appeal more specifically to lesbians amidst all women. Although it was designed with all followers of Women's movement and Goddess spirituality in mind, some of the imagery involves nude women in intimate (but not necessarily sexual) situations. A spiritual lesbian might find the deck much more accessible than a spiritual straight woman, since there are only two men in the entire deck. Followers of dual-gender systems, such as traditional Wiccans, might find the lack of male balance unappealing as no God is mentioned save the Pan card.
Why do I, a gay man, particularly like this deck? For me, it's one of the most successful restructured Tarot decks, that any Tarot veteran could easily see where changes were made. But it also beautifully fits Goddess movement ideology without having to sacrifice or squeeze a lot of its principles to fit the deck. If you enjoy women's spirituality, this is an extremely appealing deck, and people of all sexes and genders have something to learn from it.
http://shekhinah.net/AboutShekhinahsTarotDeck.htm
http://www.tarotpassages.com/aradia.htm
Daughters of the Moon is considered a sister deck to two others: the Book of Aradia now out of print, and Shekhinah's Tarot, unfinished and unpublished since Shekhinah Mountainwater died in 2007. You can see obvious visual similarities between the three decks as they were collaborated upon by many members of the same group of ladies.
The Daughters are on their way 