DruidCraft Tarot - Cernunnos

swedishfish612

Hope it's okay if I jump in here! I've been working my way through the majors, looking at the card, reading the book and then reading the study threads.

I'm new-ish to Tarot, with Druid Craft being the 3rd deck I've really studied. I've never found the Devil card to be a scary one; in fact, I rather like the Deviant Moon Devil. But coming to this deck knowing a little about Wicca, very little about Druidism and nothing about Cernunnos, I have to admit that I found this to be a scary card. Not in a "freak out if it turns up in a spread" kind of way, but in a "Jeez, I'd freak out if I woke up and that dude was standing over me."

Having read the explanation in the book, and this thread, of course I have a better understanding of this card now. But my first reaction wasn't that this was a friendly god overlooking the lovers. I guess anyone who works the cards will have the book to guide them, but I imagine that a querent with no knowledge of Cernunnos will have a negative reaction to this card. I wish he didn't look so sinister in this card, personally.

Side note- does Cernunnos only have one eye open, or is that just a shadow cast over his other eye?
 

magpie9

I haven't read this whole thread, so maybe this has been said several times already. Cernnanos is a Guardian God, protecting those under his care. This includes guarding thresholds, warning us that if we proceed further, we take risks, and need to be aware of that.Traditionally the deep forest is a magical place where anything can happen...enter at your own risk! While animals are his main concern, he can involve himself with his human children, as well. He is the Father God Consort to the Earth Mother. He watches over the sleeping couple like any father might his sleeping children...and by doing so, wards them from danger.
 

swedishfish612

He watches over the sleeping couple like any father might his sleeping children...and by doing so, wards them from danger.

See, I can mentally wrap my mind around that, but I don't get that from the actual artwork. He just doesn't look benevolent, depicted the way he is on that card. I think the one glowing eye doesn't help, lol.

After reading up on Cernunnos, I do understand what the deck creators were getting at. I just wish the image lined up with that, is what I'm saying. Hope that makes sense!
 

magpie9

See, I can mentally wrap my mind around that, but I don't get that from the actual artwork. He just doesn't look benevolent, depicted the way he is on that card. I think the one glowing eye doesn't help, lol.

After reading up on Cernunnos, I do understand what the deck creators were getting at. I just wish the image lined up with that, is what I'm saying. Hope that makes sense!

We don't know what he's looking at...perhaps a danger he is warning away form the sleepers?
 

swedishfish612

We don't know what he's looking at...perhaps a danger he is warning away form the sleepers?

True, true...thanks for giving me more to think about with this card!
 

caridwen

I've been working with my Druidcraft recently and this card keeps coming up. What sprung to mind was You are being watched! However a few days later as I contemplated the card I thought you are being watched but in order to guard you - as he has these large horns used for attack or defence. It came across to me at first as almost Big Brother like as people are represented by the two sleeping figures and the large figure has an 'eye' on them because he has one eye visible.
 

Disa

I've been working with my Druidcraft recently and this card keeps coming up. What sprung to mind was You are being watched! However a few days later as I contemplated the card I thought you are being watched but in order to guard you - as he has these large horns used for attack or defence. It came across to me at first as almost Big Brother like as people are represented by the two sleeping figures and the large figure has an 'eye' on them because he has one eye visible.

The Big Brother and the sleeping masses seems quite fitting in this day and age. TY for bringing it up- I'm not sure I would have gotten that from this card on my own, but it's a great idea to keep in mind. I definitely see where you are coming from with this:)
 

Thoughtful

I have the DruidCraft and this card gave me lots of thought l could not see how it fitted in with the usual devil interpretation. I read it now as awake from your dream state see the world as it really is. Be aware that the world is full of dangers and even your own waking thoughts can take you off the right track. Its nice to dream awhile but be alert to self and others come back to reality.
 

caridwen

The Big Brother and the sleeping masses seems quite fitting in this day and age. TY for bringing it up- I'm not sure I would have gotten that from this card on my own, but it's a great idea to keep in mind. I definitely see where you are coming from with this:)

Yay:) Well look at the way the internet, email, phone signals and CCTV are all monitoring you. The only time we're not being watched is when we're on the toilet and who knows, there might be something in the wallpaper! People can tell where you are by your mobile phone signal. There are now talks of a Magna Carta of the internet because so many of our rights are being violated and in particular Article 8 of the EU Convention on Human Rights (Right to a private life).

I'm also wondering if it can relate to paranoia, the feeling or anxiety that you are being watched but are not. A tool of torture in the former Soviet states and a particular fav of Stalin;) Many people are paranoid in one way or another which is 'delusions of persecution' amongst other symptoms.

What if I said. "I am being watched by cameras from the moment I leave my house to the moment I get in. I am being traced through a signal so people know where I am at all times and everything I write is being monitored..." You'd think, "Ooh Meister Jung, ve have classic symptoms of paranoid schizophrenia non?" "Nooo mon ami, classic symptoms of modern Britain my friend..." (more Poirot:p) It really is like something out of a horror film.

So the masses, represented by the male/female are asleep or deluded as to how imprisoned they really are. Our freedom is all in our heads. Our passports now have chips in them. When are we going to be chipped so we just wave our wrists at check outs or at border crossings? How easy would mass control of the herd be then?

Bringing it down a level:p I was thinking about being monitored without your knowledge. So let's say at work where your boss is keeping an eye on you and you are blissfully unaware that everyone is keeping tabs on your work and whereabouts. Your name being up on a community pinboard that you were not aware off where everyone is 'warned' that you may be trouble.

Another thought I had was being the outside agitator. Being seen as the 'rabble rouser'. The one that questions the status quo and is blissfully unaware of secret surveillance by people who take themselves and their institutions way too seriously.

The laws that infringed a hell of a lot of human rights that came in after 9/11 were done in "protection" (so the horns of Cernunnos) but what they did was erode human rights and freedom and gradually brought in all this out of control surveillance we are now subject too. The US has an agreement with the EU regarding the ability to listen in to anyone's private phone calls in case they are 'terrorists'. Ironically,the real terrorists are those working behind the scenes to capture every move we make on camera and tape.