Mary El Tarot - General Discussion

Bat Chicken

This is the thread for overall thoughts/observations on the deck and ideas on the study group itself!

ETA - This would be a good spot to let people know there is an index of threads for the Mary El Study Group here:
http://www.tarotforum.net/showthread.php?t=172121
 

Laura Borealis

copy pasta

I was thinking it might be useful to discuss the minors in groups or sets, since there are aspects that will carry across suits. I'm thinking of the Aces and the Fours in particular. The Aces are all hermaphroditic figures, the Fours have no human/animal figures in them, etc.
 

Bat Chicken

Sounds like the way to go to me, unless there are objections? We are a few weeks away from the Minors, but I think to approach them by number and discuss the suits separately would be an effective choice!
 

Debra

The first thing I notice with a quick review is that most scenes are outdoors, or with a strong feeling of being in wild nature. The two that are "in civilization," so to speak, are the Hierophant and Justice.
 

BrightEye

The first thing I notice with a quick review is that most scenes are outdoors, or with a strong feeling of being in wild nature. The two that are "in civilization," so to speak, are the Hierophant and Justice.

Yes. That's why the deck reminds me of the Druidcraft and the Wildwood, but the Mary-El is 'wilder' and also much darker. The hermaphroditic Ace of Pents, for example, is right up my street but also a lot more disturbing than anything I ever could/would produce (speaking as a hobby artist myself).
 

Bat Chicken

Hmmmmm.... Forces of nature, and forces of civilization. Very interesting. Justice is always so complicated in that it has both.
 

Eyebright

Anyone mind if I join in with this study group? I got my copy in the post the day before yesterday, and I love it, I feel very drawn to it more so than any deck I have had for a long while...
However there is so much symbolism etc going on that I think this group will really help me to understand it! I'm not very knowledgable on a lot of esoteric symbols etc, but I'm willing to research and try to learn!
 

Bat Chicken

Eyebright - everyone is welcome! We are all learning so participate and have fun!
 

Bat Chicken

I have updated the first post to include a link to the index of the study group. That way everyone can see what cards have been and are being discussed!
 

Eyebright

I have updated the first post to include a link to the index of the study group. That way everyone can see what cards have been and are being discussed!

Great idea Bat Chicken will make it much easier to find our threads now :)