[WolfyJames]

Behind there is a beautiful mansion whose stairs lead to a beautiful garden. There lies in a rosebush a young girl in white, the white representing her innocence. She has wounds on her neck and she has been the victim of a vampire, she didn't use her dagger to defend herself. The angel of Death has come to take her and is looking at her..

The venus symbol is on the dagger and the aquarius symbol is on the back of the angel. I mention this because 5 of Swords is venus in aquarius.

I want to point that since the deck is heavily inspired by the Thoth, the keyword for this card is DEFEAT.

[MaineGirl117]

This card reminds me so much of Dorothy falling asleep in a field of poppies in the Wizard of Oz. She ... just.... can't... go... another... step. The Wicked Witch of course then dispatches her Flying Monkey squad to kill her but they couldn't because Glinda (Goodness/purity) had kissed her brow and marked her. There's a mark on this girl too, two fang marks on her neck - though she wears white and still appears pure and innocent

If I remember correctly, the Witch put that field of poppies in her path to dissipate her energy and make her become tired and fall asleep so she could kill her. What's the flip side of this? Her friends came to rescue her. When you're down and out, you know who your friends are? Hmmmm....

[WolfyJames]

Originally Posted by MaineGirl117

This card reminds me so much of Dorothy falling asleep in a field of poppies in the Wizard of Oz. She ... just.... can't... go... another... step. The Wicked Witch of course then dispatches her Flying Monkey squad to kill her but they couldn't because Glinda (Goodness/purity) had kissed her brow and marked her. There's a mark on this girl too, two fang marks on her neck - though she wears white and still appears pure and innocent

If I remember correctly, the Witch put that field of poppies in her path to dissipate her energy and make her become tired and fall asleep so she could kill her. What's the flip side of this? Her friends came to rescue her. When you're down and out, you know who your friends are? Hmmmm....

I've never read Wizard of Oz but it's an it's an interesting image.

Whenever I look at the back of the card, that beautiful house and that garden, I always think: Haven, sanctuary. Why did she leave this safe place to be outdoors in danger? Did she think her innocence would protect her?

But you talking about Wizard of Oz made me think of something else: the fairy tale Snow White. Snow White left the safety of her place, manipulated by the Queen she eats the poisoned apple and falls "dead". The Queen savors the moment as she watches the lifeless body of Snow White.

[Hemera]

I always see the Sleeping Beauty in this picture. She did sleep in the middle of roses and inside a castle hidden by roses. I think having used the Tarot of the Dark Angels (LoS) for so long I see black angels more as both good and bad. I think this could just be an angel watching her sleep those 100 years. It is the angel of transformation. She fell asleep as a child and wakes up as a grown woman. It´s like the initiation that many Native peoples have where you go away from the community on a Vision Quest and you return a new person.

[Hemera]

I have been doing Daily Draws with this deck and I got this card yesterday morning. In the afternoon I got an e mail from a bully at work and suddenly everything about that e mail was echoing what the Phantasmagoria book says about this card! I had seen this as a harmless card, even beautiful, where the Angel is guarding the sleeper (see above). Well, no longer so!
Here is what the book says: "Someone or something is hanging over us like a cloud, selfish or controlling presence, leaving us feeling helpless and defeated".

The book does mention that there are both negative and positive sides to this card, however, so maybe this is a card where the question and the situation matters more than for many other cards?