Firstly, I'm sorry to hear of your loss, Grizabella. I hope you grieve well and recover well. I'd love to continue this discussion another time, publicly or privately. It's really interesting to read what you have to say, I love these rich conversations we've had despite our disagreements. I said as much about you to another person who private messaged me abut this thread. You're a super person. This is a thread I'll love to come back to and re-read in future.
To answer your first questions, I would be comfortable with a woman-as-consort-to-God deck provided that she was depicted and treated with respect for her own qualities. But I didn't speak of the man-as-consort idea as a negative. Quite the contrary, it's an honour. But in Dianic circles, it's understood that the Goddess is both primary focus and superior power; she is called Whole Unto Herself (by Z Budapest I believe?). If she chooses to not take a consort, or if the group believes acknowledging a consort isn't necessary, she will reproduce herself; out of herself she grows, self-sustaining and self-perpetuating. It's not an insult to the god or man, just a de-emphasis. That's what a deck like Daughter of the Moon teaches. I believe that even in RWS itself, notably, the High Priestess and Empress cards are the only Majors to explicitly depict pagan deities: the Moon Goddess and Mother Earth, while their male equivalents, Magician and Emperor, aren't gods, only mundane practitioners and rulers. Someone correct me if I'm wrong. And yes history can be coloured to suit an agenda for a deck, there's no denying that. But what it purposely leaves out, neglects to mention, or uses to find flaws where there were none, shouldn't be forgotten, and that information is as right to bring to light.
I don't feel that my being "nitpicky" has anything to do with Tarot or my being male. I happen to enjoy reading, I happen to enjoy studying, scrutinizing, and questioning. I'm always curious to understand what drives artistic people to create music, art, poetry, film. I love reading the backgrounds of things to know what they were thinking as they create. There are women who share this inclination too. It also goes for my interest in Tarot, whether it's decks that I love or ones that I dislike. Who were the people that created them, why did they? When I know this, the deck comes that much more alive for me, because I share in their vision as well as what my own mind takes from it. Not every Tarot user is like this, but I certainly don't begrudge them that.
Although this thread has gotten off topic, it's a natural, organic progression to express both likes and dislikes about a deck, because some people have tried to use it, which is to say they may have once owned it, as I did. If books are sold separately from decks, as with Motherpeace, I keep them when I get rid of a deck I'm finished with. I've also tried to ensure that comparisons of other decks at least lead back to Mother to tie things together. We've all agreed how dynamic and how important Motherpeace really is in the grand scheme and history of Tarot, so I feel that critical discussion about it should be encouraged. While I admit that I've leaned heavily on my negative views of Mother, I wasn't lying when I said that is certainly women-empowering and there is a lot of positivity to be gleaned from it, that it carries both postive and negative connotations for me. I'd be happy to elaborate on what I feel are the benefits, but I fear it may have come too late. At least one person admitted to having shut me off completely, and I may have alienated others. But I've been civil and so have most people who responded. Would anyone like me to continue?
I also think the thread has become very dynamic and we've learn a lot about and from each other. We've shared personal experiences as well as linked what intrigues us about Mothepeace to other decks, what each of us draws from it specifically, and Tarot in general. It's all very colourful. I like to think that's worth something to carry away if the thread should end, but I hope it won't. I certainly don't want you to think you ought to resign it to slow thread death.
