Deck Interview ~ Pagan Otherworlds

The other night I did a deck interview with the Pagan Otherworlds Tarot by Uusi Design Studios. It was a surprisingly gentle reading, a whispered reading almost. For such a strong deck I was expecting something more forthright, less oblique. And yet the deck sings refinement, discipline, and restraint even amidst the compelling art and strong characterizations. And in the end the interview was a beautifully gentle one, the deck offering itself unapologetically to my questions. So off we go then.

I used a spread found on AT, a fairly standard new deck interview spread that covers all the bases.

5 ************* 6
******* 4 *******
3 ************* 2
******* 1 *******

Card 1 ~ Tell me about yourself. What is your most important characteristic? Ace of Wands

Card 2 ~ What are your strengths? Six of Wands

Card 3 ~ What are your limits? Page of Cups

Card 4 ~ What do you bring to the table -- what are you here to teach me? Six of Cups

Card 5 ~ How can I best learn from and collaborate with you? Ten of Cups

Card 6 ~ What is the potential outcome of our working relationship Ace of Cups

What a fab card to begin with. Ace of Wands, initiating, creative energy, visionary energy, drive, instinct and intention. Fire, baby! 

I'm loving the way the green leaves of the Wand are mirrored in the grassy landscape below. They are Yod-like in shape, suggesting the power of the untapped elemental energy at work in our lives. A gift that is ours for the taking. We only need say, Yes!

And interesting for an Ace of Wands, the element of water is present. This actually sets the tone for the whole reading as it is wholly a Fire and Water reading.

The Aces speak to a renewal, a rebirth. And this Ace in particular can help me understand how the other cards in a spread might contribute to living soulfully, authentically, with heartfelt inspiration.

Next up is the Six of Wands in the position of strengths. Of all the cards to land in this spot, this card, traditionally of victory, of affirmation and recognition is a wonderful one. This is a confident, sanguine deck. The Six of Wands speaks to the future, to movement, to celebration that is directional. This depiction is full of all of the above. The green leaves and wreath remind me that instinct and inspiration are fertile places. And the pale scarf entwined and dancing around the Wands suggests a kind of teamwork, a collective approach to success. And yet only one Wand wears the wreath of success, one wand is a bit taller than the others. This deck doesn't mind being seen as dynamic, doesn't mind a little effort.

The deck's limits lie with our Page of Cups, the nascent heart, the vulnerable heart, the heart that leads without expectation. This deck has soul but it is young at heart without the experience of a Knight or King. It's learning, still, like all of us. This Page holds the loving cup aloft. His long, garment swirls around him dervish-like, his one finger pointing to the earth, much the way the dervishes do during the Sema (though in their case it's the left hand). His upturned face with red hair blowing out behind him makes me think of the kind of momentum the heart inspires, a gathering momentum. There is so much movement here but he stands still.  He's not quite ready to take that first step but all the influences are there when he is ready.

With the Six of Cups this deck is here to teach me about simplicity, perhaps my own, even. The six chalices are, themselves, filled with simplicity--narcissus, daisies and irises, joy’s bucolic dance overflowing with pastoral pleasure. Here we do see ‘a heaven in a wildflower’. 

It is a dance unfolding in the ethers, in a place outside of time and space, the country of the heart. The fields curve as a long green breath, the tree leans out of the picture, the earth beneath it slopes gently towards its past and speak of grace, of ease, of an unhurried appreciation of moments past. 'All shall be well, and all manner of thing shall be well.'

How can I best learn from this deck depends on my ability to embrace the whole picture. Ten of Cups traditionally speaks to a realization of one's dreams, emotional fulfillment, to a collective happiness, to serendipity and the sharing of it. 

How awesome that this deck is here to teach me about leaning in, about connection, about harmony and 'coming home'. Refinding my place within the larger collective and drinking deep from that ongoing stream is always a good thing, a comforting thing.

The reading began with an Ace and it closes with an Ace. Bookended by beginnings, by seeds and possibility. And here in the position of the potential outcome of our working relationship...the Grail itself, the Loving Cup, the pure and limitless energy of the Source, womb of form. I'm reminded of Prajnaparamita, the Mother of the Buddhas, interdependent with livingness, engendered by connection and flow. This card sings of that kind of energy. 

The tendriled lotus the Cup sits upon, branching down into the necessary muck of it all, the loam of the heart, of our humanity. And not losing sight of the ineffable, the dove, Spiritus hovering above the chalice, greening branch in beak as if to say, what shines does so with a green willingness to grow. 

All in all this reading has been such a gentle introduction to a marvelous deck. Thank you, Linnea and Peter, for birthing it.