Thanks for this. It's a particular sort of exclusion to have your wish to be represented met with "here, read with a deck full of mountain goats and elephants." I love animal decks (oracle especially) and enjoy several decks with neither humans nor animals, but these are not a substitute for the magic of a gender expansive deck that feels like home.
I honor you for reviewing decks you don’t like. I’ve heard quite a few folks say they only review decks they like. To me that’s more of a deck promoter than a deck reviewer. It’s much harder to review a deck you don’t like than to review one you do. So I appreciate your honesty and willingness to go out on a limb and tackle decks you have criticisms of.
Honestly, though I appreciate critical reviews, if I'd do deck reviews, I'd probably also only review decks I like. Why? Because I just don't have the money to random decks, or decks I don't seem to like, and I always do my research well before buying, with a strict "knock off the wishlist system". So these times I usually only end up with decks I really, really like, and that beome another favourite. If I were so influential, that creators and publishers would send me decks for free, I'd probably also not want them send me decks and decks and decks, because I get easily overwhelmed, not only by having too many decks or decks coming in too often, but also by having to get rid of them too...
I really respect the hard work and meaningfulness that go into these decks that people make on their own; I understand that it is a process of creation and can be very healing for the artist (and others if they resonate with it). But as a beginner, if I want to read tarot I prefer not to have to do a lot of translation (feathers mean wands, or whatever). I like people in decks too, or animals, but they have to fit with my personal taste and my idea of what the message of the card is, or I get put off track. What I mean is, that decks are very personal and I get that everyone has different tastes, so we will all use the ones that work for us. As far as the gender thing, yeah, I agree, genderless is not the same as gender neutral, and anyway the world is not gender neutral, it is gender all mixed together in different ways, naturally, so that term bugs me.
I’m almost done but this convo is so complete that I just want to say it shows the real work you’ve but in and it means a lot. And I wish it didn’t mean a lot because I wish it was the norm.
Thank you for reviewing the deck. I like it way more than The Wild Unknown. The things you didn't like seemed to be personal to you which is ok. The art is beautiful. I love the color scheme. You didn't say anything negative about the card stock. I like the interpretations in the book. It works for me. The deck didn't take up gender and that's fine with me.
Nice review. I am just getting to know this deck. I love that the creators are mom and son. The son made all these drawings wile recovery of a braininjurie. For my that was more meaningful then genderneutral or not. But I understand what you mean. Personally i would have loved names on the majors also. I absolutely love the guidebook. Its really really good. I love the affirmations and chakras in it. For me a brilliant deck ❤️
I agree this is not gender neutral. Given the history of brown and black folks being positioned as "more animal" and how they have been de-gendered, side stepping gender with animals does not work as a gender neutral replacement. Gender neutral is very much something that is active and not passive. Outside of the marketing claims, this deck does seem to offer space just to be, just to exist. I appreciate that.
I appreciate your honest review. Even the Yin/Yang symbol isn't gender-neutral, it could be said, it's gender-inclusive but it's not neutral. And definitely animals nor plants are gender-neutral. I have discovered, there's no perfect deck. And that's OK. Because there's no 'perfect' person, whatever 'perfect' means. Every deck represents and reflects someone's journey, era and story. No person nor deck can represent everyone and everything. Perhaps, if this family had developed a deck based on their family story and journey, without trying to put 'everything' into their deck, it would have been more heart-felt, because this family does have a profound story to share. I think they were trying to make their deck, to include everyone and everything. I'm like you, I don't 'feel' this deck. I just feel confused by this deck as, there's too much going on in this deck.
One of my favourite decks is the Everyday Enchantment because it depicts people and animals in plausible situations where they'd be together (including urban places.) I think even animal decks can take animals and exoticise them to the point where it becomes hard to see what the point is. At this point in our climate crisis, why are we using cute animal decks? I wish that tarot publishers would invest in staff who have strong, up to date education on gender topics so that decks can be commissioned and co designed so that these terms actually show up in the decks in meaningful ways. I also suspect that they need to ring-fence funds and invest directly in creators who are enby/trans/gender queer/agender etc to get real representation.
Ha, I just fell asleep watching this video ( just tired no reflection on your content) but I woke up listening to your “ Intuitive Marseille Reading the images “ video … perfect as my wife has bought me the CBD & the Tarot Noir decks
Thanks for this. It's a particular sort of exclusion to have your wish to be represented met with "here, read with a deck full of mountain goats and elephants." I love animal decks (oracle especially) and enjoy several decks with neither humans nor animals, but these are not a substitute for the magic of a gender expansive deck that feels like home.
I honor you for reviewing decks you don’t like. I’ve heard quite a few folks say they only review decks they like. To me that’s more of a deck promoter than a deck reviewer. It’s much harder to review a deck you don’t like than to review one you do. So I appreciate your honesty and willingness to go out on a limb and tackle decks you have criticisms of.
Honestly, though I appreciate critical reviews, if I'd do deck reviews, I'd probably also only review decks I like. Why? Because I just don't have the money to random decks, or decks I don't seem to like, and I always do my research well before buying, with a strict "knock off the wishlist system". So these times I usually only end up with decks I really, really like, and that beome another favourite.
If I were so influential, that creators and publishers would send me decks for free, I'd probably also not want them send me decks and decks and decks, because I get easily overwhelmed, not only by having too many decks or decks coming in too often, but also by having to get rid of them too...
You voiced all of the concerns I have about this deck but could never find a way to express verbally. Thank you!! ❤
I really respect the hard work and meaningfulness that go into these decks that people make on their own; I understand that it is a process of creation and can be very healing for the artist (and others if they resonate with it). But as a beginner, if I want to read tarot I prefer not to have to do a lot of translation (feathers mean wands, or whatever).
I like people in decks too, or animals, but they have to fit with my personal taste and my idea of what the message of the card is, or I get put off track. What I mean is, that decks are very personal and I get that everyone has different tastes, so we will all use the ones that work for us.
As far as the gender thing, yeah, I agree, genderless is not the same as gender neutral, and anyway the world is not gender neutral, it is gender all mixed together in different ways, naturally, so that term bugs me.
Do I sense a Terry Pratchett fan? Our late cat was named MacFeegle in honor of the NacMacFeegle in his books, so I just assumed...:)
I’m almost done but this convo is so complete that I just want to say it shows the real work you’ve but in and it means a lot. And I wish it didn’t mean a lot because I wish it was the norm.
Ahh yes.
Thank you for reviewing the deck. I like it way more than The Wild Unknown. The things you didn't like seemed to be personal to you which is ok. The art is beautiful. I love the color scheme. You didn't say anything negative about the card stock. I like the interpretations in the book. It works for me. The deck didn't take up gender and that's fine with me.
Nice review. I am just getting to know this deck. I love that the creators are mom and son. The son made all these drawings wile recovery of a braininjurie.
For my that was more meaningful then genderneutral or not. But I understand what you mean. Personally i would have loved names on the majors also. I absolutely love the guidebook. Its really really good. I love the affirmations and chakras in it. For me a brilliant deck ❤️
Just the description was a tall order… l wondered how it could live up to its own description?
I agree this is not gender neutral. Given the history of brown and black folks being positioned as "more animal" and how they have been de-gendered, side stepping gender with animals does not work as a gender neutral replacement.
Gender neutral is very much something that is active and not passive.
Outside of the marketing claims, this deck does seem to offer space just to be, just to exist. I appreciate that.
I appreciate your honest review. Even the Yin/Yang symbol isn't gender-neutral, it could be said, it's gender-inclusive but it's not neutral. And definitely animals nor plants are gender-neutral. I have discovered, there's no perfect deck. And that's OK. Because there's no 'perfect' person, whatever 'perfect' means. Every deck represents and reflects someone's journey, era and story. No person nor deck can represent everyone and everything. Perhaps, if this family had developed a deck based on their family story and journey, without trying to put 'everything' into their deck, it would have been more heart-felt, because this family does have a profound story to share. I think they were trying to make their deck, to include everyone and everything. I'm like you, I don't 'feel' this deck. I just feel confused by this deck as, there's too much going on in this deck.
I like the majors images... but I couldn't stretch to the minors. I agree it'd be difficult for a newbie (unless they immersed themselves in the book)
One of my favourite decks is the Everyday Enchantment because it depicts people and animals in plausible situations where they'd be together (including urban places.) I think even animal decks can take animals and exoticise them to the point where it becomes hard to see what the point is. At this point in our climate crisis, why are we using cute animal decks?
I wish that tarot publishers would invest in staff who have strong, up to date education on gender topics so that decks can be commissioned and co designed so that these terms actually show up in the decks in meaningful ways. I also suspect that they need to ring-fence funds and invest directly in creators who are enby/trans/gender queer/agender etc to get real representation.
Ha, I just fell asleep watching this video ( just tired no reflection on your content) but I woke up listening to your “ Intuitive Marseille Reading the images “ video … perfect as my wife has bought me the CBD & the Tarot Noir decks