Motherpeace Round Tarot Deck

Rating:
Summary: nurture yourself!
Review: I was lucky enough to stumble on the Motherpeace cards as my first Tarot deck--now I know I'll never use another! This forthright, humble approach to Goddess-centric play is both down-to-earth and inspiring. Noble and Vogel have accomplished the amazing task of creating a set of simple yet evocative images that celebrate a wide range of human experience and history. The unadorned artistic style reminds one that we all have the ability to be creative; art is not only for "professionals" but is instead the most human endeavor of all.

Spending a few minutes a day with these cards is the best way I can think of to create a time for unimpeded reflection and meditation. I was a little afraid of Tarot because I had a negative preconception of it as an intimidating, medieval "damsels and knights" game, but the Motherpeace deck is not nearly so limited in its perspective. Now that I've read a bit more about Tarot (I highly recommend all of Noble's work as well as Vogel's) I can't believe my good fortune in working with this deck as my first. Each negative card contains a key to turning it around--the Devil card has an Amazon breaking the chain that enslaves her--and the positive cards are lovely and affirming, like the 4 of Wands, which portrays young women dancing in a celebration of menarche.

If you're drawn to Tarot right now, I can guarantee you that the Goddess is working in your life; being drawn to this deck in particular will enrich your life immeasurably! I can't praise it enough.

Rating:
Summary: nurture yourself!
Review: I was lucky enough to stumble on the Motherpeace cards as myfirst Tarot deck--now I know I'll never use another! This forthright, humble approach to Goddess-centric play is both down-to-earth and inspiring. Noble and Vogel have accomplished the amazing task of creating a set of simple yet evocative images that celebrate a wide range of human experience and history. The unadorned artistic style reminds one that we all have the ability to be creative; art is not only for "professionals" but is instead the most human endeavor of all.

Spending a few minutes a day with these cards is the best way I can think of to create a time for unimpeded reflection and meditation. I was a little afraid of Tarot because I had a negative preconception of it as an intimidating, medieval "damsels and knights" game, but the Motherpeace deck is not nearly so limited in its perspective. Now that I've read a bit more about Tarot (I highly recommend all of Noble's work as well as Vogel's) I can't believe my good fortune in working with this deck as my first. Each negative card contains a key to turning it around--the Devil card has an Amazon breaking the chain that enslaves her--and the positive cards are lovely and affirming, like the 4 of Wands, which portrays young women dancing in a celebration of menarche.

If you're drawn to Tarot right now, I can guarantee you that the Goddess is working in your life; being drawn to this deck in particular will enrich your life immeasurably! I can't praise it enough.

Rating:
Summary: An Excellent Tool for Inner Reflection and Growth
Review: I've been reading tarot for ten years. When I want to read Tarot, I look to the Thoth deck. When I want to meditate and explore, I look to Motherpeace. I don't see this as a Tarot deck as much as I see it as a meditation and guidance tool that resonates more with the issues I experience as a woman. Motherpeace speaks to those issues more deeply and loudly than traditional tarot. Readings that I perform with this deck are markedly different than readings with traditional tarot. I don't recall that the creators ever denied that the deck was focused on the feminine and therefore see no reason to criticize that. The deck is female-focused but I don't perceive it as anti-male. In my experience, the descriptions in Vogel's book that imply that they are referring to a male figure can also be referring to a female in the querent's life. The fact that some males have gotten up in arms about this only seems to confirm that there are aspects of the feminine that they are unable to identify with. While the deck does not give "negative" news, I have found it to be rather blunt in pointing out negative aspects of myself that I either need to accept or change. I own both books published by each of the authors and find the differences in their respective interpretations interesting. I recommend that this deck be approached with an open mind and fresh perception of Tarot.

Rating:
Summary: A Mixed Review
Review: The Motherpeace deck has several good points. It has multicultural/racial images, something few other decks have. The round shape gives the reader more options than the usual rectangular ones. In general it shows more creativity than most more recent decks.

The downside is the lack of male imagery. What little male imagery exists in it is nearly all unfavorable. The couple of somewhat favorable images of males are of those in positions subordinate to females. I fully appreciate the reaction to passive female images in many decks, but rather than seeking more balance, this deck goes to far greater extremes in the other direction. Realistically all readings need both female and male imagery - even a cloistered nun has male influences in her life. As a professional reader, I can't see any time I would use it in a reading.

The art is a wash. Some of it is great, other is something your third grader might present you with.

I wouldn't recommend it for beginning readers due to the problems with male imagery. But for someone more advanced and/or interested in a variety of decks/imagery, I would. I gave my Motherpeace deck away and wish I still had it.

Rating:
Summary: A multicultural, feministic, anti white men deck.
Review: This deck caught my eye for it's round, rather than rectangular, cards, and it's multiculturalness.

The deck was evidently created by feminists who have indeed created a feministic deck, and it would have been multicultural if not for it's being anti white men.

The booklet, written by Vicky Noble, repeatedly refers to a peaceful and idealistic matriarchial culture shared by all the people of all colours around the world that was crushed and opressed by white and monotheistic patriarchial invaders. This is supposedly supported by archeological findings, to which no references are given in the booklet.

The "Us = opressed multicultural womyn Vs. Them = evil white men" is shown in various places :

* The Son of Sword is a white man and a greedy murderer.

* The Emperor card is described in the booklet thus :

"symbolyzing dominion and dictatorship, the Emperor is the sky god, the boss, the patriarch using the intellect to accomplish his goals and force to carry out his demands. He represents the dangers of unrestrained power and private ownership : Zeus the angry thunder god and jehovah the jealus father."

Has the emperor *no* positive sides ?

* The Hierophant card features evil men enslaving women. A friendly coloured man as Shaman could have been portrayed instead, and the choice tells something about the creators' intentions.

* The devil is a white man enslaving women and coloured men.

* The Sun card features a black man and women of all colours, but not a white man.

* The World card feautres several women, but not a single man.

As a white man who was raised in a Judaistic culture but is not anything like the Emperor, Hierophant, or Devil of this deck I find this deck objectionable, a good example of feminism in it's worst, and I will not - indeed can not - use it.

The booklet has a few introductory pages with the feministic tones I mention above, meanings for each card, a short section on numerology, and an original spread.

The cards are of good quality material, but a bit hard to shuffle, possibly due to their shape.

Though the earth tones make some of the cards look a little dead, the art is colourful, beautiful, and original - it's unlike any other deck I've seen.

I would have liked the deck a lot, if not for it's anti white men attitude.

Rating:
Summary: A great starter deck
Review: This was not the first deck I got, but it was the first one that 'clicked' with me.

First of all, the pictures are gorgeous, and the round cards are well suited for reading tarot--a tilt left indicates a possible lessening, or waning, and a tilt right can be interpreted as a possible excess, or waxing. This is a welcome addition to simply reading the card as upright or inverse.

Something else that is special about this deck is that it doesn't 'give bad news.' Vogel and Noble stressed that all the cards are constructive and instructive. This encourages self-development and promotes self-love. For example, the Devil card is one that is often misinterpreted as an evil force. I think the Motherpeace depiction of enslavement is much more accurate. Literal enslavement, of course, is not what it is about, however, what the card represents is a subordination, this could be to anything, and must be interpreted according other cards in the reading and interpreted in accord with the querent's life.

Note, however, that despite the nurturing slant in which the book and cards are directed that the meanings of the cards remain consistent with 'traditional' decks. I have been practicing tarot for 8 years and now use the Crowley deck, and interpret it based on Qabalistic principles. (For any serious student of Tarot I hightly recommend Robert Wangs book on this) The more I learned about Qabala and traditional tarot and even Jungian studies the more I realized just how right on the creators of this deck are.

This is not an anti-male or anti-white deck by any means. I think the further one goes down his or her spiritual path the more that becomes evident. My gentle suggestion for anyone who thinks other wise is to use that belief, work with it, and see how that it may be reflected on to the deck from some experience or dogma in his or her own life.