Druid Craft Tarot

     Just grooving on my new tarot deck. (Not an uncommon event around here, see below, but this one is special.)
     A few weeks back I had a birthday party to celebrate my 60th. It's been a really long time since I had one. Thank you, all my lovely friends who showed up, I love you all! Anyway, from my buds Amanda and Mark I received a gift certificate to Ancient Mysteries, a wonderful metaphysical store in South Austin where my love, Cat Dancing, reads tarot. ( 4315 S. 1st Street, Suite B, Austin, Texas 78745)  I finally got around to using the certificate yesterday, Cat was reading and I was hanging out. It was tough. It's always hard to spend a gift certificate. I feel like it needs to be used for something very special. If I have twenty dollars I'll spend it in ten minutes, give me a twenty dollar gift certificate and it may take me an hour.
     For some time I've been drawn to a tarot deck named "The Druid Craft Tarot Deck" by Philip and Stephanie Carr-Gomm. The images are, of course, very Celtic, very human, with lots of nature included. You can see some of the images at  http://www.aeclectic.net/tarot/cards/druidcraft/index.shtml (Aeclectic Tarot is one of the best sites I've found to browse decks.) Amazon is always good as well, see the link below.
     So, I bought the deck and a few candles with my certificate. I couldn't wait to get it open and look at it. I've been collecting Tarot decks for quite a while. I really enjoy the art work. I was aware of divinatory uses of the cards, of course, but, until I met Cat, I really didn't pursue that avenue. It was all about the art. I had over twenty decks when we met. Now, together, we have over forty, and we add more. 
     The cards are really cool. Nice large size, lovely art. The pictures are somewhat based on the standard Waite-Smith cards. One card in particular, the Temperance card, was named "The Fferyllt", a term I wasn't familiar with, although the image is very alchemical. Today I looked it up on the computer.


feryllt
[Welsh, alchemist, magician; cf. W, fferyll, Virgil]
A name often translated as fairy, although it derives from the Welsh name for the Roman poet Virgil (70–19 BC), often perceived as a magical figure in medieval Europe. Ceridwen consulted the books of the fferyllt in preparing her cauldron of inspiration from which Gwion drank.

     Always good to learn something new!