Croat Posted July 25 Posted July 25 H All. New from Pacific Northwest. Long-time relationship with multiple tarot decks, but first time decided to join a forum. Why? An identification question which I'd like to pose to the group (elsewhere), but rather keen on being a participating member otherwise. Hoping for a warm welcome...
JoyousGirl Posted July 25 Posted July 25 Croat. Long time relationship with multiple decks, eh? If it's not getting too personal, which deck was your first? And now you've been around the block a few times, which one do you love the most? 😎 Feel free to add your deck collection to your profile, it's a bit like window shopping for those of us with limited resources 😄
DanielJUK Posted July 25 Posted July 25 Welcome to the community @Croat Glad you found us here from the Pacific Northwest and what an honour to be your first ever forum! 😀 Let us know if you need any help around the place
EMarieHasADHD Posted July 26 Posted July 26 Welcome to the awesomest Tarot forum ever @Croat 😁 I’m on the West Coast, as well. I have always wanted to visit WA and OR but I still haven’t been able to. Hope you enjoy this space!
Croat Posted July 26 Author Posted July 26 5 hours ago, JoyousGirl said: Croat. Long time relationship with multiple decks, eh? If it's not getting too personal, which deck was your first? And now you've been around the block a few times, which one do you love the most? 😎 Feel free to add your deck collection to your profile, it's a bit like window shopping for those of us with limited resources 😄 Hiya and thanks for the welcome. I like your pic of Pythia. Oracles (the ancient real-world ones) are my specialty in life and was just in Delphi last November for research. Have visited 43 oracle sites so far, but that's still just scratching the surface. I don't mind being an open book, kind of the point in joining a forum, yes? My first deck was -- drumroll please -- the amazing Waite-Smith deck. Still a strong go-to tbh, though my preference is for the radiant version. As for which one I love the most, as you can imagine that's a bit like picking which child to love the most. I do admit there are some which get more attention, so along with Waite-Smith those would be Crow, Golden Art Nouveau, Gustave Doré, After Tarot, The Book of Shadows, and I quite like the Edgar Allan Poe Tarot. Kind of bipolar with liking some that are bright, others that are dark. Probably my biggest disappointment was the Ancient Mysteries Tarot, just couldn't get with the photoshopped look, so learned my lesson and stick with genuine artwork now.
Croat Posted July 26 Author Posted July 26 5 hours ago, Libra 58 said: Hi Croat! Welcome to the forum! Thank you Libra, glad to be here.
Croat Posted July 26 Author Posted July 26 5 hours ago, DanielJUK said: Welcome to the community @Croat Glad you found us here from the Pacific Northwest and what an honour to be your first ever forum! 😀 Let us know if you need any help around the place An honor or a curse? I'll try to be the former!
Croat Posted July 26 Author Posted July 26 2 hours ago, Pierre-Yves said: Bienvenue @Croat! Au plaisir d'échanger. Merci Pierre. On est nouveaux tous les deux, eh?
Croat Posted July 26 Author Posted July 26 36 minutes ago, EmarieWithADHD said: Welcome to the awesomest Tarot forum ever @Croat 😁 I’m on the West Coast, as well. I have always wanted to visit WA and OR but I still haven’t been able to. Hope you enjoy this space! So you're in Cal? I'm sort of a hybrid West Coastie, a third of my life in CA, a third in OR, and a third in WA. Now thinking of moving to Boise, which is by far the best city I've experienced outside of Europe. Yup, definitely enjoying the forum!
Croat Posted July 26 Author Posted July 26 15 minutes ago, Croat said: Hiya and thanks for the welcome. I like your pic of Pythia. Oracles (the ancient real-world ones) are my specialty in life and was just in Delphi last November for research. Have visited 43 oracle sites so far, but that's still just scratching the surface. I don't mind being an open book, kind of the point in joining a forum, yes? My first deck was -- drumroll please -- the amazing Waite-Smith deck. Still a strong go-to tbh, though my preference is for the radiant version. As for which one I love the most, as you can imagine that's a bit like picking which child to love the most. I do admit there are some which get more attention, so along with Waite-Smith those would be Crow, Golden Art Nouveau, Gustave Doré, After Tarot, The Book of Shadows, and I quite like the Edgar Allan Poe Tarot. Kind of bipolar with liking some that are bright, others that are dark. Probably my biggest disappointment was the Ancient Mysteries Tarot, just couldn't get with the photoshopped look, so learned my lesson and stick with genuine artwork now. BTW, speaking of oracle sites, my avatar is not just any old tree. It is a picture I took of the oak tree at Dodona (in Greece). The ancients considered Dodona to be the oldest and second greatest (after Delphi) of all oracles and Zeus (at that site they called him Dodonaeus) "spoke" to querants through the wind rustling leaves in the oak tree overhanging his shrine. Dodona today is a stunningly beautiful location not too far distant from Ioannina.
JoyousGirl Posted July 26 Posted July 26 21 hours ago, Croat said: Have visited 43 oracle sites so far Oh, this is lovely to know! I can pick your brain. Did you go to these sites for research or pleasure? Did you go to the cave of the Sybil in central Italy? When I was researching for my trip many years ago, it was something I learnt existed, but I never visited.
Croat Posted July 28 Author Posted July 28 On 7/26/2025 at 4:58 PM, JoyousGirl said: Oh, this is lovely to know! I can pick your brain. Did you go to these sites for research or pleasure? Did you go to the cave of the Sybil in central Italy? When I was researching for my trip many years ago, it was something I learnt existed, but I never visited. Well, as to research or pleasure, it is nigh impossible not to experience pleasure at both the natural beauty where oracle sites are located as well as the ancient architecture (ruins though they may be). That said, my purpose underlying these trips is research/photo documentation. And yes, I have been to Cumae. Quite the experience doing the tunnel (pic below), although the so-called "tunnel to Styx" below the site proper is not open to the public. Cumae is set in a lovely location overlooking the Tyrrhenian Sea, a mere dozen miles or so from Naples.
JoyousGirl Posted July 28 Posted July 28 (edited) How wonderful - so this is your work specialty. What a dream! To be paid to travel! Much of my time in Italy was spent in the East. I wanted to go where there weren't too many box-ticking tourists who can't be bothered to learn a few words from the countries they visit. Thank you? No, "Grazie". Hello? No, "buongiorno". Why miss the opportunity to roll your r's. I love it! Anyway, I digress. I walked some of the Sybillini mountains near Norcia. Were there any Sibyls or their equivalent near there? Knowing Greeks were sea-going they probably wouldn't have strayed too far into the mountainous mysteries with their fearsome inhabitants including Lupe. I did visit Paestum in the South-west though. Not sure if there were any Sibyls there? Or did goddesses rule? Anyway, you should have some wonderful insights into the High Priestess and I look forward to reading them!! Edited July 28 by JoyousGirl
Croat Posted July 29 Author Posted July 29 Don't thinki I've been to Norcia. May have passed through it on way to Assissi or such? Probably not. As for the Monti Sibillini, there is quite a long history of myth and legend from that area, with the range name associated with a Sibyl's cave that, unfortunately, has been destroyed (the entrance at least). There was a more certain oracle of Mars from that general region, at Tiora, but that has so far escaped pinpoint location. The problem with discussing "Sibyl" is that it was rather a generic term ("Sibylla") from ancient Greece which got applied to any number of prophetesses, even at Delphi (for example, Pausanias refers to the "Sibyl Rock" at Delphi when he visited in 2nd century, supposedly where a prophetess named Herophile, but surnamed Sibyl, did her thing; although some scholars think she was actually from Samos). Which is to say Pythia was a specific title at Delphi, but as a category, so to speak, she was a Sibyl/Sibylla. In my experience the name Sibyl is most often associated with Cumae (also known as Antro Sibylla) and the Sibylline Books of legend. But that's just me. Perhaps confusingly, the locals there also refer to the tunnel at Cumae (my pic above) as the "Sybil's Cave" just as is heard in the Monti Sibillini area. Difficult to keep it all straight! Thus many conflicts between scholars. That's really cool that you've been to Paestum! I visited in 2018 and absolutely loved those temples, but no, we know of no oracles that were in operation there. Which is not to say divination wasn't practiced at Paestum, because it was a widespread activity in the Greek colonies just like it was in Greece proper, but was likely "street divination" activity as opposed to a community funded and operated shrine.
JoyousGirl Posted July 29 Posted July 29 (edited) 5 hours ago, Croat said: a prophetess named Herophile, but surnamed Sibyl Naming conventions and etymology matter here I think. Such interesting stuff. "John Carpenter" or "John Smith" might refer to each John's occupation (with John being John's father's name, while his brothers carried on the same profession but had different first names). Herophile was a Sibyl. But her sisters may not have been. Sibyls weren't young virgins, though were they? I thought they were over 50 years old? Following that, I wonder if they got to choose their own name as they transitioned from normal life? Like a nun gets a Saint's name? Or did they train all their life and wait for some sign. Herophile might be some variation on "God-loving" Sibyl (whichever god that may be). Pythia we know got her name from the snake at the temple. I should stop bothering you. Thanks for reminding me of my lovely Italian holiday. Edited July 29 by JoyousGirl
Croat Posted July 29 Author Posted July 29 You ask so many good questions! I think the short answer is, in the vast majority of cases, we don't know their details and most especially their personal information. The murkiness of historical time coupled with limited epigraphic/literary evidence just isn't robust enough to fill in all the blanks, although archaeology inches us closer with time. Sometimes a rare source can provide more detail, but the hazard is drawing general inferences from such a small evidentiary pool. For example, Pausanias tends to be resource number one since he specifically wrote about the many oracles he visited, but his travels were quite late in the game, 2nd century, which is 600-700 years after their heyday and during the period of nascent Christian beginnings. Were all oracles* virgins? No. Were they all over age 50? No, although there are stories about how those factors changed at some sites in the wake of rather sordid events. On one level it can be disheartening, knowing that one's field of study will terminate in murkiness regardless of effort, but on the other the layers of information and uniqueness adhering to each site, including elements of psychology and phenomenology, make it perpetually interesting (for me). *"Oracle" is another ambiguous term. It can refer to a physical shrine, a prophetic utterance/writing, or the prophetic individual.
Grizabella Posted July 29 Posted July 29 On 7/25/2025 at 9:55 AM, Croat said: H All. New from Pacific Northwest. Long-time relationship with multiple tarot decks, but first time decided to join a forum. Why? An identification question which I'd like to pose to the group (elsewhere), but rather keen on being a participating member otherwise. Hoping for a warm welcome... Welcome from a fellow PNW-er! I look forward to seeing your posts!
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