#my tools: dragon oracle (cooper)

[khajiit-reads]

Deck First Thoughts: Dragon Oracle by Diana Cooper & Carla Lee Morrow

So, whenever I get new decks, I like to generally go through my first thoughts. Now it's being shared on Tumblr now that I'm on Tumblr! Not quite a review, but a review-like format.

Hoooooooo boy. Miss Diana Cooper. Miss. Diana. Cooper.

So, I wasn't really aware of just how bad Cooper's ideology was, because whenever I tried looking her up, I either got eulogies or minor (as in worded minorly) arguments about her being New Age. Which, granted, New Age holds a lot of problematic belief systems about racist psuedoscience, but there's a lot to New Age that is problematic that people didn't really cover. I really wanted an in-depth dive to Diana Cooper and maybe I'm just shit at locating things, but I didn't get it from the internet.

And then I got the deck.

Now I'm reading about Atlantis, Lemuria, how humanity is ascending to 5th dimensions, how dragons are 4th to 9th dimensional beings, a lot of talk about vibrational frequencies, the works.

Now, I really don't have problems with her other beliefs about dragons. I think seeing dragons as divine and angelic beings that are born of the (Christian? mostly likely Christian) God and thus His messengers and deliverers of kindness and aids to humanity is fine. It's not my paradigm, but it's a paradigm I don't hate.

It's the... rest that I have mixed feelings about. Because New Age, like all other belief systems, are entrenched in the belief systems around them at the time of their conception. While I'm not a historian nor well versed in explaining this myself, and thus don't feel qualified to talk about New Age's problematicness, I'll leave you a few links about it here on Tumblr at the end here.

I also want to add that Cooper depicted almost entirely Western dragons in this deck, a very common issue. She cites it being because "wings come from the heart center and represent their open, generous hearts", but I prefer general dragon decks like this to have more representation of more than Western dragons. It's just the little things. While some dragons stepped out of the norm of the reptile aesthetic, having feathered wings, I counted exactly 5 cards of 44 that could be considered like an Eastern dragon, and even that's a stretch for 4 of them.

Well, what about the deck itself? What about the art, the cardstock, etc?

Well... it's good. I like the art. Carla Lee Morrow did great and actually drew another dragon deck in another style I quite like wholly (Enchanted Blossoms) later on in life. I like the cardstock. But it's not really an oracle deck as it's more of a "call upon this dragon spirit to help you now" deck, something I'm hesitant to do because of the deep entrenching with New Age belief of these dragons.

This also isn't the first deck I've owned that did this, but I think The Pride of Dragons (the other deck) learned to do this from this deck than the other way around, because they share the same core belief of dragons being angelic beings. Granted, Angelo Thomas (The Pride of Dragons) didn't spout all the New Age stuff in his deck and had a lot more draconic variety and other factors, so he might not be as problematic. See my review of that deck here.

So this deck will require some reworking on my part to make it a proper oracle.

"Khajiit, if you have all these complaints, why not just get rid of it?" My general belief system with decks is that they deserve love and care, and that I can make a subpar or even terrible deck good with my skill and enough time and effort. I also tend to detach decks from their original creators to some degree, because you never know what the hell the creators are on about. I do feel bad about having given money to them, though, but what's done is done, and I wouldn't suggest this deck to others to give even more money. Feel how you like about this.

Some links to read about New Age's root problems

user creature-wizard, "The deal with New Age, in a nutshell".

user creature-wizard, "New Age beliefs that derive from racist pseudoscience"

user creature-wizard, "New Age is a poisoned chalice."

Yep, all the same user. I like the blogs I like, and find that this is enough information to get a good grasp of the problem, though there's probably more good info out there too. I just focused with stuff on Tumblr for the sake of this post, it's not here to educate you on New Age. Just be my first thoughts on a new deck.

[phoenixcraveshubs]

In which I turn to the heart of the cards... part 1

Fire and Water Dragon:  Enables your life to flow with loving force.

Prepare for change and to move forward quickly.  Expect the unexpected.  Have fun.

Diana Cooper’s Dragon Oracle Cards

Not sure what this could mean other than that there is an unexpected thing that will occur.  Am I supposed to have faith in either crossroad?  It’s the very reason why I have stopped and froze in that path.  I am told one thing, only to be told another.

How can I trust when I’ve been burned and boiled before?  This is supposed to be a hobby.  I am supposed to have fun with it.  But the past has been uneasy to get over, and has been leaking into my current circumstances.  My old habits have resurfaced again, and it is leaking into what sort of new horizons I’m yearning towards.  I am not sure what to do.  This is not something I can simply ask or talk about with someone.  This is something my therapist has no experience in.

Moving forward is not something I can readily do.  Believing in something occurring is not something I can readily do.  I am the one person that people need to be wary of.  No one is ever worth knowing if they cannot get over a slight.  The truth is, I want to do it no matter what happens, but I do want to take the things I had with me.  Wisdom is infinitely better than the carelessness I felt first going into this the first time.

Lighten up, I guess?  Have a good time?

Riccardo Minetti & Laura Sava’s Dark Mirror 02 The Temple of my body - First Quarter Moon | Grief Stage: Depression I feel I am not worth enough. This is basically about the delicate balance of self-worth and self-esteem.  Mostly due to the woman holding the pendant in her hands.  She is not sure if she wants to put it on her body or not.  I always had low self-esteem, and this is definitely not the place to come to. What should matter most is often tested here.  What should you value more is often tested here, and there is punishment for either choice.  There are consequences when you wish to be authentic and in your truth.  I have not been that lucky, and in some ways I have been. I guess the choice is, should I nurture the delicate pendent that could likely break at any moment?  Should I risk it breaking and give towards new horizons?  Or should I give in entirely to what may be expected of me? My default choice is to rebel.  /:  I’ve been a people pleaser for long enough.

I want to believe I have every tool needed to survive this.  Every ounce of clarity needed to navigate myself wisely.  And the intuition to weigh the options.

[khajiit-reads]

New decks alert!

I'm waiting on one more deck to arrive, but here's my new decks!

[khajiit-reads]

Personal reading. # Guide: guardian dragon, left unnamed on Tumblr # Tools: - StarDragons Oracle | Paolo Barbieri

(Sorry for the lighting on the card this time, it just did not want to cooperate with the finish on the deck.)

I was finishing up cleansing this deck and had the intense urge to pull a card.

[No question] | 15 . Corvus (Tranquility • Harmonious Inaction )

I think I'm simply being asked to take a damn break. I've been working on projects for myself out of wanting to, but...

Part of this can also be to stop and meditate, like the herald and the dragon are seemingly doing on this card. I'm not very good at that, but if it must be done, it must be done. I've been meaning to do it to connect to my guides some more, so maybe they have something to say. I know Vaermina does because I had two bad dreams in one night about hot topics when I asked for a restful nights sleep. So... we'll see what happens.