I said I was going to write about all the cards in my divination deck this year, so it's about time I looked at that, don't you think?
The primary dichotomy of the deck, which is soft versus hard. I went through a couple of different vocabulary choices before I settled on that one. The problem is that so many dichotomies carry good/bad connotations, and I didn't want that. Aside from a few specific cards, the opposites are not good or bad, they're just different. Hard generally means the more harsh, raw forms of forces or elements: the flood, the mountain, the inferno. Soft is the pond, the garden, the hearthfire. One is not better. Both are necessary.
I wasn't sure where to start so I pulled a card and I got the Firebird in hard-type. That's a pretty appropriate card, as the Firebird is in many ways the beginning of everything. She creates, she births, she builds. This Firebird is the pure energy of the egg aflame, untempered by time or incarnation. She burns as she pleases, without regard to the consequences, and burns herself to the core. In a reading, she speaks to blank slates and hard-fought new opportunities, taking chances and risks. She is not a safe card, but she can be a very good card to have on your side.