Oracle decks with in-depth guidebooks

[Mokona]

What are the oracle decks you know, or recommend, that have in-depth, detailed guidebooks? I know Brian Froud's Faeries' Oracle has a really good guidebook, and recently I acquired Alana Fairchild's Isis Oracle, which brought home to me that I prefer it when oracle decks have guidebooks I can really sink my teeth into. 

[TheFeeLion]

The Black Mirror Oracle is a pretty good one although I think it is sadly now out of print.

 

I also have two decks from Lucy Cavendish and Jasmine Becket-Griffith (Myths and Mermaids, and Oracle of Shadows and Light) and while not super in depth the guidebooks have a decent/succinct description for each card. I was gifted the Mermaids deck and enjoyed it so much (despite not being something I would have usually gone for) that I decided I wanted another deck made by the same duo.

 

The Hedgewitch Botanical Oracle is one I don't have (yet) but from everything I've seen of it the guidebook is pretty comprehensive. 

 

I know there's more out there but my brain is turning to custard in a colander! I should probably go to bed...

[cuileann]

The Goddess Oracle (Amy Sophia Marashinsky) has a good-sized guidebook. One thing I like is that she includes a length ritual suggestion for working with each card.

[Guest]

Both the Moon Oracle and the Oracle of the Radiant Sun by Caroline Smith and the late John Astrop are comprehensive systems. 

[legendaryelement]

Since I’m not sure what areas you are drawn to, I’m just listing some of my favorite kit/sets.

 

Chakra Wisdom Oracle Cards

Tao Oracle

The Mayan Oracle (Spilsbury/Bryner)

Toltec Oracle (Sanchez)

 

Field Guide to Garden Dragons

Enchanted Blossom Empowerment Oracle

 

Now, I do have several books describing systems that use dice, crystal/gems, & standard playing cards. You would have to supply your own physical items.

 

Flex Deck has 3 versions of playing card decks featuring double-nine dominoes and letters of the alphabet.

 

Healing Crystals sells several different decks of crystal specimen photos.

 

The Vitruvian Square by Scott Grossberg

• 10th Anniversary Edition was released in 2020; 380 pages - compared to 170 pages in the original

 

Fortune-telling by Dice (David & Julia Line) ~ uses three six-sided pip dice in different colors

 

Elemental Divination A Dice Oracle (Stephen Ball)

 

Playing Card Divination Every Card Tells a Story (Stephen Ball)

 

Fortune-telling by Playing Cards (Nerys Dee - red cover) ~ has interpretational categories of

• traditional

• practical

• psychological

• psychic

 

Fortune-telling with Playing Cards (Jonathan Dee - green cover) ~ card entries are dictionary/compendium style with astrology & Lenormand equivalents noted

 

Sabian Symbols in Card Reading (Delle Fowler) ~ each of the 52 cards is viewed through 7 levels/lenses

*not the 360 zodiac degrees

 

The Playing Card Oracles (Ana Cortez) ~ has a section on geomancy symbols

 

Astrogem Geomantic Divination (Les P. Cross)

 

The Crystal Tree (Kelynda) ~ uses a set of 18 tumbled stones cast on the Kabbalistic Tree glyph

 

Crystal Decoder (Sue Lilly) ~ uses two casting forms

• bagua (8 directions)

• astrological wheel (12 sections)

 

Lithomancy The Psychic Art of Reading Stones (Gary L. Wimmer) ~ uses a set of 16 stones dropped in a blank circle; looks for patterns, etc

Edited May 6, 2021 by legendaryelement
updated book info

[DanielJUK]

 

11 hours ago, TheFeeLion said:

The Hedgewitch Botanical Oracle is one I don't have (yet) but from everything I've seen of it the guidebook is pretty comprehensive. 

 

 

The book is so cute! It's themed like a guidebook of botanicals with the old Victorian style plant hunter pen drawings of each and the properties of each plant. Also there is a recipe guide to cocktails and things you can make from them! I think she wanted to make it more than just a guide to the oracle but a sort of botanical bible.

 

The TAO Oracle book is huge, so is the Osho Zen and Tea Leaf Fortune Cards book (that whole set is huge, there are 200 cards!). The Psy Cards come with a little sheet of info in the deck but there are 2 or 3 different guidebooks by different authors to get separately to go with it. Also the Animal Spirit Oracle by the Wild Unknown people has a huge book but is quite frustrating to know the properties of each animal included and is sort of random, like ants are really psychic (?), you have to make your own ideas up on that one at times.

 

The Osho Zen has a total essay on every card over 2 pages but is a nightmare when you are reading for someone and need to glance to get some more info on a card. I am not sure a big guidebook is always helpful, I mean it can be but often it's just a lot of words, but they can really guide you. Ultimately it's about what the cards mean for yourself, the guidebooks can help that for sure but also it's not always better to have a large book unless it really assists you.

[Mokona]

@DanielJUK I agree that a huge guidebook isn't always helpful. By an in-depth guidebook I meant a guidebook that actually has a lot of depth, whether that's info or insight, not just a lot of words. And I agree that that's not convenient when reading for others, but I don't read for others with oracles yet- or, rather, I don't use spreads. I love doing one-card draws and meditating over a card's meaning over the course of my day. I don't use spreads or ask questions for which I need to draw multiple cards, because I don't find oracles versatile enough for that. I prefer tarot for things like that. Which is why I also use tarot to read for others, except when they want a general message.

I really like that the Hedgewitch Botanical Oracle formats its guidebook that way! It wasn't on my list before but now I've added it!

I'm staying away from everything Wild Unknown. Just have a hunch that those decks are not for me. If I'm working with animal imagery I NEED some actual guidance from the guidebook, because I'll have limited associations of my own.

The TAO Oracle is on my list and I'm glad the book is huge because the original I Ching is huge 😆 since it's a deck which follows a system I think it's great that it takes the space to really explain that system. 

 

@cuileann That oracle seems to me like the ideal Goddess deck, along with the Mythical Goddess Tarot! I've found it particularly difficult to find goddess decks I like because they're always making the goddesses fit the current beauty standards, which takes away from the timelessness they're supposed to hint at in my opinion. But Marashinsky's deck has art I actually like, and it's great that there are ritual suggestions for each card- that's what drove me to buy an Alana Fairchild deck and it's something I wish more decks did. 

Unfortunately the Goddess Oracle doesn't seem to be available on Amazon in my country. I did find it on Etsy and favourited it, although the shipping costs to where I am would be steep. I'll afford it eventually.

 

@TheFeeLion Lucy Cavendish's Les Vampire Oracle is arriving to me tomorrow! I adore Jasmine Beckett-Griffith's art- I want every deck with her art on it at some point. I have the Beautiful Creatures Tarot and the guidebook for that one is disappointing, to say the least; I'm having to ignore it completely. That's why I'm glad I'm getting a deck with a Lucy Cavendish guidebook; I've heard good things about her guidebooks.

I didn't know Myths and Mermaids was also with Lucy Cavendish! I love mermaids, to me they symbolise transformation, empowerment and being close to nature. That deck is definitely on my list now. Thank you 🙂

 

@legendaryelement Wow, thank you so much! I'm glad to know that the Enchanted Blossoms Empowerment Oracle has a good guidebook; the deck looks beautiful but I wouldn't be able to interpret much just from looking at the cards. The Tao Oracle is on my list too; beautiful art and I'm glad it has an informative guidebook since many who pick it up won't have any previous knowledge of I Ching. And I want to foray into reading playing cards eventually so I'm grateful for your book recommendations! I'm saving your post for future reference.

[Rupicapra]

I love the  White Hare Wisdom and The Arboridium Oracle from Jacqui Lovesey. Each card has a little fable like story with it and a short summary at the end. Reading it as a little tale/fable makes it a bit easier and less abstract for me to understand the meaning of the card. The characters are based on her own stories, but you don't need to have read her books to understand the stories for each of the cards.

disclaimer: I don't have a lot of oracle decks to compare. 

[Mokona]

@Rupicapra That sounds similar to the Oracle of the Innocent Heart, which is on my wishlist! I love it when guidebooks incorporate storytelling. And I'm happy to see that those decks have free shipping (I'm in Southeast Asia and shipping costs for indie decks usually tend to be prohibitively high for me). I've favourited both, thank you 😄

[DanielJUK]

@Mokona I wouldn't be put off by the Wild Unknown stuff, I closed my mind to it because it became such a commercial fashionable brand and the whole internet was talking about it. I found the tarot deck on offer in a online sale and took a chance! it's now one of my fave decks, I put it off for about 6 years due to it being so in trend but I prejudged it! Also with the tarot you really don't need any guidebook, it reads so brilliantly intuitively. The animal oracle has beautiful artwork in the same style and it's not just that deck but animal oracles are so tricky. I also have the power animals oracle and it is hard to put animal qualities to a reading and also however good the guidebook you will be working out "what does a leopard really mean in relation to that question?" 🤣 I am not the greatest fan of animal decks, they are tricky to apply however you make it. Perhaps other people have more success with them.

 

The TAO Oracle is very cute and the book explains everything. The set of the cards and book are huge and hard to store! I think some people have criticised the simplification of the I Ching in the deck but I think the guidebook explains it well. It has two ways of using it really, you can use it as a straight up oracle with the pictures and ignore the I Ching associations. Each card has an associated Hexagram on and it's explained in the guide book as well as a more oracle interpretation and each card is a visual picture based on the original Hexagram idea. But you can also use it with the I Ching and the hexagrams (Hexagrams are those 6 lines, each line is broken or unbroken and the intention of I Ching is to look at changes, one card you have these lines and the next one line is now broken and so you look at the change and compare them). Some I Ching readers prefer the Holitzka I Ching deck by US Games so do compare both decks if you are interested in them in future 🙂

[Mokona]

@DanielJUK the Holitzka deck is OOP so that makes my decision for me XD the TAO Oracle it is!

I would never have guessed the Wild Unknown reads well intuitively, because it's all animal symbolism too. Maybe I'll try the deck out someday. And yes, I usually don't go for animal decks unless the guidebooks really explain their symbolism in the deck well.

[legendaryelement]

When I reacquired the Holitzka I Ching deck, it was in a deck & book edition from Library of Oracles. (Shelter Harbor Press)

I Ching: The Chinese Book of Changes

$19.95 on Amazon

 

The card stock is very thin. The companion book is authored by Klaus & Marlies Holitzka; 159 pages. It gives a general entry on the left hand page & a line-by-line on the right hand page.

 

Example: hexagram 42, line 5

 

The Increase/The Benefit

An extraordinary positive influence supports you ...

No Change: The situation demands continuous generosity, which will be awarded with success and recognition.

5th line: A person who gives wholeheartedly expects neither thanks nor recognition. Something which you freely give without any hidden agenda and regardless of your own gain wins you recognition.

Edited May 6, 2021 by legendaryelement
title & current price

[cuileann]

@Mokona I DEEPLY agree re: goddesses being made conventionally beautiful in overly modern ways. Pet peeve for sure. That was one of the things I liked most about the deck (the Goddess Oracle) when I first saw it, the diversity of not just different ethnicities but also ages and body types. Good luck sourcing it - I bought it off eBay myself. I'm checking out the Mystical Goddess tarot now!

[Mokona]

@cuileann I know, right? Decks in general seem to use modern beauty standards a lot but it's especially annoying when it's a goddess deck. 

I see that the Goddess Oracle is on Book Depository, which resumed shipping to my country after a year of not delivering here, so I'm excited about that! I hope it's still in stock in June as that's when I might be able to buy it.

Another mass-market deck I'm fond of, but don't own yet, is the Journey to the Goddess Realm by Lisa Porter. It has cartoonish art, but that's a strength for the deck in this case. It only has around 34 cards but packs some diversity in despite that.

[legendaryelement]

11 hours ago, cuileann said:

@Mokona I DEEPLY agree re: goddesses being made conventionally beautiful in overly modern ways. Pet peeve for sure. That was one of the things I liked most about the deck (the Goddess Oracle) when I first saw it, the diversity of not just different ethnicities but also ages and body types. Good luck sourcing it - I bought it off eBay myself. I'm checking out the Mystical Goddess tarot now!

This isn’t an oracle, but have you seen the Dark Goddess Tarot? I have the app by Fool’s Dog. Reviews of the companion book are linked here:

https://darkgoddesstarot.com/order-dgt.htm

[cuileann]

21 hours ago, Mokona said:

Another mass-market deck I'm fond of, but don't own yet, is the Journey to the Goddess Realm by Lisa Porter. It has cartoonish art, but that's a strength for the deck in this case.

 

I'm curious, how so a strength for this one in particular?

 

13 hours ago, legendaryelement said:

This isn’t an oracle, but have you seen the Dark Goddess Tarot? I have the app by Fool’s Dog. Reviews of the companion book are linked here:

https://darkgoddesstarot.com/order-dgt.htm

 

Ages ago and forgot about it! Thanks for the reminder.

[Mokona]

@cuileann It's like a lot of the beautification of goddesses happens when the art style tries to border on realism, and the almost caricature-like, cartoony extremes of the art style in the Journey to the Goddess Realm eschews that. This deck is aware of its own modernity, but embraces that in a fun way. And it manages to be both light-hearted and respectful in the way it depicts goddesses. It's fun, loving, and fun-loving. I just think it's very cool 😄

[Guest]

On 5/2/2021 at 10:26 AM, Mokona said:

What are the oracle decks you know, or recommend, that have in-depth, detailed guidebooks? I know Brian Froud's Faeries' Oracle has a really good guidebook, and recently I acquired Alana Fairchild's Isis Oracle, which brought home to me that I prefer it when oracle decks have guidebooks I can really sink my teeth into. 

I have the White Light Oracle by Alana Fairchild. I like it a lot because I meditate with frequencies, so the deck really resonates with me.

[cuileann]

On 5/7/2021 at 11:22 PM, Mokona said:

@cuileann It's like a lot of the beautification of goddesses happens when the art style tries to border on realism, and the almost caricature-like, cartoony extremes of the art style in the Journey to the Goddess Realm eschews that. This deck is aware of its own modernity, but embraces that in a fun way. And it manages to be both light-hearted and respectful in the way it depicts goddesses. It's fun, loving, and fun-loving. I just think it's very cool 😄

Ahh...totally. Hadn't thought about that!

[Pretzel]

On 5/2/2021 at 6:26 PM, Mokona said:

What are the oracle decks you know, or recommend, that have in-depth, detailed guidebooks? I know Brian Froud's Faeries' Oracle has a really good guidebook, and recently I acquired Alana Fairchild's Isis Oracle, which brought home to me that I prefer it when oracle decks have guidebooks I can really sink my teeth into. 

I'm the same. I don't have time for oracle decks that don't allow you to explore the depths of the message one way or another (either in the book, or an image that lets you see more than the surface image).

I have a few I could recommend, but the one I feel goes the deepest is Crystal Mandala Oracle by Alana Fairchild is amazing. I wanted a crystal oracle deck and all the ones I saw out there were just a rehash of what the crystal was about. The guidebook dives in connecting the crystals with angels, goddesses, ascended masters etc. I have the guidebook sitting here with a post-it tab on it so I can re-read a section on a card I pulled over a week ago, because it was just so good. There is also the option to buy full books which expand on the cards, but the guidebook I feel is in-depth on it's own.

 

Edited May 25, 2021 by Pretzel
clarification

[asenathwaite]

The Druid Oracle (there's an animal deck and a plant deck, and the Fool's Dog app combines them) has an in-depth book with folklore and mythology about each card.