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For the love of ANIMAL decks!!


Raggydoll

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Can we please talk animal decks? Tarot and/or Oracle decks - it's all good! I really like to use animal decks for many different purposes. And I seem to be drawn to decks that have a 'softer' energy to them. Generally I don't like decks that depict animals being wounded or killed (by other animals or by arrows or what not). I just don't feel that it adds anything, but that is just a personal thing.

 

I thought I would start by sharing the decks that I have in my collection.

 

First up is a real favorite of mine: Creatures of the Moon Oracle by Rebecca Shoenecker. This is an indie deck (I purchased mine from Little Red Tarot shop) that has 32 cards with creatures on one side and moon phases on the other side. It actually deals with Moon Goddesses as well, and the guidebook also talks about moon-related rituals and magic. I am currently mostly working with the Creatures (the animal side). These range from common animals to mythological creatures (those are connected to less ordinary lunar events - such as tripple moons and lunar eclipses.) There is a story tied in with every animal and this is a story that the creator has come up with herself. I have shared Readings done with these cards before, and I have also shared one of these animal stories - The story of Crow. You can read it here: https://www.thetarotforum.com/magic-witchcraft/new-moon-ritual-working-with-crow-energy-a-spread-for-tapping-into-the-void/

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Next up is The Green Wheel Oracle. This is also an indie deck, and it contains three categories of cards:

The Wheel cards (one card for each of the pagan sabbats)

The Lunar cards (13 cards for every full moon of the year)

The Companion cards (24 cards with animals and plants).

 

I use the Lunar and Wheel cards for my altar and for rituals, and then I use the animal cards for divination (you can use the entire deck for readings and the guidebook gives you divinatory keywords for all of the cards). The creator, Danielle Barlow, has depicted animals and plants that are native to her (she is from UK). I appreciate that this deck contains animals that I too can relate with (Sweden is not that very different from UK when it comes to the animal kingdom). And I love her artwork! This woman is so talented. She produces many other things besides this deck so it is well worth checking her out. She has a website as well as an etsy page. Plus Little Red Tarot sells some of her stuff! I also have her seasonal blessing-cards and they are perfect to put on your altar to mark the turning of the Wheel...

 

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And then we have the Dreamtime Reading cards, by Laura Bowen. Laura is an indegenious Australian artist and her artwork has a very traditional aboriginal feel. This deck is massproduced. My version is trimmed and edged in black. These cards were just too large for my hands so that is why I trimmed them.

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Here is Lauras second deck. These cards depict creatures and plants from the sea. I really love these blue tones and this is a deck that I like to take out in the spring/summer time. This deck is also trimmed because of its size.

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And no list would be complete without the Animal Spirit Deck by Kim Krans. This is such a treasure in my collection. I use it for all sorts of readings, mostly in combination with other decks. I love that there is a system to it (a bit like with the tarot: One section of 'majors' and four sections of 'minors', but in this case it is connected to chakras and the four elements). This is the massproduced version.

 

(I thought about mentioning the Wild Unknown as an animal deck, but I just didn't feel that it quite fit in with the theme because it goes in so many directions - even though it certainly contain a lot of animal imagery.)

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Here is a fairly new addition to my collection: The Spiritsong Tarot by Paulina Cassidy (and mass produced by US games). It is very sweet and has a gentle feel (though that spider card startles me every time!). I won't comment yet on how it reads because I don't have enough experience with it. But I will say that I will most probably treat this deck as an Oracle rather than a tarot. That is just the energy I am getting from it, plus the keywords make it more like an Oracle in my opinion. (I am not a huge fan of keywords but I have come to accept that they will be present on most decks. And this deck has fairly basic keywords that so far does not distract me when I use it).

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Lastly, (yes we are done!) there is the lovely White Sage Tarot. This is a deck that started out as an indie deck but has recently been massproduced by US games. You can read more about the whole thing here: https://www.thetarotforum.com/tarot-decks/white-sage-tarot/ The version on this picture is the indie deck (that is still avaliable for purchase at Little Red Tarot. The mass produced deck is a smaller version in a tin).

 

This deck works with the chakras and has pip-ish minors. I am not completely sure how I feel about some of the chakra-associations and I am still working on fully connecting with the minors. Just wanted to mention this. But I love the majors and the Courts. They are what makes this deck unique, in my opinion. And I also have had lots of great results from using this deck in rituals as well as for personal development/manifestation work. All in all, this is a deck I am willing to work extra hard on connecting with it. The energy is just that lovely and the artwork, I mean - SO pretty!! This is the deck I would pull out for someone that has experienced trauma or is going through tough times. It feels so soothing and healing. 

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And no list would be complete without the Animal Spirit Deck by Kim Krans. This is such a treasure in my collection. I use it for all sorts of readings, mostly in combination with other decks. I love that there is a system to it (a bit like with the tarot: One section of 'majors' and four sections of 'minors', but in this case it is connected to chakras and the four elements). This is the massproduced version.

 

(I thought about mentioning the Wild Unknown as an animal deck, but I just didn't feel that it quite fit in with the theme because it goes in so many directions - even though it certainly contain a lot of animal imagery.)

 

This deck was my first oracle deck and I'm in love.  It resonates with me and I like that it has system too!  I get on so well with this deck.  I love looking at animal oracle decks, but they didn't really resonate with me until I found this one.  For Tarot cards, I actually found the animal themed ones harder to read - but I really get on with decks based on the RWS cards.  I guess its because I approached the oracle deck with a different mindset - I wasn't trying to put the RWS meanings or search for the RWS symbolism!

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Saturn Celeste

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