Category: oracle deck

Angels and Ancestors Oracle, Sámi Erasure, and Takeaway Lessons

On By benebellIn deck review, opinion, oracle deck, tarot community1 Comment

Inlé’s Inlet recently posted the above deck review and commentary on the Angels and Ancestors Oracle Cards, which raises cultural awareness of some concerns with the imagery in this deck. To be more precise, it’s not the imagery that’s of concern, but the lack of credit and acknowledgement for where the sources of inspiration came from.

The distinct drum design featured on the Drum card, the Shaman card, and on the card back of the Angels and Ancestors deck (photographs of it in my deck review) have been taken directly from Sámi religious and spiritual iconography.

However, no credit, reference, or source citation was provided in the accompanying guidebook, in effect erasing the Sámi, who are a historically marginalized indigenous minority.

This is a form of appropriation of indigenous cultural intellectual property rights. Yet this particular instance is one that could be reasonably remedied.

In this type of a scenario, I do think addressing the issue head-on is the compassionate approach.

Continue reading “Angels and Ancestors Oracle, Sámi Erasure, and Takeaway Lessons” →

Reading with the Livre du Destin (or Book of Fate)

On By benebellIn cartomancy, create your own deck, deck review, divination, Etteilla Tarot, oracle deck, tarot community4 Comments

A while back I shared zip file downloads of the above deck here. I called it the Petit Etteilla, because that’s what it was called on the British Museum page that I got the images from.

And then much smarter cartomancy community members pointed out that it’s actually a deck called the Livre du Destin, or Book of Fate.

Continue reading “Reading with the Livre du Destin (or Book of Fate)” →

Infinite Wisdom of the Chakras by Alison DeNicola and Dhira Lawrence

On By benebellIn deck review, oracle deck2 Comments

Infinite Wisdom of the Chakras, a deck with art by Dhira Lawrence and a guidebook authored by Alison DeNicola, is a multi-faceted toolkit for your personal spirituality. You might recognize DeNicola’s name– she’s also the creator of the Divine Feather Messenger Oracle Cards and Mudras: For Awakening the Energy Body. She also created the Yoga Cats Deck, which I have, but huh– interesting– I don’t have a review posted for it.

Infinite Wisdom focuses on cultivation of your seven main chakra centers along your center meridian, but then also guide you through yoga asana or yoga poses that will help you realign your energy centers.

There are animal spirits and divinities to work with, guides for focused meditation, working with essential oils, healing sounds, and, of course, oracle card divination. There’s workings with Ganesh to help you remove obstacles that have been keeping you from achieving abundance, or the Bear spirit for harnessing the powers of protection.

Continue reading “Infinite Wisdom of the Chakras by Alison DeNicola and Dhira Lawrence” →

Spirit of Cats Oracle by Jaymi Elford and A. Bujiang

On By benebellIn deck review, oracle deck1 Comment

The Spirit of Cats Oracle deck is a Chinese-published deck, but the guidebook is written by my dear friend and Llewellyn author Jaymi Elford. It’s a simple, intuitive 24-card deck for cat lovers. “Cats are mirrors of humanity,” writes Elford. The Spirit of Cats Oracle will tap in to your connection to cat spirits to guide you to a deeper understanding of yourself and the undercurrent of your life.

Each cat depicted is larger than life, in scale to the humans pictured on the cards. I love that! These cards are 24 archetypes of the human soul, manifested as cat spirits. Aw, look at the Cat of Rest– I’m amused by the role reversal between the human and the cat here.

Continue reading “Spirit of Cats Oracle by Jaymi Elford and A. Bujiang” →

Wisdom of the Tao Oracle Cards by Mei Jin Lu (Vol. I and Vol. II)

On By benebellIn deck review, feng shui, I Ching, oracle deck, Taoism3 Comments

I’m really excited about Mei Jin Lu’s The Wisdom of the Tao oracle cards published by U.S. Games. I’ll be covering both Volume I: Awakenings and Volume II: Strategy.

These oracle cards pictorialize Taoist philosophy in what is presented as “for the first time, a visionary system, incorporating teachings from Taoist masters, the power of nature’s elements, the revelations of zodiac animals, and the dynamic interactions among them.”

Continue reading “Wisdom of the Tao Oracle Cards by Mei Jin Lu (Vol. I and Vol. II)” →

The Citadel Deck by Fez Inkwright

On By benebellIn deck review, oracle deckLeave a comment

The Citadel is a 33-card oracle deck in a unique hexagonal cut. I’ve been describing the deck as cube of space meets archetypes from a medieval fantasy live action role play. It’s certainly got that vibe.

The creator of Seed and Sickle Oracle is also the author and illustrator behind The Citadel, having built an incredible Dungeons-and-Dragons-esque world, or more specifically, a city– The Citadel– atop a cliff, with white stone walls that “gleam in the sun, and banners snapping lazily in the breeze.” I feel like I’m reading YA high fantasy now.

“The sea below curls lazily at the rocks, warm and placid, with farms and orchards and livestock.” Oh now it’s definitely reading like YA fantasy.

Continue reading “The Citadel Deck by Fez Inkwright” →

I Ching Oracle Cards with AI Generated Art (Free Download)

On By benebellIn cartomancy, create your own deck, I Ching, oracle deck17 Comments

On AI Art

  • 2021 Dec. 5, How Do We Value Art? What AI art means for tarot and oracle deck publishing
    • Playing around with wombo.art
    • Is AI art indistinguishable from human-made digital art?
    • What principles determine great art?
    • Socratic & Platonic philosophy on art
    • Taoist & Confucian philosophy on art
    • Art composition: design theory
    • Disegno (Italian Renaissance)
    • Confucianist aesthetics
    • AI’s creative process vs. human artist’s creative process
    • Is AI doing a better job than humans?
  • 2021 Dec. 6, I Ching Oracle Cards with AI Generated Art (Free Download)
    • Having fun with AI generated art apps
    • AI art doesn’t “lack soul”
    • Who is the creator when it’s AI art?
    • Free download of I Ching oracle cards (AI generated art)
    • Zip files of all downloadable image files for hexagrams
  • 2022 Sep. 14, AI Generated Art + Tarot and Oracle Decks with AI
    • Personal dabblings with AI art
    • Does AI art lack soul?
    • Rising popularity of AI generated art decks
    • AI art won’t replace fine art (but may impact illustration)
    • What artists are saying
    • IP implications of AI art
    • Valuing AI generated art
    • More of my thoughts

I’ve been maybe a little bit obsessed with AI generated art apps, though not just because of the pretty art. Rather, my fascination comes from the way such AI generated art shifts my former paradigm on the mind-soul relation. Does an AI really lack soul? That’s the question I’ve been kicking around in my head.

After my blog post on How Do We Value Art? What AI art means for tarot and oracle deck publishing, one recurring sentiment expressed in the comments section on Instagram and Facebook was that the art created by an AI lacks soul, whereas art created by humans reflect the artist’s soul, and that is why human-created art is superior.

Really? Because I’m not convinced.

Continue reading “I Ching Oracle Cards with AI Generated Art (Free Download)” →

How Do We Value Art? What AI art means for tarot and oracle deck publishing

On By benebellIn I Ching, oracle deck, Spirit Keeper's Tarot20 Comments

On AI Art

  • 2021 Dec. 5, How Do We Value Art? What AI art means for tarot and oracle deck publishing
    • Playing around with wombo.art
    • Is AI art indistinguishable from human-made digital art?
    • What principles determine great art?
    • Socratic & Platonic philosophy on art
    • Taoist & Confucian philosophy on art
    • Art composition: design theory
    • Disegno (Italian Renaissance)
    • Confucianist aesthetics
    • AI’s creative process vs. human artist’s creative process
    • Is AI doing a better job than humans?
  • 2021 Dec. 6, I Ching Oracle Cards with AI Generated Art (Free Download)
    • Having fun with AI generated art apps
    • AI art doesn’t “lack soul”
    • Who is the creator when it’s AI art?
    • Free download of I Ching oracle cards (AI generated art)
    • Zip files of all downloadable image files for hexagrams
  • 2022 Sep. 14, AI Generated Art + Tarot and Oracle Decks with AI
    • Personal dabblings with AI art
    • Does AI art lack soul?
    • Rising popularity of AI generated art decks
    • AI art won’t replace fine art (but may impact illustration)
    • What artists are saying
    • IP implications of AI art
    • Valuing AI generated art
    • More of my thoughts

If you haven’t played around with the wombo.art app yet, then check out this link and have fun. You type in some keywords– any instruction you’d like to give the AI, be that themes, subjects, nouns, adjectives, colors– then choose an art style, like ukiyo-e, pastel, high fantasy, dark fantasy, medieval, etc., and the AI will generate a work of art based on your commission.

And the results are rather stunning. Human artists, in particular those who work primarily with digital art techniques, are now wondering what this means for the future of their vocation. No, not necessarily because of this app specifically, but just in general, this inevitable supplanting of human artists with AI.

More notably, I think, this is going to have an irreversible impact on tarot and oracle deck artists.

Take, for instance, these I Ching oracle card illustrations generated by the AI in a ukiyo-e art style. I typed in keywords for each corresponding hexagram, plus keywords for the two trigrams, selected Ukiyoe for art style, and hit the Create button. Then I did the design layout, added the hexagram image, number, and key phrase. Voila.

Oh, and if you’d like to download the digital image files for all 64 of these AI generated cards, go here.

Continue reading “How Do We Value Art? What AI art means for tarot and oracle deck publishing” →

Butterfly Lenormand by Mendy Dunn

On By benebellIn deck review, oracle deck1 Comment

There’s something about the Butterfly Lenormand by Mendy Dunn of The Artistry of Tarot that tug at my heartstrings. How I even came to hear about it was a bit of chance and serendipity. At the time, I really wasn’t on Tarot-Tube that often, but on that day, I happened to surf onto my YouTube homepage to look for something to play in the background while I did some house chores.

There was a tarot livestream going on, so of course I clicked onto it, and didn’t even think it through or look to see whose channel it was. And it just so happened to be a debut of Mendy Dunn’s newest creation– images from her Butterfly Lenormand.

Continue reading “Butterfly Lenormand by Mendy Dunn” →

The Ostinato Oracle: A Music-Inspired Deck

On By benebellIn oracle deck3 Comments

The Ostinato Oracle by Mellie Parkway is a lot more profound than it first appears. It combines cartomancy with musical terms, on the premise that these symbols we use in the music world connect to the collective unconscious. Archetypes in the music we create, like archetypes found in mythology, can reveal insightful aspects of our inner selves.

In its own words, the Ostinato Oracle guides you through the harmonious and cacophonous elements of existence so that you might live a gorgeous masterpiece. Come to think of it, there’s a lenormand vibe here!

This is a beautiful 43-card deck that comes in a matte finish box. The cards are gilded and there’s a bi-fold Quick Reference Guide that tucks inside the box. You can also get the full-size companion guidebook, as you see above, that gets into the musical indication of each glyph and its divinatory meaning when these musical instruction symbols are used in this way, via cartomancy.

Continue reading “The Ostinato Oracle: A Music-Inspired Deck” →