Tag: John Matthews

The Lost Tarot of Nostradamus

On By benebellIn deck review, oracle deck, tarot, tarot symbolism3 Comments

The Lost Tarot of Nostradamus brings together tarot divination and the 16th century prophetic writings of Michel de Nostradamus (1503 – 1566). The better known work by Nostradamus is Centuries, which began appearing around 1555 and has remained steadfastly popular, inspiring thousands of published commentaries and hundreds of translations.

In 1558, Nostradamus published a third edition of Centuries and posthumously, a last volume of the work was published as The Prophecies in 1568. Purportedly, 58 additional quatrains exist, but couldn’t be found after his death.

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The Cathar Tarot by John Matthews and Wil Kinghan

On By benebellIn deck review6 Comments

The Cathar Tarot: The Secret Wisdom of the Perfecti by John Matthews and illustrated by Wil Kinghan was published back in 2016, designed to be a living “Book of Images” premised on Cathar and Gnostic principles. From there, the Keys of this remarkable tarot deck follow the Journey of the Grail.

The golden-toned card back design features the Cathar seal, also called the Cathar Cross, and an iconic symbol throughout the Languedoc region of France.

The Cathars were first recognized around the 11th century in northern Italy and western Germany, then later concentrated around southern France. After remaining active through the 12th century, they were pretty much wiped out of existence during the Albigensian Crusades of 1209 to 1229, as they were considered heretical.

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Oracle of Dr. John Dee by John Matthews and Wil Kinghan

On By benebellIn deck review2 Comments

The Oracle of Dr. John Dee by the illustrious John Matthews and one of the tarot community’s favorite artists Wil Kinghan was first published in 2013. Anything with the name John or Caitlin Matthews on it is guaranteed to be well-researched and worth your while.

John Dee was an alchemist, astrologer, mathematician, geographer, philosopher, and historian. In other words, a polymath. Dee met Edward Kelly, who claimed to be a powerful medium. In a vision, Kelly told Dee that he saw Archangel Michael seated on a throne with a kneeling figure at the archangel’s feet, and that figure was none other than John Dee. Needless to say, Dee took a liking to this Kelly.

Dee and Kelly formed a partnership where, over the course of several months, the two downloaded an entire language system from Heaven, the language Adam used to converse with the Creator and the angels. Dee called this language Enochian.

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Top 5 Oracle Decks of 2018

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

Continuing with the 31 Days of Tarot community challenge by Ethony, let’s talk about my top five oracle decks for 2018.

These are my top five oracle decks from the previous year, meaning (1) acquired the deck in the year 2018, and (2) actually worked with the deck in 2018, but most of these were published well before 2018.

The Celtic Shaman’s Pack by John Matthews and Chesea Potter is a deck I plan on reviewing in-depth at some future point. It’s an older deck that was then re-released  (and given a redesign) in 2017, but one I didn’t acquire myself until 2018. And I love it. Wow, I can’t even.

The guidebook that comes with the cards is everything you want to get you oriented in working with Celtic shamanism for yourself. I cannot shower this oracle deck with enough high praise, except to say you’ve got to try it to believe it. You can look forward to me posting a deck review of it this year, in 2019.

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A Year in the Wildwood by Alison Cross

On By benebellIn book review, cartomancy, tarot, tarot community2 Comments

A Year in the Wildwood by Alison Cross (Book Cover Image)

This is my review of the book A Year in the Wildwood by Alison Cross, and this won’t be a review of the Wildwood Tarot deck, though of course I’ll make reference to the deck while I comment on the book. Cross has published a thoughtful, explorative, and detailed guide to the Wildwood Tarot deck, a favorite and popular deck among tarotists today, especially those with a pagan persuasion. The e-book came out on Amazon Kindle earlier this year, 2016, and I am lucky enough to receive a copy for review.

03 A Year in the Wildwood (Ebook Screenshots) 00

Throughout this post, please feel free to click on the screenshot images of the e-book for an enlarged view.

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