The topic of planetary welfare is of utmost importance, and this card deck helps us to focus on the planet as our birthplace, our home, our provider and our Mother. It reminds us to reconnect to the Earth, and to ourselves and to respect and appreciate the healing we are offered. Indigenous people have handed down knowledge that we have forgotten about the Earth and its wonders. The importance of the Earth is detailed within the deck’s messages, and the deck can appeal to women (and men) of all races, genders, sizes and skin tones - all are children of Mother Earth.
Mind, Body & Soul Ezine Card Deck Review: The Sibyls Oraculum - Oracle of the Black Doves of Africa by Tayannah Lee McQuillar, with artwork by Katelan V Foisy, Pack contains 44 cards and comprehensive information book. £16.99 published by Destiny BooksThe author, Tayannah Lee McQuillar is a cultural anthropologist, scholar of religion, esoterica and mysticism. She hails from New York but conducted her research in Brazil and New Orleans and has shown great expertise in her knowledge of divination from earliest antiquity in this North African study and uniquely developed card system. She is the author of 'Rootwork'.
“And did you get what you wanted from this life? I did. And what did you want? To call myself beloved, to feel myself beloved on the earth.” Raymond Carver. Late Fragment.
From Lincolnshire, the author, Sarah Ban Breathnach provides us here with monthly write-up of inspiration, support and beauty. She sustained a major head injury and reviewed her life. She turned the hours of lead into days of gold and shares this secret with us. She teaches us to fall in love with life as though it is a soul mate. The book has many quotes, stories from the past, poetry, people and places. Everything written here is sensitively presented for nourishing us and healing us, restoring us to health and strength. Every page is sheer delight and the values it espouses are of the highest. You will not be disappointed.
There are a few b/w images in this book, but mostly you will be impressed with the number of detailed notes on every page written by the three very eminent authors. A Greek initiatory and secret ritual, performed as early as 2000BC every September is the subject of this book which has already been published in previous editions. The Homeric Hymn is translated in over 16 pages describing the story of Persephone and her mother, Demeter. Two families supervised the over night proceedings in the Eleusidean Telesterion. It majors in the use of kykeon, a hallucinogen, and deals with the resultant controversy. The opening chapter is about the use of hallucinogens in religious ceremonies and it continues with autobiographical stories by the late Gordon Wasson, his early interest in mushrooms and the praises that he, and others, sing about them. Plato had drunk the mushroom potion and spent the night in the Eleucidean Temple to see visions.
The deadly Ergot was known in the Middle Ages as St Anthony’s Fire, as St Anthony was the patron saint of those who cared for its victims. Was it this that infected the wheat, barley, and rye? Now it has been synthesised into effective medication for numerous ailments. A chapter is provided Albert Hofmann, the pharmacologist who developed LSD.
Sample: Ingwaz - Lion - Still, but with slowly building intensity, the full maned lion, is poised for action. He holds within himself, the potential for an explosive release of energy. He is the leader of his pride. If called to it, he will make the ultimate sacrifice to ensure the survival of the next generation. This rune is of growth, the spark of life, and the germinating seed. It has enormous creative potential, and is the fertile male representation, in balance with his female. If you receive this rune, consider taking time to create space for transformation and inner growth. It is time to build up your energy stores. An explosive expenditure of energy may be needed. In reverse, this rune can indicate impotence, immaturity, scattered energy, and a lack of forward movement. Keywords: creation, wholeness, harmony, evolution, energy, magical workings. This rune can function as a container or receptacle for energy, so on the full moon, consider inscribing it on a clear quartz stone before you charge it in the Moonlight. 
The ‘Lady of Holy Death’ oracle cards have a novelty magnetic closure box with eye cut-aways revealing the heads and shoulders of the dancing male and female significator skeletons of this deck. The pack contains a full colour guidebook and 36 illustrated cards without borders. They are the traditional Lenormand size (18cm x 23cm). Motifs are skeletons, skulls, scythes, the hour-glass, scales, tombs and graves, all to do with death and dying, plus flowers, bright colours, beautiful gowns, and that delights and creates fun by dancing and laughing.
Justice. Sacred feminine. Keywords: normalisation, balance, rules, the law. The Justice card calls for balance or the restoration of balance, cutting through and separating what needs to be sorted. Through its symmetry it is also an invitation to bring greater clarity, stability and therefore balance to things. Justice is like a set of scales, represented here by two blossoming sleeves. The first is made up of chamomile, daisies, Indian marigolds, primroses, St John’s wort, heliotrope, bellflowers and cinq foil, all soft, springlike and blossoming. The other sleeve is covered with holly, ivy, chestnut burrs, and thorny dry yew and brambles, representing the difficulties encountered in the dark and cold of winter when resources are lacking. The two bundles are almost symmetrical forming a balance of choices, obvious divergences and differing results. Balance is not always found in light or darkness; it grows between both worlds.
There is a deck published by US Games Systems Inc published June, 2022 with 39 cards with the title The Witching Hour by Cherie Gerdhardt.
This deck has a colour book which accompanies 44 cards. The set is trendy, young, attractive multi-cultural, you could say LGBTQ plus style images. The author provides her biography and how she came to create the deck, each card had meaning on her life journey. The deck can be used as an oracle in itself or with the Tarot as companion cards. The deck can be used with other card decks, where the reading is provided and a Witching Hour card is drawn for further guidance. Reversed cards are not used.
A Middle Ages Grimoire, the Necronomicon, styled Tarot deck! Hammer House of Horror meets your darkest side! The backs are H P Lovecraft image. No reversals (hardly needed)!
You will find black magic is woven through these cards and nightmares will be generated as the unconscious mind is programmed by these gruesome images.
For those who love to be disturbed, for those drawn to necromancy, and for those whose wish is to summon demons. Beware! It’s a life of death situation with every turn of the cards!
I love this workbook and highly recommend it for men and women! Dark Goddess Craft teaches us to confront our shadow through the ancient goddess archetypes. It leads us to delve into our own darkness and emerge with greater self knowledge. When we let go of the past, we allow space for the new to enter, and then we change. Wisdom is acquired in exchange for our hurts. Death can live with us for transformation and healing. When we confront the shadow, we find out who we truly are!
The unknown and the Underworld feature in ancient myths and stories that teach us about our shadow selves, and the world of hidden mysteries. Not all that is positive is safe or healthy! Some positivity is false and toxic, some is so extreme that it blames victims for their desperate circumstances. By hiding our hurts, they don’t go away - they can grow stronger. We are called on to recognise hubris, revenge, disrespect for the land or for the gods, and instead develop our resilience, courage, faith, and kindness. Our fears of rejection, our anger and self hatred, can be transformed into understanding and appreciation of life and self. We are taken on a journey to ‘walk through the shadow of death’ as each card features a personification of darkness, for example Hades, The Morrigan, Vampire, Werewolf, Medusa, and others, and shows them in a new duality, of light and shadow.
Mind, Body & Soul Ezine Book Review: Destination of Species - The Riddle of Human Existence by the late Michael Meacher MP Paperback: £9.99 251 pages The book opens to Martin Foulks’ glowing appraisal of Freemasonry and its charitable and self development aims, though fortunately, we don’t need to join a secret society with hidden handshakes, threats and a death ritual with knives and coffins to achieve a Christian life!
The book begins with a fantasy of the morning of 13th October 1307 when the last Templar Grand Master was arrested by the soldiers of King Philip the Fair in the dormitory of the Paris Temple - the place where the royal valuables were kept for safety. Templar knights were monks. Priests are initiated, they say mass, and are. very different, though some monks were also priests, but not the Grand Masters, as one priest for a few dozen monks would have been adequate. Even with minimal criticisms, did I enjoy the content of the text? Yes, very definitely. It is beautifully written, and the author is a great story teller.
Mind Body & Soul Card Deck Review: Mists of Avalon by Rose Inserra, illustrated by Nadia Turner. Published by Rockpool Publishing. Boxed set of 36 cards with guidebook.
