GOOD THINGS> Each card has an unique wonderful colourful design on the front, and an affirmation within a very lovely garland-marquee on the back.
> Wonderful affirmations that aren't the usual new-age affirmations you find elsewhere.
> Totally portable pocket deck.
> Cards shuffle well.
> Colourful sturdy packing box with upper lid.
> Great to use as part of a self-healing practice together with other decks, like the Mystical Healing reading cards, the Chakra Love mini deck, the Four Agreements card deck or Pritam's Let Go deck.
DOWNSIDES
> The artwork becomes repetitive, just different images of Frida Kahlo's face against different backgrounds.
> Box and cards cardboard is not coated, so the deck easily attracts dirt and stains.
> Unnecessarily stiff cardboard that damages and bends easily.
> No booklet on why Frida is chosen and why her life, art and messages are important or relevant. This is obvious for Frida lovers but not for anyone else.
> Bad colour contrast between the inner lid colouring and lettering. A darker hue of orange or a another lettering colour would have solved the problem.
> A bit pricey for the quality.
I
didn't know anything about this deck when I first picked it up, a decade ago. I just
liked the deck cover image. Talk about intuition! However, it has become of one of my
favourite and most reliable decks. This is one of my top 3 oracle decks, and that's basically based on the connection that I have with these cards, the way my energy connects with them, and the fact that the deck seems to respond to my queries quite accurately and quite on point.
I find amazing the way that the cards seem to reflect my mood, what is
happening in my life, what is coming next, and are able to give me
advice on pressing matters. This is what any oracle deck should be
doing, right?, but not many do.
This is a deck perfect for intuitive readings as the deck is not overtly focused on any specific energy (for ex. matters of the heart or career matters) just general life energies.
I've been using
this deck for about a decade, and I've recently bought a new hard copy
of the deck. I alternate use between the app version and the hard copy.
THE CONCEPT
The oracle is inspired, as others by Colette, on both the tarot, I-chin, and Norse culture. The deck was created as a companion to the book The Map, but it can be used without having to check the book out. That's my case and it has always worked for me. The texts are great, very much in tune with the magic realms or whatever you want to call that something that is nothing but compasses everything.
THE ARTWORK
The production design and artwork are excellent and, despite the decade it has elapsed since first came out to the market, the artwork feels modern and fresh. Colouring is excellent but the original edition of the deck was more chic.
The digital collages and illustrations by Jean Dellagrottaglia are colourful, whimsical and full of magic. They don't have that cheap-photoshop-pastiche feeling that puts me off with so many other decks. This deck is truly stylish and gorgeous.
CHANGES IN THE ORACLE
The edition I'm now reviewing is different from the one I first bought and the app that replicates it. The cards meaning marquee and the number have different style and lettering and the cards have no marquee. The old ones had an elegant golden marquee, and the meaning was inside a golden scroll marquee. So, the current edition is less polished and enchanted than the original.
Besides, three cards imagery has changed: 33, 36 and 52. Card 33 has a very similar scene but the jumping character is a black girl, and card 52 has also a totally different image with a black woman. Both changes are very much of my liking and reflect racial diversity. Besides, card 36 Commitment, which had a more romantic image in the original, has now a more neutral imagery in this deck edition.
THE DECK QUALITY
This is one of the old Hay House productions and you can see the difference in care and quality with HH current decks. This deck is just fabulous:
> Glossy flexible good quality cardboard that is light, so the deck is not heavy or bulky.
> Easy pleasurable deck to shuffle.
> Good quality box packing.
> The guidebook is printed on decent paper and has decent content re the concept behind the deck, how to use the cards, and upright and reverse card meanings.
DOWNSIDE
> Cards are on the large side and you might struggle shuffling them if you have small hands.
> This deck is less enchanted in design production than the original edition.
I
was really excited about this deck, as I read Grout's first book years
ago and enjoyed her philosophy of life. Colette, on the other hand, has
produced some of my fav oracle decks ever, so my expectations were high.
My excitement was short lived, though.
To be fair, I had read
the reviews before ordering the deck. However, I thought that it might
be a matter of some customers getting a deck from a bad printing batch
because, after all, this is a Hay House's. Right? Unfortunately, my
cards edges were damaged even before I removed the paper ring seal-off.
If the cards are peeling off before opening, can you imagine what's
going to happen when you shuffle them?
Booklet is thin and cheaply printed, with barely any relevant content.
The concept behind the cards is nothing new. It is not particularly Law of Attraction. It's rather a channeled messages deck more than anything else. The artwork is a very simple but catchy, a mix of abstract images in dark rich purples, blues, greens, browns and black with sparks of yellow and bright colors in the lettering and/or background. They convey well the concept of universal fluid energy.
You can make this sort of deck yourself using blank cards. If you're an artist you'll have something as good or better. If not, and you just write a sentence, you'll still have the core of what this deck is.
Packing box is beautiful and decent quality, pity the rest. I am looking forward the app edition of this.
Returned.
Great quality deck overall: good sturdy packaging box, excellent printing quality, wonderfully edited guidebook and good quality deck. The cards have the perfect thickness and coating, which makes shuffling a very pleasurable experience.
The artwork is beautiful. I especially like the back of the cards, which is also the cover of the booklet. Some of the images in the deck are just wonderful. Taken individually all the images are great and a piece of art. However, as a tarot ensemble, the deck feels monotonous and, for the most part, uninspired.
This is a Gaian deck, so I expected the feminine energies and the female characters to be relevant, but they're overwhelmingly dominant. The same can be seen of the green hues.
One of the things that put me off is the fact that many of the images on the deck and the meaning attributed to them have no relation or connection, which is a total disappointment.
I ended returning the deck, not only because of what I said, but because of the odd sizing of the cards, which are on the wide and large size, as I was having trouble shuffling them.
Island Time Wellness Oracle is a great oracle and one of those decks that has become a must-go-to by most Tarot readers. The popularity is well deserved as it has basic powerful easy-to-understand intuitive images and messages on the cards.
GOOD THINGS
> Great concept deck. Less is more. Sometimes the best ideas are the simplest and this is a perfect example.
> Mini deck, therefore, easy to carry. See the photo I've uploaded with the deck by my keys and passport, so that you can get an idea of the real size.
> Some people find the size a bit too small, but, if you have small hands, this is a great deck size, and that's my case.
> Meanings are on the front and therefore you don't need to use any booklet or anything else.
> Very simple child-like illustrations that are effective and easy to understand.
> Good semi-matte cardboard with a good coating that makes shuffling easy.
> No reverse meanings.
> Very intuitive. BAD THINGS
> The deck looks cheap, like an imitation of something else, as if it was a forfeit copy. Yet, it is not.
>
Printing isn't good. This deck could be glorious. Imagine the same
concept and design but done using a good card board with golden embossed
images and text. However, the printing is grey-beige-ish and it has a
gradient touch that affects lettering, which makes the whole thing look
even cheaper.
> Bad quality boxing.
> Printing and design need of some sort of "deluxefication".
This tiny winy deck conquered my heart on the spot, from the first use, as I had an instant visual, tactile and energetic connection with it. The deck is structured in 8 suits, seven devoted to each chakra plus a chakra-balance with healing crystals.
The cards quality is terrific: Glossy flexible but sturdy cardboard, clean design on the front, and very modern colourful abstract back imagery. The deck comes in a good quality cardboard box, with upper non-detachable lid. The front has the symbol and colour of the chakra (1-Crown chakra, purple.
2- Third eye chakra, dark blue. 3-Throat chakra, light blue. 4- Heart
chakra, green. 5-Solar plexus chakra, yellow. 6- Sacral chakra, orange.
7-Root chakra, red) and the extra suit with a flower in fucsia. There is not artist
associated with the artwork in this deck. It was designed by using
stock images from Adobe Stock and Creative Market. It shows that you can
create a deck that ticks all the boxes without having to hire a
super-duper digital artist.
There is no guidebook or booklet. The instructions are provided on the inner lid and on the cards themselves. This might not be your deck if you have no knowledge of what chakras are, but even if you have a general knowledge of it, this deck will work for you. If you aren't into crystals, no worries, the advice on each card is still wise and valid on its own.
The deck is tiny, even for a person with small hands like me. You can see one of my photos with the deck by my keys. The good thing is that you can carry this in your pocket or in a small purse. The bad thing is that it, if you have big hands, it might be difficult to handle or shuffle for you.
I find this deck perfect to use for self healing and self-improvement, together with the Mystical Healing Reading Cards and the Four Agreements Deck and the Yunoun Chakra stones. However, I find it useful to carry around to get advice during day, when feeling stressed, provoked or unbalanced because of our daily worries and struggles.
Good value for money.
This is a very beautiful set of cards with awesome digital artwork that mixes modernity, fairy-tale elements and magical and universal imagery, and the ensemble feels both timeless and contemporary. The card back design is really gorgeous in its simplicity and it perfectly reflects the deck overall energy. The deck is organized in seven suits: consciousness, energy, intention, people, events, spirit, and cycle, which represent and connect with universal and personal influences and cycles in life. Cards have both upright and reverse meanings, but, hey, nobody will force you to use the latter if you don't want to.
The cards are printed in matte colors and are mid sized. The card paper is a bit stiff and not glossy or polished, so it doesn't shuffle as well as it should be.
The guidebook is excellent re content but the quality of the printing paper is poor.
I love this deck, the details, the concept, everything. I use it often, it is just that my queries are not usually answered, that is, the cards coming up have nothing to do or advice for my queries. I found that, due to the shuffling quality of the deck being just OK, the same cards come up over and over. I don't think it's the universe, I think it is that the cards stick to each other and those who don't stick as much come out all the time.
I wanted to love this deck. Actually, I love this deck. However, for whatever reason, I haven't connected with it at an intra-psychic level as yet. Said differently, there hasn't been a deep connection with the deck, just a conceptual and artistic connection. It's like loving a man who has everything you want in a man on paper, except for the fact that there is something lacking that prevents passion and love from igniting.
Sturdy packing case, that will keep your deck protected.
This deck has been a total surprise to me. I bought it in one of those Amazon flash offers, for 5 bucks, just because it was so cheap. It was in my wish list but not at the top, because I wasn't sure what this deck was about. Well, now that I have it, I have to say that the deck is mind blowing, regarding conception, artwork, structure, relation image/text and my connection with the cards.
CONCEPTION
II have so many tarot and oracle decks that I rarely get wowed by anything I get, and that is usually a wow from the artwork. In this case, I am also wowed by the eclectic approach to tarot/oracles by the Modern Witch Australian Demarco. We still have the four Tarot elements and some reinvented major arcana. Yet, there is a great emphasis on energy, whether is inner or outer, and the link between both, and also between the real and the magical, the earthy and the spacey. The result is an inebriating fresh, unique but timeless approach to oracle that relies on both imagery, words and energies to provide us with multilayered readings and accurate answers to our queries.
Demarco's introduction to the deck is short and sweet. Really interesting and beautifully explains her inspiration sources. There is a marked influence of Nordic, Aboriginal, Polynesian, Latin and Greek mythologies among others. That also shows in the pages devoted to each card interpretation in the booklet. Of course, you can intuitively use the card imagery and words to read, but the interpretations on the book are really good.
One of the things that I love is that there aren't reverse meanings in this deck.
ARTWORK
I am amazed by the beauty, complexity and quality of Hungarian Kinga Britschgi's digital imagery. Really powerful for intuitive readings.
There is artistic imagery congruence in the deck, which gives the whole unity and purpose. There is a predominance of green, blue and amber colours, except for the beautiful card back, which is a simple pastel mix of pink, purple and white.
This is a very Gaian matriarchal deck, with an overwhelming presence of feminine energies and characters. I love the fact that there are people from different ethnic groups, skin color and ages represented in the deck, too.
THE DECK
Good quality slightly-glossy card.
Cards have the right thickness, so they can be easily shuffled and handled as the deck is not bulky or heavy.
The card edges are silvered, so that's always a bonus and a touch of magic.
Good quality detailed 104-page booklet, with colored mini-reproductions of the cards.
Sturdy packing box, with iridescent print.
THE SUITES
Directions: North, South, East, West, Equator, Moon, Sun.
Fire Element: Fire, Volcanoes, Bushfires, Hearth, Outer Core, Dessert, Passion.
Earth Element: Earth, Mountain, Cave, Inner core, Plants, Rock, Animals.
Air element: Air, Storms, Wind, Voice, Pressure, Breath, Music.
Water element: Water, Oceans, Lake, Marine Life, Ice, Snow, Rain.
Universal Forces: Electricity, Magnetism, Dark Matter, Gravity, Atoms.
Time: Time, Speed, Magic, Biome.
IN SHORT
A wonderful oracle, both artistically and conceptually that speaks to me. Oracles and tarot decks speak our intuive symbolic language or not, and this speaks mine beautifully.
The Oracle of Mystical Moments is both a joy and a disappointment.
THE ARTWORK
I bought this deck because I absolutely love Welz-Stein artwork, and in that regard, I knew I would love the deck imagery. Indeed, the cards are a pleasure on their own. There is artistic congruence in the style and coloring, something that I don't take for granted, which gives the deck personality and the special surreal mood it has. The artist's world is a mix of fin-de-siecle, circus revival and oneiric images, with a predominant presence of air, water and earth elements. The moon, flying and the garden are the most predominant settings. The resulting deck is an unique wondrous mix. .
THE ORACLE
This is a totally intuitive deck, as there are no given rules.The intuitive way is my favourite way, but for whatever reason, despite loving the art, I can barely connect with the cards. I don't always see the connection between the image and the meaning chosen when I cast the oracle. The cute accompanying booklet is too brief to provide much insight, except for the artist's own interpretation.
The first impression I got was that there are some suits in the deck, as the card bottom, where the meaning is written, is coloured in different pastel colours. However, upon closer inspection, these are decorative elements and seem not to connect cards between themselves. I find that confusing from a reading point of view.
I think this is a very personal deck for the artist, a deck that reflects who she is, and how she sees the world. Something done for her personal use and that she's sharing with us.
This is a predominantly feminine deck, with very few males in it, so I find difficult to inquire about things regarding relationships and males in general. I find the seduction/lovers card very funny because the guy is not there, is like she's like a rash on him, but he's not interested in her. He's somewhat frigid.
THE DECK
> The deck size is perfect, not too small not too big. Easy to carry.
> Packaging is simple but the containing box is utterly beautiful.
> The card backs is simple and classy, without any fanciful detail, which is a nice contrast to the fanciful front images.
> Cardboard is the right thickness, not too thin not too thick, and flexible. The paper has a bit of satin, so the handling is pleasurable, and the shuffle easy and enjoyable.
> Cards don't have reverse meanings.
IN SHORT
I see this deck mostly as a collectable, something you want to have because it is beautiful, original and unique, not as much to use it on a daily basis for your oracle casts.
I use this app mostly to ask about how other people perceive me, see me and feel me, therefore to help me in relational queries. That is, I don't use the deck to ask the fairies about predictions or advice for myself or queries about other people. I use it to be aware of which of the fairies' archetypes is working in me. Readings are usually very accurate and they match the energy that I felt I had on the day of the query. This is, needless to say, a very feminine deck and, that being the case, it might not resonate with some male users.
I LOVE
> The imagery is wonderful re concept, digital quality, coloring and overall artistic congruence.
> One can use the app freely, intuitively, or use the guidebook to get the advice that each fairy wants to convey to the reader.
> Several layouts to choose from.
> You can shuffle with/without shuffle sound.
> Readings can be saved and shared.
DECK APP DOWNSIDES
In this specific deck, the contrast between the text meaning and the background is really poor, as you can see in the screenshot below.
OCEANHOUSE APPS DOWNSIDES
> The return from the card back to the front is not intuitive. It would be just natural using the back arrow on the smartphone bottom menu to go back, but, if you do that, you'll be out of the application. Instead, you have to use the curly back arrow button in the cards, and the triangular back arrow in the information area. I have been using Oceanhouse apps for years and I still have trouble remembering the curly back arrow, just because is contra smart-phone use natura.
> Impossible to zoom in the image to focus on the small details.
> Just one way of shuffling the cards, not several. In that regards, Oceanhouse has plenty to learn from the other major tarot app house, The Fool's Dog.
> No tablecloths available. There is one background.
> Users cannot add their own meaning to the cards to customize the deck.
> Oceanhouse, now and then, inserts promotional info when they are launching a new app. That's annoying because all of their decks must be paid in full to be used, aren't cheap, and there is no need to bother customers with something that they might naturally be interested on and look up themselves. At least that is my case. It is also true that sometimes they advertise discounts and special pricing, but I would rather not have adds on my fully-paid app.
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