Crenshaw's Books & Decks

The Fairy Tale Tarot by Lisa Hunt

, 13 Feb 2021

ARTWORK 

Lisa Hunt's artwork is fabulous. She has a great drawing technique, an earthy colour palette, and an eye for detail. Besides, she has captured the essence of each fairy tale with insight and playfulness, and with a deep knowledge of symbolism.  

THE CONCEPT 

This is a full tarot deck, somewhat reinvented to fit in the messages, archetypes and symbols that pervade most folklore and fairy tales. The tales come from all over the planet: Europe, Asia, Africa, America, Pacific Islands, although there is a predominance of European folk tales. The major arcana names have been readjusted to allow the folk archetypes and symbols to blend more naturally, but we can still find the major and minor arcana in this deck.

 

 THE GUIDEBOOK

The guidebook is worth a browse in itself, and a fabulous addition to the deck. The short version of the meaning at the card back is insightful enough. However, if you click the  'Full text from the book' link at the bottom, you'll get an in-depth analysis of the folk tale: 

• The name of the tale.
• The culture from which the tale comes from,
• Summary Keywords.
• The whole account of the tale.
• A Jungian-like  analysis of the tale and imagery symbols.  
  

MY EXPERIENCE WITH THE DECK

I can honestly say that this deck is one of my favourites, not only because I love folk tales in general, but because the deck is versatile enough to be used intuitively (using the imagery as a main guide), or comprehensively (using the main summary info at the back of the deck, or delving into the Jungian interpretation of the symbols). It's up to you, your your query or how much you want to dig into each card message. Do you want a quickie or an extra nosey reading? You can do anything and everything with this deck. Beyond what I've said, this app brings many memories from my childhood, from all those fairy tales that I read on books, my mom told me about or watched movies about. 

THE APP
This Android app is fully functional and has all the pros of the Fool's Dog apps, which make the experience very enjoyable. There is nothing like the physical deck, for sure. However, I've found that, once you get used to the app, your readings are as precise as the ones you get from your physical deck. My favourite app features are:

• > Great quality digital images.
  
• > Zoomable images, so that you can check every small detail in the picture. 
• > The whole deck guidebook available.
• > Information about the deck's artist.
• > Customizable tablecloths.
• > Sound prompts for cards, which can be turned on/off.
• > You can add your personal meaning to the cards. 
• > Journal.
• >  Plenty of layouts to choose from. 
• > Able to use the whole deck or just the major arcana for your readings.
• > Able to use upright and reverse readings, or just upright.
• > Several ways of shuffling.
• > Several draw options to select your card (from the top, from a fan, from a list).
• > You can share your readings.

Posted in Art, Artwork, Divination, fairies, fairy tales, Fiction, Fool's Dog App, Fool's Dog apps, Intuition, Jungian, Lisa Hunt, subconscious, Tarot, Tarot Cards, Tarot Deck, The Fairy Tale Tarot | 0 comments

The Faery Forest Oracle by Lucy Cavendish & Maxine Gadd

, 30 Jan 2021

THE DECK

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.

> 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.

In this specific deck, the contrast between the text meaning and the background is really poor, as you can see in the screenshot below. 

> 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.

Posted in Apps, Art, Artwork, Divination, fairies, Hayhouse, Intuition, Lucy Cavendish, Maxine Gadd, Motivational, Oceanhouse Media, Oracle, Self-Improvement, Tarot Cards, The Faery Forest Oracle | 0 comments