Deck Name: When My Soul Whispered Oracle deck
Creator(s): Author – Melissa Selvaggio, Illustrator – Jess O’Connor
Publisher & Year: US Games, 2021
Available: Author website and at Publisher Website
When My Soul Whispered Oracle deck is from Melissa Selvaggio with artwork by Jess O’Connor. There are 44 cards that are slightly longer than a standard poker deck with a matte gold finish on the edges. The backs have a honeycomb pattern that shifts from yellow to red. The artwork and color palette is minimalistic and it is lovely and works very well for the cards. The cards depict animals, plant-life, and mandalas. The names given to each card is a quality or distilled essence and not the name of the image depicted, for example the card with a cheery yellow sun on it is titled Joy. When you look up the images in the guidebook, they are listed alphabetically by name.
The guidebook for this deck is packed with information. When you read the introduction, you will find that the color palette was selected to represent the colors of the chakra system, which is the reason each card has a primary color used in the illustration. If you are familiar with the chakra system, then the colors will give you a clue to what energy center will be involved. If you aren’t familiar, the book will tell you which chakra is involved and will give you the progression of the chakra. It won’t teach you about chakras if you don’t know much about the system but it has helpful notes if you have a little familiarity. Don’t let a lack of knowledge about chakras be a reason not to pick up this deck. You could chuck the chakra correspondence and still have a good handle of the cards.
As mentioned, the guidebook offers a lot of information about each card. Each card entry has a small version of the image with the essence/name below it. There is a brief quote below the name and then a few paragraphs about the meaning of the card. The next part of the entry is four positive qualities and four negative qualities called My Light and My Shadow, respectively. The next section is entitled My Sacred Words and will call back to the early quote for the entry, along with tie into the theme of the card. The second to last piece of information is the above-mentioned chakra association, which lists the name of the chakra and has a colored mandala to also indicate its primary color. The last portion of the entry is the Raison d’être, it is the reason for being and gives some insight to the design elements selected for each card.
I love the art of these cards and the way they feel in my hands. The card stock is on the firmer side and doesn’t riffle shuffle as easily as I would prefer. I found that the cards were good for both a single draw and a multi-card pull. I did try the included Honeycomb Spread, a 6-card spread, in relation to a situation with my corporate gig. I found the cards did provide insight that was useful in evaluating the situation. The spread would also work for analyzing any situation and with any divinatory system.
One of the things that isn’t explicitly mentioned in the guidebook that I tried with the cards was using them to diagnose my own chakras. I asked questions like:
What chakra needs attention?
What can I do to support this chakra?
Sometimes the answer was literally the card itself. That Joy card can be about getting out in the sunshine, just as easily pay attention to your solar plexus. Something I often do is chakra breathing. When I may inhale through one chakra and exhale through another. I used these cards as guidance on working with individual chakras.
As much as I appreciated that there is a significant amount of information included in the guidebook, I feel like it is a little repetitive. I like the information that was provided, I felt it could have been more efficient in its transmission. The alphabetical listing in the guidebook by essence is a boon. A different decision could have been made, such as the chakra color or image depicted but I am grateful that using the essence as the listing makes it easy to find the information on each card. It also doesn’t require an index to find the information that is needed.
Overall, this is a wonderful oracle deck that I found to be beautiful to look at and informative in use. It is one I look forward to continuing using.
Published and available through US Games at http://www.usgamesinc.com. You can also find more works by the creator and artists at their respective websites: http://www.whenmysoulwhispered.com and http://www.liljtattoos.com.
