Inspirational Wisdom

Cheerful angels and fairies deliver wisdom,
healing energy and loving guidance
to help you rediscover passion and joy.

~ Quote from the back of the box

 

Title: Inspirational Wisdom

Author: Frances Munro

Illustrator: Judy Mastrangelo

Publisher: US Games Systems

 

• Fairies and Angels unite to encourage and guide you…

• The Inspirational Wisdom deck features 44 cards with illustrations of two of the most popular folklore entitles. This beautiful due brings wonders to those who love and admire fairies and angels.

• This card called “Celestial Angel” is quite a lovely card. In the image there is a boy and a girl who are gently embracing. Behind and by their sides are angels dressed in white and who are playing different instruments. The message that is printed at the bottom of the card reads, “There are angels all around you, yet you still feel alone. Let them guide you to a place of peace.” The summary of the message says for you not to feel alone, you are being watched and followed by your guardian angels.

• This particular card has to be my favorite from the deck. This card looks a bit shadowy. It’s not scary or creepy, just a tad eerie. This card is called “Fairy and the Magic Bubble”. In this card is a young fairy boy with jet black hair and pale skin that almost glows like pale green color. He has black wings and pointy ears. He sits on the ground and holds a black crystal ball and gazes at it. The message printed at the bottom of the card reads, “Look into the Magic Bubble and see the wonders of love and empowerment that await you.” The overall message of this card is that there is so much that you harbor and it is time to let it all out. Share it with others once you get a hold of it.

• The last card was one that I found very familiar and knew that it was taken from fairy tale stories. This one is called “Fairy Godmother”. This image reminds me of Cinderella, and here is why. There is a young, blond and benevolent fairy with blue butterfly wings. She waves her wand and stars rain on a young maiden who sits on the floor and is wearing an old tattered white dress with messy brown hair. Behind this girl there is a big orange pumpkin. Sound familiar? The message on the card reads, “Get out of your shell and allow yourself to sing out loud with the music of the day.” The overall message is to stop living the same habits. Lean and try new things.

• The back of the cards are not reversible. The image for the back of the cards is a lavender color. There are three rings of flower petals. In the center of the image there is a lavender butterfly.
• The texture of the cards are absolutely sturdy. This is a perk that US Games never forgets to provide. The cards are approximately a little over “4 x 6”.

• The storage box for this cards is sturdy! The box is a simple tuck box but that hold up and guards the cards pretty neat. There is a beautiful illustration that used for front cover of the box.

• The text booklet is written by Frances Munro. This booklet contains 60 pages. The booklet starts off with an “Introduction”. Then a section called “Using the Inspirational Wisdom Cards”. Followed by to simple card spreads called “Two-Card Reading” and “Single-Card Reading”. Then there is a small section called “The Meanings of the Cards”. For each card, each page provides a small image of the card at the top of the page, the title of the card below the image and a lengthy interpretation of the meaning of the card, and below that there is either a “prayer”, an “exercise, or an “affirmation”.
• The illustrations are done by Judy Mastrangelo. The illustrations do not appear to be done by CGI (computer based drawing). They seem to be done by hand with a combination of paints and a touch of pastels and chalks. The art and colors are soft on the eyes.

• This is a cute and interesting oracle deck that contains the collaboration of fairies and angels. Two creatures who are adored and looked upon by people who need guidance and affirmation. This oracle deck is suited for children or anyone who is interested in working with this beings. The message of the cards are printed at the bottom of the cards, which makes it easy to interpret. But if you want some additional detail, you may have to read the booklet. I’m also liking the title of the cards, they basically tells you the different angels and fairies that you will find in this deck. What I also like about is that there are familiar fairies and angels who you may have heard of before. To acquire this oracle deck, click here!

© 2010 – 2016 J. R. Rivera
Reproduction prohibited without written permission from the author.

Angel Inspiration Deck

Uplifting messages include advice, questions to
help you delve deeper, and affirmations
to help your connection…

~ Quote from the back of the box

Title: Angel Inspiration Deck

Author: Kim Dreyer

Illustrator: Kim Dreyer

Publisher: US Games Systems

• Angels are contacting you, they want to inspire you…

• The Angel Inspirational deck features 44 lively illustrated cards. These creatures are so gentile and tender, and are ready to embrace you. The first 8 cards in the deck are feature individual angels by name. For example, card number one features Archangel Michael. Six cards have a key words that gives you advice for guidance purposes, whole the remaining 36 cards provide a keyword. Nonetheless, all cards feature an illustration of an angel.

• The first card that I saw and couldn’t take my eyes off was card 3. Archangel Gabriel. The angel for this card is not a male, but a female! In this image, she appears to be sitting on her keens and wearing a beautiful white dress. She has lovely shoulder length blond hair and has hard white wings that spread out. She appears to be holding white lilies and the eye sight is point at another direction. When she appears in a reading, she is asking you to posse three things. The ability to be strong and push forward during a struggle, have joy within yourself and joy to spread around to others and know when to say the truth and be to truthful to yourself.

• One card that does not fully feature an angel is card 19. Cherish Innocence. In this card, there is a child who holds a candle and is looking at the flam. It appears that a small angel is emerging from the flame and spreads her arms at the child. Even though the child is the pain character in this image, the angel makes a minor appearance. When this card appears in a reading, learn how to see the world differently and learn how to lose any fears you may have.

• The last that I found so adorable was card 34. Kindness. In this card there is a female angel dressed in orange who has her yellow wings spread out. They almost look like the rays of the sun. She stands on the shore, close to the water where the sun is reflecting on. She holds a cute white puppy and hugs it with her arms, gently pressing it against her chest. When this card appears in a reading, it is telling you to be kind to others and yourself. Also, learn how to give without expectations and see the beauty in everything.

• The back of the cards are reversible, even if there are no reversal meanings attached to the cards. Unless you are willing to read the cards reversed. The image for the back of the cards is a dark blue background and the design are greenish-blue lines that run from top to bottom. There is a circle in the middle of the image and it has what looks like a clover.
• The texture of the cards are absolutely sturdy. This is a perk that US Games never forgets to provide. The cards a large which shows off the art and you are able to see the details in the art. The cards are approximately a little over “4 x 6”.

• The storage box for this cards is sturdy! The box is a simple tuck box but that hold up and guards the cards pretty neat. There is a beautiful illustration that used for front cover of the box.

• The text booklet is written by Kim Dreyer. This small booklet contains 60 pages. The first page has an “Introduction”. Next there is a section called “About the Angel Inspiration Cards” and “How to Use This Deck”. After that, you have the “Message from the Angels”. In each page you are provided the title of the card at the top, keywords, meaning of the name of the angel, a small detailed description of the interpretation of the card, then what the angel is asking you and what to tell yourself as affirmation. After this, you are provided with four spreads called, “One Card Message”, a two card spread called “An Angel by My Side”, a three card spread called “Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow” and a five card spread called “On the Wings of Angels”. Though this may not be part of the book, but in the deck you will be provided a chart titled “List of Concepts and their Corresponding Angel for Guidance”. On the left hand side of this chart are listed several “qualities” that look like keywords, in the center there’s a list of angels that are associated with those “qualities”, and in the right hand side are provided the card numbers. This list is long and it is front and back.

• The illustrations are done by Kim Dreyer. The medium for the illustrations appear to be made by computer. Even though they are, they are beautiful and vibrant!

• It is hard to for to work with an angel deck. Especially when some creators turn them into utter fluff and sugarcoat the heck out of them! There is one angel based oracle deck that I like and this oracle deck makes it the second that I like. One thing that I enjoyed that the creator did was feature female and male angels. There are some orange oracle decks that only feature females. It’s good to know that there is an equilibrium in gender, despite that most people say and claim that angel are androgynous. I beg to differ, an angel has the ability to manifest in any gender they please. I enjoy that this deck stays on the positive side regarding its interpretations and illustrations. The colors and artwork are vibrant and can be very therapeutic for most people. If you are interested in acquiring this deck, click here!

© 2010 – 2016 J. R. Rivera
Reproduction prohibited without written permission from the author.

Tarot of Dreams (mass market edition)

Tarot of Dreams invites us all to explore the web
of visual and emotional associations
that occur at the intersection of dreams and tarot.

~ Quote from the back of the box

 

Title: Tarot of Dreams

Author: Lee Bursten

Illustrator: Ciro Marchetti

Publisher: US Games Systems

• Tap into your dreams to gain some insight and answers.

• The Tarot of Dreams tarot deck features 83 sublime illustrated tarot cards, 5 being bonus cards. In these cards, the illustrations are messages from our dreams.

• Going through this deck there is a card that stood out and that I like. This card is called The Chariot. I must say that it is remarkably beautiful. In the traditional Rider Waite we see the horseman and his horses coming at us. Well, in this card you won’t see the horseman and his horses facing you, instead they are facing another direction. The horseman is shirtless and has a muscular body. He is also pale. He rides in a silver chariot that looks very futuristic. His horses are not black and white, instead they are between a white and silver color. In the traditional RW, the horseman rides on land, in this image he is riding through water. There is also a futuristic tower/building in the background. When this card is drawn, it advises to take things forward and to another direction.

• The next card that I found very interesting is the 8 of Cups. In the original RW, there is a man who is walking away with his back turned from eight cups. As he is walking, he appears to walk into a river. In this card, the image takes a different approach. Here you see a man who, like the man in the RW version, is walking away from eight cups. But here, he is walking up some stairs that lead him to walk into the moon. How about that? When this card appears in a reading is signifies that you must leave something behind that makes you feel incomplete so you can find whatever it is that you are missing.

• The last card that I liked was the Knight of Wands. In the original RW, you see a young knight dressed in yellow and red clothing and is riding a brown horse. In this card you will see a knight dressed in silver body armor. Instead of riding a brown horse, he is riding a dragon that spits fire out of his mouth. When the Knight of Wands appears in a reading, it is telling you to take a stance and follow what you are after.

• The back of the cards are reversible. The design for the cards appears to be the pattern/shape of the sun. There is brown pattern that has the rays of the sun, below it, it has a yellow ring and below that, it has a blue circle that is adorned with pretty patterns. If you own the self-published edition, you will know what I’m talking about. The only difference between the self-published edition and the mass-marker edition is that the back design has been zoomed in.

• The texture of the cards are very sturdy. They are not ridged nor flimsy. They have a matted feel. The shuffling holds up very well. Of course, what can you expect from US Games, high quality card stock. The size of the cards are approximately 3” x 5”.

• The storage box for these cards is sturdy! The box has a lid that you have to pull with your fingers in order to access the cards. The stack of cards are divided into two, one pile lays on the right hand side and the other on the left hand side. The book rests on top of the cards.

• The text book is written by Lee Bursten and it contains 112 pages. The book contains an introduction. A section called “Esoteric Symbols Systems in the Tarot of Dreams” will help you identify Hebrew letter and Astrological symbols and will also help you understand why they are incorporated in the cards. Then the next section called “Introducing the Major Arcana” will provide you with a little bit of in-depth information of the Major Arcana. After that section you will start to read the meanings and interpretations of the Major Arcana. After you are done reading the Major Arcana, you will come across a section called “Introducing the Minor Arcana”, much like the Introduction to the Major Arcana, you will be provided with a bit of in-depth about the Minor Arcana. This section will help you understand the why the cards (1-10) are numbered, how the Palace cards (which are bonus cards) are included and more about the court cards. Then you will jump into reading about the Minor Arcana. The Major and Minor arcana’s are laid out in a well-organized structure. For each card you will have the title of the card, keywords, a description and interpretation of the cards and the interpretation of the Hebrew letters and Astrological signs.

• The illustrations are done by renowned and fame fantasy artist Ciro Marchetti.

• Over all, I’m happy that this beautiful tarot deck has gotten a mass-market release. For some time this deck was self-published and it was difficult for some people to get a hold of a copy, but thanks to US Games, the whole world can get a copy. US Games did a fanatic job with the production and quality of the cards, as well as the designed. In the self-published edition there was a thick illustrated bored that would take up most of the space. It was beautiful, but a little bit to “busy” and was a tad distracting. But in this mass-market edition, is has a thin black border that does not disturb the images and helps you to stay focused on the illustrations. The books is well written and organized and it does include enough information to learn the cards. If memory serves me right, this is the first tarot deck that US Games has produced with a companion booklet. They are known to produce little white books in their tarot decks. In this tarot deck there are five bonus cards, four are called “Palace” and one is called “The Tree of Life” which is the Kabala pattern. So I must say that pleased and I do hope that many of their upcoming tarot decks have a companion book. Also, I want to point out that these cards do not contain gilded edges, only the self-published edition. But nonetheless, US Games did a fantastic job with keeping this deck as original as possible without altering the images. To buy yourself a copy of this tarot deck, click here!

© 2010 – 2016 J. R. Rivera
Reproduction prohibited without written permission from the author.