BOOK & DECK REVIEW: Illuminara: Intuitive Journal with Cards

Illuminara: Intuitive Journal with Cards

Elaine Clayton

ISBN# 978-0-7643-3550-5

$29.95, hardcover spiral bound

http://www.schifferbooks.com

Have you ever wondered what it would be like to own a deck you could use for self-exploration & divination that had all of your own interpretations so that you wouldn’t have to depend on learning the interpretations from some book?  If so, then the Illuminara: Intuitive Journal with Cards is made for you.

If you practice journaling or tarot journaling, Illuminara adds a new dimension to one’s journaling pursuits.  Usually, when I journal I’m focused on a personal experience, dream, or tarot reading I’ve had.  When I tarot journal I make note of the date, lunar phase, question, cards received, & my thoughts & interpretations of those cards.  Illuminara is different in that it contains a set of 40 5 X 7” cards of a random collection of images taken from Elaine Clayton’s art she has created over the years.  Unlike a tarot or oracle deck, she does not provide any meanings or interpretations of any of the images.  Instead, she leaves that up to the reader, namely – you.

Elaine Clayton’s method is based upon Carl Jung’s theory of the “personal unconscious,” which consists of the symbols to which each of us has assigned personal meaning specific to each of us as individuals.  For example, we’re all familiar with the universal symbol for “peace.”  However, growing up a friend of mine had spent his early years on a farm.  He would always laugh when he saw a peace sign because to him it did not represent peace.  For him it was a chicken’s foot inside a circle.  In his case he had assigned his own meaning to a symbol that has the same meaning for many of us, but not for him.  

This is exactly what readers are meant to do with this deck.  Examine the cards, answer journaling prompts provided by the author on blank journaling pages (also provided) and derive your own meanings for these images based upon associations they bring up to the surface from your own memories and emotions.  By so doing you’re creating a system of self-exploration and divination that is unique to you.

The same image viewed by different people conjures up a different memory or association for each observer.  These memories, in turn, illicit different emotional reactions from each viewer.  This is the reason everyone’s meaning for each of these images will be unique to that person. 

The process of journal keeping helps a person to explore their outer world that then leads to discovery and exploration of their inner world.  We then begin to feel “intuitively connected and informed.  We are participating consciously with stimuli, rather than simply being hammered by stimuli” (Clayton, p. 12).  Furthermore, maintaining a journal helps us to create and reaffirm “our own pictoral language, the unique, dynamic, and wondrous visual inner library we bring with us wherever we go” (Clayton, p. 13). 

The cards consist of random images from everyday life; such as, a dog,  a girl looking up at birds in a tree, a plate of lemons, a tree stump, a sea turtle, an angel, a lifeguard, and an old couple, just to name a few.  The art style is eclectic and ranges in complexity from simple line sketches rendered in pencil, such as a boy seated at a table (see image above), to more involved line drawings rendered in pen and ink to full color watercolor and acrylic paintings.  The concept behind the cards is to choose one or a few each day.  Upon finding their corresponding page in the book (each card is numbered for ease of reference), the reader then answers the journaling prompts for the card they have drawn. You can draw the card consciously or intuitively, the choice is yours.  The prompts are the same for each image.

I chose the dog simply because it’s card number 1 and then I looked through all the images and chose the sea turtle because I love them.  The image of the dog reminded me of the dog I had while growing up.  She and I were together for fifteen years.  I ended up crying because of the feelings I allowed to surface for the first time in over twenty years.  Feelings of love, happiness, and grief overwhelmed me.  In the end I was very grateful for the experience and I found it to be healing.

For the sea turtle my reaction was very different.  I have always loved sea turtles from afar, never experiencing one in person until recently (except in an aquarium exhibit, of course).  This image brought up feelings of joy for me as I responded to the journaling prompts by writing about my experience last June during a snorkeling excursion in Maui, Hawaii.  It was one of the most fantastic and glorious experiences of my life.  Based upon my journaling exercise with these two cards, if I were to use this deck in a reading and these cards appeared the dog for me would represent loyalty and friendship, but also loss and grief.  If the sea turtle appeared in a reading it would represent great joy and the realization of a life-long dream.  So you can see how once you’ve completed the journaling prompts for each card that these cards can be a successful tool of self-exploration and even divination.

The book itself is spiral bound within a hard cover and consists of a brief section that runs only twenty pages.  More is not necessary due to the author’s system being very straight-forward and uncomplicated.  The remaining 110 pages consist of a color reproduction of each card accompanied by a journaling space on the following page and thirty blank “Psychic Journal” pages conclude the book.  Packaging consists of a hardback book with internal spiral binding so the book will lie flat in order to facilitate the journaling process.  The cards are housed in a large pocket inside the back cover.  This is a unique approach that I feel many people would find fun, exciting, and helpful.  

~ Nefer Khepri, Ph. D., R. M-T.

IsisRaAnpu@aol.com

http://www.magickal-musings.com

DECK REVIEW: AboraMana: Channeled Goddess Wisdom Cards

AboraMana:  Channeled Goddess Wisdom Cards 

Neithard Horn

2011

Schiffer Publishing, Ltd.

www.schifferbooks.com

ISBN #: 978-0-7643-3696-6

USD: $34.99

Product Specifics: 

·         Cards:  4 ½” X 3”, heavy card stock, nicely laminated

·         Guidebook:  8 X 5 ½”, 176 pages, glossy paper, B&W full size images of each card

·         Box:  11 ¾ X 6 X 1 ¾”, sturdy & laminated with a hinge-style lid with magnetic closure

The AboraMana is not your typical goddess oracle deck.  Firstly, the author is male and his goal for this deck was to create an oracular system that would help the women of today find their place in the world and to help them assert their inner power.  Secondly, the deck was not created in some nice artist’s studio, not even a loft or a space in a room set aside for the creation of art.  Neithard Horn created the deck via channeling from the Goddess in a cave on the Carnary Islands and also on a beach on the Hawaiian island of Kua’i.  Lastly, the manner in which this deck operates is very different from most others.  As one who has consulted various tarot and oracular decks over the past 33 years I grew accustomed to approaching a deck with a question, problem, or a situation about which I needed more information.  When using a deck I am looking for answers.  The AboraMana does not provide the reader with the answers itself.  Instead, the interpretations of the cards are written in such a way (remember, also that this is all channeled material throughout) as to ask questions of the reader.  If you take the time to examine the questions and formulate your own answers, therein lies your answer or solution.  In that way, this deck is an excellent tool for guided self-examination.

There is only one lay out discussed in the book and the author does not say whether the deck is useful with typical tarot lay outs or not.  As an experiment, I used the deck with a number of typical tarot lay outs, including the 3-card past-present-future, the 3-card body-mind-spirit, and the Celtic Cross.  At first, the cards did not seem to wish to cooperate.  However, after a few prayers to the Goddess explaining I just wanted to see if the deck could be used another way and asking for Her permission, suddenly, the deck worked just fine in these traditional lay outs.  I do suggest that if you purchase this deck and wish to use traditional tarot lay outs with it that you first ask the Goddess for permission.  I tried for over an hour to use these cards traditionally, without any success until I began to pray to Her.  Some may consider this to be hokey, but that was my experience with this deck, for what it’s worth.

The deck has 89 cards, but it is not organized like a tarot deck.  There are groupings of cards that can be construed as suits:  the Houses of Air, Fire, Water, Earth, & House of AboraMana.  The author suggests laying out the entire deck in the order he specifies in the guidebook. You will need a large table or counter for this exercise.  If you do this, and I highly recommend that you do, you will be able to see connections among the cards within each House, and also further connections between the cards within each subset of each House.  This exercise will aid in your understanding of the cards and how they work together as a cohesive system. 

The Houses are further sub-divided into various sets, which also are organized into cohesive groupings.  They are as follows:  The Jokers (Fates), Your Fighting Spirit, The Hall of God, The Matrix That is the Human Soul, The Science of Physics, The Pillars of the Universe and Time, Magic Physics, The Four Elemental Houses, The Science of Biology, Life-Death, AboraMana, Magic Biology, Devi and Deva, Humankind, FirstWoman and FirstMan, The Temple, Religion and Ceremony, You, and Who are You?  Define  Yourself.  As you can surmise from the titles of the various sets there is an inherent hierarchy within the deck as it moves from universal divine forces through the manifestation of the Universe and of Time, and on into Physics, the Elements, physical life (Biology), onwards to humankind, religion, and finally the big question of who we are.  I found that once I laid out all the cards on my dining room table that the entire exercise, although a bit tedious at first, was quite enlightening and it helped me to work better with the cards, so I highly recommend following the author’s guidelines on page 16 of the guidebook in laying out all the cards in the deck before you begin to use the deck for readings.  You’ll be glad you took the time to do this.

As mentioned, the guidebook only contains one layout, which is similar to the Tree of Life lay out found in many tarot books, but the lay out works a bit differently than the Tree of Life.  The card interpretations provided in the guidebook have no reverse meanings, with the sole exception of a single card, Number 17, that appears twice in the deck with the second version of the card being a reversed image of the first entitled, “The Mirror.”  Interpretations pose various questions to the reader or suggest areas of the reader’s life that ought to be further examined.  This is basically a non-predictive oracle.

As a mother I cannot recommend that minor children use this deck simply because there is a great deal of nudity in it with graphic depictions of male genitalia.  Now, the nudity does lend itself to the interpretation of the card so it’s not nudity for nudity’s sake as a number of card interpretations do focus on sexuality.  However, my daughter is just 12 and although she is reading her own tarot cards, personally, I would not want her to ever view this deck.  Then, that’s just me and everyone has different views on the matter.

The artwork itself is visionary in nature.  Created in a cave on a tropical island and later also on a beach, the images, as well as the interpretations, are all channeled.  The images have a dreamlike quality to them.  Cards with bright colors are balanced by others with earthier tones.

The cards shuffle well and although they are highly laminated (they will last through countless shuffling), in the humid environment of Houston where I live the cards do not stick to one another. 

Regarding packaging, Schiffer sets a higher standard and I sincerely wish other publishers of tarot and oracle decks would follow their example.  The cards and guidebook come packaged in a very sturdy and strong cardboard box that is also heavily laminated.  The lid is hinged with a magnetic closure and it closes perfectly every time.  Within the box the cards and guidebook lie side by side.  Both the box and cards will last through years of regular use. 

ADDENDUM: Journey Oracle deck review - additional observations

I don't mean to go on and on about this deck, and I won't, but I felt compelled to say a few more things about it that have been inspired by events at my home and also by tweets with Janet Boyer on Twitter, who also enjoys this deck.

Firstly, my 12 year old daughter is interested in tarot.  A few months ago she asked me to buy her a deck.  She now has two in her collection - Selena Lin's Manga Tarot and Ciro Marchetti's Gilded Tarot.  Prior to receiving her first deck I did what I do with all my tarot students. I sat her down and took her through the major arcana card by card asking her to tell me how the card made her feel.  I use an old Robin Wood deck for this for which I have blacked out the card titles.  My daughter would say one to three words on each card.  For example, I remember her words for the Empress were: pregnant, rich, and loving.  A typical student takes 2 class sessions to make it through the majors.  My daughter got through them in about 20 minutes. At that point I determined she was indeed ready for her own deck & proudly bought it for her.  She has since been learning the tarot on her own making it very clear she doesn't need her old mom to show her the ropes.

When I get a new deck she must, of course, examine it and attempt to use it.  While working with The Journey Oracle for my review the deck kept disappearing on me.  I would always find it in her room.  When she found out I was writing a review she said, "oooh, let me write it!  I love this deck!"  I told her when she's a bit older she can get her own blog and review decks on her own.  She was thrilled with the idea.

Janet Boyer & I have been tweeting back & forth about the deck and how powerful a "girl tool" it can be.  I wish now I had thought to stress that in my original review.  The cards convey very positive traits of strong, determined women who go out & achieve something with their life.  Of course, to remain balanced, there are also other cards of not-so-great traits, but every good deck does have balance & sometimes the situations of our lives do bring out the worse in even the strongest and most determined person, regardless of gender.

In using the deck (it has now permanently disappeared from my office!), my daughter has been telling me quite excitedly that the deck is so very accurate and she loves the messages it has been giving her.  Interestingly, in my original review I stated that when I read about her she would come up in the reading as The Radiant One.  After she had used the deck avidly for a couple of days I asked her if she was seeing any repetitive cards.  Immediately she said, "Yeah!  The Radiant One is coming up for me all the time.  I thought it was dented or something, but there's nothing wrong to make it turn up so much." 

I received a tweet from Janet Boyer who tweeted, "The Journey Oracle is full of girl power.  I don't blame your daughter for wanting her OWN copy!  LOL"  Janet ~ you have my thanks for inspiring me to write a bit more about this lovely little deck.

Yes, this deck is indeed brimming over with girl power for both young and older girls.  Now that my daughter is in school The Journey Oracle is back in my office.  However, I'm sure later on once she's back home this deck will once again disappear.  It could be worse.  At least right now she's only 12 and not big enough to start borrowing my clothes!  Not that she ever would, mind you.  In her opinion I have absolutely NO sense of fashion.  However, I know a great deck when I see one.

REVIEW: The Tarot Game

The Tarot Game, by Jude Alexander

Schiffer Publishing Ltd., 2010

www.schifferbooks.com

ISBN #: 978-0-7643-3448-1 

$39.99

A unique concept, The Tarot Game consists of a game board, 78 cards containing keywords for each tarot card, 3 dice, 8 polished stone game pieces, 90 blessing coins, and laminated reading sheets that players fill out during the game.  In order to play the game a traditional tarot deck must be used.  The game does not come with one. 

Unlike other games, the point of this game is not to win, but to end up with your own reading by game’s end.  The game ends once you have filled your reading card.  There are three types of reading cards:  Novice (little to no experience with tarot), Enthusiast (can read tarot for self, collects decks), and Adept (readers tarot fluently, professional reader).  I do recommend that should you purchase The Tarot Game that you copy the cards.  The cards come laminated and we had great difficulty in finding pens that would write on them.  We ended up using separate sheets of paper. 

Each time you play The Tarot Game you begin by writing an issue or question on your reading card.  This applies to all three levels of players.  Game play commences as players roll the dice to move their polished stone pieces along the body of a coiled snake toward the center of the board.  Spaces on the board are named for each of the 22 major arcana cards, beginning with The Fool and ending with The Universe.   When landing on a major arcana spot the player chooses a number from 1 – 5.  Another player then reads a question for the major arcana card upon which they landed that corresponds to the number chosen at random by the player.  The player then answers the question.  

 

There are four other types of spaces players can land on:  Star, Question Mark, Spiral, and Infinity symbol.  The Star, Question Mark, and Spiral all have cards to match them on which are written various tarot-related activities.  When landing on one of these spots the player chooses a card from the appropriate pile and does what the card suggests.  The Infinity spots on the board are “free play” – the player is allowed to do whatever they choose, including getting up and fixing themselves a snack while the other players wait to take their turn.  Play ends when the reading card is filled.  You then interpret the cards you received during play so the end result is that each player receives a reading.  They can read their own cards, or the Adept player can offer to interpret the tarot cards other players received.

 

The text on the back of the box reads, “Start the party …  Tea, wine, or margaritas:  you decide!  The Tarot Game encourages storytelling and laughter, providing a fun environment to address life’s issues.  … Through the Tarot wisdom, players realize lessons of the past, see the truth of present circumstances, and refine choices for the future.  Each play of the game creates a meaningful experience, and players attain a complete Tarot card reading at the game’s end.  Professional and experienced readers can organize and facilitate game parties, offering in-depth interpretations for the readings …”

 The Tarot Game is indeed a great game for like-minded adults to play at a party.  It’s a great way to get to know your friends better, but some may find a few of the questions a bit intimidating. It will be up to each player just how much information they wish to divulge while playing the game.  Will you keep your cards close to your vest or let it all hang out?  The decision is yours.

 The instructions say that The Tarot Game can also be used by an individual as a meditative tool, so this is how I first approached it.  I honestly did not think this would work out too well.  My 12-year-old daughter was having trouble in social studies and the teacher ended up being the real source of the problems.  My question revolved around asking for advice on how best to approach this issue so that I could obtain a satisfactory outcome for my child.  I chose the Adept reading sheet, which provides the player with six reading positions to fill out.  By the time I had my card filled out not only did The Tarot Game result in giving me an actual reading, but it was very pertinent and insightful concerning my issue.  I went on to use the insights gained to better handle the teacher, involve the principle, and get this problem straightened out for my daughter.  I must say I was VERY impressed with how well The Tarot Game worked as a meditative tool when used by an individual.   I will be definitely using it again in that manner for myself.

 

The next stage of using The Tarot Game consisted of involving my family as guinea pigs.  My husband was the Novice.  He has no experience with tarot, nor is he interested in it.  Our daughter was the Enthusiast.   A few months ago she asked for her first tarot deck, already owns two decks, and has been teaching herself to read the cards.  I played the role of the Adept as I am a professional reader with over 25 years of experience.

 

My husband, being totally unfamiliar with tarot, felt uncomfortable with some of the questions, but that also had to do with the company in which we were playing the game.  There are just some things a parent does not divulge in front of their child, so some questions were skipped and others read or a different card chosen.  Despite that, we enjoyed playing the game and by the end each of us had received a tarot reading, which I then interpreted for my husband and daughter.  They both found it to be a very interesting experience.   My husband, as the Novice, enjoyed it and was thankful there was an Adept playing along who could then interpret his cards for him as he was clueless.  Despite it all, he had fun and was a very good sport about the whole thing.  My daughter asked a question she had earlier asked of her tarot deck.  When the game ended she looked very perplexed.  When I asked her what was wrong she said that her deck had given her positive cards in response to her question, but that during the game she had received what she considered to be negative cards (6 of Swords, 5 of Cups, the Devil).  However, when I helped her interpret her cards she was amazed that she was still receiving the same message she had gotten when using her own deck.  This proved to me the validity of The Tarot Game as not just a game, but a divinatory tool.

 If you’re a reader and you are looking for a whole new way to give yourself a reading, The Tarot Game will help you accomplish that.  A roll of the dice determines the spaces you land on and the cards you receive for your reading.  You have no control whatsoever over which cards end up in your reading.  If you’re interested in tarot and have like-minded friends, this game is also for you.  It can be used to get a party going and many of the questions in the game serve to help break the ice between people who may not know each other very well.  I haven’t used The Tarot Game within a party context, but I would figure, based upon the type of questions it asks of the players, that by game’s end a sense of camaraderie between the players would be established. 

 For me personally, The Tarot Game will be a very powerful meditative tool that I look forward to using many times in the future.