Try before you buy: today’s review is of “The Avian Oracle”, a deck of 45 cards created by Sandra Kynes, artwork by Gianna Rini. All opinions are my own.
You can purchase your own copy from the lovely team at Crossed Crow Books
My Star Ratings
1 star = disappointing / 2 stars = meh! / 3 stars = pretty good / 4 stars = terrific / 5 stars = sensational
The Artwork 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟
The Card Meanings 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟
The Guidebook 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟
Card Quality and Packaging 🌟🌟🌟🌟
Why you may be drawn to this deck
First up, I want to say that you do not need to have any previous interest in ornithology to enjoy this deck. In fact, you may even be more of a cat or dog person, than a bird lover! But if you are feeling curious about this deck, you’ll likely find it enriching, educational and of course, very insightful.
The artwork
What I love most about the art is the skillful blending of realism, symbolism, geometry and colour. I wanted to add a little note that there is not a lot of room to work on, within the space of an Oracle card, so some artists prefer to stick with just the one picture and perhaps use an outer border - but Ms Rinni’s brave attempt to fit different images. patterns and shapes into the one card works beautifully!
Each card has an outer border of blocked colour, sometimes with a repeated plant pattern within. Inside the border are geometric shapes, sometimes we find shapes within shapes, or symbolic images (such as a formation of flying geese). The centre of the cards have the birds, the realism makes one wonder if some of them are actual photographs!
I find the symbolic art mostly unambiguous, there’s no scratching our heads trying to decipher confusing images - which I feel is useful when you just want to pull a card and have your answer close at hand.
What I really enjoyed were the pops of colour in this deck. If you enjoy gentle gazing meditations, try one with this deck! The colours in these cards are very healing and restorative…I have used this deck a few times to sit with a nice cup of team, light a candle, pull a card and placed it in front of me for contemplation until my tea was finished. It was cathartic to let the colours and images to do their healing work, or witnessing any clairvoyant messages the cards inspired.
The Card Meanings
This deck is a master at weaving history, folklore, geography and science all together. And the author does this in a way that keeps us fascinated. The descriptions usually start with the bird itself, then flow into mythology and a little history, then finish up with additional points of interest about the bird, from what the feather colours might mean, to how past interpretation of birds has influenced, or changed, our views today.
It’s written in an informative way and it definitely engaged my attention span (which sadly seems to be dwindling in our sped-up world - does any other writer out there feel like our audiences are complaining more about having to reading through “too many” paragraphs?!). There wasn’t a moment when I felt the need to speed-read through the text.
I also liked the additional Magical Associations including the Elements, Seasons, Sabbats, Attributes and Aspects related to each bird. Having this type of information set out at a glance is useful, particularly for spellwork or meditations.
The Guidebook
I feel like the author has done a great job in offering us a really user-friendly guidebook. No matter whether it’s your first time using an Oracle Deck, or you’re a seasoned Reader, I appreciate any author’s reminder to all of us, that decks require spiritual cleansing. It’s a bit like flossing our teeth - our decks deserve better than accumulated energetic debris!
And Ms Kynes gives us even more guidance - we are offered practical insights on how Oracles actually work and we’re invited to attune the cards to our own energy. This is an incredibly important thing to mention, because our personal relationship to the actual deck copy that makes its way to us in the post, deserves the chance to become valuable and sacred. Not all writers include these important aspects.
We are also welcomed to try curated Oracle spreads linked to specific birds, which was both fun and insightful!
Card quality and packaging
While the cards feel a little flimsy, perhaps that serves as a good reminder to treat our decks with care and perhaps refrain from those rougher shuffles! The outer box is hard board, making the cards and guidebook feel protected inside. And I loved the “nest” feeling, where the cards themselves housed in a snuggly partition of their own, at the bottom, centre of the nest (see photo above).
Some final observations
The Appendices at the back got me excited! Seeing birds matched with different Goddesses, Zodiac signs, constellations, seasons and times of day shows just how much birds play a strong part in the world without - and within. I even got to learn about a new Goddess or two.
I also liked that the author often references other works…and while I’m not a “bird nerd”, I do “geek out” over further reading! Overall, this is a very thoughtful deck to have in your collection.
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