Hello, soul friends!
Today's review is covering a deck that caught my attention for it's beautiful artwork and it being another creation from Alana Fairchild. I couldn't wait to get my own deck and work with this beauty.
I hope you enjoy my review and generous pictures!
Isis Oracle
I got this deck as I kept seeing it and I just loved the artwork - since it was by Jimmy Anton and I love Alana's decks. I have found that each deck of hers I add to my collection becomes a fast favorite. I really enjoy her style and execution of the themes that she chooses.
Amazon's description of the Isis Oracle:
Apply the Ancient Mystery teachings of Isis in practical ways to help you through the challenges in your daily life. Allow this sacred priestess, initiate, magician, and healer to help you reactivate your own soul talents of healing, magic, and more as you journey with her from darkness and uncertainty into love and power.
About the Author
Alana Fairchild is the singing, dancing spiritual teacher from Australia. With students all around the world, Alana shares a message of love from the Divine Mother in all her many faces - compassionate and fierce, protective and wild -through unique events and her highly successful oracle decks, books and meditation CDs published through Blue Angel.
Alana's great passion is the human soul - protecting it, awakening it, igniting it with divine fire, so that each individual being can fulfill their potential and live the beautiful, creative, unique life that they were born to live.
You can visit Alana's official online home at www.alanafairchild.com.
Blue Angel is a boutique independent publishing house with a strong following of fans around the globe. Founded as a specialist bookstore and art gallery in 1997, in 2001 Blue Angel evolved into a publishing company with its first oracle decks, books, and CDs.
About the Illustrator
Jimmy Manton is an award-winning illustrator who has provided artwork for numerous Blue Angel publications. While he has been drawing since his little opposable thumbs allowed him to grasp a pen, he has been obsessed with all things sci-fi and fantasy. It runs in the family, too. Jimmy was named after James T Kirk, Star Trek’s indomitable captain of the USS Enterprise. For the last few years Jimmy concentrated on studying architecture and also the art of architectural model building. Jimmy’s work is featured in magazines including international architectural and gaming titles. He is based in Melbourne, Australia.
My Personal Review
This 44-card deck is meant to be used as an Oracle deck, allowing you to devise your own meanings of the cards, as well. The dimensions of the deck are 1.5 x 4.2 x 6.2 inches and published by Blue Angel Publishing and Llewellyn Publications.
The lift top box is beautiful. And similar quality to Blue Angel Publishing decks. I love the quality and also that the decks are a little larger than the size of the decks. They are not easy to transport in their boxes, but I love the quality of the boxes and the larger size.
There is also includes a wonderfully detailed 220 page guidebook, that is so in-depth, much like her other creations. I love how thorough and gentle the messages are. Alana goes through so much of the process of the channeled messages she receives for each card. I enjoy a lot of her work and her writings. They are peaceful and fierce. Her interpretations and knowledge of Isis has elevated this deck and transformed it into an incredible oracle to use in any situation. While I usually don't use themed decks for spreads, this deck is that versatile and accurate. The card backs are a scarab beetle and golden symbols. Reversals are up to the reader but are really not needed with this deck. The cards are high quality with a shiny, sticky feel that makes shuffling a little less than ideal. The card name and a quick reference is printed on the front of each card which corresponds to the keyword descriptions in the guidebook. There is nothing harsh, garish, or obscene in this deck. It can be used to read for any client, without upsetting them, or having difficulty to translate cards. The card stock is not overly thick, shiny, sticky to shuffle, and allow you get a nice bend without cracking the card stock. The finish really helps make the cards shuffle easily without scratching, but some of the cards do stick together when the deck is new. The finish is a little glossier than I like, but I have found that this is common in mass produced decks.
The size of the cards is an average oracle deck size for Blue Angel, so they are larger. I found it to be a bit difficult for my small hands to get a grasp on the deck at times.
It being an Isis Oracle deck, the cards incorporate metaphysical and spiritual themes that throwback to Egyptian imagery running through it. It really does lead one to using their intuition and also diving into all of the details in the cards. This may not be the easiest to just pick up for those who are not used to having to rely too heavily on intuition, but with practice and an open mind, it can quickly become a gentle favorite. That being said, it is down to earth and very user friendly.
The artwork is fantastic and as anyone that knows my preferences, will understand why I love this deck so much. Jimmy Manton's style is something that I truly enjoy and will more than likely be drawn to. The characters are strong, powerful, and modern without seeming campy. The imagery he chose fits very well with the interpretations of the deck and the multi layers in the artwork also allow for you to connect on many levels to the meanings.
Here are some extra pictures of this ethereal creation:
Overall, I think this is a gorgeous deck that is powerful with the messages and also allows one to connect to the power of Isis. It is fresh and in-depth. I highly recommend it!
My overall opinion is that this deck is a 4.5 star choice.
Artwork - 5 stars
Card stock - 3 stars
Ease - 4 stars
Guidebook - 4 stars
I hope that you enjoyed my deck review, and also enjoy other deck reviews that I add to this site. I have a passion for exploring new decks and also finding various ways of connecting to my intuition. I appreciate you checking out my site and taking the time to read my review.
Happy Reading!