#oracle deck
-Oracle Cards (2)-
Second card in the series is Ra, and one that is incredibly important in our house. He is both present and intense as the sun in the sky, and his gaze sees all that passes before it.
I should be creating 1-2 cards a week. And will post them on here once I feel they are established and set. The final cards will be printed with gold accents, and those versions you can see on my Patron as I work on them.
If you want to see what pieces I’m working on, what is new and up and coming as well as get first chances at any of my work, please follow me on our Patron.
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Senebty,
Iseqi
Daughter of Amun-raandSet
Beloved of Hethert-SekhmetandHeru-Wer
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-Oracle Cards (1)-
This has been a project I’ve been toying with for some time. And one that will take awhile to see to the end. I started with the Bennu as a symbol of creation, and the piece that starts the creation of this deck. Its call helps to determine the form the deck will take, and is a personal symbol of my own that I hold dear.
I should be creating 1-2 cards a week. And will post them on here once I feel they are established and set. The final cards will be printed with gold accents, and those versions you can see on my Patron as I work on them.
If you want to see what pieces I’m working on, what is new and up and coming as well as get first chances at any of my work, please follow me on our Patron.
Patron
Senebty,
Iseqi
Daughter of Amun-raandSet
Beloved of Hethert-SekhmetandHeru-Wer
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What you need:
Playing card deck - you should remove the face cards since they don’t have a lot of clear surfaces to write on, and you can use multiple decks. I only used one because this deck is probably older than me and I wanted them to be the same coloration on the back and the paper itself.
Sharpies (fine tip) - do not use the sharpies made for writing on paper, the ones sold as pens for schoolwork. The ink does not set on plasticized or waxed card surfaces and it will smear unless you’re an art nerd like me and happen to have charcoal fixative on hand.
Something to take notes on and a computer - you’ll need to to a little planning.
Do you have or want a theme for your deck? During this tutorial, I’m going to be drafting a series of example ten card decks to show you what you can do with your cards. If you want a theme, pick one. If you’re having trouble coming up with one, think on these things:
- Do you already have any tarot or oracle decks? What would you want different from them? - My answer was deck without any gender or human figures. It’s easy to do that when you’re drawing them yourself.
- What type of witchcraft do you like the most? We’ve all seen those posts with types of witchcraft floating around. Now they’re useful. You like storms? Make a weather deck. You like nature? Make a wild things deck. You like rocks? Make a geology deck. You like music? Make a lyrics/band themed deck. I could go on.
- Is this going to be a serious deck or not? Do you like shitposting? Make a tarot deck like that. You want a little more strict answers than ‘golden age of memes’ or ‘leroy jenkins’? Make a serious deck. (For the record, Leroy Jenkins would make a great chaos card.)
- Do you want a fandom deck? Use characters as inspiration. Do you want a religious deck? Use the pantheon - hellenics have the edge on this, guys. So many deities.
My Example Decks
- Monty Python fandom deck.
- Candle Scents deck.
- Very Serious deck.
- Dead Artists deck.
Note: The card art doesn’t matter right now. Do not worry about that.
Pick a few card names to start you off. In my personal deck, I started off with Light, Dark, Ritual, and Chaos. Figure out what kind of ideals or things are the most important in your deck them and write them down. Try for four at the very least.
My Example Decks
- Monty Python fandom deck - The Holy Grail, The Flying Circus, Not Dead Yet, Minister of Silly Walks
- Candle Scents deck - Generic Vanilla, Did They Put A Cupcake In This, Too Spicy Musk, Overwhelming Floral
- Very Serious Deck - Life, Death, Change, Motion
- Dead Artists Deck - Vincent Van Gogh, Pablo Picasso, Salvador Dalí, Frida Kahlo
These are basic cards that you think the deck cannot exist without. It should be easy to come up with just four ideas like that.
Look at your seed cards and figure out what’s missing. For my personal deck, I realized that light and dark are two opposing elements and then I decided to add in the other elements to the deck. Try and find connections between the cards you currently have. I’m picking four more in my example decks, but you should try for as many as you can come up with.
My Example Decks
- Monty Python fandom deck - Some Call Me Tim, Castle Anthrax, Nasty Pointy Teeth, Dead Parrot
- Candle Scents deck - Black Candle Named Onyx (Is That Even A Smell), Doin’ Peachy, The Ocean Does Not Smell Like This, Is Sandalwood Real
- Very Serious Deck - Barrier, Attack, Mirror, Between
- Dead Artists Deck - Auguste Rodin, Marcel Duchamp, Sol LeWitt, Louise Nevelson
Are you stuck? Can’t come up with any more? Good. You wouldn’t be reading this tutorial if you had it all down. I’m assuming that like me, you had more than half the deck left by the time you were done with your first spurt of ideas.
Separate one or two suits from the rest. I used clubs, but you should use the one that has the most cards currently blank. These cards are going to be negative cards. They are going to be ‘bad’ cards. Be sure to write ONLY negative things on them.
Look at your cards, see if there are any that have obvious opposites that you’re missing. If you have a balance card, make sure you have an imbalance card. If you have a protection card, make sure you have a weakness card. If you have a flesh/physical self card, make sure you have a spirit card. So on and so forth. I am adding one more card to my example decks - putting me to nine of ten.
My Example Decks
- Monty Python fandom deck - Life of Brian (let’s be real this movie is horrible except for the sperm song)
- Candle Scents deck - Inexplicable Habañero Pepper-Scent
- Very Serious Deck - Failure
- Dead Artists Deck - Paul Gaughin (don’t get me started about “Spirit of the Dead Watching”)
Still stuck? More cards left? Google, my friend. Google like the wind. If you’re doing anything that references existing items, people, or characters, go to wikipedia and page jump through your sources. If you are doing more of an abstract, serious deck, look up lists of herb meanings, of stone meanings, of personality traits, of checklists and character creators. Most of those will give you ideas.
Repeat the steps above until you’re done. Remember this. It’s your personal deck. It’s okay if it doesn’t make sense right now. It’s okay if you choose things randomly. It’ll work out for you, and push comes to shove, you just have to buy a new deck of playing cards and start over.
My Example Decks
- Monty Python fandom deck - Hamsters and Elderberries
- Candle Scents deck - Unscented
- Very Serious Deck - Success
- Dead Artists Deck - Georges Braque
Artwork. Symbolism is your friend. Unless you are an artist, chances are you don’t want to illustrate anything from my example decks above. Choose something that symbolizes each of your card concepts, or choose a pattern that you think might give the feeling. Straight lines for obedience/rules/rituals, jagged for rebellion/chaos/change. Circles for continuity. Triangles for strength. Squares for containment. Rectangles for trade. Squiggles for fluidity. Hearts for love. Symbolism.
Suits. It doesn’t really matter what concepts go on which cards, but if you want to make sure that only positive stuff goes on red-suits and negative stuff goes on black-suits, be my guest. Don’t sweat it if the suits don’t all match up with the concepts.
But what do they MEAN? Here’s the tough part that I nearly forgot to write up. Guess what? You’re going to use these before you decide on what the meanings are. Yes. That’s right. Open up your ask boxes, recruit your friends. Use the hell out of these. Develop your own meanings. I’ll flesh out my entire example decks below to help out, but the meanings are ultimately yours. Be sure not to declaw the negative cards, though. You need some bad news for good news to matter.
Finished Example Decks. The definitions are short and sweet, but you can go as in depth as you want to.
Monty Python fandom deck
- Hamsters and Elderberries - need for protection, attacks
- The Holy Grail - truth, justice, the arthurian way
- The Flying Circus - repetition, practice
- Not Dead Yet - endings, futility
- Minister of Silly Walks - government, control in chaos
- Some Call Me Tim - wisdom, enlightenment, rams horns
- Castle Anthrax - confusion, chaos, women between 16-20
- Nasty Pointy Teeth - danger in disguise, threat
- Dead Parrot - arguments, anger
- Life of Brian - no, don’t bother, I hate you
Candle Scents deck
- Unscented - no answer
- Generic Vanilla - reliability
- Did They Put A Cupcake In This - perfection, righteousness
- Too Spicy Musk - trying too hard, bad decisions
- Overwhelming Floral - hidden things, secrets
- Black Candle Named Onyx (Is That Even A Smell) - confusion
- Doin’ Peachy - good things, growth
- The Ocean Does Not Smell Like This - cleansing, rites and rituals
- Is Sandalwood Real - is it really though?
- Inexplicable Habañero Pepper-Scent - chaos, madness
Very Serious Deck
- Success - winning, success, good
- Life - beginnings, new
- Death - endings, old
- Change - differences, disagreement
- Motion - effort, movement
- Barrier - blockages, prevention
- Attack - damage, fighting
- Mirror - introspection
- Between - balance, imbalance, stuff
- Failure - no
Dead Artists Deck
- Georges Braque - too late for this research
- Vincent Van Gogh - probably sadness and confusion
- Pablo Picasso - unappreciated genius
- Salvador Dalí - madness and math
- Frida Kahlo - bad bitch best bitch
- Auguste Rodin - he did the thing? with the things
- Marcel Duchamp - toilets and glass frames with stuff
- Sol LeWitt - where is my education, what is it worth
- Louise Nevelson - something about spiders oh wait wrong artist
- Paul Gaughin - colonialism and taking advantage of women
Feel free to use any of my example decks if you want to. I may make a dead artists deck, but not right now. I need to do some real research first. (Can you tell it’s 12:30 AM and I haven’t slept well in nearly a week?)
A Compendium of Witches Oracle is LIVE!✨
I’m really excited to finally share this with you - it’s been months of work behind the scenes and I can’t wait to hear what you think about it!
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The Revolving Time oracle deck by Aura Ying, also known as Auralogick, is up for post-campaign pre-orders! This deck is a hybrid of tarot and oracle cards, with a major arcana, court cards, and oracle cards that focus on the timing of events, rather than just reflective or affirmative divination. The deck is 51-cards 350gsm with matte black edges. You can pre-order the deck as well as all the accessories offered in the campaign, including an altar cloth, deck bag, pendulum, and spinning enamel pin.
Epitaffio, a Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure oracle deck, begins their leftover sale today at 5PM EST! This deck was originally funded through Kickstarter and has now been fully fulfilled. The deck features 40 cards based on JJBA part 5 on 350GSM card stock at standard tarot size, gilded edges, and 2 piece rigid box. A separate physical guide book can be purchased for this deck that is about 6″ x 8″, but all decks include a PDF guide book. Other merch like charms and stickers are also available!
Buy the deck and visit the project!
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Correspondences for the Month of Elul⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
I call Elul the moon of Making Space.
Each month of the Jewish year is packed with rich correspondences for sacred arts and spiritual alignment/growth.⠀
Most of these come from one book - the Sefer Yetzirah. It is one of the most ancient mystical/magickal texts in Jewish tradition, far older the kabbalah. It is also from a different school than kabbalah, but the original kabbalists did pull aspects of their philosophy/theology from it.
The alignment of the elements with the seasons comes from Rabbi & Rav Kohenet Jill Hammer’s - The Jewish Book of Days. There she teaches that each season has an inner and outer element - the one in need and the one of abundance. Using the classical symbols for the elements, paired with this teaching, provides the opportunity for the creation of a new series of sigils. Above the woman (symbol for Betulah/Virgo) is the sigil I created for Air within Earth which are the inner and outer elements of the season.⠀⠀⠀⠀
One of the correspondences that the founders of Kohenet Kohenet: The Hebrew Priestess Institute, developed early on, is aligning the Netivot with the Months of the Year.
Our Netivah (singular) of Elul is the Tzovah or Shrinekeeper - here shown in her three suits from the Eht/Aht: a Netivot Wisdom Oracle deck: Vessel, Offering, Ally.⠀
In my #NamingtheMoons I call Elul the Moon of Making Space. That is the gift of the Tzovah! The transformation of any space into a sacred one.
The amazing YA recently posted on IG about the month of Elul saying this, “As we call to our beloved on the field, we call to the return of our beloved within ourselves. As we clear the space, and we let things be we make space to see the lovely within. And tending the shrine that we are. "⠀⠀
This is the essence of the Tzovah. Elul is also a gateway month between the year that was and the year that will be, and the Tzovah can also be understood as the guardian of the gateway.⠀⠀
Want more?
For more on the month of Elul see: https://www.patreon.com/posts/20731608
(Patrons only)⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
Like what you see? ⠀Support this work at http://patreon.com/devotaj_arts⠀⠀
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Last Day!
If you live in the US and want to pre-order a deck at the Kickstarter price of $36 (plus shipping) – today is the last day to do it!
PRE-ORDER TODAY!
If you don’t live in the US, and want to pre-order – direct message or email me ([email protected]). I can’t do the full pre-order for outside US because I don’t know the final shipping price, and I don’t want you to pay too much. Non-US residents can reserve a deck at the $36 by just letting me know to add them to the list.
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Pre-Order: 5 Days Left (7/30/2018)!
Only 5 days left to pre-order the Eht/Aht: a Netivot Wisdom Oracle deck! (see profile link).
If you missed the Kickstarter,thenpre-ordering not only guarantees you get the deck at the Kickstarter price of $36 (plus shipping), but also that you get a deck!.
This is a limited print run, and I don’t know when I’ll do another one.
As I can’t do the pre-order with international shipping, I am reserving a few decks for folks that have reached out about that.
But otherwise, if you REALLY want one --you should pre-order.
Officially they will ship in November 2018, but I’m working hard to get them out sooner than that.
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3 days left and we’re 71% of the way there.
At the $36 Reward Level we need 30 more people.
Have I told you why 4236, besides that about what I figured out it would take to do a print run of $250?
In Gematria (Jewish Numerology)
42 = Immah - Mother
36 is double “chai” - life (18), and Elah “goddess”
If you want to see this project get funded and haven’t told someone else about it yet – now is the time!
If you’ve been waiting until the last minute…Now is the time.
New Reward Level
Many of you have asked how you can get the deck and a reading from me. I didn’t want to promise too many readings, because I know I’ll be really busy over the summer and fall. But I can manage 10 of them. If you are already a backer and want to change your pledge – you can! If you haven’t backed this yet, I hope this encourages you to do so.
Social Justice
I know there is a lot going on in the world right now. And if you are the type of person who would back this project, you are probably giving what you have to help refugees, immigrants, civil rights, gender equality, and so much more. This project also helps fund womxn doing that work to – by donating to the Kohenet scholarship fund.
This deck also portrays as diverse a range of what it can mean to be a woman, as I could manage. The goal was to present as diverse a vision of ‘Womxn’ and Feminine Divine as possible. The roots of this deck are in Jewish teachings, but I wanted to be sure anyone who identifies as a woman could see herself somewhere in this deck. It was also a priority to ensure that the deck was not just “Ashka-normative” – meaning focused on just stereotypical imagery of White, Eastern European Jewry. Being Jewish can be a religious identity, ethnic/racial identity, and a tribal identity.
I tried to incorporate gender presentation, body type diversity, age, as well as race/ethnicity. While in some cases I couldn’t find imagery to incorporate what I was looking for - I tried to leave somethings “unseen” - not to hide anything - but to leave the potential for you to fill in what should be there.
You can’t begin to know how much it means to me that you would see this project as part of that work of Tikkun Olam (repairing the world), and choose to use some of your hard earned “green energy” to back this project.
—————
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What is Your Card of the Week?
Take a screen shot to find out what your message from the Netivot is for the week!
Like what you see?
Eht/Aht (את): a Netivot Wisdom Oracle Card Deck
A feminist oracle card deck based on the teachings of Kohenet - a Jewish womxn’s movement, clergy training program, and sisterhood.
Support this deck on Kickstarter!
Netivot Oracle is ½ Funded!
Holy wow! We’re ½ way there!
If you are into this deck, please help spread the word to help make this happen!
Eht/Aht (את): a Netivot Wisdom Oracle Card Deck
A feminist oracle card deck based on the teachings of Kohenet - a Jewish womxn’s movement, clergy training program, and sisterhood.
All the details are here: http://kck.st/2KBGJki
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A dream is 1/60th part of prophecy
Sivan is a month of “receiving” and prophecy, and the Talmud says that a dream is 1/60 part of prophecy. ⠀
My dreams have been very active the past few weeks. ⠀
It seems like it may be time to start dream journaling again to give them the respect they are requesting and do my best to full receive the messages the Divine is trying to impart.⠀
If you don’t know about Vanessa Ochs’ fabulous book, “The Jewish Dream Book” - it’s so worth checking out. She not only unpacks Jewish dream practices, but also uses those historical practices to weave new ways of Jewish dreamwork. ⠀
Maybe I’ll write out this new blessing she crafted and set it on my altar with the Neviah offering card, and a clear quartz and amethyst.⠀
Blessed is the Source ⠀
of all illumination and all wisdom, ⠀
who guides us in using the knowledge ⠀
we have acquired in our dreams ⠀
for sacred purposes.⠀
~Vanessa Ochs⠀
And of course, if you’d like to make my dream of publishing the Eht/Aht: a Netivot Wisdom Oracle deck happen – it’s funding on Kickstarter now.
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Little Visions, three mini sized tarot decks now on kickstarter
Here’s a peek at the special edition of my Seed and Sickle oracle deck! Including a gorgeous display tin, sketchbook, velvet bag, and a whole new oracle deck This one inspired by my beloved TTRPGs - I’ll share some videos of how shiny they are soon!
What else have I been up to while I’ve been gone? Well, I’ve published a second book, and my first oracle deck is out in November! It comes with two guidebooks; one for encouraging activity and the other focused on mental health. As always with me, all of the art and meanings are inspired by the myths and legends of plants and herbs; it’s pretty bright and pretty wholesome!
Part 1: Why Should You Cleanse a New Tarot Deck? And How to Cleanse Your First Tarot Deck?”
When you are working with Tarot, you are working with energy.
I mentioned in my Blog post “Is Tarot Witchcraft or Evil?” that a Tarot or any kind of divination reader does not primarily work on their own energy, they act as a guide between the querent (asker) and the source where the information comes from.
Related Post: Are Tarot Cards Witchcraft, Magic or Evil? Understanding How Does A Tarot Reading Work
This does not, however, mean that the Tarot reader’s energy field does not get affected. The energy still passes through the Tarot reader and the reader not only needs to cleanse the deck, they also need to know how to protect and cleanse themselves. If that’s something you want to know more about, drop me a comment below and I would be happy to create a Blog post dedicated to protecting yourself as an energy worker.
When you grab a new divination Tool, be it a pendulum, a set of Runes that you did not create yourself or a Tarot deck, there are some situations you need to consider:
1. Who made this object?
How was your Tarot deck created? Are you sure the person had a good heart, positive energy and intentions? What if they were angry that day because they had an argument with their neighbors?
The strength of a negative emotion can be very powerful and it will inevitably stick to anything a person touches and what if this is your future Tarot deck?
2. Who sold you this Tarot deck?
Again, this can be a very serious matter.
It can be a beautiful store with a nice and positive worker.
It can also be a place where things have gone a wrong way and the energy is dark and ill.
And sometimes looks can be deceiving.
I hope I’ve convinced you that cleansing your Tarot deck is essential.
Ways to cleanse your Tarot cards deck
- Smudging: cleanse your Tarot deck using herbs
This is the most popular and easy way.
How to use herbs to cleanse your Tarot deck?
You are going to burn one or mix of the following herbs and run your deck through the smoke until you FEEL like that’s enough.
Here is the list of great herbs:
1. Sage. Sage is the most used herb for smudging and for this reason it is the easiest one to acquire. Sage has banishing and cleansing properties.
You should always keep some sage at home and you can use it once in a while to cleanse your Tarot deck if you do frequent readings or after someone touches it.
EDIT: due to some comments, I want to make something clear: I have NO MENTION of the type of Sage to use for cleansing. There are MANY different types of Sage that are used in the world. My great-great-grandmother used sage leaves for a practice similar to what now is described as “smudging” in Siberia over 100 years ago. Use the type you are comfortable to use based on your believes and values.
2.Cedar. Cedar is also a great choice and you can do cider smudging sticks yourself if you are on a budget. Cedar is often used together with sage in a smudging stick.
3. Rosemary. Rosemary is another great herb to cleanse negative energy.
4.Mugwort. Mugwort can be ADDED into the mix of your herbs. It’s not particularly cleansing on its own but has good protective qualities and is said to increase psychic ability.
5.Palo Santo. Palo Santo has been used quite a lot LATELY in ritual magic and spiritual healing. You can use Palo Santo to cleanse your Tarot deck but make sure you buy it from a known supplier, as there are a lot of fakes out there.
- Crystals: cleanse your Tarot deck using crystals
You will definitely find a lot of information of using crystals to cleanse your Tarot cards deck and divination tools BUT here’s the kicker:
You have to cleanse your crystals after you use THEM to cleanse anything because they absorb the energy like a sponge.
Nevertheless, crystals are worth to mention because they really are a great cleansing tool.
How to cleanse a Tarot deck using crystals
With tumble stones, you are going to place them on top of your Tarot deck. There is no need to use more than 3 stones. In fact, if it’s a large crystal, one is enough.
If you are using druses, then depending on the side you can either place the deck on top of the druse or put the druse on the deck, it really doesn’t matter.
1. Clear Quartz Crystal. Clear Quartz Crystal, just like sage is something you should always keep at home. It’s an amazing universal crystal that can be used for any matter, from healing to charging with any intention.
2. Citrine. I have seen a lot of people using Citrine to cleanse a Tarot deck and while it’s not really a cleansing crystal, it is good at BALANCING the energies.
3. Shungite. While Shungite is mostly known for its protective qualities, it is also an excellent cleansing crystal. It is also used to cleanse water.
EXCEPTION: Using Druses to cleanse a Tarot deck.
Druses are an excellent choice for cleansing an oracle or Tarot deck for the following reasons:
- They ALL have cleansing properties. You can use amethyst, quartz, fluorite, literally any druse you own.
- Druses do NOT need to be cleansed as they don’t absorb energy like other crystals
- Sea salt. Sea salt is a universal cleansing tool. Normally you leave an object in a bowl filled with sea salt for 24 hours. After that you throw the salt out.
READ PART 2: Part 2: How to Charge or Bless a New Tarot Deck?
Final Word
All the tips we mentioned are not used exclusively for a NEW Tarot cards deck. You should cleanse your Tarot cards after the following:
· You had an energy draining Tarot reading done for a client;
· Someone touched your cards;
· You had a client with a lot of negative energy outbursts;
· You feel disconnected from your cards or the messages they give are confusing.
So very excited to share the cover of Woodland Wardens, my 52 card oracle deck, published by Andrews McMeel! It’s available for preorder now anywhere you like to buy books, comes with a guidebook, and is one of my favorite things I’ve ever worked on. Coming this April! Links to preorder: https://publishing.andrewsmcmeel.com/book/woodland-wardens/
