The Transparent Oracle 2nd Edition
Author/Artist: Emily Carding
Red Feather/Schiffer Publishing, 2022
Description: 77 card deck, 207-page guidebook, box with magnetic closure lid.
Card Size - 5 1/4 circular
"The devil is in the detail."
The second edition of The Transparent Oracle is now a 77-card deck. Seven archetypes have been added to each direction.
"...the addition of archetype cards will add extra clarity to readings about your relationship with people around you, as well as aspects of your personality."
The Transparent Oracle follows the Transparent Tarot in creating a new way of reading cards. The transparent quality of these decks allows the reader to stack the cards and create a fuller, deeper reading. The decks were so popular that the author came back with 2nd editions of each with added information and cards. The application of the decks separately, combined or even added as an overlay to another deck is amazing, thought-provoking, and a nice escape from the normal reading.
The cards come in one of Schiffer's signature boxes with the magnetic closure lid. Inside you find the circular deck, a white reading cloth, the guidebook, and a large square insert of the Below Guide: Sidhe, creating a layered image of the guidebook's cover when in the box.
Do not enter this deck lightly. You will need to put in some work to get the full benefit of these cards.
Let's take a look at some of the cards and the system.
The deck is structured into seven directions - North, South, East, West, Above, Below and Within. The four directions: north, south, east, and west include: one gateway, four animal guides, weather, a landscape, a time of day, an element, and an elemental. While the Above has ten gateways, one guide, seven planets, and a polarity. Below has a gateway, four guides, four grail hollows, and a polarity. Within includes a gateway and nine ways in which the self relates to the rest of the world.
Above you see, 23 West - Element: Water - revealing the energy of emotions, healing, and intuition, 76 Below - Archetype: Nurturer - the healing of others, and 11 South - Gateway: Summer - revealing the abundance of joy.
My overview of these three cards would definitely be of a caregiver who loves his/her job. But that is very simplified. The guidebook goes into more detail and dives deeper into these cards. For instance, when 11 South - Gateway appears with cards from Below, it can possibly reveal the discovery of a family secret.
When you overlay the cards, you see Summer frames Water, creating a sense that the center of attention is the emotions which radiate from the caregiver. Again, the system is a little complicated and what you have here is a very simplified interpretation. It will take some time and study to get the most out of the deck and its message.
Before we discuss the guidebook, I'd like to show you the amazing results of using a light box. The author makes the suggestion in the Care of the Cards section. Because I needed this tool for other projects, I decided to make the purchase.
Below, you can see the details explode!
If you plan to go the distance and dig into the depth of the Transparent Oracle, or even the Transparent Tarot, I suggest you spend a little money and purchase a light box. You can find a wide range of prices on Amazon.
I went with a wireless version, because I wanted the mobility -
Golspark Wireless Light Box @ less than $30. There are more expensive versions, but also cheaper, depending on your budget.
The guidebook begins with a Foreword to the Second Edition, which discusses the additional cards, the archetypes. A Foreword, by Sorita D'Este and David Rankine, follows with an outside look of Carding's creations. "This deck crackles with arcane emblems and themes and reminds us how art, like music, can be a form of magic as effective as any ritual."
After a short introduction from the Author, there's a short section which briefly explains the oracle's system and energies.
Section Two dives into the card meanings. Each Direction has a short overview, followed by the meanings of each card in that direction. The cards of directions, North, South, East, and West, include their direction, an image, the card name, keywords, meaning, and 'if combined with cards from other direction' meanings. The cards of Above, Below, and Within include their direction, an image, the card name, keywords, and meaning.
The archetypes are separate from their suites. Each card includes an image, the card name, direction, keywords, and meaning.
Section Three includes using the cards, shuffling and focus intent, suggests combinations of three and then gives sample readings for divination, storytelling/brainstorming, visualization and combining with Transparent Tarot. Section Four shares three spread suggestions by David Rankine. The guidebook closes with a bibliography and an about the author section.
I highly recommend this deck to anyone who took a special interest in the Transparent Tarot. The Transparent Oracle gives the reader a new way to read and goes deep into the ways of life with its many possibilities. The deck can be used with simple keyword interpretations. But I suggest taking the time to dig into the deck to receive the full messages available.
For me, shuffling presented its own challenge. The size and flexibility of the plastic make this deck difficult to shuffle, but I suspect a technique will develop in time. The results of the readings are definitely worth the extra effort.
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| 59 Grail Hollows: The Stone, 13 Element: Fire, 55 Guide: Mermaid |
Review Product supplied by Schiffer Publishing)
