Deck Review: Everyday Witch Oracle

Deborah Blake (author) and Elisabeth Alba (artist), Everyday Witch Oracle. Woodbury, MN: Llewellyn Worldwide, 2019. ISBN: 9780738760322. (link to publisher.)

 

I first used this deck in May 2022 for my weekly card draws. The deck comes in a kit with 40 cards and small paperback guidebook in a solid box. 

 

The guidebook, Wisdom for the Everyday Witch Oracle, is arranged as follows: 

• Introduction. A short note from the author. The author emphasizes "this deck is intended to be both useful and fun" (1). The author also notes this deck is arranged into suits of ten cards by element: Earth, Air, Fire, and Water (see Chapter 5 in the book).
• Chapter One: How to use this deck. This has some basic instructions for using the deck. Author states to "consider this book to be a jumping-off place to your own personal oracle adventure" (3). 
• Chapter Two: How the cards are divided. A brief explanation of the cards' groupings by elements. Idea is each elemental group has a theme progression. Author mentions that the "themes may not make much of a difference if you are pulling random cards (although if you are pulling a series of cards and they all fall within the same element, the universe may be trying to tell you something!)" (10). I was pulling random cards for a weekly draw, so the elemental structure made no difference to me, though it was interesting at times to see what card fell with what element The author does suggest that is there is a specific issue you need to work on you could work with cards specific to an element. That is part of the flexibility the deck offers. 
• Chapter Three: How the cards progress. An explanation how the cards progress by number from one to ten and briefly discuss themes. 
• Chapter Four: Sample spreads. This is a basic section with suggestions for one card, two card, and three card spreads. There are no fancy spreads or layouts here. The suggestions are simple and practical. 
• Chapter Five: The cards. This chapter goes by element then the cards under that element. For each card entry you get: Card number and name, card description that goes over a bit about the symbols, image, and significance. You then get three options: action (something to do), divination (a divinatory meaning/interpretation with a small spiritual/ritual practice), and magic (a magical ritual/practice you can do). In working with the cards, you can do as little or as much as you want. 
• Chapter Six: How to use this deck with the Everyday Witch Tarot. A small list of suggestions to use this deck with the Everyday Witch Tarot deck. The deck works fine on its own, or with other decks, but if you already have the Everyday Witch Tarot it may feel natural to match both decks. At the time, I used this deck along with the Hanson Roberts Tarot deck. 

"Go with the Flow" card

Much like the companion book to the Tarot deck, this is a book with easy to read and accessible text. You don't get heavy esotericism here. The author writes for regular people with a casual and encouraging tone. You get the feeling anyone can work with this deck. The book offers a good amount of information on the cards to get you going. If you choose to just start using the cards without the book, that is an option. I'd say having the book handy is a good idea, especially for the various card work options. I really like the book, and it works well with the deck. 

The cards with art by Elisabeth Alba, same artist as the Tarot deck, are great. Art is beautiful and colorful. Similar to the Tarot deck, art is mostly contemporary with fantasy elements. For those of you who keep score, the deck features people diversity in terms of skin colors, ages, gender (mostly women but there are a few guys), and body. It is a very family friendly deck. There is only one card with nudity (and it is strategically modest), so it's a deck  you can use with everyone. Card imagery is rich in details and color; these are cards you can spend time looking at them. The images often are playful and fun. They are easy to use for intuitive folks, but you may get more out of the cards if you keep the book handy. 

Card back

As oracle cards, cards are larger. Cards measure about 5 1/4 inches by 3 1/2 inches. Cards are borderless and identified by name in a small banner at bottom of card. Card back is not reversible; the cats on the back of cards are cute. Cards have a soft glossy coating, and they slide well enough when shuffling. 

Overall, this is a good deck for beginners. It's one I could give to folks who have never used an oracle deck before. It's a light and fun deck, very casual. It may not be for deep work, but for daily work and practice it would work well. If you already have the Everyday Witch Tarot deck, you'll probably want this one too. In the end, I really liked it. 

4 out of 5 stars. 

This kit qualifies for the following 2022 Reading Challenge: