The guidebook includes an introduction and entries for each card. Additionally, the introduction includes the following:
- The author describes how she created the deck through a shamanic journey to meet and work with the animal spirits. She describes this oracle deck as a "tool to connect with your animal guides, to acknowledge them and listen to their messages" (4).
- How to use this deck. This includes some basic instructions for using the deck. It also includes some card reading prompts and two card spreads: a 3-card spread and a 7-card chakra spread. The chakra spread assumes the reader is knowledgeable about chakras. Given I am not knowledgeable (yet), I would need to read and learn more about chakras to do the spread. Next, we get some brief instruction on working with the elements with a paragraph on each element and its significance. Note that each card has one or two elemental associations. Finally, we get some instructions on meditation with the animal guides.
The guidebook's introductory material is short and concise. You get just enough to get started, and you can use as little or much of the guidance as you wish. The author also discusses using crystals with the cards; I'd consider that optional, but I think readers who already use crystals can enhance their use of the deck with crystals.
The rest of the guidebook are the card entries. Each card entry includes:
- Card animal name.
- Keyword message.
- Elements, identified by symbols.
- Meaning.
- Card interpretation, which can be 2-3 paragraphs.
- Crystal companions, suggested crystals to use with a card.
Card entries are a page each.
The book overall is informative and basic. It is a bit lightweight in terms of content. Card entry interpretations are light and mostly affirming and positive. The entries are written with a gentle and nurturing tone, which is a strength of the book. It is a nice little book that is easy to read and gives you enough to get started. The guidebook does have a small flaw in the table of contents. The cards are not listed in alphabetical order. The cards themselves are not numbered either. They are listed in the table of contents in a way that does not appear to make sense. This means you need to go through the list each time to find the card you want. It is not readily apparent why the table of contents seems disorganized.
The cards are simple and beautiful. The art is in a colorful and light watercolor. I would describe the colors as soft; they are not too bright, so it makes the cards good for meditation as they are easy to look at. The art is a bit more impressionistic than realistic. I do like them for their simplicity that captures the essence of the animals.
The card art is borderless. The bottom part of each card has a white banner with the card's identifying details: name, elemental symbol, keyword, and meaning. The card back design can be reversible if you do not look too closely. The cards measure about 5 inches by 3 1/2 inches. They have a very light glossy finish. They slide and shuffle with ease.
Overall, I do like this deck. It is a deck to use when you want something positive and to do some light work. If you work with animal guides, this deck may be too basic for you, but for readers interested in exploring the concept the deck can be a good start. I like the simple and easy messages, its nurturing tone, and the watercolor art.
3 out of 5 stars.
This deck kit qualifies for the following 2022 Reading Challenge:
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