Deck Review: Animal Messages Cards

Susie Green, Animal Messages Cards. New York: CICO Books, 2000. Distributed by Simon and Schuster. ISBN:  1-904991-246.

Genre: cartomancy and divination,animals

Subgenre: nature

Format: Kit with 52-card deck and small guide book

Source: I own this one; got it cheap at Half Price Books .

 

I first used this deck in July 2024. This deck kit is by the same author who did the Bird Messages Oracle Cards (link to my review). I would say if you liked that other deck, you might like this one. I will add up front that the packaging for the Animal Messages Cards is better than the previous deck with a basic box. This kit includes a small companion book of 64 pages and a 52-card deck. 

The book is arranged as follows: 

• Introduction. Provides a brief look at how people have connected to animals spiritually over time. It also describes the concept of the deck. The author writes, "the purpose of these message cards is to introduce an understanding of the interconnectedness of everything in life, and a realization of the regeneration that recognition brings" (8).
• Connecting with Animal Spirits. This gives tips and advice for connecting with animal spirits including brief suggestions for connecting in the wild and in the city. 
• Card groups. The cards are grouped in creatures of the air, arboreal creatures, earth-dwellers, walkers between world, water denizens, and land creatures. The groupings are explained briefly, but some further development of topics could have improved this section. You get the bare basics. 
• Using the Cards. This goes over how to set an atmosphere for a reading and how to set the mood. 
• Getting Started. Very brief instructions on actually reading the cards. 
• Spreads for Divination. You get a 5-card spread. 
• The Messages. Here are the card entries. Entries feature a small image of the card and a paragraph of description and interpretation. Entries are grouped by the card groups (see above), but this is not apparent right away. This section does not label the cards by groupings, so initially the entries may not seem arranged in a logical order. Perhaps, hear me out, just listing the cards alphabetically might have been more helpful, more so because the cards are not numbered either. The result is that finding the cards in the book for a reading is not easy. The book also lacks a cards' index. Apparently the author and/or publisher are not fans of good indexing. This was also an issue in the other deck. 

The book overall is not very user friendly in terms of accessing the card information. I like the cards, but looking them up in the book can be frustrating since you have to go through the whole book to find a card given the lack of indexing and non-numbered cards. The card information, once you find it, is good, very basic. You get just enough to do a reading and learn a little bit about the animal and its message. 

The cards are the highlight here. You do get a nice variety of animals. The art is colorful. We get some nice paintings that evoke nature. These are all animals in nature; I mean there are no mythological animals or such. The cards include the animal name and card message. The art is detailed. It does not feel very intuitive. The messages are good, and they provide a springboard for reflection and divination. You could use these cards for daily and weekly draws. I used them for weekly draws the first time I used the deck. The messages are mostly positive, so if you want something uplifting this deck works. 

The art is borderless. Cards measure about 4 3/4 inches by 3 inches. The coating is a very soft gloss, and the cards shuffle with ease. Card back art is reversible, though to me it feels a bit cluttered. This is not good card back art, but that is a minor issue for me. In the end, I do really like the cards I just wish the book was better arranged and had a bit more substance. 

3 out of 5 stars. 

This kit qualifies for the following reading challenges: