Oracle of the Mermaids- Lucy Cavendish

Serenia

It is heee-eeere!! :party:

My first impressions: The cards are a bit too large for my taste, but beautiful! I love how they chose the border colour to match the particular card image!

Favourite cards at first sight, based on the artwork: Transparency, Energy Field Adjustment, Water Flight, Divination, Time and Tide, Sanctuary, Coral's Wisdom and Yemaya. And many others!

Cards I don't like at first sight: Wave of Power. She looks a bit artificial / plasticky to me.

I love that they took cards from different phases of Selina Fenech's work so that the cards have slightly different styles and don't all look the same.

The book feels nice while leafing through, because the covers and the pages are so soft. And for some inexplicable reason, my deck smells of champignon mushrooms!

(A smell of salt water would be fitting the theme of the deck - but champignons, really...! :bugeyed:

)

tarotcognito

Just got my copy in the mail today. Shipped from BD last Wednesday. Pretty darned fast.

First impressions: the cardstock is a wee bit on the thin side, but I've seen worse. Luckily the cards are covered with a nice laminate, which is always a plus in my books.

The solid majority of the cards are awesome. There are a few where it feels to me like the image doesn't really convey much of anything except the depiction of a pretty mermaid (at least compared to many other cards that have a lot more immediate oomph in terms of speaking to my intuition).

Top 5 at first glance: Receptivity, Honour the Masculine, The Mirror, Coral's Wisdom and Experiments.

I don't think there is a single card in the deck which I outright dislike, although there are a handful where the artwork leaves me so-so (Song of the Siren and Endurance being two, and The Guide feels more like a "gossiping" type card than a "guide" card, IMHO).

Love those non-white borders. :thumbsup:

Love the size. :thumbsup:

Haven't read the book yet. Going to dive into it later.

Quick first impression: between 3.5 and 4 stars out of 5.

silvereye

Lokasenna said:
Just got my copy in the mail today. Shipped from BD last Wednesday. Pretty darned fast.

First impressions: the cardstock is a wee bit on the thin side, but I've seen worse. Luckily the cards are covered with a nice laminate, which is always a plus in my books.

The solid majority of the cards are awesome. There are a few where it feels to me like the image doesn't really convey much of anything except the depiction of a pretty mermaid (at least compared to many other cards that have a lot more immediate oomph in terms of speaking to my intuition).

Top 5 at first glance: Receptivity, Honour the Masculine, The Mirror, Coral's Wisdom and Experiments.

I don't think there is a single card in the deck which I outright dislike, although there are a handful where the artwork leaves me so-so (Song of the Siren and Endurance being two, and The Guide feels more like a "gossiping" type card than a "guide" card, IMHO).

Love those non-white borders.

Love the size.

Haven't read the book yet. Going to dive into it later.

Quick first impression: between 3.5 and 4 stars out of 5.

I think in terms of artwork I'd give it at least a 4 out of 5, unfortunately the card meanings seem a bit too narrow/ new agey so I don't think it is appropriate for general reading. For example, I cannot imagine doing a reading on career issues with this deck.

tarotcognito

silvereye said:
I think in terms of artwork I'd give it at least a 4 out of 5, unfortunately the card meanings seem a bit too narrow/ new agey so I don't think it is appropriate for general reading. For example, I cannot imagine doing a reading on career issues with this deck.

Agreed. Neither can I. This is primarily a relationship-oriented deck.

My rating would likely be a solid 4/5 stars if the cardstock were slightly better quality. It's so thin, it warps slightly in the middle and as a result the cards don't lay flat. Drives me bananas.

The box, however, is insanely amazing quality. Best by far I've ever seen for any deck-and-book set. Frankly, Llewellyn could learn a thing or ten from Blue Angel regarding this. Just my twos.

Serenia

Actually, I believe I could use the deck for career readings even. But then, I read with everything on everything.

I think that many career questions are actually about relationships between people, for example, whether you are open towards other people, whether you are happy where you are right now or not, whether you feel dependent on others, how persevering you are, whether you need more space for yourself, and so on. But yes, I agree that some cards do not really fit the career theme.

I absolutely agree on the quality of the box! I also like that they didn't make the box overly large, so that I have a chance to find a space for it in my full to overflowing tarot and oracle storage box.

morganesky

The more I use this one, the more I love it, hence I also wish it hard thicker card stock as I am so tough on cards, I am going to break it. I find this one works wonders with my intuition and I read as intuitively with her as I do with tarot, so I tend to skim the book and take it from there.

silvereye

Lokasenna said:
Agreed. Neither can I. This is primarily a relationship-oriented deck.

My rating would likely be a solid 4/5 stars if the cardstock were slightly better quality. It's so thin, it warps slightly in the middle and as a result the cards don't lay flat. Drives me bananas.

The box, however, is insanely amazing quality. Best by far I've ever seen for any deck-and-book set. Frankly, Llewellyn could learn a thing or ten from Blue Angel regarding this. Just my twos.

I don't know how this compares to the other Blue Angel decks. I think the card stock is thinner than the Hay House decks but why do they warp? Do you shuffle them the way one shuffles playing cards? otherwise I think they should hold up pretty well?

silvereye

morganesky said:
The more I use this one, the more I love it, hence I also wish it hard thicker card stock as I am so tough on cards, I am going to break it. I find this one works wonders with my intuition and I read as intuitively with her as I do with tarot, so I tend to skim the book and take it from there.

There are some cards that I'm not sure how I can apply to readings.

For example if I'm asking about career choices, and I get the card "Conchomancy", I'm not sure how to interpret it.

tarotcognito

silvereye said:
I don't know how this compares to the other Blue Angel decks. I think the card stock is thinner than the Hay House decks but why do they warp? Do you shuffle them the way one shuffles playing cards? otherwise I think they should hold up pretty well?

I suffer from a terminal case of short sausage fingers, so I shuffle all my decks along the vertical, including this one.

As for why my Mermaid cards warp, I need to stress that it's not a massive warp. But it's juuust enough to make my mouth twitch at the corner in slight annoyance. I really love my cards to lay really really REALLY flat.

I just prefer cards that are thicker and more rigid. Just a personal thing. I tend to favour U.S. Games decks for this reason.

morganesky

I have to so far agree to disagree about being able to use it for general readings, even career, as it can seem to relate to relationships only, but it is very entwined with the emotions. We are midst life strain in all regions - finances, family relations, health concerns and career, and it has been helping me, with the guidance of the new moon spread, work through the tougher days. So yes, especially working intuitively, I reckon this is a very emotive deck for general readings. Maybe adding a few tarot cards would help tie it back to issues such as career perhaps

Oracle of the Mermaids- Lucy Cavendish

Serenia

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silvereye

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Serenia

morganesky

silvereye

silvereye

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morganesky