The Shaman's Oracle by John Matthews

[Le Fanu]

Two years on and this is up for a re-release.

There is a new version available, repackaged and reissued. It can be seen on Watkins' page and there's a new image of the packaging here.

Two years on and I think this is probably my all time favourite oracle (I don't include Lenormands). It took me a while but it is a deck which I come back to again and again and has actually been on my reading table for the last few months and used for daily draws. Other oracles have sort of drifted downstream but this one has stood the test of time.

I am very curious to know what the reissue is like, whether the cardstock is the same, whether the cards are the same, any changes in the book etc. I am so fascinated by prehistoric art and the Shaman's Oracle is just perfect for this interest of mine.

Anyone else use this?

 

[lark]

I am very curious to know what the reissue is like, whether the cardstock is the same, whether the cards are the same, any changes in the book etc. I am so fascinated by prehistoric art and the Shaman's Oracle is just perfect for this interest of mine.

Anyone else use this?

I use it quite often Le Fanu
I saw the reissue yesterday and opened the box to take a peek at the card stock.
It is much more matt and non shiny than the first issue deck...it felt thin too after handling my first issue deck.
The pictures look the same with the same small hard backed book and fold out sheet.
Looks like just the card stock changed.
I wasn't too tempted to buy one, but I might in future.

 

[Le Fanu]

Just an update although I'm not sure many people use this deck (I still love it).

Lark was right, the reissue has thinner non-glossy cardstock and feels flimsier than the first edition. I bought one a while ago for completionism's sake but find that I prefer the first edition.

And then today, I came across a load of remaindered decks in a bookshop and there was a smaller version of the first edition; smaller as in smaller packaging. A small, two part box (cards the same size) sort of like the Doreen Virtue boxes. That same size and made of thick card. The cards themselves are exactly the same as the first edition cards , which I'm pleased about, so I got myself a couple as back ups since this is a deck I still use a lot and this box is way mpore practical for carrying in a bag. It comes with the book (complete) but in a smaller format and not hardback.

 

[Nina*]

Oh, I LOVE this deck. I just wish I could figure out a way to use it for readings.

How do YOU use it, LF?

 

[Le Fanu]

Just single card draws really - nothing narrative - of what I need to know, what is uppermost today, what do I need to invoke. That kind of thing. Not really predictive.

(The title has been changed too; on the box it is called The Shaman's Dream Oracle)

I have included an image of the box, which I hadn't seen before.

 

[Madrigal]

I recently bought this deck, drawn as I was to the evocative and primal art. I'm feeling my way into using it but the sense I'm getting is that this will be a deck to work with on ancestral ties to the collective unconscious. Gesture, imprint, shape, the kinds of things that have formed us as a species in a cellular way. It has a unique feeling to it though I've yet to quite articulate what it is.

 

[2dogs]

I've been using it a bit this month for the General Oracles Study Group Readings, although employing my usual technique of also drawing a card from another deck and interpreting the two together (apologies to Le Fanu ). The advice has all been relevant and useful .

 

[Le Fanu]

oh I've used these cards together with other decks. I used them with the Tarot of the Origins and the Greenwood a while back. I think they work very nicely too as a final closing draw for a querent after a reading.

 

[lark]

oh I've used these cards together with other decks. I used them with the Tarot of the Origins and the Greenwood a while back. I think they work very nicely too as a final closing draw for a querent after a reading.

That's how I use them too...as a one or two card draw along with a Greenwood reading.
They also work well with Shining Tribe.
I think a big spread would be to meaty and trail off into to many concepts.
But it is one of the oracle decks I actually use very often, and I agree Madrigal it has "that something" about it that is hard to put into words....because it is based more on "feeling."

 

[2dogs]

I find these a lot more consistent than Shining Tribe - I bought that a few years ago hoping to find ancient wisdom from prehistoric times but the guidebook was crammed with confusing mythology from virtually every religion that's ever been invented, and I couldn't read the images without looking in the book to find out what all the crudely drawn coloured dots and squiggles meant, so I sold it in the end. The images of the Shaman's Oracle by themselves don't stimulate great wisdom within me, but they're all derived from genuine cave art and the text in the book offers very clear and straightforward advice with no mumbo jumbo. It's also a nice book, hardback with colour images of the cards and well laid out .