Australian Wildflower Reading Cards

http://www.aeclectic.net/tarot/cards/australian-wildflower-reading-cards/

Now, I never thought I'd be one for oracles, but I saw this set in a bookstore, did some research online, and finally decided to buy it three days ago. I'm so glad I did.

First, the box. It's beautiful and sturdy, about the size of a thick paperback, with a magnetic closure. There's a 112-page book inside, and a 44-card set of 10x14cm cards nested in snug cardboard.

The cards themselves are just fantastic, with bold, evocative colours and featuring unique Australian flora -- great for the botanically inclined. Cheralyn Darcey uses gouache paints on carved lino prints for her art. They're semi-borderless (each image extends past the borders but are partly "whited out"), sturdy (courtesy of Rockpool Publishing), and cool to the touch. The coating feels like plastic laminate. While glossy, it's not slippery, and any sticking issues I've encountered are minor.

My only two qualms so far are: 1) The companion book, while well printed, is light on botany. For each flower there's its scientific name, flowering time, general location (no map included), and three-sentence anatomical description.; and 2) Some flowers I find hard to connect with. But that's three out of 44.

I've found them great to use as visual meditation aids. The Grass Tree card is my favourite. Even single cards have such a powerful calming effect on me, it's very healing. I want to frame them and hang them on my wall. In the meantime, I lay them all out on the table and bask in the wild landscape...

There is a wildness to them. If you're looking for a polite bouquet, don't bother...

If you're at all curious about the Australian Wildflower Reading Cards, I encourage you to check it out. I haven't seen it mentioned on Aeclectic before -- where I do most of my discovering -- so this time I thought I'd pass it on.

here is the original thread on here when they first went on sale link. The deck is created by AT forum member Cheralyn. But there isn't much on the forum about the deck in discussions

For the forum subscribers, there is a competition thread every month with some prizes to win (like a monthly raffle) and there is a Wildflower deck always included in the prizes and some other decks by our own AT members and it's always intrigued me from that!

I will get it someday, as a non Australian I think it would be fun to learn more about Australian nature and the environment through the oracle and there is a whole history of playing cards representing different countries flowers. Making an Oracle of it is clever!

thanks for the review daenys, it might be enabling

I saw this last year and put it to one side as I am not sure about 'oracles' ....
You have thoroughly enabled me

danieljuk said:

here is the original thread on here when they first went on sale link. The deck is created by AT forum member Cheralyn. But there isn't much on the forum about the deck in discussions

For the forum subscribers, there is a competition thread every month with some prizes to win (like a monthly raffle) and there is a Wildflower deck always included in the prizes and some other decks by our own AT members and it's always intrigued me from that!

I will get it someday, as a non Australian I think it would be fun to learn more about Australian nature and the environment through the oracle and there is a whole history of playing cards representing different countries flowers. Making an Oracle of it is clever!

thanks for the review daenys, it might be enabling

Click to expand...

I do think picture cards -- oracles, tarot, reading cards -- are fantastic gateways for learning about different cultures. I have the Aussie Wildflower deck, and now the oop Oracle of the Dreamtime, and I'm learning very interesting myths to go along with the pictures. They're like anchors. It's not a very deep kind of learning, but the opportunity for it is there if I want to take it.

There's a Japanese mythology tarot that's on my wishlist too -- if only the shipping weren't so pricey.

I will say though there's not much to learn about Australian nature through this deck... unless you're already here and want to identify some plants you enjoy.

The Happy Squirrel said:

I saw this last year and put it to one side as I am not sure about 'oracles' ....
You have thoroughly enabled me [emoji14]

Click to expand...

Haha, happy to help. [emoji106]


I am still using this deck daily. It's actually put tarot on the backburner, since I enjoy meditating and journalling with the larger cards so much. The keywords I find evocative. Another deck I've seen has trite stuff like "Man of the earth" ; this deck is much more grounded. 'Recovery', 'Persistence', 'Direction', etc. The keywords have led me down some surprising intuitive paths. They're not randomly assigned, either. For example, the Grass Tree card -- 'Enlightenment' -- features several bushes with tall spines growing out of the top, with clouds moving in the background. These woody spines almost look like smokestacks from a factory! The Enlightenment was, of course, a time of transition, where natural philosophy and industrial technology were two arms of the same cause. Public perception wasn't at all like it is now...

If desired I will scan images of my favourites, for the thread.

I found this clip of the creator, Cheralyn Darcy, talking about her deck. I like that she has a very clear infrastructure to her oracle system, which is the language of flowers, the art of plant reading, and "The Doctrine of Signatures". I have never heard of these before. She explains here that the doctrine of signatures is "nature's way of conveying to us the meanings of plants for the usage [..], be it medicinal, be it for physical change, but mostly for an emotional and even a non-denominational spirit change and connection as well".

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=THZ0-jkH7ZU

Lovely

An additional bonus that you may be interested in are the Australian Bush Flower Essences drops, sprays and body products that offer the essences of many of the flowers in the deck.

Of course that might not be your thing, but you can also work with the flower essences and the cards if you're called to compliment working with the cards.

For anyone that's interested here's a link to more information; http://ausflowers.com.au
I think there are international distributors out there too (outside of Australia).

meeka4monty said:

An additional bonus that you may be interested in are the Australian Bush Flower Essences drops, sprays and body products that offer the essences of many of the flowers in the deck.

Of course that might not be your thing, but you can also work with the flower essences and the cards if you're called to compliment working with the cards.

For anyone that's interested here's a link to more information; http://ausflowers.com.au
I think there are international distributors out there too (outside of Australia).

Click to expand...

Thanks!!!

meeka4monty said:

An additional bonus that you may be interested in are the Australian Bush Flower Essences drops, sprays and body products that offer the essences of many of the flowers in the deck.

Of course that might not be your thing, but you can also work with the flower essences and the cards if you're called to compliment working with the cards.

For anyone that's interested here's a link to more information; http://ausflowers.com.au
I think there are international distributors out there too (outside of Australia).

Click to expand...

Thank you!! I wasn't aware you could get essential oils of these flowers. The price tag makes me wince though -- $15 for 15mL -- and makes me wonder how much the "vibrational healing signatures" have inflated the price. I'm also pretty sure that, contrary to what the site recommends, essential oils aren't meant to be eaten, since they can be highly toxic. For example, wintergreen oil.

Do you know of any other retailers for something similar?

I have this deck coming in the post.

Yay! Let us know when you get it and what you think of it?