Something New from Kim Krans and the Wild Unknown

bonebeach

I have the first edition WU, use it on the regs, love it. I handled the second edition before and had it for about a week before I gave it as a gift, and I would definitely say that the Animal Spirit cards are more like the second edition Wild Unknown.

Which, honestly, a lot of people prefer! I personally love the extra sturdy first edition stock, but even as a riffle-bridge shuffler, it took a while to break in. And the second edition stock is still fabulous.

I never bought the guidebook for TWU--I felt no need--but I did get the book for the Animal Spirit and I found that I appreciated knowing that the artist really thought about the biology. The page on apex predators is my favorite.
 

decan

It seems to be an interesting oracle. I could be interested in a big oracle with owls and ravens, impressive, a bit gloomy but not too much and with positive cards as well.
Presently I don't know, but this one could fit.

ETA: actually I won't buy this deck
 

feynrir

I received this in the mail yesterday. It is a truly beautiful deck!! I also love the guidebook. Its meanings have proven more accurate to queries than my own more open/interpretive readings...hmm... ;)

My sister had great fun yesterday pulling cards to represent, basically, each person that we are close to. It was scary accurate, especially when she pulled the wolf for her dog!

All in all, an amazing buy :) And the subtle iridescent effects are a fitting touch, quite the notch up in production.
 

DaughterOfDanu

Is the book really worth it? I love the oracle deck but do find it hard to gain depth to my readings since I'm not as familiar with the symbolism associated with each animal- like Cobra, Tarantula, and Starfish, for example. The book comes to $26 for me with shipping, so unless it's stellar and full of helpful information in your opinions, I'd prefer to pass.
 

Nickigirl

Sigh... I'm so easily influenced! šŸ˜œ
I've resisted as long as I could, and now I've ordered the set despite the high postage fees and exchange rates. I don't think I'll be sorry, I find the artist's work beautiful! Looking forward to discussing it! Those of you who got it already, are you enjoying the deck, book, or both?
 

lark

I'm enjoying/loving it...I've been using some of the spreads from the Medicine Card book...
http://www.aeclectic.net/tarot/cards/medicine-cards/

Many of the animals in the Animal Spirit deck are also in the Medicine Card deck so I use it to kind of flesh out some of the animals.

I really think you need to get the guide book for this deck...
For those who aren't able to pay the high price I noticed on Amazon the other day that they had the Animal Spirit deck pictured...no sale info yet, but I think it is going to be mass produced sooner than the Wild Unknown was...so take heart..it will probably come with the guide book in mass market.
 

DaughterOfDanu

I wound up ordering the book, now to just wait for it to ship. I'm looking forward to seeing Kim Krans' thoughts. I flipped through a friend's guidebook for the WU tarot once and found it gave me another level of depth to certain cards even after having the deck myself for over a year. So I'm excited to see how the Animal Spirit Oracle's guidebook illuminates the cards for me :)
 

decan

What is nice with this illustrator is her graphics, but with regard to symbolism in this oracle I really don't know what to think.

For example she associates the Elephant with Fire element, for me an elephant is strongly connected with Earth!
A black egg in relation to the throat chakra (communication, creativity) is a bit curious as well.
And for other reasons, I won't buy this deck.
 

DaughterOfDanu

What is nice with this illustrator is her graphics, but with regard to symbolism in this oracle I really don't know what to think.

For example she associates the Elephant with Fire element, for me an elephant is strongly connected with Earth!
A black egg in relation to the throat chakra (communication, creativity) is a bit curious as well.
And for other reasons, I won't buy this deck.

In this deck she associates the element of the animal by where it lives. Elephants live on a grassland environment and to her grasslands/desert represents the element of fire.

Which leads me to my update as I now have the companion guide:

So I'd asked if the book was a must. Many had suggested it was and I have to agree now. 99% of the time I don't really work with the guidebook for a deck. I'll flip through it when I first get a deck but that's about it.

With the guidebook Kim goes into much more detail about each animal and what she sees in them. Her associations are deeper than a lot of the animal oracles out there who may simply pair Tortoise with the overused "Slow and steady" for example. It's clear there was a lot of thought and personal touch put into this deck. But that also makes it almost necessary to get her thoughts on the cards to get the most out of them.
 

suk

What is nice with this illustrator is her graphics, but with regard to symbolism in this oracle I really don't know what to think.

For example she associates the Elephant with Fire element, for me an elephant is strongly connected with Earth!
A black egg in relation to the throat chakra (communication, creativity) is a bit curious as well.
And for other reasons, I won't buy this deck.

I was considering buying it until I read this...

Elephant=Fire is pretty out there to me too, I could even understand water. For the price, it's a bit inexcusable to be using archetypal animal figures with bizarre connections like that.

I guess I'm more traditional in the sense that I think symbols mean something for a reason and you can't just make up whatever you like...