Ophidia Rosa Tarot by Leila and Olive

Autumnaleqinox

I saw that this was made, as I've had my eye on the Pythia Botanica oracle, and used this as an excuse to get both whoops. But they are just so beautiful and I can't wait to work with them, especially since this will also be my first oracle deck!
 

Celice

I would love to hear thoughts on this deck from those who purchased it. The art style is really pretty but I don't know if I could read with it personally . Still I'm interested!
 

Autumnaleqinox

I got my decks a few days ago! They're absolutely gorgeous, but I'm still not certain about reading with them. The flower imagery is gorgeous, but not necessarily specifically evocative. The guide books and sheet also tend towards the flowery in language, which doesn't super help. However, they're so beautiful that I'm gonna keep working with them and see if I warm more to them :)
 

Penthasilia

How is it overall as far as cardstock, i.e. good to riffle shuffle? Sigh... Am I asking to be enabled or de-enabled???

I think the bigger question is if she discusses which flowers are in each card- watched a couple unboxing videos and the poetry, while beautiful, didn't seem to lend much to the illustrations.
 

banbha

Penthasilia said:
How is it overall as far as cardstock, i.e. good to riffle shuffle? Sigh... Am I asking to be enabled or de-enabled???

I think the bigger question is if she discusses which flowers are in each card- watched a couple unboxing videos and the poetry, while beautiful, didn't seem to lend much to the illustrations.
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It doesn't and that's a disappointment. The major arcana is a bit of a maze of beautiful flowers without specific identifications. I was hoping for connections to specific flowers and plants. The oracle does have this. And the creators do make connections with the plants because in the Devil card I can recognize poison Hemlock which is easily confused with the edible Queen Anne's Lace. The Empress appears to be a closed budding Poppy. Huh?

It's frustrating, I feel like there is a wealth of information I'm missing. I still have to go through the minor arcana where I notice there are some eyes and hands, and material things like an hour glass and crystals along with the snakes and flowers. This is a gorgeous deck that cries out for a book. The poetry is an introduction to the cards.
 

banbha

The Empress/Poppy: Perfect light set to hatch, perfect seedlings set to burst, a creation is calling in an ocean of thirst.

That makes more sense.
 

banbha

banbha said:
The Empress/Poppy: Perfect light set to hatch, perfect seedlings set to burst, a creation is calling in an ocean of thirst.

That makes more sense.
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I wrote the creator who was kind and gracious enough to answer some questions.

The Empress is a Pomegranate. Egad, I'm worse at plant ID then I thought because I thought this should be a pomegranate...I mean what else? And the Devil is Hemlock, Belladonna, and Oleander.

And here about a the possibility of creating a book that identifies the plants:

"I designed the Ophidia Rosa to be an intuitive Tarot, for the poems in the foldout to correlate directly to the illustrations and provide an extra layer of meaning to the cards. To evoke feelings and shed light, but also to keep the mystery of the Tarot intact -- within that mystery, is where I believe so much magic lives."

She said that there are cards with flowers and plants that crossover with the Pythia Botanica Oracle, so if you want to research you can find the meanings there. I feel better after reading her email and think I'm going to familiarize myself with the Oracle first, then move onto the Tarot. It seems like a natural progression as she created the PBOracle first in any case.

She also mysteriously mentions she is working on something else related to the Ophidia Rosa Tarot. So we shall see that in the future. :)
 

Signy

I've hadn't my eyes on these for a while. They photograph beautifully. The only thing holding me back is my lack of knowledge on plants. I feel like I'd have a lot to study in order to get the best out of these decks.
 

Penthasilia

banbha said:
I wrote the creator who was kind and gracious enough to answer some questions.

The Empress is a Pomegranate. Egad, I'm worse at plant ID then I thought because I thought this should be a pomegranate...I mean what else? And the Devil is Hemlock, Belladonna, and Oleander.

And here about a the possibility of creating a book that identifies the plants:

"I designed the Ophidia Rosa to be an intuitive Tarot, for the poems in the foldout to correlate directly to the illustrations and provide an extra layer of meaning to the cards. To evoke feelings and shed light, but also to keep the mystery of the Tarot intact -- within that mystery, is where I believe so much magic lives."

She said that there are cards with flowers and plants that crossover with the Pythia Botanica Oracle, so if you want to research you can find the meanings there. I feel better after reading her email and think I'm going to familiarize myself with the Oracle first, then move onto the Tarot. It seems like a natural progression as she created the PBOracle first in any case.

She also mysteriously mentions she is working on something else related to the Ophidia Rosa Tarot. So we shall see that in the future. :)
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Thank you so much for this info. I caved and glad I purchased both as I wondered if I would get the info from the oracle deck that would allow the tarot to open up. I guess this one will go the way of the Cosmos for me- where I just allowed myself to not get hung up on what a traditional tarot would be and just go with the system that it is supposed to be- and that works well. Hopefully- it does for this one too. :)
 

Tea&Temperance

I found I really liked the poetry element in the LWB for this deck. It's not your standard keywords and I find the rhyming helps me remember. I have to agree that because I do not come from a plant knowledge background it is a bit difficult to id and understand the associations of the plants. Perhaps the creator is working (hopefully) on a guidebook? I would really love to know the historical associations with the plants she chose as I think that would help a lot with reading the cards. I'm sure I could look them up myself one by one but it would be nice to have it all in one place with the creators insight as well. Here's to hoping they are making a guidebook next :p
 
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