Halloween Oracle by Stacey Demarco

Last weekend I gilded the edges of my Halloween Oracle using my Archival Jet Black ink pad by Ranger. It is a rich black that has a bit of sheen to it. I think it adds a nice to touch to it. My daughter was cleaning out her closet and realized that her old Halloween shirt is too small so I may use to make a bag for the deck or maybe a spread cloth.

For those of you interested, I have gone ahead and started an study group index for this deck. It is located at:
http://tarotforum.net/showthread.php?t=222566

The postman just delivered my deck! I'm going through the cards at the moment.

First off, in case someone is wondering about possible differences between the Blue Angel version and the Llewellyn version: I ordered what was described as the Llewellyn version and received a box with the Blue Angel logo on it. The shrinkwrap had a small sticker with the Llewellyn logo on it. So I guess that both versions are the same and that Llewellyn is just acting as a distributor.

Quite a lot of cards stood out to me upon first sight: Apple, Black Cat, Death, Hearth, The Lamp, Midnight, Nightsong, Owl, Scrying, Skull of Darkness, Skull of Stars, The Veil and Winter. Most of them because of their brilliant, intense colours, and some of them (e.g. Apple, Skull of Darkness, Skull of Stars) because of their concept.

My only gripe so far is that the woman in the Joy card looks rather solemn and that I have no idea what the Skeleton has to with strength, but I guess the booklet has an explanation for this.

Someone mentioned that the companion booklet is rather thin - yes, it is. However, I don't think there's less information about each card than in other oracle deck booklets. It just doesn't have such a lengthy introduction as some decks about faeries or mermaids typically have. Each card is described on one to one and a half pages and has a little rhyme, which I really like!

... and now I'm off to devour the companion booklet!


ETA: Just now there was a movie preview on TV about a modern Snow White adaptation. Not only does the companion booklet particularly refer to Snow White, but the evil stepmother's apple on TV also had the exact same shade of red as the one on the card!

Moderator Note

A few posts discussing the Skeleton card have been split off into their own thread. It can be found over in the Oracle Study Groups forum or by clicking on the link below:
Halloween Oracle: Skeleton

I have also added the thread link to the Halloween Oracle Study Group Index.

~Glass Owl, Oracles Moderator

This deck's siren song is calling to me!

I keep seeing this deck mentioned all over. I love Halloween so much, but haven't been able to find a deck that wasn't too cartoony. I know the deck doesn't have as many cards as a tarot deck, but how does it shuffle? What is the card stock like?

It is a fantastic thick card stock and it shuffles well. Is it is calling to you .. get it!

I like it but.....

I received the deck yesterday and I am happy with the size of the cards, the card stock, the packaging, the book is nice and informative too.
What I really dislike and feel is lazy is the five skulls that are the same and the skeletons are the same.
The skulls are "accesorized" differently but exactly the same, same lines, same hole on the right side. I feel each could have had a different picture or at least the skull from a different angle. Change the skull so it feels different maybe.
I felt similarly with the skeletons. Cut and paste.
I shared this with my middle son who said of the skulls, that with 5 being the same that that is 14% of the deck that is the same. He loves math!
So I am disappointed with this deck. Anyone else feel the same?

Telspepper said:

I received the deck yesterday and I am happy with the size of the cards, the card stock, the packaging, the book is nice and informative too.
What I really dislike and feel is lazy is the five skulls that are the same and the skeletons are the same.
The skulls are "accesorized" differently but exactly the same, same lines, same hole on the right side. I feel each could have had a different picture or at least the skull from a different angle. Change the skull so it feels different maybe.
I felt similarly with the skeletons. Cut and paste.
I shared this with my middle son who said of the skulls, that with 5 being the same that that is 14% of the deck that is the same. He loves math!
So I am disappointed with this deck. Anyone else feel the same?

Click to expand...

After seeing the complete deck shown on YouTube yes I do feel the same. And this is the exact reason I decided not to purchase this deck. I own other oracle decks I love so much more that this would end up unused anyway.

I kind of like the skulls being alike; it gives them a coherence, sort of a family resemblance. I didn't like the idea of sameness when I saw it in a Tarot deck, but this one is somehow different.

The more I use this deck, the more I realize how relevant it actually is to my current situation in life. When I ordered the deck, I thought it would be a "nice deck", but not more than that. By now I have realized how healing it actually is and how deep the card meanings are!

I don't mind that the skulls and skeletons were used multiple times - the cards are different enough from each other to make them distinctive. And usually you won't get them all together in the same reading anyway.

Morwenna said:

I kind of like the skulls being alike; it gives them a coherence, sort of a family resemblance. I didn't like the idea of sameness when I saw it in a Tarot deck, but this one is somehow different.

Click to expand...

Yep, I like that too! Each one is unique but they are related to each other in a way.

Telspepper said:

I received the deck yesterday and I am happy with the size of the cards, the card stock, the packaging, the book is nice and informative too.
What I really dislike and feel is lazy is the five skulls that are the same and the skeletons are the same.
The skulls are "accessorized" differently but exactly the same, same lines, same hole on the right side. I feel each could have had a different picture or at least the skull from a different angle. Change the skull so it feels different maybe.
I felt similarly with the skeletons. Cut and paste.
I shared this with my middle son who said of the skulls, that with 5 being the same that that is 14% of the deck that is the same. He loves math!
So I am disappointed with this deck. Anyone else feel the same?

Click to expand...

Yup... I feel disappointed.

I like that it has a Southern Hemisphere bent, which is why I ordered it as it was Aussie made.

Cardstock is cool, card size is good for an oracle.

Nice packaging

I love the Winter card, but I don't really like any of the others

I hate the skulls, skeletons, pumpkins etc all being the same.... what is with that, it makes it look like a hurry up and get it finished. The meanings feel off. I also really do not gel with some of the cards at all, they look wrong too much odd ugly CGI thrown together collage with what appears no inherent core to the deck. The people like the vampire and werewolf are icky I feel, and there seems little imagination or real deign here. I guess in fairness to the creator I am very fussy, but I am an artist and I am just as hard on my own work. There is also a real cultural literal mix of vampires, DOTD, Samhain, American style Scary Movie, Disney Halloween etc... was surprised to see no candy corn Or did I miss it! I think to slam together DOTD into this deck could be seen as culturally disrespectful too in some ways.

The book is probably the best part, some interesting info that makes you feel the deck is just a by product.

Probaby the harshest I have been for a while on a deck. But I will see what happens with it. Note to self... do not be swayed by over enthusiastic gushing YouTube reviews!!!