Wild Wisdom of the Faery Oracle, by Lucy Cavendish, artwork by Selina Fenech
Blue Angel Publishing, 978-1-922161-37-6, 47 cards with 176 pp. guidebook, 2015
This Faery Oracle started speaking to me the moment I opened it. Card number one was on top, of course, and it was The Three Graces: “Cooperative ventures with friends, joy, sharing, new partnerships that are fun.” Two nights before I had met with an old publisher friend of mine, who proposed being part of a new magazine she’s launching. And the week before, I had received word that my own oracle deck, Gaia’s Vision, which I worked on with another dear friend, is slated for publication in 2016. I have a ball with both of these lovely women, and I expect it will just get better. The card had answered a question I hadn’t even asked yet.
I should have known magick would be afoot as soon as I held the cards. This is a Lucy Cavendish deck.
I first held another of her decks, Oracle of the Dragonfae, this past Easter, at a friend’s home, and had a similar experience. The three beautifully drawn cards that I picked at random told a story so relevant to my life, the words in the guidebook so accurate, as to instantly engulf me in a conversation with them, as real as any other conversation that was going on among the guests in the room. And so it is with Wild Wisdom of the Faery Oracle.
Cavendish’s bio says, “She is a classic book witch and adores writing and reading,” and it shows. Her introduction and card summaries read like little short stories, instructing us about the faery realm and its diversity as well as the meaning of each individual card. She gives us enough insight into their ways and their realms so that we can learn from them and they can feel comfortable teaching us.
The fae are master healers, of all that is in physical form, and they can and do merge with that which they protect and heal — people, flowers, trees, mountains. “This oracle deck is your key to those wildish places where not only can you be restored, but you will find sacred union, connection, true health and wholeness,” Cavendish writes. With this invitation in mind, I was eager to see what healing the cards might hold for me.
The guidebook provides three spreads: The Faery Star, The Faery Cross, and The Trinity Spread. I used The Trinity Spread, a simple Past, Present, Future reading, as I had done with the other deck. I pulled Follow Me, The Littlest Faery (reversed) and Her Special Place (reversed). If you’ve worked with oracle decks before you may be surprised, as I was, that Cavendish uses reversals. The cards in oracle decks are not usually reversed. The reason: “The faeries asked for these to be included, so they could draw your attention strongly to issues, blocks, or areas where you may be somewhat ‘asleep.’ They are the faeries’ way of waking you up to an important issue in your life.'” A brilliant feature of this deck, since every one of us is “asleep” in some way — although we may swear otherwise!
Follow Me: “Come! This is your invitation to enter the realm of Faery!” as my Past card resonated with me, as I’ve never worked with faery energy before this year. (Glad to see I’m being welcomed!) This card shows a gorgeous golden female fairy with an outstretched arm and a key to the realm around her neck; it is the cover image for the box and the guidebook.
The Littlest Faery and Her Special Place both depict delicate pastel-coloured female faeries, more akin to the Disney version. Yet in reality there are as many types of faeries as there are wild places, and that’s reflected in the deck: strong male and female faeries, sensual vixens, mama faeries, babies, wise old men. And faeries can be in forms other than human, and that’s acknowledged, too.
The size of the cards, 3.75 x 5.5 inches, shows off the exquisite artwork by Selina Fenech, yet it’s a bit too big for smaller hands like mine to shuffle. If you use this deck, you’ll need to be creative with mixing it up. Fear not, however. From almost a dozen years of working with cards, I can assure you that the right card always comes up and the cards never lie. The faeries will make sure of that. As Cavendish reminds us throughout, they will read and answer the questions of your heart, not of your head, so trust what comes.
