“These cards are so beautiful, I am so happy I purchased them. Laura’s artwork is so lovely, each could be framed and displayed as is. I feel very connected to each of the images, and resonate with each cards meaning. Laura’s communication through out the pre order was beyond perfect…I can feel she has a sweet, kind soul. You will not be disappointed in this purchase. In addition to the cards and bag, she sent me a nice print to frame for my office. The whole transaction was just perfect!”
Category: Kindred Fauna Oracle
Reading oracle decks
I may not the best person to teach beginners on how to use an oracle deck. I often break the rules and make it up as I go along but I do know and practice a few basics. To begin, oracle decks are different than tarot decks in that they are often the product of wild creativity. The authors of oracle decks have free will when creating the art of the cards and the meaning behind them. Generally, tarot decks follow a system of 78 cards, major and minor arcana with an idea of each what each card means.
I first began working with oracle cards when my cousin gifted me The Faeries’ Oracle by Brian Froud and Jessica Macbeth, but I had been studying the tarot since my first deck The Haindl Tarot in my early 20’s. There are a ton of “rules” around reading the cards, whether oracle or tarot but the only ones that I really follow are:
Avoid working with tarot when you are really stressed out and experiencing anxiety. Oracle cards are often kinder and can actually be a great source of comfort during these times.
Create sacred space when you work with the cards. This is completely up to interpretation because sacred space can be as elaborate as meditating, cleansing your energy and space, praying and ritual or as simple as taking a deep breath and patting the cards lovingly before you lay them out on your lap. Personally, I always say a prayer of protection and cut the cards three times for the Triple Goddess before readings. Afterwards, I say thank you to my Guides and close the connection. I believe that closing the connection is important so that you are not drained for the rest of the day by lingering in the spirit world.
Ask questions that the cards and Guides can answer. Yes or no questions are hard, as are questions that deal with time. For a general reading, ask “What do I need to know right now?” For more specific questions, “What do I need to know about (my situation) right now?” Stay out of other folks’ business though, that is generally a taboo route to go.
Read the authors interpretations if you choose but always go with your own intuition.
Its been a while since I’ve read the book that accompanied The Faeries’ Oracle but I remember an exercise where you went through all the cards to get to know them. Lay them out in front of you, shuffle through them with a quiet open mind and just observe. As you do so, ask yourself, are there any cards that stand out in their beauty to you? Which cards are either repulsive to you, frightening or just not interesting? The first set of cards are Guides who are working with you right now, they are your shining lights of guidance and love. The second set of cards are your challenging guides, they also have your best interest at heart but are pointing out areas in your life that you need to work on. This can change over time, our Guides may come and go, but some will always stay with you.
Kindred Fauna Oracle is available for Preorder
Kindred Fauna Oracle is a 52 card oracle deck with original mixed media paintings by me. I have an estimated ship date from the printer and should be able to ship decks out by this December or January of 2021.
I have two sizes available to purchase. The larger sized deck is 3.5″x5.5″ and the tarot sized deck is 2.75″x4.75″. All cards are printed on high quality black core card stock. These cards shuffle beautifully, with a high quality silky feel as well as excellent art reproduction with vibrant colors and detail. Each painting was created lovingly by me with input and help from the Animal Guides through meditation, visions and everyday life. The cards are vibrant and energetic, wonderful for readings…on their own or mixed with other cards as well as for altar cards and daily meditation tools. For more details, please visit my Etsy shop, Wildwood Hollow Studio
Kindred Fauna Oracle Gallery
The Great Bird
The Great Bird flies high into the sky, his viewpoint from above allows him to understand the bigger picture…to see his place in the divine whole. When you are struggling to understand the direction your life has taken, fly as high as you can until you can see the bigger picture and then you will understand the divine magic that has brought you step by step to this place. Your whole life and your lives before have brought your beautiful soul to a this challenge, this serendipity. Rise up and accept the beautiful wholeness of your existence.
Barred Owl Watercolor
Journal: Journey to the Underworld
On the new moon I wanted to create, I wanted to make space for magic in my day, but everything I tried was exhausting or got muddled. Finally I gave up and lay quietly for a while. I played Seidrunar by Runahild and closed my eyes, listening and thinking about an Owl painting I had done. I have a plan to start an oracle deck with only birds and call it Messengers of Spirit. Birds keep coming to me, one after another, each with their own beautiful message. I struggle to put their message to words, especially Owl because it is so powerful and mysterious.
I began to dream walk, half asleep, half awake. I saw Owl flying above me and I was a small human or child. A man in a coat leaned down to give me a handful of coins. I didn’t see his face but I knew the coins were for payment to cross into the Underworld. I moved toward the river and suddenly was flying with Owl, swooping along with her, riding her energy.
I was called to the waking world and its responsibilities, but I walked in a fog for nearly an hour since the dream vision had not been completed.
That night, when the house was peaceful, I played Runahild again and called to Owl. She came quickly to me, as though she had been waiting. I tucked up in her feathers and we rode the wind currents silently through the night, flying down into the land of the dead.
She landed in a tree with wide, softly twisting branches and we sat together for a moment while I gathered my courage. I gave her a piece of chicken meat as a thank you for taking me here. Then I glided down from the tree, landing in a clearing. My loved ones who had passed on began to gather near me and while I was happy to see them, I was overcome with sorrow and guilt for things I had done wrong while caring for them, trust I had misused, mistakes I had made or times that I had ignored them or not appreciated them. I began to weep, saying over and over again “I’m sorry, I’m sorry”. One particular pain was for the babies I had miscarried, the ones that my body couldn’t carry.
It hurt like twisted, wrenched guts and I doubled over in pain. It was then I started to realize that it wasn’t quite my own pain…I stepped back from it and there before me, on her knees, grey and worn, steeped in shadows was…another me. She rocked on her knees, crying, moaning “I’m sorry” over and over again. I pulled her up onto her feet, turned her to face me and hugged her. I held her close and smoothed her hair down with a gentle hand. Slowly, quietly, she moved into me, melted and disappeared into my spirit until we were just me.
I said goodbye to my loved ones, embraced them all again one more time then flew up to Owl in the tree. I tucked into the feathers on her back, closed my eyes and enjoyed the swooping ride home. When we arrived at my Spirit Portal, my woodland garden, I gave her another piece of meat and thanked her, so grateful to her for the amazing gift she had given me.
Owl had taken me to the Spirit World for a soul retrieval that I didn’t even know I needed. This Shadow part of me was frozen in guilt and pain, reliving all the ways I had let my loved ones down or made mistakes while caring for them. Owl helped me to find this part of me and pull her from perpetual agony, to become whole again. This is her profound and beautiful power, to walk with us in the Darkness, to embrace our Shadows and become Whole…again and again if we need to.
I awoke gently, the music still playing and as I lay there I began to wonder what Seidrunar meant. After looking it up on my phone, I learned that Seidr is shamanistic witchcraft from the Northlands, practiced by the Volva. This is something I need to research more because I can feel Freya and Odin’s call to this.
For now, though I need to simply process this profound journey to the Underworld and sit in gratitude to Owl for her Guidance.
Bee Totem
Working on a bee totem painting for my oracle deck. Bees generally have community and productivity medicine but there is another kind of magic to them that I haven’t quite been able to express…they are tuned into something bigger than first appears.
The Woodland Priestess
stands at the gate to your subconscious. She doesn’t need words or thoughts or definitives…she is at home in the gloaming, the in between. She listens, ears turned to hear the secrets of the spirit world as well as the known world. She does not see the difference.
Listen to your intuition and dreams now for this is a time of magick. Keep an eye out for synchronicities…coincidences and messages from your Guides. Your Magick and Power glows from you and intoxicates those around you.
Keep your secrets close and never question that power resides in your Spirit.
Secrets, the Subconscious, Magickal Power, Intuition
Cosmic Egg 💜
She is the creating, manifesting force of Kindred Fauna Oracle. From the Finnish Kalevala… “One egg’s lower half transformed And became the earth below, And its upper half transmuted And became the sky above; From the yolk the sun was made, Light of day to shine upon us; From the white the moon was formed, Light of night to gleam above us; All the colored brighter bits Rose to be the stars of heaven And the darker crumbs changed into Clouds and cloudlets in the sky.”
Wildwood Hollow Studio 