Monday 24 June 2013

Review: Isis Oracle - Awaken the Priestess Within


Gorgeous artwork and an intriguing theme can be enough to make me buy a new oracle deck, but what is really important is whether it works. What I mean is, do the cards I draw seem to offer me any genuine and useful insight?

I’d recently acquired the Isis Oracleat a time I was due to go to the dentist to get a filling replaced. I’ve had an absolute terror of having my teeth drilled ever since I was tiny and was taken to an old-fashioned dentist who didn’t think children needed any anaesthetic for fillings. My phobia is irrational, I realise. My current dentist is lovely and extremely good at treating me without pain. Nevertheless, I can sometimes feel almost paralysed with fear before going.

Sitting on my sofa, not knowing quite what to do before the dreaded hour, my eyes rested on my new Isis Oracle. I decided to draw a card. It was Soul Retrieval, and its meaning is about reclaiming pieces of yourself that have been lost through old trauma. Realisation dawned – it was time to get over my fear and to reassure the small, upset, child that I had been long ago.

What is unusual about the Isis Oracle is that the book not only offers interpretations of each card, but also a ritual to assist with integrating the message. The Soul Retrieval ritual is a guided visualisation to help heal spiritual wounds. I tried it, it worked, and it was lovely to set off for the dentist feeling quite calm rather than sick with fear.

The Isis Oracle is definitely more than just a set of fortune-telling cards. The deck is intended as a tool for personal development and magical transformation using rituals described. There are also prayers and incantations that you can use as with the rituals, or instead of them if you are short of time.

Isis, the Egyptian goddess of nature and magic, divine mother of the god Horus, is one of the most widely venerated female deities of all time. The cards, rituals and incantations in this set call upon her to aid in healing, guidance and spiritual growth.

Publisher Blue Angel says on its website: "The High Priest or Priestess within you walks the path of divine love, power and wisdom. This is the path of spiritual self-mastery where we are initiated through the darkness of struggle into the light of love. Learn to apply the Ancient Mystery teachings of Isis in practical ways to help you navigate through the experiences and challenges in your daily life. Allow the Goddess, this sacred priestess, initiate, magician and healer to help you reactivate your own soul talents of healing, magic and more as you journey with her from darkness and uncertainty into light, love and power."

Although the wording in the book has more of a New Age eclectic slant than might appeal to Egyptian magic purists who aim for historical accuracy (I’m not sure Ancient Egyptians practised soul retrieval for example), I judge anything by how well it works. And the Isis Oracle definitely worked for me.

Blue Angel publishes many other lovely divination sets including the Messenger Oracle and the delightfully cute Cat Wisdom Oracle.

Links and previous related posts
Isis Oracle
http://www.blueangelonline.com/
http://www.badwitch.co.uk/2012/06/review-messenger-oracle.html
http://www.badwitch.co.uk/2013/04/bargain-hunting-cat-wisdom-oracle-cards.html
http://www.badwitch.co.uk/2010/10/egyptian-journey-through-afterlife.html
http://www.badwitch.co.uk/2011/06/god-of-week-ra.html
http://www.badwitch.co.uk/2011/07/fellowship-of-isis-london-gathering.html
http://www.badwitch.co.uk/2013/02/rider-haggard-and-imperial-occult-at.html

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