Samhain is one of the most enigmatic and magical nights of the year for performing divination, rituals, and spells. Our ancestors have known this for centuries, taking advantage of the night's potent energy to gain clear insight into the past, present, and future.
What if every day were Halloween? Experience the clarity and electric energies of this sacred night all year long with the chilling Samhain Oracle. Each card connects you to the spirit realm to bring healing, understanding, protection, and guidance from the other side into everyday life. Discover the banshee's wrath, meet your sacred animal familiar, greet the nature spirits, or visit the graveyard with your coven to seek protection in the witching hour. The cards hold truth and unlock your intuition to find the answers to your heart's hidden desires.
This beautifully designed and illustrated book and 44 card deck set will connect you to the spirit realm to bring healing, understanding, protection and guidance. Original poetry from Juliet Diaz works as invocations for magic and ritual while intuitive guidance from Lorriane Anderson will take you through your personal readings. Finally the beautiful artwork of Giada Rose will transport you to new worlds. Unlock the secret insights with spells and recipes to make the most of Samhain energy!
Lorriane Anderson is a tarot reader, astrologer, spiritual teacher, writer, and soul-based entrepreneur. Her work focuses heavily on sacred and intentional living as well as using spiritual practices as a pathway for profound healing, growth, and transformation. She is heavily influenced by her diverse lineage, bringing together healing practices from her ancestors in a practical, updated way. She owns and operates Spirit Element, a soul-based apothecary and Made with Stardust, which provides private label development and supplies for spiritual-based businesses. Her published works include Seasons of the Witch: Samhain Oracle and Affirmations: Words of Inner Wisdom. She currently lives in Los Angeles, CA.
For starters, these cards are freaking beautiful. The art is dark and eerie plus it has red gilded edges 😍
Now, on to the book. I sincerely appreciated the inclusion and breakdown of multiple spreads that can be done with these cards. They show many options that can fit both experienced and new readers. The descriptions for each card are well written and explain the cards thoroughly, which is appreciated since I’ve read many tarot books that don’t really explain the art/symbolism well.
I would definitely recommend this deck and book set to anyone who likes a slightly spooky aesthetic to their cards. This deck works well with the Occult Tarot from the same publisher!
An honest review by a pro Tarot reader for 17 years ~
TLDR: Gorgeous Samhain-themed deck and Witchcraft-focused guidebook with too many similar cards to use for practical readings beyond spiritual questions.
Impressions:
This 44-card Samhain deck is the first of eight that'll focus on the Sabbats of the Euro-Pagan Wheel of the Year. The Yule deck releases in a few days (15 Sept 2021).
I've been eyeballing this deck for about a year because Halloween is my fave holiday/time of year, and I adore the aesthetic of this deck, but the oddly-phrased poems on the cards always put me off. I wish they were only in the guidebook and not printed on the bottom of every card! I decided to finally try this deck by completely ignoring the poems.
beautiful maroon-gilded deck with nice cardstock, but something about the texture of the cards leaves fingerprints
the guidebook has more than the usual amount of spreads for beginners, upright and reversed meanings included
the guidebook has wonderful little Witchcraft tips, such as Candle Magyc colors, a Spiced Pumpkin Cake recipe, Money Anointing Oil recipe, etc.
guidebook mentions the historical/traditional significance of a few things represented in the deck, which I was hoping for and a step up from other Halloween/Samhain decks, but always room for more info
the primary focus of this deck after reading the guidebook and working with the cards is definitely focusing on one's Craft, it encourages the reader to work with herbs and crystals, create spells and potions, communicate with Guides and Ancestors, do Grounding and Shadow exercises, etc.
The Ancestors card unfortunately displays some "toxic positivity" that has become the trend in a lot of decks lately. It says Ancestors always share "their love, wisdom, and protection," but some spiritual traditions warn that Ancestors can work for their own gain and purposes, so do your research and proceed with caution.
The biggest drawback is there are too many similarities in the card meanings with only small variations. This makes readings too vague. Examples: * Frog - Rebirth - Transformation - Underworld (all four are about transformation, not sure what the differences between them are) * All Hallow's Eve - Ritual (both are broad cards about building and maintaining one's spiritual Practice) * Bat combines a lot of the words in Greet the Darkness and Intuition * the only difference between Banshee and Grief is that Banshee is about anger not letting things go versus sorrow not letting things go and many more
Ohhh this is such a perfect Samhain Oracle! I love the imagery and it speaks to me so well. It is a new deck to my collection, and I did Pre-Order it, so it is still a new deck. However, I've so enjoyed using it this Samhain season in 2020. With so much wrong with the world this year, this has been a joy to work with. Thank you to the creators of this deck for creating such a fantastic deck for this season!
I love (almost) everything about this deck and it’s accompanying book & box. The art is beautiful. The readings are amazing. I’ve been laughing with friends about how I’ve been read for filth every time.
The thing it’s missing? I would have loved to see some non-white faces. I understand they’re all a stylized (legit paper white) femme-presenting papercraft type of art, but I would have been even more thrilled to have seen variety in bodies, skins, and genders.
When I spotted this lovely deck and showed my husband, I was just pointing out how nice the cards looked. I didn't expect to receive them a week later. Although, I should have, because my husband's kindness and attention to detail always shine through.
Today, I decided to open the box (finally) and actually looked at the cards. Wow. This deck is stunning. Absolutely beautiful. The illustrations on every card are dark but gorgeous, and I like the poems too.
This description is perfect for someone who loves Halloween:
"What if every day were Halloween? Experience the clarity and electric energies of this sacred night all year long with the chilling Samhain Oracle."
The book that comes with the deck not only looks nice, but is packed full of information. There are quite a few spreads listed, as well as other very cool and unexpected additions. Not to mention that the meanings for each card are presented in a very helpful way, so you can translate your chosen spread.
I found the Three-card Spread very insightful because there are different ways to approach it.
I'm not an expert tarot reader but have an interest in them and have quite a collection already, so I'm really glad to be adding this one. Plus, I think this is a deck I'll definitely keep referring to.
This deck was on my radar for some time, but I wasn't entirely sold on it. I decided to pay a visit to a local metaphysical shop and after playing with the sample deck for a few minutes, I was very surprised by the energy and the readings I was getting. I set it aside and allowed myself to wander through the shop, but was drawn back again and again. Finally, I decided to just go for it.
I started working with it immediately and the cards that have come up so far have been very on point. It doesn't pull any punches, which I appreciate. While it is a Samhain deck, I feel that you could definitely use it throughout the year and it is especially tuned to Shadow work which I appreciate. I didn't pull a card every day, which I honestly regret but it couldn't be helped. So, I am looking forward to incorporating this beautiful deck into my daily practice on a deeper level.
This deck is so beautiful and gothic looking, I love all of the cards and their descriptions are so poetic. The book is also super in depth for being so small. This is one of my all time favorite oracle decks, it's a little darker than most of the other ones I have. I wouldn't necessarily say that it's 'less positive' but it errs in that direction. I can't wait to eventually get my hands on the Yule deck as well!
I can’t even explain the beauty of this series. I have all four to date (Samhain, Yule, Beltane, Mabon) and look forward to preordering Imbolc and seeing what the last there afterwards will have to offer. I recommend this series to anyone and I love the seasonal themes. The artwork is to die for and the guidebook is a great companion to the cards!
There are some really nice ideas and practices in this guidebook and cards. However a lot of the cards have very similar meanings and many of them overlap. I think they should have been more diverse. Still, I think that this is a useful tool.
These cards are absolutely beautiful. The author not only gives oracle messages, but recipes and spread ideas. The artwork is fantastic I plan to work with these until the Yule cards come out!