Oct 1, 2017

Oracle Deck Review: Sacred Power Reading Cards


Sacred Power Reading Cards is a high-vibe deck by Anna Stark, illustrated by Louis Dyer and published by Rockpool Publishing. These cards are gorgeous links to all types of sacred, spiritual, and soulful attributes. I could feel my vibe ascending just by looking through the cards for the first time.


The Cards
There are 36 cards, measuring 3.75" x 5.5". They have a glossy finish which looks really nice with the images and colors in the deck. I have a difficult time shuffling cards of this large size normally, but thankfully these cards are really flexible, so I can easily shuffle them vertically. That goes a long way in my appreciation of a large deck. The backs are not reversible (though close enough to make it difficult to tell reversals from upright cards), but the deck isn't meant to be read with reversals. The backs feature a flower of life pattern in the center of a swirly design.

The cards are blissfully borderless on three sides. The titles on the bottom of the cards are within a curved border (making a potential trimming difficult). I don't mind the bottom borders though, as they are a bit transparent, so you can still see the card behind them.

The deck is housed in a very nice sturdy box which opens magnetically. I love these types of boxes which offer quick ease of access while keeping the box firmly closed when stored. There is a cardboard insert where the cards sit. I have removed this insert, because the cards slide under it and get stuck, making them a hassle to remove.


As I mentioned in the opening of this review, the first time I looked through these cards, I felt my vibes lifting just looking at the images. This deck is definitely high vibe, and one I highly recommend if you are looking to ascend into a higher frequency.

My favorite card is Soul Journey, showing souls walking the path to the temple of the Akashic records. It's impossible for me to look at this card and not feel lighter.

The Illusion card has an Escher design vibe going on, reminding me also of the movie The Labyrinth. The Community card is so gorgeous and mesmerizing. It elicits a powerful feeling of tribe and celebration and honoring traditions. The colors of the sky in the Rest card delight my very soul! The Self Love card is genius, showing the outline of a small figure of a girl radiating outward within the body of a woman. The images are very evocative.

There are a lot of cards featuring both real and mythical animals (butterflies, rainbow dragon, owl, white tiger, wolf, phoenix, bear, eagle, dolphins, deer, horses, etc.).

I love the variety of images in this deck. There are humans, animals, angels, goddesses, devas, nature scenes, along with some symbolic imagery. The two goddesses in the deck are Isis in the Lightning card and Quan Yin in the Compassion card. There are cards with general character types (a wizard in the Manifestation card, a shaman/medicine man in the Medicine card and a knight in the Protection card). I enjoy that the cards are not monotonous in subject, yet the cards work seamlessly together.


How it Reads
Before I even read with this deck, I received a message from it. I had just received the deck in the mail and was in the backyard taking a photo of the deck to share on Instagram. As I sat down on the grass, I was stung by a wasp hiding in the grass. What did it mean to be stung while photographing sacred power cards? Anna Stark, the author of the deck, explained to me that "wasp medicine brings news of beginnings and to share in insight into the soul, fertility and creation." This made sense to me because at the time, I was preparing to move, which was definitely a new beginning. (I didn't end up moving at the time, but soon thereafter, I did unexpectedly get a new job for the first time in almost two decades, so that was definitely a huge new beginning.)

My first reading with the deck was synchronous. When I woke that morning, I thought about the deck and imagined drawing the Animal Kingdom card. Hours later, when I took the deck out, I drew the Devas card, but my finger lingered on another. It was the Animal Kingdom card! These two cards work really well together, telling us to tune into the spirits of nature, animals and crystals. It was a day to get away from the stress of human life for awhile. And it was the perfect day for it. Instead of being in the 100's and sunny, it was overcast and in the 70's! It was gorgeous out. I went for a walk with two of my kiddos and we saw many animals (a horse, a spider, a beetle, and many birds). Inspired by the Quartz Crystal deva on the card, I took my favorite clear quartz pieces with me to charge on my favorite willow tree. The cards were a wonderful inspiration and they played out so well on our nature walk.

My next daily draw seemed at first glance so very counter-intuitive to what I felt I should be doing that day. I had so much to do in the next few weeks, it was overwhelming. So when the Rest card came up to tell me to do the opposite of what I had planned (telling me to rest and play, when I felt I needed to push on), instead of dismissing it, I gave it all the weight in the world. (This is one of those instances where the cards can really change how you live your practical life, for the better. Especially when a card comes up that feels like it can't possibly be the right advice... that is the time to stop and pay close attention. It is probably just what you need, but aren't able to see it for yourself.) Because of course I needed to rest. Of course I was too stressed out. Of course everything could wait a day. So that night, instead of all the packing I had planned, I decided to take a bath (inspired by all the water in the card) and sit down to watch the episode of Game of Thrones I missed the night before. My world wouldn't implode (it didn't), and I would most likely be refreshed and better able to tackle my projects the next day with less stress (I was).

The next day I drew the Retreat card. Another card telling me to slow my roll. The advice was to spend time alone in nature. To get back into the flow of natural cycles and disconnect from tech a bit. I vowed to try to spend less wasteful time that day on tech and get outdoors for a bit. It was very interesting how much the cards were guiding me to take it easy when I had so much to get done in a short period of time.

I drew the Lightning card the next day (which I liken to the Tower card in the tarot, but for good). But nothing really happened that day. This was the only day that the card didn't really fit for me. It happens.

The day after that, I drew the Transformation card featuring a phoenix. I also drew a tarot card from another deck from the Wands suit, featuring match sticks, as well as an oracle card from another deck called the Fire Faery. It was a very fiery day in my cards. They were telling me it was time to make like a phoenix and set fire to what had been holding me back, rising triumphant and renewed out of the ashes. I had been getting these resting cards, but now clearly the energy had shifted and I was getting a green light to go! It was a great feeling to live more intuitively, following the signs, counter to what my ego was telling me I "should" be doing. There was an ironic sense of power in giving up the need for total control and finding a natural flow. These cards were instrumental to that process.


The next day I drew the beautiful Tree of Life card. The message was to be present. Live for the day, for the hour, for the very moment. After drawing this card, I read a passage in a Florence Scovel Shinn book that complimented the message beautifully: "When you realize that time and space are but a dream, you live suspended in the moment, and time can never touch you." I loved the synchronicity of these messages. A second message I got from the card was to consider the *whole* when making decisions. To be aware of how a decision will affect various parts of my life, rather than laser focusing on the results in a single area. The amount of water a tree's roots receive affects the trunk, branches and leaves too. I was struck by the feeling that this was very important advice for me at the time.

I was so happy to draw the Community card one day, because I love the vibe of this card so much. A tribal dance around a fire at night, the smoke making magical symbols in the air. I'm not a social gal, so community isn't a real thing in my life. I do enjoy my Instagram community though. This card is like the popular saying "your vibe attracts your tribe". My tribe is my kids. The passage for the card touches on the feeling of being born into the wrong family, which is something I absolutely can relate to. I love the passages about being different, shining your true unique self. It reminds me of the Dr. Seuss quote, "Be who you are and say what you feel, because those who mind don't matter and those who matter don't mind.". This Community card was also a very timely draw for the current events in the U.S. We have been seeing masses of people coming together in love to fight all the horrid racial events. First with the Muslim travel ban, then with the Nazis. The number of people publicly standing up for what's right far outnumber the people spewing garbage. The majority of us, as a whole, are good people, and unfortunately sometimes it takes attempted division to bring people closer together. This Community card reminded me of the love that resulted from the hate.

One day I drew Exploration and Soul Journey. Soul Journey, as I mentioned, is my favorite card in the deck, so I was excited to have it appear for me. These cards urged me to really explore more of this area of my life. To be brave and soldier on through my current life lesson.

Another day, I drew the Affirmations card, which is primarily about the power of I AM affirmations, although it also discusses turning negativity into more positive thinking in other ways. I AM affirmations don't work for me. I can never quite fall for them. But I can and do affirm things I want to become or manifest in other ways. This gorgeous card is a wonderful reminder of the magnificent power of the mind.

My most recent draw was when I was feeling out of sorts, surrounded by chaos, and needed a calming message. I picked this deck and drew Illusion, which speaks of distractions. Yes! I wasn't able to see clearly because of all the distractions in my life at the time. It helped me to see them for what they were, thanks to this card.

I have found that these cards focus on positivity and ways to enrich your practical life. I wisely chose to follow the advice they imparted, especially when it didn't seem to make sense to do so. In doing so, I was able to live more in a natural flow, rather than struggling upstream.


The Book
The 82-page book has a thick, sturdy, glossy cover. It is bound with the title and author's name on the binding.

The book begins with a Table of Contents, listing the cards in alphabetical order. There are two pages of acknowledgments and a 5-page Introduction. The Introduction contains a section on How to Use the Cards (connecting with your deck, healing and meditation, and three spreads). The spreads include a one-card reading, a 3-card Power Reading, and a 6-card Power Pyramid Healing Spread.

The cards are featured in the book in alphabetical order, each card getting two pages. On the left page is the card number, title, a 2-sentence meaning, and a full color image of the card (smaller than the actual cards, but still a good size). The passage on the card begins below the image card and continues onto the next page. Each passage ends with an affirmation specific to the card.

The passages for the cards give you much to think about, and often helpfully give you several different interpretations, along with ways to take the card's message into your practical life. This is great because I like my cards to affect change, to inspire me to live better, make better and more intuitive choices, and these cards do just that.


Final Thoughts
This is such a high vibe deck! If you're feeling anxious or grumpy or just generally blah, just taking this deck out and looking through the cards will take you to a higher place, without even doing a reading! And when you do read with it, the deck encourages you to live more intuitively, to flow with the seasons and natural rhythms of life. It's like having a really wise and beautiful friend telling you exactly what you need to hear at any given moment. And not just to placate you, but to actually help lift you up. I have reached for this deck during a stressful time because it was the only one I felt could give me exactly what I needed to get into a better head space. I was not wrong. I highly recommend this deck to anyone. It is a fantastic source of light!


Deck: Sacred Power Reading Cards, by Anna Stark and Louis Dyer, published by Rockpool Publishing.