Melissa Cynova 
I got a goodie box from Red Wheel/Weiser that included these lovely Aboriginal oracle decks. If you know me, oracle cards and I haven’t always gotten along. I’ve always used RWS tarot, and I miss the structure and my major arcana. Ethony ruined everything by coming out with her amazing Awakened Soul oracle (jerk) and now, it seems, the floodgates are open.
I didn’t know anything about the creator of these two decks – the Aboriginal Goddess Chakra Oracle and the Aboriginal Spirit Oracle. I was wincing as I went through the book. I don’t know if I can take another deck about first people that wasn’t created by or with them. I was absolutely delighted to find out all about Mel Brown. she is a Nggunnawal woman who holds a Master’s degree in Indigenous Healing and Trauma. She works hard for the health and wellbeing of the Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal workers in her country and is an amazing artist to boot.
These two decks are sisters – but not twins. If I were you, I’d get both. The Spirit deck and the Goddess deck both blend the Aboriginality of the artist and her culture with the imagery and of ancient places and religions. I love this approach so much. Rather than watering down or diminishing the imagery and culture, it’s integrated in a way to help it become more familiar to the reader. The artwork resonates. The exploration of dreamtime is fascinating, and I find it similar to the state that I’m in while I do my tarot readings. Archetypal resonance lives here, and in us, and these lovely decks brought me closer to a culture that I knew nothing about – and am going to start studying.
The cardstock is AMAZING. Whatever they’re doing over there at Red Wheel, they need to keep it up. Representation is great, and although most of the characters are women (omg!) there are a few dudes in there, too.
Even though oracle cards aren’t yet my bff’s like my tarot cards, I heard these loud and clear.
xo – Lis
