Laura Tempest Zakroff’s Sigil Witchery Oracle was every bit as good as I knew it would be.
The boxing alone was lovely: a sturdy bow with a magnetic closure, an insert with a ribbon to make removing the cards easy, and the cards and accompanying book are not only beautiful but are printed on quality stock and paper that is meant to be used and will last. The book itself is written in Zakroff’s usual friendly and accessible style so that you feel she’s talking directly to you, and is well organized with lots of tips and simple instructions for getting started. I especially like that Zakroff explains sigils and her method of creating them—something she explains in her other works but also offers here so you can buy this deck as a standalone item if you wish.
The book is well organized, and gives an overview of sigils; their uses; the creative process of creating one; some exercises on getting started with the deck; and lists each card’s symbol with a description, meaning, keywords, how to connect with the card, how to apply the symbol shown on the card, and then space for notes.
As an example for this review, I decided to do the Unknown Sigil Pull from the possible exercises offered in the book. First, I chose the Six of Cups card from my go-to tarot deck (The Wild Unknown Tarot) as that card stands for “memories, childhood, and joy”.
I then pulled six cards at random—one for each cup of my tarot card—from the Sigil Witchery Oracle deck, just letting my hands pick whichever cards they felt most drawn to. I drew the following cards:
- Within (a star shape with dots around it)
- Closed dot
- Wavy line
- Below (a stylized arrow pointing down towards a star, with an “s” shape below that)
- Arrow (an arrow pointing up and to the left)
- Spoon
I was delighted by the cards I’d pulled as one of my favourite childhood things was a spoon from an old cutlery set that had a star on the bottom of the handle (and I always swore that Froot Loops tasted best when eaten with that spoon).
I created the following sigil using the symbols on the cards:
As you can see, I’m not a brilliant artist, but Zakroff addresses that in the book too—and is very encouraging in just putting thoughts of perfection aside to simply enjoy the process, and I have to say, the final result I drew does make me happy to look at and feels right.
All in all, as with Zakroff’s other works, I recommend this deck as it is fun, accessible, beautiful, and a fantastic addition to anyone’s practise.
—review by Mara McTavish
Author: Laura Tempest Zakroff
Publisher: Llewellyn Publishing
Pp.: 158, $28.99 USD
