For those who are more drawn to the dark and the shadows, this new set of Oracle cards is designed for you! The set includes 44 full color cards as well as a 128 page guidebook. We are going to start with the box. The cardboard box has an overlay of texture that feels like reptilian scales. The font is a red shiny foil imprint with an illustration of Medusa on the front. This is set is eye-catching and gothically stunning.

The cards are edged with a red foil giving them a unique look and feel. The outer illustration is a snake and crystals outlined in red against a black background setting the dark and shadow feel to the deck. The card illustrations are strikingly gorgeous with iconic beings such as Medusa, mermaids, Valkyries, vampires, selkies, and more. The deck delivers on a feeling of deep, dark, & dangerous as the reader dives into the realm of mythic monsters.

For anyone wanting to dive into divination and do some shadow work, these cards are the perfect guide to help along that journey. The guidebook however, I was not a fan of. The information is great and will help with meanings and providing guidance. It’s the aesthetic look that I had problems with. The print is very hard to read. They tried to reuse the look of scales on the page with the font printed on top. However the gray scales against the dark font makes some of the information almost unreadable. Hopefully in a future printing, they will consider softening the reptilian background of the pages to make it easier to read the text.

Overall I do really like this deck. The images are stunning and the cards are beautiful with the red edge.

~review by Amber Barnes

Author: Stacey Demarco, Illustrator: Kinga Britschgi
Rockpool Publishing, 2022
$24.95, 44 full-color cards and 128-page book