Every Day Oracle offers a brief explanation and meanings for a standard deck of cards. In the 31 page book there are explanations in five languages; English, Italian, French, Spanish, and German. This offers a brief – almost too brief – explanation in multilingual text.
This is a standard deck of cards with divinatory meanings attached to each card, so if the deck is lost or damaged the reader can use the pamphlet for other decks. A brief description is given for a seven card crescent moon lay out. A description for each card position is provided. In addition a brief sample is discussed. Other than a comment that the question should concern something within a month, there is little discussion on the relationship amongst the cards and positions.
The cards offer an old world feel. The pictures are mostly primary colored with just a bit of secondary colors thrown in occasionally. The attire appears to be Renaissance time frame.
While this is a standard deck of cards it is difficult to determine the suits. In the upper left corner there appears a letter which corresponds to the suit; however, it took some digging to determine which letters related to which suit. The letters relate to Italian rather than English which isn’t bad but a mention in the book would have made it easier to understand. Symbols would have been easier for such a multilingual deck. The numbers 1-13 appear in the upper right corner to indicate ace through king.
On the bottom of the deck is a word (in Italian) and usually two numbers. For the non-Italian speaker this makes the cards harder to read. Additionally the numbers are not explained anywhere. Nor is it explained why most of the cards have numbers and a couple in each suit do not. The ones missing these numbers are not even the same numbers in each suit so it is completely mystifying what the purpose is for these numbers or the reason for leaving them off.
The directions are simple – shuffle thoroughly and choose seven cards but reading these cards will be difficult for the non-Italian. The pamphlet is easy to read, well organized, and appealing to many different languages. However, each section is a bit too brief and does not thoroughly explain the cards. The pictures seem like snapshot of old paintings. The lack of variation in colors makes them very flat and one dimensional.
The idea of having divinatory meanings for a standard deck of cards is great but this deck and pamphlet fall a bit short. This was a good idea which did not follow through with thorough enough details.
~review by Eileen Troemel
Creator: Lo Scarabeo
Llewellyn Worldwide, 2007
