Woodland Wardens: 52-Card Oracle Deck & Guidebook Cards – April 5, 2022

I have really grown to love this deck of cards. The lamination is high-quality, the cards are thick and fit comfortably in the hand without bending. The images are sharp and vibrant, making it enjoyable to examine the details. Overall, it’s a very pleasant and convenient deck to work with.

The deck has a matte finish and large cards that are loud to shuffle. At first I really disliked it, but now I’m a big fan. I feels really satisfying and tactile, like shuffling ASMR. The card stock is pretty thin for such large cards, so BE CAREFUL if you riffle shuffle - the first times I tried I almost bent some cards in half! I don’t riffle it at all now, but it’s fine because I find it so enjoyable to shuffle overhand.The color palette is very muted, which I also initially disliked because I expected something more vibrant, but I came to enjoy that as well once I got used to it. It’s a similar palette to the Centennial edition of the RWS, which is the version I use, and the two decks pair well together. Roux also makes some references to RWS with her numbering and symbolism, so this is a great choice if you’re already familiar with tarot but new to oracle decks (as I am). Overall, it was a deck that grew on me quickly. I was underwhelmed at first, but now I absolutely love it. The combination of an animal, a plant and a key word gives you a lot to draw from, and the key words are succinct and well-chosen. The descriptions in the guidebook are short enough to be a fun and quick read for daily draws, but offer enough info to be a good starting point for your own interpretations. I love that they include both upright and reversed meanings (I don’t read reversals, but I view upright and reversed as the “light/shadow” aspects of each card), as well as question prompts for journaling or reflection. It’s definitely the best guidebook I’ve seen for its content and brevity - it makes the deck easy to get to know and a joy to use.For a mass produced deck I’d say the cards are reasonable quality, the artwork is gorgeous and the vibes are immaculate. As with any deck, there are some cards I absolutely love and some I don’t vibe with as much (at least initially). But the quality of the illustrations is remarkably consistent, and the deck feels like a rich and complete world. I was surprised by how quickly I connected with this deck.

I've been anticipating this deck since I saw Roux's art for the wolf and snake, and I'm thrilled with this beautiful deck! I was apprehensive about the card thickness bc it's so inexpensive, but I was pleasantly surprised that, while on the thinner side, the stock is really high quality, stiffer than it looks, and is a beautiful satiny texture that's easy to shuffle. I don't use cards so heavily they would get a lot of wear and tear, but I really wouldn't expect these to bend easily if at all. I planned on using it more occasionally for card pulling and using the beautiful art on altars - these scream to be displayed! Also for the price I'm blown away by the slip-on cover box and the guidebook is as high quality and full color as the cards.I don't even normally like rustic type aesthetic, I'm normally a minimalist kinda person, or even animal decks/"animal guides"! But I love nature and grew up rural, and these spoke to me from the first images I saw. The animals and plants remind me of the nature I saw around me growing up, and it happens to have every one of my favorite animals! Plus the archetypes make perfect sense and feel very intuitive to the animal and plant correspondences. I love this deck so much and I can't believe the price. This is a $50 deck for the price of a basic RWS set.

I have loved this deck from the moment I unwrapped it. It quickly became my go-to oracle deck. The paintings are beautiful, but it's the pairings and the writing that is so insightful. I always draw 2-4 per reading asking, "What are the themes I'm supposed to get from this reading?" Sometimes readings feel all over the place---but a good set of oracle cards can help give the reading a theme, a concept, action, state of being to help the reading (and you) focus. Satisfaction, Stagnation, Curiosity, Deception. These are great to rely on to carry the meaning of a reading---whether or not you are doing a career or love reading. I always learn a lot from the booklet too--- especially about the plant or flower that is paired with the animal. Yeah, these are gorgeous and everyone I have done readings for with them has loved them and loved having that extra description to give them a lens through which to see the reading. Thank you, Jessica!

I just got these in the mail today and I’m already so attached to this deck. The artwork is so enchanting and beautiful. My favorite thing about this deck and the corresponding book is the overall feeling of warmth in the messaging- one thing that turned me off from a pretty popular oracle deck was the sort of brusque descriptions which made certain cards feel quite negative. The card meanings in the booklet invoke thought, and prompt you to turn inwards and reflect. I like that it places the trust in the readers hands to make sense of what is coming out in the cards. Jessica also did a wonderful job of making the cards intuitive and simple to understand on their own if you don’t have the booklet handy.The cards are quite large if you have smaller hands but, not enough to be a deterrent. I can still comfortably shuffle them. I’ve seen mention of the cards being thin, and while they’re not as thick as some oracle cards, they’re not flimsy by any means. They seem durable and the card stock is very nice. That being said, I will shuffle them flat because I want to keep them looking nice.Long story short, this deck is lovely and I highly recommend it! Especially great for anyone just starting out!