Goddess Within Oracle Review
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By: Christabel Jessica
Art: Cecilia G.F. & Dannielle Jones
Publisher: Blue Angel Publishing
Number of cards: 44
Card size: 6 (just under) in x 3.5 in
Box size: 5 x 6.5 x 1.5 in
Guidebook pages: 160
Release Date: November, 2023
Price": $26.95 usd
Purchased or gifted?: Publicity copy gifted from Llewellyn Publishing
First card pulled: the Morrighan
Absolute favorite card: Ixcacao
My favorite cards: Ixcacao, the Morrighan, Baba Yaga, Lilith, Eve, White Buffalo Calf Woman, Lady of the Lake, Freyja
Favorite Features: Inclusion of Lilith and Eve, diversity, the size of the cards, matte cards
Zodiac Sign: All
Seasons: Fall
First Impressions: Receiving this deck is a synchronicity for me. I worked with Goddess energy a lot in my early mystic days. In fact, when I first started my business, I had a bi-weekly workbook on different Goddesses. But somewhere along this journey, I stopped working with goddess energy up until recently. The Goddess and her many forms have come back into my life and some of my favorite goddess archetypes are in this deck. And that’s probably what I like most about it.
There are all of the more common Goddesses you would expect like Demeter, Athena, Quan yin, and Freyja but there are a lot of other lesser known but still important Goddesses too like Thetis, Estsanatlehi, Walu, and Hina. There’s a solid amount of diversity to this deck too. All of these years later and there is still so little information on pantheons outside of Greek, Roman, Egyptian, and Norse. This deck doesn’t fix that problem completely by any means but it sure does help. And this deck isn’t just reserved for Goddesses. There are also heroins, and queens, rebels, and leaders like Joan of Arc and Queen of Sheba.
I love the matte cards and I’m so glad to see that becoming the norm these days. Those shiny, plastic covered cards become a nightmare after a while. They peel and personally, I don’t find them very attractive. These are smooth and have a nice feel when you touch them. You engage all of your senses when you work with mystic energy so the touch absolutely matters, even for divination. These feel great, have a nice sound when I shuffle them, and the colors are rich but not aggressive. What more can you ask for?
Speaking of shuffling, these are thinner than other cards from Blue Angel if you’re familiar with that brand. They’re almost like tarot cards but a bit taller. Thinner cards are easier to shuffle. The trade off is that you don’t have as much of the image but that’s perfectly ok because the main subject is the goddess who is front and center. I really appreciate the smaller cards because I have small hands. So shuffling the bigger cards can be a challenge. The cards come in your standard 2 piece rigid box. Blue Angel has really nice boxes and they’re my favorite for storage. They store easily like books.
I really like the artwork. It’s digital art or appears to be which I don’t mind. I know a lot of people prefer paintings but we live in a digital age and there are some really talented digital artists so I say bring it on. Again, the colors are rich but still subdued which I couldn’t be any happier to see. I love muted, earthy tones. I think it makes everything softer and more pleasing to the senses and soul. This deck is definitely earthy and even on the darker side which I also appreciate.
Tales of the deities are dark. For years, they have been romanticized as these bright, happy beings that spread love and cheer when really, they are tortured, angry, resentful, and also mean a lot of the time. It’s like how Disney turned dark, scary folktales into Disney Princesses. There are compassionate deities of course and they do help when called upon but I think we should acknowledge all parts of them and shadow is par for the course when working with most deities.
I love the inclusion of both Eve and Lilith and what I love most about the pair is that the two cards are almost identical. Lilith has her back turned towards you and Eve is facing you. Lilith’s garden is a little more wild and you can clearly see the snake above her head whereas Eve’s garden is full of roses and the snake is slithering just out of view in the top left hand corner. Finally, Lilith appears sexier and more free while Eve has a much more youthful, innocent look about her. She even has pigtails. I loved this because to me, Lilith and Eve are nearly identical anyway. Eve may have replaced Lilith and perhaps she was more subservient but she still rebelled by eating the forbidden fruit ( I wish it had been a pomegranate but they both have apples). So the moral of the story in my opinion is for men to stop expecting women to fall in line. Women come in many forms. Some wild, some more demure but all of them are their own person and should bow to no one. Lilith always gets the credit for being the rebel but I think it’s fair to give Eve a little credit too.
The one thing I didn’t like about the deck is the lack of gilded edges. I have only seen one deck to date that I thought looked perfect without the edges and that’s the Cozy Witch Tarot. I think gilded edges would’ve taken away the cozy feel. Here, I feel you needed them. Goddesses are supposed to be big magical energy right? So they should have big edges to match. To be fair, Blue Angel doesn’t gild their edges and I wish they would. Most other publishers have made this the norm and it leaves me wondering why some don’t.
The cards have been accurate so far, almost too much. I’ve found myself having to face some darker parts of my energy when pulling from this deck which again, goes back to what I was saying earlier. Deities are not love and light. It isn’t always easy working with goddess energy. But lately, it has become really important for me to reconnect with my feminine energy. The first two cards that I pulled were the Morrighan (letting go of control) and Sekhmet (acknowledging anger). I do have control issues sometimes, something I have am slowly coming to accept. But I’ve also carried a fair amount of anger this past year from a feeling of betrayal by a dear friend.
There isn’t just one thing but there is one thing that is the most fresh and it’s directly related to my work. Pulling Sekhmet was all about using that anger for full rather than trying to suppress it. I don’t want to carry that anger around and it felt like this deck knew that. I will say, these cards really spoke to me so from my experience, this deck is really helping me to face my shit.
There are a few spreads in the book as well. The Four card spread is the one I like best but all of them are great spreads. You will also find a nice introduction about the purpose of this deck, mythology, and how to use the cards. I loved the ritual provided which is to go outside barefoot and connect with the deck. This whole thing feels very grounded and that is quite a grounding practice to do. It feels very onbrand. I’ve never connected with a deck in that way but I think this might be my favorite way to do so from now on.
Who is this deck for
Anyone who wants to connect with their feminine energy. It doesn’t matter if you are a woman or not. All people have feminine energy, men and non-binary people included. What I love about this deck is that it isn’t trying to make feminine energy be one thing. There are angry goddesses here, resentful ones, compassionate ones, rebellious ones, healers and nourishing ones. Feminine energy comes in many different forms and this deck honors all of them. I think everyone can find themselves in these cards one way or another.
Your opinions matter! If you've used this deck, share your impressions below. I'm excited to read your comments and thoughts!
This page may contain affiliate links which may allow us to collect a commission when you click and make a purchase through the links on our site. There is no additional cost to you for doing so.
