“Power Animal Oracle Cards” Review
Try before you buy: today, I’m reviewing the “Power Animal Oracle Cards”, a deck of 44 cards created by Steven D. Farmer, Ph. D. All opinions are my own.
You can purchase your own copy here.
(This is an affiliate link which supports me if you make a purchase).
My Star Ratings
1 star = disappointing / 2 stars = meh! / 3 stars = pretty good / 4 stars = terrific / 5 stars = sensational
The Artwork 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟
The Card Meanings 🌟🌟🌟🌟
The Guidebook 🌟🌟🌟🌟
Card Quality and Packaging 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟
Why you may be drawn to this deck
Many people find spirituality within nature, so this alone is a great reason to consider purchasing this deck. However, I would recommend this deck to those to first time users of an Oracle deck - in fact it was the first ever one I acquired! Whether you’re a beginner or a long-term collector, this deck ticks many boxes, as you’ll see in the review below.
The Artwork
What I love most about these pictures is we can find each Animal Guide in their own natural habitat. Don’t get me wrong - sometimes I’m a fan of trippy cards that link the unseen with the everyday world. However, when it comes to Animal Guides, I feel the lesson we learn often comes from observing animals, including their appearance and markings, their behaviour and how they react to the environment.
The animals themselves are beautifully drawn and give off the energy that they’re happily doing their thing and not about to dart off, which allows us the space to comfortably observe and ponder them (apart from the Lynx, who looks directly at us in an almost daring way - you’ll need to see the deck firsthand to see what Lynx’s story is!).
While the artist gives us a nice dose of reality to base our reading on, I love how they’ve cleverly blurred some of the imagery a little. I feel any blurs or “blank” spots in Oracle decks is helpful in triggering our Third Eye. This is great for those who like to use their personal intuition when interpreting the cards, eg if images are too sharp or stark, we may miss hidden messages in the cards that we were meant to “see”.
The Card Meanings
When you’re looking at buying an Oracle deck for personal use, I think it’s important to know whether they match your personal needs. This particular deck addresses a variety of wellbeing needs, philosophical worries and those important, practical worldly concerns.
For example, the Moose and Deer cards guide us towards empowerment. We’re invited by the Deer to trust our intuition around the situation, while Moose tells us to own our maturity and make our own decisions without looking to others, who may not always have our best interests in mind.
Other cards offer practical guidance. The Squirrel card teaches us to use our time wisely by preparing ahead of time. Turtle teaches us to act in a timely manner around situations, that there’s an appropriate moment to move forward, but also to retreat.
It’s great how some of the animals bring our awareness to those little things may we need to work on. Porcupine leads us towards inner child healing and relieving ourselves of guilt, while Coyote pulls us up and keeps us humble when we’re not “keeping our eyes on the road”. None of us are perfect, but these animal guides remind us we can be our best selves, if we choose to be.
The Guidebook
Earlier I mentioned that it was helpful to learn from the animals by their reactions to their natural environment. The artwork gives us ample opportunity to do this, while the guidebook gets more into the “meat and bones”, relatable advice.
When you find your animal description in the guidebook (which was super easy, as it runs alphabetically), you will be treated to very apt descriptions of human psychology which you may find helpful.
The author has a good sense of what modern people experience and offers support. For example, the Beaver card gives good tips for avoiding procrastination, which is something many of us go through. Monkey talks about being able to adjust to our current situation, which is also apt, as life continually changes.
The author also weaves spirituality into the animal kingdom really well. There is no dry scientific study of animals in the wild, nor are there folk stories - but there is an opportunity to learn a lot from different spiritual traditions mentioned throughout the guidebook in relation to ourselves, and the animals of course. This makes owning the deck an educational opportunity too.
The only thing I noticed was the card descriptions were brief, compared with other Oracle decks that go into pages of detail per card. However, this deck does “hit home” in a helpful way, just in fewer words. There are helpful suggestions on how to ask questions when using the deck, which is good if you’re a first time card user.
Card Quality and Packaging
Many of us know that Oracle cards are big and challenging to shuffle! In this deck, the cards are coated well, giving them that perfect “slip” when you’re shuffling. I don’t think I’ve ever actually shuffled a nicer deck - and I’m not the world’s best shuffler (as a Psychic Reader, I barely do the shuffling!).
The box that houses the cards and guidebook is really solid. I’ve had my deck for many years, it’s weathered a lot of moves and there are hardly any dents in it. I think this is a great deck to take travelling with you. I’d say it’s probably the best I own in terms of packaging.
Some Final Observations
One last thing I wanted to point out was the use of different animals from across the globe. It was lovely to see a couple of Australian animals inside the deck! I actually didn’t know Kangaroos offered medicine in gratitude, so that was a nice angle to study.
Overall, I think this is a terrific deck for beginner to intermediate users of Oracle Decks, as it’s not too complex. For people who’ve worked with personal Oracles for years, I feel this is a nice back-to-basics deck, reminding us of the good stuff in life - and nature.
Here are some other Spirituality Animal goodies that I highly recommend:
Animal Dreaming Oracle by Scott Alexander King
Animal Speak by Ted Andrews
The Shaman’s Guide to Power Animals by Lori Morrison
Tarot Familiars by Heraclio Fournier
The Cat Tarot by Megan Lynn Kott
Wolf Colouring Book by Louie Press
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