By Terri C.
The Heart of Faerie Oracle by Brian and Wendy Froud
Published by Abrams Books
ISBN: 978-0-8109-8823-1
It was a very exciting moment when I discovered a copy of this deck/book set in a dark corner of an indie bookstore. Upon picking it up, I immediately had a question for the shop keeper. Trying to keep an open mind, I asked her if the deck was new or if it had been returned. She assured me that the set was brand new, even though there was no protective plastic around the box. She even showed me another copy that had not yet been put out on the shelf and it also was lacking the plastic.
I could hardly wait to get home to dive into the box to see what wonderful elementals were waiting to meet me. I opened the box and pulled out the contents to discover that the insert inside the box, that should have been holding the cards in place was torn and the cards were loose and several were scattered around the bottom of the box. The deck itself was supposed to have been held together by a little strip of what looks like butcher paper and a small piece of tape. I was disappointed that the packaging had failed.
The card themselves have a couple of knicks around the edges, I believe that was due to them being loose in the box, and the deck does bow inward a bit, but I expect that to shuffle out, with normal use. The cards measure 3 in. wide x 5 in. tall.
The deck is comprised of 65 numbered/named cards and 3 extra that are un-named and un-numbered. The guidebook, which was written by Wendy Froud, is hardback and contains 160 pages which includes both smaller images of each card as well as several other images.
As a fan of Brian Froud’s work, both in print and film, I was delighted to see some familiar faces from his previous work, have been transformed into new images, as well as finding many new elementals, ready to share the messages from their realm. The artwork in this deck does not disappoint. Some of the cards have so much detail that it is almost impossible to take in all of it. Others are done in what I would call sepia tones, though beautiful, they contain very little detail, this combination is very similar to Brian’s first deck.
The deck is divided into seven groups: The Faerie Queens, The Queens’ Consorts, The Archetypes, Sprites, The Ladies, Tricksters, and The Journey.
One of my favorite cards is The Queen of Hearth and Home. The Queen herself takes up a majority of the card with a back drop of what looks like leaves, but on closer inspection, you see several faces. One of the faces appears to be that of a dragon, another looks like a gnome. The Queen is seated, her dark hair is decorated with leaves and flower petals, she is wearing a burgundy cloak, in front of her face she holds a mask that looks to made out of red and gold leaves, only one of the Queen’s eyes is visible. In her other hand she holds a crystal ball and rising from the crystal is a Pixie (Very similar in styling to The Collective of Pixies, from The Froud Faerie Oracle). The keywords for this card are Welcome, Courtesy and Graciousness. She shares the message, that it is important to be at home where ever you are, in any relationship.
The card backs are reversible friendly and feature a star shimmering in the center of a royal blue, almost purple back ground and out of the star are two red winged hearts, with an inverted dark orange heart and out of the inner heart a gold leafless tree is growing. Even though the backs are reversible friendly, the guidebook recommends that you turn reversed cards, upright.
The Guidebook explains three different ways to use the cards, the first being a daily draw, the second a Past, Present, Future spread and the third being a Three Wishes Spread, which is a seven card spread. The book also includes an interview with both Brian and Wendy Froud.
The main focus of the guidebook and the interpretations from Wendy Froud, are relationship focused, though not necessarily love relationships. The interpretations can be applied to the relationships of human to human, human to fae, fae to fae, human to nature, etc. However, using the cards intuitively, you can cover a variety of subjects. You can do this simply by putting the book aside and letting the images speak to you.
This deck can be used by the beginner all the way through the professional, though sometimes Froud’s images can be a little “in your face,” so the professional reader will want to take care when delivering the messages to their sitters. If you are purchasing a copy of this deck for a gift, be sure to check the contents to make sure the packaging is not torn up. The set can be used by itself, as a companion to the Froud Faerie Oracle or even combined to create a larger deck.