Animalis Os Fortuna Tarot & Azucar Bone Oracle
Hello, soul friends!
Today's review is covering a couple of decks that caught my attention as soon as I saw them by chance on Instagram. After checking out the creator's Instagram account, I figured they would be something unique and fun to add to the variety of decks I already own. I am eclectic and don't like to purchase decks that are too traditional or similar. Plus, I love seeing other Indie decks, and checking them out!
I purchased these as a set from Zaheroux's Etsy shop after falling in love with her artwork. After seeing her posts on Instagram showing these gorgeous cards, I knew that I needed to have a set of my own and pounced on purchasing them. I found both of them to be intriguing and interesting decks with their own very unique styles. After seeing a few pictures here and there, I knew I needed to get this set and check it out for myself. Loved the details and also the fact that they are independently published deck - always a winning attribute. There is a certain fondness and deep respect that I have for anyone who publishes their own work.
I hope you enjoy my review and generous pictures!
Image: Zaheroux Etsy Shop
Animalis Os Fortuna Tarot
Description from Zaheroux's Etsy:
Allow the animals to speak to you!
The vision of this black and white deck was to create a unique view using animals and bones to represent each card.
The deck itself has a gothic macabre like hint to it without the gore and horror.
Animalis Os Fortuna: Animal Bone Fortune (Latin). Your new deck of 78 cards (size 3.5x5) will come with its box and companion book.
Azucar Bone Oracle
Zaheroux's Etsy Description:
My oracle deck was created to celebrate life and death!
The deck's style was inspired by the colorful and festive Day of the Dead and includes cards based on the Wheel of the Year.
Draw a card once a day to help mediate and focus your energies or use the Wheel of the Year cards on your sacred space to honor the season!
Your new deck of 28 cards (size 3.5in x 5in) will arrive with its box and companion book.
Azúcar means "sugar" (Spanish)!
About the author
Megan Weber of Zaheroux - Etsy Shop
“If you ask me what I came to do in this world, I, an artist, I will answer you: I am here to live out loud!” –Emile Zola I am one of those artists who start their bios with "I've been drawing since I could hold a crayon". Art is a passion that has always been with me. Even during some rough patches in my life where I may not have drawn much, I always found my way back to it. Lately my art has been merging my own spiritual path with my love of bones (much to my husband's disgust, haha). My cat even has been supportive, making sure my art supplies don't run off from me or watching me with carefully as I edit pictures and post online. I am grateful to sell internationally and am constantly amazed and where I send my work to. Overall - I am an artist who is obsessed with bones, books, video games, nature and cats. Each day is a great journey and I am honored that people love what I put down on paper. + March 2013: Three original black light paintings were on an episode of CBS's "Two Broke Girls" (Season 2, episode 20. In Oleg's apartment) + April 2013: Animalis Os Fortuna released! + July 2013: Kathe Koja (author) released her book trailer video for MERCURY WALTZ featuring my artwork! (My artwork also is a part of her book's "bespoke" edition features) + 2014: Azúcar Bone Oracle released! + 2016: Featured in Ann Arbor's metaphysical bookstore's, Crazy Wisdom, local magazine and online blog:
http://www.crazywisdomjournal.com/featuredstories/2016/4/29/dpn43kwl4i77t4dfgokj2dsuo6ig5z Thank you for stopping by. Whether its a quick glance, a favorite, or a purchase, I appreciate you! Find me! - Art by Zaheroux - tumblr: zaheroux.tumblr.com Facebook: facebook.com/ArtbyZaheroux Instagram: Zaheroux
My Personal Review
I will review the decks together but will talk about the Azucar Bone Oracle deck, first. It is a 28 card deck. This was the deck that really caught my attention out of her set, but more for the fact that it was Day of the Dead themed and being Mexican - I just wanted to have something that was a throwback and homage to culture. I also loved the simplistic circle artwork. I thought it was a very different approach and added to the allure of Megan's beautiful creations.
The deck comes in a cute box that comes open very easily, and the cards and guidebook fit perfectly inside. The card stock was a nice, matte, and not very thick type. They did bend a little easy, but were malleable and slick to shuffle. They photograph beautifully. Megan's artwork stands out with the plain white background and simple image in the center of the card and the title at the bottom. The backs of the cards are a reversible black and white circular image that is also displayed on the guidebook.
It quickly became my preferred deck to use of the set, but I loved using them together, as well. They also photographed beautifully together.
Initially, I was a bit disappointed with the lack of a meatier little white book for both decks, but the beauty and detail in the artwork completely made up for the lack of in-depth interpretations by Megan. After my initial hesitation, I did come to enjoy being able to procure my own meanings that felt resonated with the energy of the cards for the Oracle deck.
The Animalis Os Fortuna Tarot did capture my attention with it's simplistic black and white palette and animal-centric theme, I knew I wanted to learn more about it and see if I could link my own interpretations into the animal totems used for each of the Tarot cards. It is a 78 card deck that can be used as any other traditional tarot deck.
The black and white theme is so alluring to me. I have noticed that I keep being drawn to this style in tarot decks. Perhaps it is the simplicity, but beautiful details that you can see without the splashes of color. There is a cleanness to Megan's artwork, and as I stated above - I loved the cuteness of the animals. There is a gentleness to her artwork that I really do love in this deck.
The card stock is not very thick, semi-matte finish, smooth to shuffle, and allows you get a nice bend without cracking the card stock. This stock did feel a bit different than the Azucar Bone, but it may have just been the finish. It was a bit waxier. The finish really helps make the artwork truly stand out. All of the cards are on a black background with white artwork. The size of the cards was closer to an oracle deck than the average tarot size, more square than rectangular. Not too large, and not too small.
The artwork was something that had called me with this deck, as I stated above and why I was excited to get my hands on a set. It was variously different from anything else I have seen and I loved the unique approach to the whole deck.
The little black book included was much simpler than the Azucar bone guidebook, but I did enjoy her added notes about the specific animals she chose for each card. While I am typically expectant of a thick guidebook, I realize that this isn't always cost effective for the person who publishes the deck independently. So, I did enjoy reading her insights on each Tarot card, while using my own interpretations as an addition for more depth. After all, Tarot is beautifully flexible as you don't have to adhere to just one meaning or interpretation of the cards. There are various sources and books out there to help you understand the meaning behind the Tarot. Sometimes just having a beautiful deck to do readings with is enough to satisfy my curiosity.
The backs of the cards have a reversible piece that allows you to pull reversed meanings, as well. Each of the various suits are wonderful and include her whimsical animals. Wands, Pentacles, Cups, and Swords are all easily identified. Each card includes so much detail that one would be able to use these as pieces of art. All 78 cards have a title, as well.
The box that the cards in was a beautiful touch. I understand that the expense of upgrading your product does have an effect on your overall pricing, so it was nice for both of these decks to have beautiful thick boxes to keep the decks in. This also makes it a dream for storing. All of these loving little touches make the decks a wonderful purchase, in my opinion. The unique artwork, the fantastic packaging, and also interesting information in the guidebooks really do elevate this set into one that I would recommend to others. You can see that Megan of Zaheroux really paid attention to the small details that do make a huge difference in the overall experience.
Here are some extra pictures of these beautiful creations:
Overall, I think this was a beautifully executed set of decks. I was very pleased with my purchase and would highly recommend anyone looking for different and artwork-centric decks, that they check out these beauties.
My overall opinion is that the Azucar Bone deck is a 4.5 star choice.
Artwork - 5 stars
Card stock - 4 stars
Ease - 4 stars
Guidebook - 2.5 stars
My overall opinion is that the Animalis Os Fortuna deck is a 4 star choice.
Artwork - 5 stars
Card stock - 3 stars
Ease - 3 stars
Guidebook - 2 stars
I hope that you enjoyed my deck review, and also enjoy other deck reviews that I add to this site. I have a passion for exploring new decks and also finding various ways of connecting to my intuition. I appreciate you checking out my site and taking the time to read my review.
Happy Reading!
