Believe In Your Own Magic Oracle
The intention behind Believe In Your Own Magic Oracle is to provide “you with daily messages of empowerment whenever you’re in need of some inspiration or validation.” However, I feel the power of this deck is that it encourages us to change our perception of how we think we should be and act. In order to own our self worth we need to be truly honest with ourselves. Though at times harsh, this Oracle supports this practice.
The Believe In Your Own Magic Oracle Cards
If you’ve been with me for a while you’ll know that I’m all about writing, editing and re-writing your own story (not just figuratively either). So, it’s probably no surprise that I’m drawn to the fact there are so many books pictured in this deck. Better still, the cards that feature them have great messages to share. I love the blank pages on the cards pictured above, 9 Phoenix and 22 Library. Card 22 urges you to ‘take control of your own narrative.’ Don’t let other people pull the strings. Are you the hand in this card and therefore directing your own life or is someone else the puppet master?
The artwork in Believe In Your Own Magic Oracle allows you to place yourself in various ways within the card. Even 1 Princess, the opening feature image, can suggest the positive ‘save yourself’ message or it can ask, ‘are you waiting for someone to save you?’
The imagery in 9 Phoenix serves as a powerful reminder that regardless of which position you find yourself in and the story so far, you can always tear everything down and thus write your own ending. ‘Once upon a time …’ What comes next? You decide.
It is clear that the Believe in Your Own Magic Oracle is a diverse and body positive feminine deck. Women of various shapes, sizes, appearances and age are represented which makes it easier for more people to connect with.
Who might you be in 21 Clover – Release your guilt. Like most cards in this deck it can be read in a multitude of ways. Mother guilt and personal guilt over weight gain both come to mind instantly for me. In keeping with that, 4 Mirror – Treat your body like the palace it is encourages you to embrace who you are now. After all, we can only act in the now. Let yourself feel free to dance to your own tune.
The woman on the 4 Mirror card is walking on water and celebrating the miracle that is her life rather than appearing to wallow in self-doubt. She is confident and free. Often times there’s a backlash when larger women flaunt themselves. People feel the need to remind them that being overweight is unhealthy. I’m not here to debate either position. But, what I will say is that hating yourself for how you look is unhealthy and not a sound platform to launch lifestyle changes from. To move forward we need to recognise and understand where we are in the present and find appreciation and gratitude for what is.
If you’re going to make changes, as the 41 Sundress card says, ‘do it for you.’ There’s so much power, acceptance and peace portrayed in the artwork of this card. She’s not hiding away. She owns her worth and she brings light and colour to her surroundings. People truly confident withing themselves can do that. They’re a pleasure to be around. Be true to yourself. As the 12 Expectations card says, ‘don’t seek anyone’s approval.’ Tune into your own magic and express yourself in your own unique way.
As you can see, these cards impart strong messages. The messages without the imagery could be construed as catch-phrase positivity – something you’d see punctuating “my-perfect-life” social media feeds. However, that is not the crux of this deck. It’s about action and accountability, not false bravado and painted-on-positivity.
The 17 Flower card that asks you to be honest with yourself confirms this. What role are you playing in situations? Are you speaking your truth? Are you being truthful with others? Is your life how you’re making it out to be to others? Are you living your truth? Are there some difficult changes you need to make in your life that you’ve been avoiding?
Couple this with the 38 Villain card and you may need to ask yourself are you the villain rather than the victim in a given situation? Facing up to some harsh realities can be, and usually is, a necessary component of any transformation. Have you been allowing others to crush your joy and enthusiasm? Why is that? Regardless of your answers, remember,
you are always enough and you can always rewrite your story.
Don’t doubt your worth. Owning your worth serves as a beacon to others. If need be, stand up for yourself. Sometimes light needs to be thrown on a situation and if your voice and/or your feelings are ignored, dismissed or ridiculed you might need to drop the match pictured on 16 Bitch-fire, pictured below, burn that s*%t to the ground, and as alluded to on the Phoenix card, rewrite the ending.
I feel like I’m writing a self-help piece rather than a review, but I can’t ignore the powerful messages surrounding me as I write this. These cards want their messages to be heard and I get the feeling that someone who reads this really needs to hear some of them. If it’s you – hang in there. You’ve got this.
The artwork on Believe In Your Own Magic Oracle cards is so well done. I just glanced up at the 17 Flower card because it’s sitting directly in front of me as I write this and I’m drawn to her big blue eyes. I hear, ‘she’s just discovered she’s not as innocent as she thought she was.’ There is no easy retreat from this artwork. If you want a deck that pushes you to be accountable then you have found it. There’s so much more to each card than a cursory glance suggests.
Believe In Your Own Magic is a 45 card Oracle. The cards are 9.5 x 14cm which might make them hard to hold for some. But I would suggest not being put off by that. Take a chance on them anyway. I think you’ll find a long-side riffle shuffle works well if you have smaller hands.
Some people aren’t a fan of the card stock. I don’t have an issue with it. It may feel flimsier than it is because of it’s size. The matt card stock compliments the images and I love the sound the cards make as I shuffle them. If this was a tarot deck, the size would be unwieldly on many levels. But shuffling is eased by the reduced number of cards and this deck doesn’t call for large spreads. Instead, the idea is to delve into a card or two. In fact, the book actually suggests only one.
The Believe in Your Own Magic Book
Believe In Your Own Magic comes with a slight larger than card size, 48-paged book. To be honest I wasn’t initially nearly as taken with the book as I was with the cards. Nevertheless, as I’ve spent more time with both they’ve both grown on me.
Amanda Lovelace, the deck creator, shares the story behind her own introduction to Tarot and Oracle cards before launching briefly into the difference between the two. Then there’s a recommendation on how to use the deck followed by some question suggestions. Albeit her intention is for these cards to be used as a “what messages does the Universe have for me today?” card-a-day Oracle. As such there are no spreads included in the book.
The Believe in Your Own Magic book is divided into three sections: Princess, Witch and Mermaid. However there is no explanation as to their relevance and therefore I wonder why. Some cards make it clear which section they belong to though I hadn’t detected a common theme running through each division until I looked into the creator further. If I’d read her poetry series which includes: The Princess Saves Herself in This One; The Witch Doesn’t Burn in This One; and The Mermaid’s Voice Returns in This One, I’m guessing they would be more obvious.
You can check them, and her, out on her website. I came across some of her poems and now I’m keen to add her poetry collection to mine.
Wrapping it all up
In short, Believe In Your Own Magic Oracle is a wonderful deck created by someone who’s poetry suggests she has “walked a mile” in the experiences she’s encouraging people to rise above. This deck promotes self acceptance as well as the acceptance of others. It encourages us to look beyond surface appearances in order to discover what we need to see, recognise, and understand. It’s a powerful oracle as it can help you to cut through any society- and media-created noise that may be diminishing your sense of self-worth and self-belief.
Update
Amanda Lovelace and Janaina Medeiros have teamed up again to produce the Cozy Witch Tarot. It too is a wonderful deck. To discover more about it just click here.
Publishing Information
Deck Creator:
Amanda Lovelace with artwork by Janaina Medeiros
Pictured Version:
Published by Andrews McMeel Publishing in 2020
Website:
