I bought the
Connected and Free - The Alchemist's Oracle* because the artwork appealed to me. It reminded me of the Wild Unknown Tarot, which I admired but wasn't going to buy because the images were so divergent from my understanding of the individual cards that I would have
had to read it as an oracle. Better to just buy an oracle in the first place. :)
But I have to confess I had misgivings about this deck when I first flipped through it. I quickly realised that the keywords and the images didn't seem to relate to each other, at least in any way that I understood. Uh oh. How was I going to apply intuition to cards that seem to pull in two different directions? What was I going to do with a DIS-Connected and Free oracle?
My initial thought was to read them much like some people read
Gypsy Witch cards. Sometimes the symbol on the card is at odds with the meaning of the playing card inset. For example, No.9 The Birds: "The birds signify dire misfortune and fierce enemies..." This is coupled with the Ace of Diamonds which traditionally and at its most basic represents a letter or a ring. How do you reconcile those two? Well, you could go with the one that "jumps out" at you first when you look at the cards. The Birds meaning may tie in better with the surrounding cards. Maybe the letter meaning will strike a chord with the question. Flexibility.
So with that in mind I figured I'd give the Connected and Free a chance. But first, I'd subject them to
Moonlit Tarot's June Deck Challenge questions, and I'm so glad I did. By pulling one card in response to each day's question I quickly realised that the images and keywords, although not obviously related, did in fact play off each other in a unique and compelling fashion. This was one instance where reading the accompanying book made all the difference. If ever a deck could convincingly claim to have been "intuited with the guidance of the Universe" this would be one of them. The connections do seem to emanate from a different plane of existence.
This deck spoke to me in a way I'd never experienced before. It was uncomfortable. It presented me with my fears, those things I avoid or resist. I couldn't
*not* see it. And yet with each revelation the interaction felt positive and safe. This deck wasn't out to wound me but to show me the disparate pieces of myself and help me to wholeness.
I can't call this a review - it's just a very personal reaction to the deck. But if you're prepared to see the world and yourself from a different angle, I can recommend it.
(*except that it doesn't seem to be available at the moment
😢 but they might still have copies
here.)
Labels: challenge, Connected and Free Oracle, insight, Instagram, oracle, thoughts
