The Spirit of Nature Oracle: Ancient wisdom from the Green Man and the Celtic Ogam tree alphabet Paperback – Illustrated, 27 Sept. 2018

Great cards and size with a really well explained book, great quality and just amazing pictures I love them and so glad that I bought them, I also bought some for a friend she loves them too! They have such a nice feel to them really magical 🧙‍♀️

Artwork is beautiful. Truly stunning. Cards are good quality. Meanings are simple and leave plenty of room for intuitive interpretation. The relevance of some of the background information is not ways clear, but interesting nonetheless. A really good deck to inspire a deeper inner connection with trees. An excellent spiritual companion to have alongside a good, practical guidebook and the experience of walking among them.

I absolutely love these cards. Those trees are like friends to me (I have real friends too. I swear) The book is really well written as well. Very easy to follow. Mine came with some pages written in Czech, but I think that was a glitch and amazon took care of it.The card stock is really good. As usually the cards don't come in their own little box, so you either have to keep the whole massive container or make something yourself, which is difficult with the deck being rather thin.

The book is amazing, the cards are pretty big, the messages are lovely, they are only 25 cards because of the celtic alphabet. The card stock is not the best but i still love them.They are perfect if you work with energies and wish to connect more with trees history, symbolism etc

This is my go to tree deck. There is a powerful energy with these cards. I love them!

Lovely product; exactly as described

As with other works by the author and artist, beautiful artwork, sturdy box, decent weight and feel to the cards, overall sound knowledge base.For me it lacks a depth of emphasis on Ogam and the tree lore offers nothing new. The Tree Angel Oracle contains much greater depth and originality imho.The Ogam alphabet starts with Birch and ends in Beech, to lay the book out following this system may be all well and good but it makes it slow and frustrating to look up the relevant pages when reading cards.The key sentences from each divinatory meaning would easily fit on the backs of the cards, adding grace and ease of use. Didn't realise either that Gooseberry is a tree.The main font for each tree letter is also irritatingly close to illegible.Plastic box insert to hold the cards is somewhat tacky, stiff card insert would look and be better.I am surprised at my irritability with these cards and wonder if it is the formulaic approach that has crept in to the authors work.So my vote is 3 out of 5.

The Spirit of Nature Oracle cards by John Matthews and Will Worthington have been re-released by Eddison Books, much to my delight. This deck of 25 cards brings together the wisdom of the Druid Ogam, and the history and magical influence the Green Man has over humanity’s lives still, even in our modern day and age.The Ogam is a Celtic “alphabet”, a series of lines drawn over a vertical axis that have many various meanings, depending upon the type of Ogam being used. There were over 250 types of Ogam, such as the famous Tree Ogam, Pool Ogam, King Ogam, Bird Ogam, Dog Ogam, even a Food Ogam! These provided the mnemonics necessary to retain and also express a vast wealth of information in as small a form as possible, not unlike poetry and its distillation of meaning to some carefully chosen words. The Green Man is a figure from out of the mists of time, one that has watched over humanity since its inception and throughout its evolution. Trees have been a very important part of humanity’s existence and success, for within their shaded boughs we found safety and security, as well as food and healing.Bringing the Ogam and the Green Man together is a wonderful way to provide a holistic tree-based divination system. In our modern society, we are a very visual bunch, and so I believe the popularity of oracle cards has gained because of this in our lives. Our memories are filled with such an abundance of other “stuff” than our ancient ancestors held, and so the training to interpret the various meanings of each Ogam would take more time than most have in order to be successful. By bringing the format into something very visual, we can meditate upon the image and see the meanings held there, both historically and in our own personal gnosis, brought to life in an easy form and media that anyone can use.We have the brilliant artwork by Will Worthington, who used ancient, traditional methods such as painting with egg tempura-based paints upon wooden panels. Matthews’ knowledge and wisdom shines through the text, providing historical background to the Ogam and the Green Man, both simply and eloquently, as anyone who is familiar with his works can attest to (and I’m a big fan). The divinatory meanings are clear and inspired, and yet personal gnosis is recommended first and foremost by Matthews when drawing a card, for to gaze upon the card before outside influence can reveal some truths about the self that others’ interpretations could not touch upon.There are some suggestions for drawing the cards, based on one, three or five-card spreads. Using the Tree of Life spread, by placing three cards in reference to the Lower, Middle and Upperworld is truly inspired. It’s an approachable deck, for anyone to use, regardless of religious or spiritual background or preference. The cards can simply be used to meditate upon the season and the cycle that we are currently in, as well as being used for divinatory purposes. I would highly recommend using them both ways!I am so very pleased that this deck has been re-released, and in such a beautiful format. It comes in a sturdy box, to protect both book and cards from being banged around and makes it useful when travelling. My only criticism would be that it would have been nice for the book to have been in colour as well, to match the cards, but being an author myself I am fully aware of the limitations both in print and in financial terms that this would be subject to, and so would say that the beauty of the cards themselves more than makes up for it. The book is great reference and resource material, and the cards are wonderful pieces of artwork. I highly recommend this deck to anyone who loves trees, nature, Celtic lore and spirituality or who just loves and collects oracle cards!