Tarot/Oracle Decks
Bird Cards: The Healing Power of the Bird Kingdom
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- Category: Reviews
Bird Cards:
The Healing Power of the Bird Kingdom
by Jane Toerien
Altamira-Becht, 2007
Toerien has created a deck of fifty-five cards which uses bird energy as a self-help and self-discovery tool. Each bird represents a different focus for an individual to work with. This is a gentle book filled with positive energy and an earnest desire to help the reader.
Toerien discusses using her cards to draw a daily card, which is typical of any deck. She also offers seven other spreads for the reader to utilize. She says that two of the spreads should only be done once to find the energy of your “special bird” and finding your own energy spread: these are meant to define who the reader is. The problem with doing these spreads only once in a life time is that lifetime people grow and change. The bird energy which exemplifies someone at a particular stage may not be the same later on in life.
Aside from this, the spreads she offers are simple and easy to follow, offering unique insight into the inner core for the reader. Toerien has clear directions, offering a general description of the process and then step by step directions. Joyce van Dobben’s illustrations are descriptive and help demonstrate how to lay out the spreads. These spreads differ from typical card spreads: they incorporate the bird energy in the spread themselves.
The illustrations are simple pencil drawings used to illustrate what Toerien “is expressing” with words. Van Dobben has created beautiful birds with significant symbolism on each card. In addition to the pictures, she offers Artist notes at the end of the book to help the reader understand more clearly why symbols were used and what they represent.
While the descriptions are clear, the birds are in random order. This makes it difficult to find them, although each illustration has a number which cooresponds with the order in the book. There is an alphabetical index, take note, though, that the Finch got left out so the reader will need find it in sequence.
The birds are a cross section of species from popular ones like the eagle and hawk to extinct ones like the dodo. Not all of the birds represent positive energy, the vulture is included and meant to help the reader reveal hidden or negative traits. But overall, Toerien offers a positive book. With the aid of Van Dobben’s illustrations, she has created a tool for the reader who is drawn to birds to incorporate in their daily life or to assist with specific issues.
EILEEN TROEMEL.
RATING: 4 Broomsticks
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