Tarot/Oracle Decks

Konxari Cards

Konxari Cards:
A Supplement for Your Ghost-Hunting, Séance, or Spirit Communications Experience

Paul Michael Kane, IRM Foundation, 2009
3/5 Broomsticks

The Konxari (pronounced kon-zar-ee) Cards set is a new spirit-focused divination deck. An updated version of the popular ouija board, these cards use evocative photographs, words, and symbols to give you many ways to connect with spirits. The publishers of the deck claim that Konxari has roots in ancient Egypt — roots the system shares with the more familiar Tarot cards. Erroneous information aside (at least as far as the Tarot goes), the set sparked my interest. Curiosity got the best of me, and I had to check it out.

 Ideally, you take the deck with you to a spooky location, shuffle the cards, and deal them out, and then let spirits relay messages to you through the cards. The set of 88 cards comes in a long rectangular box. Its slick packaging gives the impression that this deck is designed more for entertainment than to be used as a true spiritual tool. The emphasis on “playing” with the deck reinforces this impression; the Barnes & Noble website refers to it as a “ghost-hunting card game,” while the box itself states “for 2 or more players.” Granted, this approach is obviously intended to garner a viable audience, and the publishers deserve to recoup their investment in the project. Still, this approach detracts from the already-dubious “authenticity” of the set.

The cards measure 2” x 3”, printed on lightweight card-stock. Their small size, combined with the semi-gloss coating, makes them hard to shuffle when they’re stacked together. Each card features an image, a title, a symbol (or color spot), and a letter (or number). The instruction booklet runs a minimal 32 pages, contains “quick” and “expanded” rules for using the cards, and provides meanings to some of them, but not all.

My husband and I put the Konxari Cards to the test last Samhain: surely an optimal time for connecting with the Otherworld. We followed the rules of the booklet (“…never play Konxari cards alone…”) and sat together in a darkened room. We shuffled the cards and laid them out according to the main layout found inside the booklet. We removed four cards, and were left with eight remaining: Hiding, Attic, Door, Prophesy, Thermal, Suffering, Aura, and Shadow. Since the booklet also recommends rearranging the cards to spell out words (each card has letters on it), we tried that and came up with “Requiem B6” (or 6B), and “Be Quirm 6.” Neither seemed important or meaningful.

As I do with my Tarot decks, I asked the Konxari Cards if they had anything to share about themselves. I drew the Moon card for my first question, “What can I learn from you?” This card suggests that using our Konxari Cards could help expose, or draw us closer to the mysteries we commonly associate with the moon: magic, death, and nature itself. I drew the Mirror card for my second question, “What is your specialty?” Here, the card represents the deck’s desire to show us reflections of the spirit world as they mirror our lives and pasts. Finally, I drew the Hallway card for my final question: “How does your personality differ from other decks?” The Eye of Horus drawn on this card suggests that the deck gives “the dead the ability to see again”— a trait other decks do not address.

Konxari Cards offer a fun, light-weight tool for a potential (or real) ghost hunter, or divination-curious folks who might like to uncover a new type of cartomancy.

INNOWEN.

Witches&Pagans #23 - Law and Chaos


 

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