Celtic Wisdom Oracle by Caitlin Matthews

Today I'm looking at a deck I picked up at The Works two nights ago, Caitlin Matthews' Celtic Wisdom Oracle (Watkins 2011). She says she wanted to call it 'Celtic Ancestors Oracle', but her publishers did not like it. I think it would have been a more suitable title.

This deck just came out in 2011, and hasn't made much of a ripple anywhere that I've found. There isn't even a review of it or images on the Aeclectic Tarot website, and there have been hardly any threads about it. There are no reviews of it on Amazon.co.uk, only a few on Amazon.com. A Google search didn't lead me to anyone blogging about it. The Matthews have produced so many books and decks, in some ways this one strikes me as something a bit churned out, a product. I have no idea if this has to do with constraints placed upon Matthews by her publisher, but the companion book feels a bit like someone somewhere suggested, 'Hey, how about a Celtic themed oracle?' and Matthews responded, 'Oh yeah, I can crank that out in my sleep,' and dashed the companion book off by calling upon her formidable knowledge of lore and tradition. OR, it could be that her publishers said, 'Nope, keep it simple, you only get half a page per card.' Hard to say, feels like possibly a combination of things.


What's included
The Celtic Wisdom Oracle comes in a typical Watkins Publishers box,  a sturdy, upright box with a lid that slides neatly over the top. Inside, most of the box is filled with cardboard inserts that create compartments to hold an 88-page companion book, a fold-out 'Sun Circle Sheet', and a 40-card oracle deck: 8 'Divine Ancestors' and 32 'Common Ancestors of the Clan'.

The cards
The cards are relatively thin, slightly floppy stock, with a shiny lamination. They are vivid in colouring and have only a very thin white outer border. The rounding on the corners of my particular deck seems quite notchy, I intend to have a go with my 5mm corner rounder to make them feel less squared-off. That is a small matter, though, and most people would likely not notice it. The backs are particularly lovely, a pale green with a light cream Celtic knotwork pattern, borderless.

Each card has a thin, decorative inner border of Celtic design. At the bottom of each card is the title and a small symbol to denote which 'Clan' the card belongs in. There are four: Truth, Honour, Sovereignty and Wisdom.

The artwork is by Wil Kinghan. I am not familiar with his work, but I find it very pleasing and will keep my eye out for other decks by him, if there are any.


The Divine Ancestor Cards
There are 8 cards in this deck that are printed landscape rather than portrait, which is a bit disconcerting when you first take the deck out of the box. These cards are meant to be used separately in most spreads, rather than shuffled into the deck as a whole.

The illustrations on the cards are of aspects of the Gundestrup Cauldron, and the cards are divided into four pairs of Lady and Lord: Lady and Lord of Life, Lady and Lord of Light, Lady and Lord of Love, Lady and Lord of Lore. That's a lot of Ls! It feels sort of gimmicky to me, and it would be easier to learn them if they were called something more distinctive. I do find that sometimes the Matthews' oracle systems can be overly refined/clever and somewhat fussy. As of yet, the cards look very samey to me, all being a close-up drawing of a big silver bowl with very little to create an instant and overt distinction. These cards rule the 8 festivals of the Wheel of the Year (called 'The Sun Circle' in this system).

Celtic Wisdom Oracle, Watkins 2011

The Common Ancestors or 'Clan' Cards
There are four sets of eight cards in this part of the deck. Each set is a 'clan', consisting of four female/male pairs, in a pattern that seems to roughly correspond to Page, Knight, Queen, King from tarot structure. The first pair is young, then a pair who represent more action, then a pair who have come into their own a bit more, finally a pair that are masters of their suit, or 'clan'. Each clan has its own decorative border and small symbol at the bottom of the card.

Celtic Wisdom Oracle, Watkins 2011

Clan of Truth - They work the land, correspond to Divine Ancestor 'Life', element Air, and their symbol is hawk.

Clan of Honour - They are the warrior class, correspond to Divine 'Light', element Fire, and their symbol is boar.

Clan of Sovereignty - They protect and rule, correspond to Divine Ancester 'Love', element Water, and their symbol is stag.

Clan of Wisdom - They are the sacred teachers and healers, correspond to Divine Ancestor 'Lore', element Spirit (and possibly Earth), and their symbol is salmon.

Celtic Wisdom Oracle, Watkins 2011

The card titles are relatively straightforward (The Lad, The Seer, The Spinner, etc) with the exception of some Celtic titles that would be unfamiliar to all but the well-studied: The Gillie, The Adultrach, The Brehon, The Tanaiste. I don't know any of those terms and it's frustrating that I'm going to have to learn them in order to use this deck, or else write what they mean on the cards. (They are: Apprentice, Second Wife, Judge, and Heir Apparent, respectively).

The Book
The book is a compact, slim volume of 88 pages. There is nothing particularly impressive about its presentation or binding, it's a simple booklet with a serviceable introduction, card spreads, a page each for the card meanings with full colour illustrations, and in the back some meditations and rituals. Each card is given upright and reversed meanings and a sort of affirmation or 'Family Wisdom' statement. Matthews also relates each card to a bit of lore or mythology, and mercifully these do seem at least somewhat more clearly related to the card itself than in the Arthurian Tarot! Though the book does nothing to explain the meaning of the symbols or references in each card. (Significant landmarks, certain animals, various colours and so on). That's up to you to either know or find out for yourself, if you're curious.

The System
The system as laid out is highly dependent on use of the book, as in the Camelot Oracle. We're instructed to draw a Divine Ancestor card, draw Clan cards, then read the oracle of the Clan card, and find the question from the Divine Ancestor card that best suits the query or situation. Once again, it's like a sort of combination of a card game and one of those Crazy-8 Ball toys. I'm not thrilled at the prospect of being book-dependent. I think a deck of cards should stand on its own, so I will probably not be using the cards as instructed. And Matthews does say in the book that this is a valid choice.

I will draw from this deck during the week and we'll see what we think. :)