The Hawaiian Oracle: Animal Spirit Guides from the Land of Light

This is a relatively new deck to my tarot and oracle arsenal but it's a unique flavor and really does capture the spirit of Hawaii. The booklet is set up nicely. There are the animals (some of which are listed by another reviewer), followed by the Challenge, The Way Through, and the Gift of the card, and then the subtitles of Imagery, Interpretations (for upright and reversed), the mythology and the illumination. Very thorough and poetic. You can simply read the interpretation if you don't wish to read the mythology and other info every time. I generally don't pull more than a couple cards. The cards are potent and I find with oracle decks that a dab will do ya! They don't seem to function in quite the way that tarot cards do. You COULD use them in a larger spread but I prefer a smaller reading with these.

Interesting. A little hard to stick with, but if you love and appreciate Hawaii as I do, you will enjoy this book.

These cards are beautiful and original! The accompanying book gives card info as well as mythical background and stories on each. I did some readings for my friends and they were perfect!

Enjoyed the book and very well written

Very deep reading and a bit confusing.

The art is lovely and the messages are your typical New Age light and fluffiness. I lived in Hawai`i for 14 years and spent a considerable time studying with Hawaiian Kupuna and researching their culture from accredited sources and cultural practicioners. This Oracle is yet another "Ha`ole" capitalizing on the Hawaiian Culture for their own profit. If you want something which gives you a deeper understanding of the Hawaiian Culture, I suggest other sources. If you want your typical nicely packaged New age deck to give you sugar coated perspective on life, then by all means buy this. It is a shame so many white people goto Hawai`i and capitalize on their beautiful culture and market it for their own money never giving anything back to the people the stole it from. To let you know I was born on the mainland and am white. This deck is a sham for the Hawaiian Culture.

Holy wow, this is a beautiful deck! It's out of print, but I was pleased to find one at even the price I paid.

I purchased these cards because they looked interesting. I did my homework on the authoress and she has done a great deal of study in ancient Hawaiian practices and customs, so I can hardly fault her for her academics. The cards themselves are beautifully done - and it is fun to read the aumakua prayer, pull a card, and then see what your Animal Spirit Guide is. The animal explanations are based on the Hawaiian legends that tell about that particular animal card that you pulled - and those are pretty well written, too. I enjoyed the storytelling. However, this particular author is obviously a Vegan, or at the very least, a Vegetarian, and it comes out in her card interpretations - like not eating fish, but letting them go on their merry, uneaten way (The Mullet Card), and I'm sorry, but as a Hawaiian, that is completely out of line and implausible. Hawaiians, though they revere the elements of nature and sing, dance, and chant their appreciation to the ocean for the food it provides and the majesty of the seascape - a Hawaiian that doesn't eat fish??? Really? It was a main staple of the ancient Hawaiians, as well as the current ones, me included... we thank the ocean and the fish for their lives that sustain us, but to think that we wouldn't eat them is ridiculous... are there Hawaiian-blooded Vegetarians? Sure, I bet you could find at least one, but between kalua pork and lomi salmon - I'm pretty sure they won't be a majority of the culture... She also relates a whole belief system about a mythical land and how all of us were once a part of it and how all of us are trying to return... it has nothing to do with Hawaiian legend or culture - but appears to be her own belief system that she has integrated into her stories about Hawaiian gods and goddesses. One of the things that has become an irritation among the elder kupuna I have emailed or spoken with (and who remember or were taught by their own elders - the traditional Huna of the old ways and old days)is this hi-jacking and adulteration of a true Hawaiian belief system that modern non-Hawaiians are flocking to in droves that results in some strange New Agey Huna-knock off where partakers think they will find their "Nirvana" in Hawaiian Paradise by holding crystals and reciting and chanting badly translated or purposely inaccurate Hawaiian prayers written by the unqualified Huna practioner, mostly in hopes of making money on the books and talismans... most of my family kupuna have advised me to look to those of Hawaiian blood and upbringing to learn about and understand true Hawaiian Huna. But again, these cards are lovely and the legends are well researched. It's the non-Hawaiian aspects of this author's belief system that she tries to pass off as part of Hawaiian culture that I do not care for. There are truly fine things about the detailed artwork in this set of cards but there are also some really silly things about these cards as well. Just know that when you are using them, there is some Hawaiian fact, but lots of made up non-Hawaiian fiction as well.