- Deck: Divine Masculine Healing Oracle Deck
- Author: Christabel Jessica
- Artist: Cecilia G F
- Published by: Blue Angel Publishing, 2025
- RRP: AUS $36.95
- ISBN: 978-1-922574-30-5
- Reviewed by: Kim Goldsmith – Cosmic Snail Tarot
The most enjoyable aspect of using this deck is reading the thoughtful and detailed guidebook. Each card has a brief sentence encapsulating the key theme which is useful for a quick card of the day reading. The images on the cards represent masculine mythological or spiritual characters from diverse cultures, and their stories are outlined in the guidebook. The emphasis of this deck is to draw inspiration and awareness of the masculine traits we all carry, no matter what gender we are.
Most of the cards represent mythological deities that are new to me, and I am captivated by the various stories drawn from First Nations Australians: the Shakya of the eastern sub-Himalayas and the Inuit cultures, to name a few. The cards symbolise different archetypes we can learn from. Midas invites you to value your time and energy. Krishna permits you to find emotional release from your blocks. Enki suggests you accept your Ego to gain a deeper understanding about yourself. The card meanings have detailed messages for each masculine character that you can nurture within yourself. For instance, Thoth, the Egyptian God of Knowledge and Wisdom, invites those of us that overthink to “Conduct shadow work” (p. 156). Whenever the flow of thoughts is too much, instead of shutting down, observe the content, acknowledge, and clear your mind of damaging thought loops.
Although the digital artwork on the cards is incredibly sophisticated and beautiful, I have struggled to connect intuitively to the images, and prefer to work with the guidebook interpretations. I use this deck for personal practice rather than in readings for others.
This deck is unusual for an oracle as it offers six complex spreads, plus a table of two-card questions for a quick reading. Oracle decks don’t always offer spreads so I was really impressed with this addition to the guidebook. The Divine Masculine Healing Oracle includes two Masculine-Feminine Integration Spreads which invite you to combine cards from this deck with Christabel Jessica’s other deck Goddess Within Oracle for a reading. This is a nice way of expanding the possibilities of your oracle collection. I didn’t have this particular deck, but I tried using Ana Novaes’ new Feminine Myths Oracle instead, which worked well. I think you could use the spreads in conjunction with any of your female centred decks like Tarot Cards of Modern Goddesses or The Great Goddess Oracle to provide a more holistic reading that covers masculine with feminine traits and characters.
It is interesting to see the dialogue that evolves between the male and female counterparts in such a reading. For instance, I did a two card decision making reading for myself. I received Ocasta, “clinging to an expected outcome will cause mental anguish,” and then pulled Neith from the Feminine Myths Deck which told me to be “open to receive new opportunities”. The masculine and feminine messages combined to tell me that I need to let go of fixed ideas of where I was heading, and go with the flow to allow things to take their natural course.
In the foreword to the deck, Christabel claims that many cultures in the world are based on patriarchal systems with an “emphasis on the value of man’s power, voice, time and labour” (p. 9). There is a suggestion here that aspects like vulnerability and expressing emotions are not prioritized or valued in this type of societal structure. Myths and stories are passed down through generations and can unconsciously shape who we are and how we behave. Christabel speculates that “Questioning the narrative of how society was formed and the influencing events is a great way to dive into transformative work.”(p.14). As such, she hopes that using this deck alongside a feminine archetype deck will help people question their identity, and challenge some of these inherited behaviours. In doing so, she hopes we can reconcile imbalances in ourselves and become liberated from social expectations. I think she intends men in particular to use this deck as a vehicle for reconsidering how they give, receive and experience emotions, particularly when there may not always be a safe public space for them to show their feelings.
Christabel invites all people, men, woman, and non-binary to use this deck and claims that “Working with each energy polarity within you balances yin and yang, and leads to becoming an integrated, whole being” (p. 12). Dualistic ways of understanding human identity have been popular on and off in the arts, psychology, philosophy, and spiritual movements for many centuries since René Descartes’ theories of the mind and body split from the 1600s. Lately, there has been a big shift in dialogue around these themes, and this traditional duality of masculine-feminine is being subverted. Divine Feminine and Divine Masculine are popular spiritual buzzwords that hold little meaning for me. Our identities are not so clearly delineated into masculine and feminine parts. The meaning of oracle and tarot cards is symbolic and metaphoric, not to be taken too literally, and this is the way we can view the many myths brought to life in the Divine Masculine Oracle Deck.
Tarot literature and decks have historically represented an interplay between the active/yang/ directed/masculine energy with the passive/yin/receptive/feminine energy. Tarot cards are intended to separate out components of human identity – like Justice or Strength – and allow us to concentrate on how these qualities affect our attitude and experiences of life. The 78 cards of the tarot deck in totality signify the parts that make the whole human. So, you could view the 44 Divine Masculine Oracle cards in the same way, with each individual masculine character representing independent facets of your ideal whole self. Concentrating on one card and its meaning at a time is an exercise that can help you slowly work on all pieces of yourself with the aim of self awareness and restoring agency.
This deck is not really geared towards everyday readings if you are looking for answers for your career or finances. It is definitely a deck for exploring the nuances of your emotions, and to support healing from past trauma (alongside professional medical and mental health support). It is a deck that can be used to consider how you operate emotionally, internally, and within your significant relationships. Anyone can use this deck, whether they are a novice or professional reader, as the guidebook is clear, instructive and includes useful spreads.
Originally I imagined this deck would be authored by men and used for men. That was my own assumption based on the deck title. I would be very curious to hear if men resonate with this deck, given the author’s intention to make it “in honour of men in all phases – inner child, knight, father, grandfather and all aspects in-between”(p. 12). I must admit that at first I was unsure if I would relate to the deck, but through use I have found the core messages in the cards applicable to any person or situation.
This deck represents classical archetypal ethereal images of men. It is not imagery for people who are looking for a deck that reflects a gritty, literal version of reality. Cecelia G.F. is known for her science fiction book cover illustrations, and if you check out her Twitter page you will see she enjoys creating her own scenes from fantasy movies and shows like Good Omens and Star Wars. Those that enjoy fantasy art and are into gaming and science fiction will resonate with her artwork.
Overall I would say this is another high quality and visually compelling deck from Blue Angel. The theme of this oracle got me thinking about gender in a tangential way, and given I have so many decks now that only represent women it is refreshing to have one with male centred artwork. The guidebook is particularly well-considered and offers multiple ways to extract meaning from the cards. If you are unsure what Divine Masculine means to you, then using this deck may be a gateway to unravelling that concept further.
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