I have waited for The Magickal Botanical Oracle for so long and the wait was worth it! Maxine Miller is one of my favorite artists and so many of her art prints and statues adorn our house. Christopher Penczak on the other hand, is one of my favorite witchcraft authors of all time. Them collaborating is the perfect combination, like peanut butter and jelly. This deck is so up Christopher’s alley that I originally thought that it was his idea to create the deck. So, I was surprised when Maxine told me the deck was her idea and that she asked Christopher to write the companion book for it. The fact that I had originally thought this was something Christopher came up with just shows what a perfect pairing this is.
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The fully colored companion book to The Magickal Botanical Oracle is thick, much thicker than I expected. Christopher goes over the folklore of each plant including it’s magickal uses and the medicine of the plant spirit. Christopher offers divinatory suggestions for each card along with a divinatory suggestion for each card’s reversal. Each card is given it’s common name, it’s latin scientific name along with planetary and elemental correspondences. Also provided are several unique spread suggestions for this deck, instructions on reading for yourself and others, using them for affirmations, and more. Plant spirits have been an area of passion for Christopher for so long, so he really brings fantastic depth and insight to this deck. In fact, I highly recommend grabbing his book The Plant Spirit Familiar if you want to dive even deeper into this world.
Maxine’s art is hard to describe. It’s so uniquely hers, that when you see it, you know it’s her work. The closest I could probably describe it is that there’s some elements that feel very art noveau and some elements that feel art deco, while being neither art style. She’s a master at line work, and most of her art consists of thick black lines with very detailed line work. The result is art that feels very otherworldly and potent. The cards themselves are against a background that looks like parchment paper and the whole aesthetic feels very much like you’re looking at individual pages of a green witch’s grimoire from a time long past. The deck consists of 33 cards and comes in a nice sturdy box. The Magickal Botanical Oracle is definitely one of my favorite oracle decks in the last couple of years. I’ve taken the deck on several “test drive” readings and was amazed at both it’s accuracy and insight as a divinatory tool.
