Crystal Clear Oracle: Loving Guidance from the Mineral Kingdom, by Nadine Gordon-Taylor
Bear & Company, 9781591434849, 40 cards, 166 pages, December 2023
With the Crystal Clear Oracle: Loving Guidance from the Mineral Kingdom, intuitive artist Nadine Gordon-Taylor has combined 44 well known crystals and minerals with beautiful symbols from plants, animals, elementals, and ancient symbols to provide unique guidance for our lives.
This deck is the third deck created by Gordon-Taylor, who holds both MFA and doctorate degrees in art. She has taught for more than 30 years through lectures and workshops. Her artwork has been shown in galleries and collections around the world. She owns a gallery called Third Eye Arts in Peekskill, NY. Learn more about her through her website https://www.thethirdeyestudio.com/meet-the-artist.
As someone who has been studying crystals for over 20 years, I was immediately drawn to this deck. Unlike most crystal oracle decks, this deck also features many different symbols on each card. You can choose to focus only on the crystal or mineral for a quick message or add layers to the guidance by reading about each symbol featured. Here is just one example of the symbols on these cards. (I’ve added brief information from the guidebook, as well.)
“CRYSTAL: Hanksite
Moniker: The Earthy Supporter
Key words: Cleansing, grounding, and heightened sense of reality
Mineral content: Rare potassium sulfate
Healing properties: Realignment of your etheric chakra system. Hold me over any area of your body that feels unbalanced and needs healing.
SYMBOLS:
Capybara: You function best with others.
Beaver: Follow your intuition on new projects.
Tulips: Rebirth, and two tulips mean you might want to look for balance and partnership.
Honeybees: Examine your productivity with dedication, hard work, and collaboration.
Full Moon: There is new information and brilliant epiphanies for you.
Viaduct: Watch for opportunities for transition and change.
Earth: Look to your home planet for support.
Shooting Star: Your wishes will inevitably come true!
Affirmation: I am on the right track to my spiritual destination”1
As you can see, Gordon-Taylor weaves lots of guidance and encouraging information about each crystal or mineral, as well as the symbols she has chosen for each card.
Each card is brilliantly painted in a very realistic style. I’ve seen artists attempt to draw or paint crystals and miss the mark. This is not the case with Gordon-Taylor. Each one of her renderings of the crystals and minerals is as realistic as any photo. She is very talented when it comes to painting the crystals and minerals as they appear in nature. She uses fine detail, shading, and an authentic depiction of the crystal in a traditional shape to present each crystal or mineral. Two of my favorite depictions in these cards are fluorite and aquamarine.
The back of the card box declares that the cards are “intricately illustrated,”2 and this is true! She also uses different border colors to accent the pictorial layouts. The cards are a large format, measuring 4” inches by almost 6” inches. The back of the cards features a magnified view of an iolite crystal.
As I’ve mentioned with the example for Hanksite above, the guidebook contains a wealth of information, with two to three pages per mineral. The messages are written in first person, from the point of view of each crystal. For example for Hanksite she relates:
“I am Hanksite, a rare potassium sulfate mineral, and I connect you with the Earth. I am commonly found beneath the surface, embedded in mud or drill cores.”3
Gordon-Taylor utilizes different colors for the type in the Table of Contents, as well as the passages for each crystal. This makes the various headings really pop! Each card is also shown in the guidebook with a small four-color photo. She ends the guidance with three affirmations for each crystal.
The Table of Contents is laid out in alphabetical order and includes the name of the crystal, the moniker, key words and page number. This layout is brilliant because you can open the guidebook and run your finger down the page and select a crystal randomly for yourself or others, without taking the cards with you. In the Introduction, Gordon-Taylor shares her long history with minerals and her goal for this deck:
“The constructive and positive messages found in this book allow you to access new and loving energies that inspire, empower, and heal. These messages come directly from the crystals that appear in each image.”4
Gordon-Taylor also shares how to use the cards, including different ways to clear the cards, spreads for use with the cards and the use of a sketchbook as a journal. At the back of the guidebook, she includes a 30-page glossary with words and phrases about crystals and minerals, as well as spiritual terms. The cards are stored in a beautiful box with an indentation for the cards, ample room for the guidebook and a magnetic clasp.
These cards arrived in the mail and I didn’t have the chance to glance through them before my husband and I left to attend a gem and mineral show. I came home with three crystals (mangano, calcite, septarian) and an ammonite tray. When I pulled out these cards the next morning for my daily draw, I drew the card Ammonite!
For my friend Ann, I drew the card: Chrysanthemum Stone. This stone is known as The Karmic Liberator and references intuition, optimism and akashic records.
Ammonite helps you release the past and welcome change, evolution, and personal growth. According to Gordon-Taylor, ammonite is “The Ancient Emancipator,” and aids in “adapting to a new, exciting timeline and a new version of yourself.”5
“You have chosen this card because you are a beautiful soul experiencing challenging situations. You also want to feel joy again. I can help you reset your energy grid. Hold me in your hands when meditating and burrow deep into your intuition . . . You are here at this time to work out issues balancing the mind and heart.”6
My friend has had some challenges lately, and just accepted a new temporary position with a hospital in another state. She loved the encouragement that she received from this stone, as well as from the symbology of the eagles, groundhogs, cherry tree, infinity symbol and the ankh. I sent her a photo of the card and the verbiage for even more support.
Crystal Clear Oracle is great for any level of oracle reader or crystal student. With the depth of the information about each crystal or mineral, as well as the reference materials on the various symbols, anyone can benefit from the knowledge shared by Gordon-Taylor. You can focus only on the crystal or read further and integrate all the information for a complete guidance session. I can see myself using these cards to add a footnote to a client reading or pull a card for myself when I’m troubled by a situation.
PJ Spur is an author, intuitive, spiritual mentor, astrologer, and hypnotist. She does tarot & oracle card readings, natal chart readings, grief coaching, and relationship healing. She also has hosted a weekly “Coffee & Cards” event with her Soul Compass Community for the past four years. Her book Navigating Grief with Grace is available on Amazon. Learn more at www.dearpj.com