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Soul Helper Oracle, by Christine Arana Fader

Soul Helper Oracle: Messages from Your Higher Self, by Christine Arana Fader and illustrated by Elena Dudina
Earthdancer, 978-1-64411-468-1, 43 cards, 128 pages, April 2022

When I first opened the Soul Helper Oracle: Messages from Your Higher Self by Christine Arana Fader, I was eager to start working with the deck. I shuffled for a bit, said my usual blessing for a new deck, asked a question, and selected a card. I pulled the “Success and Happiness Are Coming” card, which, ironically, is the card whose illustration by Elena Dudina adorns the box cover and the front of all of the cards.

I placed the card in front of me, spending time looking at the glorious illustration of a woman, her under-eye area ringed with small purple jewels, a crystal located over her third eye, and her flaming red hair crowned with peacock feathers. She tells me to enjoy and celebrate life – a message I definitely needed to hear.

Before looking up the card’s meaning in the accompanying small book, I read the introduction that explained how to use the cards, interpretation methods, and consulting an oracle. In hindsight, I would have been better served to have read the introduction that Christine offers first. She describes how the deck guides a person to notice when our souls are speaking to us (which is really all of the time) and to heed its advice, meaning to go deeper into the storm of life facing us to find peace, to search for the truth within, and recognize our potential.

The deck is meant to be used to discover the core issue facing us when a card is pulled, to find the essence of the matter at hand, and to work with the recommended soul helpers. To do so, she recommends pulling only one card and working with the issue at hand for 21 days.

This is not the deck to use for a fast answer, but rather to work with the four soul helpers associated with each card: power animals, herbal essential oils, healing crystals, and numbers. Through a deep 21-day dive on what is being communicated, your soul’s messages will reveal themselves. It is through this extended focus and soul support that the vibrations offered by the soul helpers can help bring “clarity, divine light, and wisdom and will immediately bring about a change for the better, opening doors and guiding you toward happiness.”1

The accompanying booklet describes the characteristics and associated vibrations of the four soul helpers and how to work with them over the 21 days. For example, with the herbal essential oils you can put the recommended oil in a diffusers, or onto your crown chakra, or spritz it in a spray bottle filled with spring water and the oil to mix with your aura.

I’ve lived with this deck for a few months, and just before sitting down to write this review, I pulled another card: “Nature is Calling You”. The card states Nature wants to touch, fulfill, and protect me with its healing powers. With a wink and a nod from my soul, this was the same card that I pulled three weeks ago. And, its message is one that I not only need to hear, but to believe and then live willing to accept the help that is given so freely to me by my soul.

The predominant color of this card is green. A girl clothed in what looks to be a bikini of green leaves, holds some moss to her ear, much like we sometimes hold seashells to our ear when at the ocean. Her head is cocked to one side as she listens, surrounded by ferns, a small waterfall in the background. The power animal of the card is a puma; the herbal essential oil is tea tree; the healing crystal is emerald; and the number is 2.

The wisdom of the card’s offering is spot on for me and it reminds me that the issue raised by the card is not necessarily an easy one but an urgent one. It resonates with me tremendously. I will willingly work with the four soul helpers, heed the message, and work on the prodding that tells me to let go of lower, negative energies and forgo the dark paths of victimhood and begin to shine in my true light instead.

Christine Arana Fader and Elena Dudin have birthed an amazing beautifully illustrated and written deck. I loved Christine’s statement that “your soul is telling you to enjoy life, even its storms and silences, to treat everything as if it were a game in which you are the winner. It tells you to have faith in yourself and your strengths, and to trust your own magic.”2 The challenge for me has been to actually live my belief in this. Working with this deck has given me guidance on how to trust my soul to guide me on this path and to not resist or overthink, or to allow myself to override the divine light of the soul.

I highly recommend Soul Helper Oracle but remind the reader that to fully access the help offered within that you really do need to sit with your chosen card and work with the associated four soul helpers for the 21 days. Invest the time in yourself, your soul is waiting for you to listen and work in concert. As Christine reminds us, “those things that you heal and liberate within yourself will heal and liberate the whole world.”3

Dragon Wisdom Oracle Cards, by Christine Arana Fader

Dragon Wisdom: 43-Card Oracle Deck and Book, by Christine Arana Fader and illustrated by Anja Kostka
Earthdancer, 1644111086, 112 pages, 43 cards, 2021

In creating the Dragon Wisdom: 43-Card Oracle Deck and Book, Christine Arana Fader has written a mystical book about magical beings that can support you on your spiritual journey.  She worked closely with Anja Kostka to create artwork that captures 38 dragons, 4 elements, and one elf.  In 2000, Christine Arana Fader was introduced to the dragon’s energy by the spirit world and came to work with this energy to introduce people to its power and the energy of Avalon.

Also known as the “Dragon Woman,” Fader has met many teachers on her spiritual journey—angels, power animals, ascended masters, Merlin, and especially dragons. Since 2010 she has led dragon workshops and trance journeys. The author of different publications on mystical beings like dragons and elves, she lives in Germany.

Anja Kostka attended Fachoberschule für Gestaltung in Munich. In addition to the traditional painting and the usual drawing techniques, she also learned to work with many different materials, such as glass, felt, wood, metal and clay. She also got to know the technical world of computers. After excessive self-study she was accepted by Qantm Institute to study game design and earned her Bachelor of Arts in 2010.

After enjoying Game of Thrones, King Arthur, and other such books and movies, I was interested in learning more about dragon energy and how these magical beings might support me on my spiritual journey.

Since I host a weekly “Coffee and Cards” group for my community, I was excited to open the Dragon Wisdom deck and do a reading for myself.  I asked a question about a situation at work that I am currently experiencing and drew the card entitled “Avalon.”  I learned “a powerful, magical energy wants to rise within you.  The moon dragon wants to wake the priestess or sorcerer within you.”1

Furthermore, I learned that the beautiful dragon will travel with me to the world of my ancestors and show me the way to solve my current dilemma.  I very clearly connected with the energy of my grandmother on this journey and heard the word “compassion.”  I was reminded that we never know everything that someone is dealing with.  I felt guided to act with compassion regarding the person at my office.   

Then, I drew a card for the group and drew the card “Decision.”  The key concepts included the importance of making a decision in a timely fashion.  We can ask the brown dragon for support if the decision seems like too great a burden. Fader also included an easy energy clearing tool with this card.2

I love to pull a card for the group and allow people to read the message on Facebook and receive the guidance if the message speaks to their heart. I’ve already heard from one woman who said that the message clearly spoke to her and she expressed her thanks.

I absolutely love these cards.  The dragon artwork is stunning and quite varied.  Some of the designs are very simple and others are multi-layered with lots of shading and color variations. Along with the guidance shared, Fader includes a visualization or exercise to further connect with the dragon energy and these are very well written.  As I also shared, I really enjoyed the exercises or energy clearing tools. The cards are a great quality, with a very nice varnish on both sides and rounded corners. The cards are a good weight for shuffling. 

My favorite card is the one entitled “Peace.”  The dragon is created in shades of blue, from cobalt blue to the light blue of a spring sky. He looks formidable, yet there is kindness in his eyes.  It is a beautiful card for meditation and Fader includes a beautiful suggestion with blue candles and soft music. She begins with “Peace in this world begins within you.”3

She also includes this affirmation:  

“I am the expression of divine peace, peace is within me.”4

I also enjoyed the elemental cards, such as the one entitled “Fire Chalice.”  This card features a ritual from Alba, the queen of all dragons, who invites you to do a ritual she calls “baptism in the element of fire.” She explains that “The baptism is a rite, a rebirth, a ritual cleansing. Baptism is the threshold from the old to a new way of being.”5

At the end of the book is a trance meditation that you can record and then utilize to meet YOUR dragon.

The Dragon Wisdom Oracle deck gives you a hands-on way to connect with the wisdom, love, and magic of dragons. The artwork is created in brilliant full-color and the guidebook includes a black and white photo of each drawing, so you can match the card to the guidance.  Note that the cards are not numbered. However, the guidebook is arranged in alphabetical order, to make it easy to find the information for each card.

The dragon artwork is really stunning and makes it easy to connect with the images, so that you can experience and activate the dragon energies and interact on an intuitive level. These cards would be good for seekers of all ages.  You can use the cards for daily messages and take the experience even deeper by using the visualizations or energy clearing tools. Pre-teens or teens would also enjoy the cards, due to the beautiful artwork.

“You hold a set of cards full of magic and wisdom in your hands. It is an enchanting mixture of exercises and messages, created from the wisdom and power of Dragons.”6

I really enjoyed Dragon Wisdom.  The artwork is matched only by the beautiful prose of Fader’s mystical work with her dragon guides.  I can’t wait to share this deck with my granddaughter, who is 10 and loves Harry Potter and all things magical! I particularly love the script Fader included for a dragon journey, where you can meet your own mystical guide for your daily life.