Oracle of Initiation

Sixty-six cards that began with a death. The archive review describes how Mellissae Lucia's five-year process started with the loss of her husband, and the subtitle, Rainbows in the Dark, states the deck's argument plainly: that the way through is not around the darkness. Grief decks are difficult to make and easy to make badly, usually by rushing the reader toward consolation. What this one suggests instead is the opposite discipline, a long working period and a willingness to stay in the material rather than resolve it. Self-published in 2012, it never had a large publisher's distribution, which is part of why it remained a word-of-mouth object among people doing shadow work. It suits readers in or near bereavement who want company rather than comfort, practitioners who use cards for reflective work, and collectors of self-published oracles. Anyone wanting quick reassurance is looking at the wrong deck.