By Rebecca Campbell and Danielle Noel
Hay House, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-78817-288-2
This deck is for Starseeds; those souls which have experienced life other than on Earth. These people often feel othered; perhaps even alien on this Earth, and feel a sense of longing or homesickness for the stars. Surely it is no coincidence that this deck was given to me by an Aquarius...
I must admit this deck simply doesn't appeal to me. I guess I Iike my weird to be mindwarpingly psychadelic, with the concept of starseeds conjuring mental images of Henge or Gong or the eccentric Lily from Sex Education. These cards seem tepid to me, so what makes the deck is so popular?
The cards come on nice high quality card stock, with a very satisfying matte finish. They're large (typical oracle card sized), and shuffle beautifully. The most iconic thing about this deck is it's unique and muted pallette. They're almost monochrome, with pastel pinks and blues, creams, vivid aqua, and then depth added in with cascades of purple and black. The artwork is a digital collage, with images of stars, planets, landscapes, sky scapes, archways and portals, and some people too, but also some Egyptian statuary. They definitely spark the imagination! They do all look more or less the same though. I won't lie. None of the single cards feel really memorable to me; but the whole deck has a very memorable style as a whole.
The most cool thing practically about this deck is the "technology" involved. The box lid is cut like a chevron, and the cards slot into it, with the various spreads making different multi-level structures. It's such a unique idea, and also links in with the whole deck and the concept of "Starseeds" in a very meaningful way. Here are a few photos to demonstrate!
The names of the cards use almost scientific language, which is definitely a cool part of the ambience of the deck. There are some words to help trigger deep dives for the Starseeds who use this deck such as "the seas of mintaka" and "hadarian energy".
The book is a typical black and white Hay House book. It's a nice size paperback with the deck's box design on the cover. It explains the deck well, and also gives some almost therapeutic questions for each card to help invite the reader to reflect. This is a nice touch for those who wish to really explore their identity as a starseed, but also adds to the therapeutic nature of the deck.
What I like about this deck more than anything is that it is designed to tap into the homesickness, the otherness that Starseeds must feel. It's meanings are definitely what I'd call "love, light & fluff". As in they are all uplifting, and serve to remind the person that they have a home, ancestors, a calling, a place they belong, but they maybe don't tackle the darker side, the reasons the target market feel so out of place on this Earth.
And I think that would be such valuable work to do with the platform this deck has!
Many of the cards call the querent to act in the here and and now, where others are around activating those cosmic parts of the self. The cards help tune the person inward, to their inner creative self, but above all, the cards appease the inner child. I can see why this appeals to people, and I like that myself. There times where we all have lost our footing in the world and don't feel at home here, and this deck is a comfort blanket for those times. However, the cards really do all seem meaningless to me personally, mainly because they are so generic, they could fit absolutely anyone. Under the fascinating titles are vague, catch all readings that give little resonance.
Overall, I would say this is a good quality deck, but for me it leaves something to be desired. I'd describe it as mundane, or even soulless. Except the stacking thing, which is quite clearly a cool and quirky novelty. If this deck calls to you, please let me know why, so that I can understand?