Animals: Review: Creature Teacher Cards by Scott King

“Creature Teacher Cards: Animal Wisdom for All Ages”, Scott Alexander King and Sioux Dollman, Blue Angel Publishing: Victoria (Australia), 2008.

As the title suggests, “Creature Teacher Cards” is an oracle deck for children.  The cards in this deck are drawn so that a child can intuit meaning from them.  Moreover, each message for each animal is simple yet profound.  These cards are designed for a child to learn wisdom from the various animals.

Written in a warm inviting manner, “Creature Teacher Cards” encourages children to ask for an animal’s help.  For example, King writes for Shark: “I honour the rules when I feel safe”.  He continues, “To me the Shark is the totem of people like the police – people we respect as protectors and keepers of the law, but that we are a little afraid of at the same time.”  King points out that Shark will help children to honour their boundaries with others.  Also Shark will empower children, who feel that the authorities may be unfair, to speak to someone who can help them.

As King says, “if you ask the animals a question, they will answer you”, this deck will aid children in understanding how divination works.  When I have used these cards in workshops for children and families, they were enthusiastically received.  The favourite cards were Cat (“I learn from my mistakes.”), which shows a kitten playing in a meadow, and Unicorn (“I am sacred.”), which shows a unicorn gazing at the moon.  I found this deck to be an effective teaching tool for families to learn animal divination.

The cards in “Creature Teacher Cards” are round to represent the Circle of Life.  A colourful Snail decorates the back, and represents “new beginnings”, which is every new day.  Each illustration depicts a friendly animal such as Shark with a child’s smile or young Bear with his Dad.  Since King is Australian, the animals featured are from Australia such as Tawny Frogmouth and Possum.  Moreover, the other animals are presented from an Australian point of view.  Lizard is a goanna, a native Australian monitor lizard, and Buffalo is a water buffalo.  Meanwhile, Dragon features a bearded dragon instead of the mythical animal.  This all adds to the specialness of “Creature Teacher Cards”.

I highly recommend this deck for children and their parents.  They can learn about oracles, animals, and basic life lessons together.  This is truly a family oracle deck.