Past Life Readings Cards

The Phoenix Cards
Author: Susan Sheppard; Buy New: $29.95

Reviewer: Susan Shedd (South Woodbury, VT USA)

I don't know whether to be alarmed or amused at the reviewers who find this deck limited to one use, but it does make me wonder about their view of work with past lives. This is NOT a deck to tell you that your name was Mary Smith-Jones-Brown and that you were born in Dublin-Cairo-Edinburgh in 1835-1637-3500BCE. Past-life regression and hypnosis may help you establish these things to your satisfaction, but I would caution that even the most competent and ethical of hypnotherapists has to work very hard to avoid influencing subject recall.

This deck identifies 28 times/places/cultures with strongly resonant energy. The cards are exquisitely painted, each in a very different style. The querent looks through the deck, allowing him/herself to be drawn to the most "magnetic" of the images. A reading is comprised of the seven most strongly attractive (in the magnetic sense) cards. The author makes it very clear that this would not be the sum total of a soul's previous journeys; rather, the cards suggest which previous incarnations are the strongest influences on the querent's current life. (So, unless you , your life circumstances, issues and needs never change, repeating readings from time to time is a very useful process.) The readings may also be linked to planetary influences, which I find valuable. Shorter readings combining past life and planetary influences may be done more frequently. Once you get to know the deck, it is very simple, when confronted with a puzzling, unresolved, or "stuck" situation, to draw one (or two or three) cards, asking "What past life influences are most with me now?" I have always gained some illumination from doing this!

This is one of the strongest decks I've worked with in terms of the art and the writing being equally strong. I find the descriptions and interpretations careful and thoughtful, with a wealth of detail. I appreciate the way information is presented, allowing the reader and/or querent to feel what is currently resonant -- and I have noticed that my understanding of the information grows and matures as I do. There is plenty of room for further research and learning on the querent's part. The images are particularly useful for connecting to the "feel" of a culture, and they are so beautiful that using the deck is always a wonderful experience.

I would never be able to sum up what has happened even so far in this life with one card reading once, so I can't imagine why anyone would assume the same of several past lives. This is a wonderful deck for continued use over time.