Customer Reviews

Lord of the Rings Oracle Gift Set

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I bought this package with the impression that the beautiful artwork and design would be protecting a lavish tarot deck and placemat inside... this turned out to be somewhat true, but still a far cry from what I wanted. It's a 40 card deck, self-designed by one guy, with little-to-no accuracy or depth when compared to a real tarot deck, and uses a rather unbelievable "One Ring" divination idea that is basically an ouija board. Tolkien would've hated this product, and I think it's a piece of over-commericalized drivel. Also, the included map that is supposed to be used for placement of the cards, etc is so heavy in stock, and creased so severely, forget ever placing it fully flat - thus rendering it worthless!

This oracle set is packaged so lavishly, in my opinion, to trick one into buying what is a poorly executed deck of 40 cards, a cheesy plaster of Paris "ring", a stiff and inaccurate map, and a little, awkward hardcover book. The book gives directions for using the ring on its own, the ring with the map, and the ring with the cards...kinda like a pendulum or Ouija board type of thing. Why would you want to use the very symbol of evil to ascertain the mysteries? The book also gives three different meanings for each card, Esoteric, Personal, and Reversed. The esoteric meaning for the Mirror Of Galadriel card has a few disjointed phrases about the Kabbala and some psycho-babble about unresolved personality/sexuality...... The art on the cards is just plain awful and if you love The Lord of the Rings they may actually make you wince with pain as they did me. Gollum, subtitled The Unloved Child looks vaguely like the figure in the famous painting called The Scream. The White Tree looks like a spindly birch that has been crookedly planted. Saruman looks like Sir Walter Raleigh while Gandalf looks like John Malkovich with a bad hangover. There is a card inexplicably titled The Mothers that shows two really ugly beings supposed to be Rose Gamgee and Belladonna Took holding infants. Mount Doom looks utterly unthreatening. The Black Riders look like really tired people, some quite feminine, none malefic, with the red-eyed leader sporting a huge pair of Longhorn steer horns. The elves are depicted as ladies in pastel dresses and men in cutaway coats and lacey cravats with Vandyke beards. Treating the great work and artistry of J.R.R.Tolkien in such a fashion is just bad karma. Stay away from this.

Let's leave aside the question of whether the world needs yet another media tie-in divination pack, and address some of the difficulties with this particular system:

1. The One Ring as divination device. Um...the symbol of ultimate evil used as a casting stone/pendulum? Is that a good idea? Not to mention that this version of the One Ring is a small doughnut covered in what appear to be Dwarven runes.

2. The cards. The subject choices are at best arguable - Beorn the Bearman gets a card of his own, but archetypal quest hero Frodo doesn't? Art ranges from rushed, to ugly to really, really silly (often all three). The Palantiri, for example, are depicted as a pile of squishy eyeballs with gumball-colored irises.

3. The map, which we're meant to use as a mat for card layouts and Ring casting. The mapmaker is under the misapprehension that the Bridge at Khazad-Dum is an actual river-crossing bridge, that Rivendell is between Caradras (North) and the Mines of Moria (South), and that Lothlorien is next-door neighbor to Mordor.

The only person I can imagine getting any real benefit from the box, map, cards, and ring would be a collagista or altered-book artist, who will find some interesting (if pricey) fodder for cutting and pasting. Tolkien fans will be frustrated if not outright angered, while diviners and Tarot collectors will probably giggle and look for someone else to whom the set might be given away without guilt.

This book is for all intent and purpose a ouija board based on the Lord of the Rings. The author of the book rocommends weird stuff such as using a provided ring tied to a string to get answers to questions. From what I gathered he actually believes this and wants you to also. Tolkien was a religious man and would never have approved of this book.

I have the version of this oracle with the gold ring pendulum, map, cards and book. The ring is covered with Norse futhark runes - not the dwarven runes from LOTR. OK, so the dwarven runes may have been based on the futhark, but isn't the ring supposed to have elven writing, anyway? As for the map and cards, I've seen better illustrating in junior high art exhibitions. But the book is a great laugh. New Age babble such as "what you are now doing is 'downloading' from the universal mind" and the comparison of journalists, researchers, economists and statisticians to oracles such as entrail reading and astrology are just a hoot. As is the liberal misuse of "quotation marks" around every other "word." The author - and the editor - apparently don't know that quotes should be used only for quoting speech, otherwise for creating the effect of irony. These are just a few of the words "quoted" throughout the instruction book: "knowing," "unknowing," "yes," "no," "identities," "see," "gifts," "invisible," "dies," "right" and "mysteries." If one didn't know that Donaldson claims an extensive background in druidry and metaphysical studies (and can be assumed to take this stuff seriously), one would think it was a terrific parody.

I attempted an Elven Spread (as described on pages 62-63) with the card deck and the card meanings given in the instruction book. It made no sense at all.

I must confess that I have not read the oracle book that comes with this set, so I can't comment on it. Didn't even bother to unfold the map. I got stopped dead by the cards themselves; terrible, terrible artwork. I am appalled that this set was even published and feel foolish for having purchased it. The cards themselves are nothing but amateur, unfinished sketches. As sketches they look like they show some little bit of promise, but the artist never went beyond the sketches to come up with a finished product. It literally looks like the publisher figured they had a week to put out a product that might possibly ride the coattails of the movies' success. Unfortunately, this product is only suitable for the roundfile.

This set is a very unique way to combine both metaphysics and fantasy. With gorgeous illustrations and offering several ways to use this placement "Lord of the Rings Oracle" allows you to gain a richer perspective on you and Middle Earth. The set contains a deck of cards which allows you to use them as a tarot, or may be used in conjunction with the map and ring. The ring is an interesting idea, used like a pendulum it may draw your attention to a particular card, or my favorite, a place on the map. Ask the ring what is yes for you and what is no, once you receive your answers, hover the ring over each of the places on the map and it will let you know where your journey needs to begin. It is a wonderful idea and for those who love Lord of the Rings for more than entertainment it allows you to gain an insight of how you fit with the story. While I agree the map is a little awkward for lying flat and the meanings of the cards are not as full of content as I prefer you'll end your session and adventure with a newer respect for both you and the realm. Simple but Magical.

Tolkien would have loathed this and everything it stands for. He was a Christian, not a gulliable New Age dimwit. An indefensible rip-off and travesty of the work of a great genius

I purchased these Oracles for the intent purpose to aid others in my community along with myself in the depths you need to go in order to learn about yourself. I use it with either the ring or my own pendelum. I do not think it is a nicer version of the ouija board for that is a tool that is dangerous if not used properly.

The Oracles are to find what is deep within you, not created to use with Tarot, Runes, or any other form of divination. They are to be used solely. My community loves them as I do for they do show a darker side of self and lead you to find the self that is full of light as did the journey we all must go on in order to find that light we shine with.

Blessed be