Hwaet! Listen up! So begins the tale of Beowulf and what the Scandinavian tribes believed was the journey each of us takes to achieve immortality. The ancient energy that inspired the magical world and adventurous spirit of the poem now inspires this first deck based on the epic story, providing guides and symbols for the seeker. Use this oracle as a tool to reveal where you are on your path, as well as what or who is influencing your journey. The voice of the skald, the poet of the Viking Age, coming through this oracle, leads you to an inner, spiritual place and provides you with a “Seeing” of what the gods have chosen to reveal and a “Knowing” of what is to come. Connecting with the adventures and heroic deeds of the warriors and the adversaries they encounter, both human and magical, makes their universal paths ones that affect all who read about them. Courage then, seeker, in your quest!

Specs

23 Large Format Cards Measure 3.5" x 5"
159 page Guidebook Measures 5.75" x 8.75"
Pull drawer 2 part Box
Authors John Matthews and Virginia Chandler
Illustrator Joe Machine

Creators

John Matthews

John Matthews is an independent writer, researcher, and New York Times bestselling author who has devoted much of the past 40 years to the study of Arthurian traditions, the Grail, and myth in general. He has produced a number of successful divinatory systems based on early spiritual beliefs, including The Arthurian Tarot, The Wildwood Tarot, The Grail Tarot, and The Tarot of Light and Shadow. He has won several awards, some of his titles have been recommended by the New York Public Library, and he is a regular guest at Tarot conferences. Visit hallowquest.org.uk. Virginia Chandler spent many years studying Anglo-Saxon literature and mythology. Author of bestselling books on Arthurian and dragon magic, she lives in South Georgia. Joe Machine is a world-renowned artist and founding member of the Stuckist movement, an international art movement founded in 1999 to promote figurative painting.

Virginia Chandler

Very early on in Virginia’s life, she found herself immersed in the works of the masters of Science Fiction and Fantasy: Asimov, Clarke, Heinlein, Burroughs, and JRR Tolkien. As the years passed, she developed a fondness for Anglo Saxon literature; especially, the epic poem, Beowulf.

This interest followed her into her academic career during which she had the opportunity to study medieval history and literature at Keble and Jesus College of Oxford University through the UGA at Oxford program. Since that time, she has continued her studies and research not only in the Medieval era, but also now with a keen interest in Scandinavian literaure.

As a writer, Virginia was first published in West Georgia College’s Fine Arts periodical. Later, she began writing for various publications such as Golf Digest Magazine, Ibn Qirtaba, and Lost Realms. In 1996, she published her first eBook entitled Solid Contact with Cloverleaf Publishing. And in 2011, she released the jointly-written fantasy adventure novel, The Last Dragon of the North, written with her older brother, Tony Chandler.

Virginia contributed to John and Caitlin Matthews’ title, Arthurian Magic, in 2018 with conceptual text, rituals, and meditations. In 2020, Year of the Magickal Dragon, featuring the lovely images by artist Anne Stokes, was released. 2021 saw the release of The Beowulf Oracle, created with John Matthews and Joe Machine, which features kennings by Caitlin Matthews and a foreword by Diana Paxson.

Projects in the works include a new pirate book, tentatively titled Tales from The Pearl, which is a collection of pirate themed short stories. Other projects include a new dragon book, Seeking Dragons and The World Serpent Oracle.

Virginia currently resides in Georgia with her lovely wife, Melody, their two shieldmaiden puppers, Freya and Lagertha, and a herd of cats.

Joe Machine

Joe Machine is an English painter, illustrator and writer. Joe grew up in a violent environment around the bars and drinking establishments of the 'Cockney Riviera' and the dock towns of North Kent. He was exposed to stabbings and pub fights from an early age and first began making drawings of his experiences in primary school.

As his life spiraled into crime and disorder, he was sent to special school and young offender’s institutions for violence and theft. His colorful background includes involvement with illegal gambling, working as a bouncer in South East London and the rave scene of the 1990s.

He began making paintings in 1988 in an effort to visualize his life and environment. In 1999 he became a founder member of the Stuckists, the first anti-conceptual Remodernist art movement.

Known both for his stripped, pared down style and graphic depictions of sex and violence and beautifully symbolic paintings of nature, mythology and religion, he has been described by renown art critic Edward Lucie-Smith as “One of the most important British Artists”, and “the successor to Francis Bacon and William Blake.”

He has published several collections of his writing and exhibited paintings in some of the most prestigious galleries in the UK and internationally.

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The Beowulf Oracle: Wisdom from the Northern Kingdoms