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A Native American Oracle by MANNY TWOFEATHERS New World Library $19.95 (book and card set)
To begin, these cards do not claim any ancient heritage, despite the Native American motif. Manny Twofeathers was drawn to rocks all his life, and over time, life circumstances and a series of dreams helped him to begin painting Stone People. At first, these were indeed painted stones; but now, to bring them into more people’s lives, they are presented as pictures of painted stones on cards. Another difference here is that Twofeathers’ dreams led him to only eight animals. Because of his years in the Southwest, he was also very familiar with the images of Kokopelli and the Man-in-the-Maze. He added these to the collection, and the Stone People collection was born — that’s right, only ten cards to this divination deck, so that in one respect, these cards are far easier to grasp than the standard 78-card deck of tarot. The pictures of Stone People are also far simpler than the complex symbols of tarot. While some would have you believe that every tarot card means a particular thing, in fact tarot is used as much by intuition and insight — assisted by the various symbols — as by any standard meanings. With Stone People, however, one needs to understand only one symbol per card. This means that there is still a good deal of memorizing; for example, bear medicine has to do with spiritual strength, conquering physical problems, self-reliance, self-advancement, and realization of one’s gifts. Additional meaning is given to each placement too; the four directions and "within" all give quite specific readings for a card. That said, I can’t ignore the intuitive use of these cards. Twofeathers offers a number of uses for the cards besides layouts ("Our minds are our only limitations when it comes to using the Stone People Medicine," he says). This includes prayer (not to the cards, but perhaps while holding a certain card for its medicine), as well as selecting cards that call to you (rather than a simple shuffle-and-place). So it seems that despite its apparent difference from other forms of divination (indeed, it does seem to me more simple!), the more familiar one becomes with the deck, the more intimate a reading can come through. In fact, with the small group presented in these cards (eagle, buffalo, wolf, otter, bear, snake, spider, turtle, Kokopelli, and the Man-in-the-Maze), one may find something less like readings, and more like conversations. |
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Stone People Medicine is one among so many divination sets available today. Yet among the many, it has some very different characteristics that I think will be a draw for some who both have and have not gotten into other kinds of divination.