*This page may contain affiliate links which may allow us to collect a commission when you click and make a purchase through the links on our site. There is no additional cost to you for doing so.*

Title: Spirit Guide Portal
Created by: Aja Dasshur
Art by: Justin Dasshuur Hopkins
Publisher: Weiser Books
Number of cards: 40
Card size: in
Box size: 2 in approx
Guidebook pages: 112
Purchased or gifted?: review copy gifted by Weiser Books
Absolute favorite card: The Edge-Walker
Other favorites: (in order from most beloved): The Ox, The Wanderer, The Peacemaker, The Liberator, The Artist, The Realist, The Muse, The Rebel
Notable detail: blue Edges
Season: Spring
Sabbat: Samhain
Sign: Pisces
Element: Spirit
Deck compliment: TBD
Collective Pull: The Dreamer

Add to Your Altar

First Impressions

I’ll let you know a little secret which is that I saw this deck in the beginning stages several years ago. Aja is a friend whom I’ve known casually for about ten years but we’ve grown closer in recent years and I’ve had the privilege of previewing parts of the deck several times. I’ve always thought this would be an amazing project. The idea is incredibly unique because of Aja’s process and because of how the artwork has come about. I’ll get into that later but for now, my first impression has always been one of being impressed. There’s a lot to appreciate about this deck and I think there’s so much more you can do with it outside of just being an oracle. So let’s dive in so you can see if you’d like to add this deck to your altar.

The Packaging

Wesier books have been a little all over the place in terms of deck size. I’ve gotten very small boxes and large ones and everything in between. Fortunately, they didn’t skip out on the box for this one. It’s a nice size and the box is well constructed with full color printing both inside and out. I especially love the cover. I love the silhouette with the sort of cosmic galaxy in the center. This is called a “portal” not an oracle so I think the cover reflects that name quite well. I’m not sure you’d have the same impact using one of the images from the deck itself.

The standout feature is the gilded edges. Wesier has been knocking this out of the park to be fair. They’re going with really unique colors that always stand out. I’m just so sick and tired of gold/yellow and silver edges or no edges at all. There are dozens of color choices and if I’m being super honest, I think publishers are being lazy, cheap or both when they skip out on gilding the edges or when they choose the same gold/silver. Of course there are some exceptions to that as there are genuinely times when gold or silver truly fit the deck but I believe that should be the exception, not the rule. So well done Wesier. Keep up the good work with the colorful edges.

The cards are pretty sturdy. This is an unpopular opinion but I like cards that are on the thinner side. They’re so much easier to shuffle than those super thick cards, especially if you have smaller hands like I do. These are thick enough to hold up to working with them but not so thick that you can’t really shuffle them.

Going back to the box for a second, it’s a two piece rigid box with a platform in the bottom to hold the cards. That’s pretty unusual since that’s usually a feature reserved for tarot cards. It also has a blue ribbon to lift out the cards and guidebook. And there’s a beautiful paragraph printed inside the top of the box.

The Guidebook

The guidebook is full color which fortunately seems to be the norm these days. So much so that I’m not even sure I need to point that out anymore. Inside the guidebook, you’ll find:

An intro titled “dear seeker”
A description of both a spirit guide and an oracle
How to use the deck which is quite a substantial section
Four spreads
And the meanings

One section that stood out to me is “the Ritual of I Ask.” It’s a small paragraph and in truth, having questions in a guidebook isn’t revolutionary but I love the way Aja phrased it. This paragraph just explains what the questions at the end of each meaning are and how to work with them so while simple, it’s still pretty profound. Someone once told me that a publisher didn’t want them to use questions in the guidebook and that’s always bothered me. Yes this is an oracle but questions open up the reader rather than projecting a meaning onto a reader. It allows you the chance to connect with your own energy and more importantly, it teaches you to listen to your own guidance. Asking yourself questions should be a ritual that you engage in daily. Even just a moment or two to ask “How am I today?” is incredibly powerful.

This is a great guidebook. It’s not so thick that it becomes overwhelming but offers more than just limited meanings. I think it’s a good sweet spot and I’m not just saying that because I’m friends with Aja. If you don’t know, I am working on my 13th deck at the time of writing this so trust me when I say, I understand having to work within word counts but sometimes I get decks with guidebooks that are so limited, I would’ve preferred they had skipped the guidebook altogether. I’m not suggesting writing a novel but thoughtful sections like “Set the Mood” and “Let the Ritual Begin” make a difference, especially for someone who’s never used an oracle before.

But I do have one complaint which is the organization of the meanings. The cards don’t have numbers so I would’ve expected to see them in the book in alphabetical order which they are not. You do have a table of contents in the front and the names are listed alphabetically there but I think it would’ve made more sense to either have them go alphabetically in the book itself or to include numbers.

Theme

The theme is what’s so amazing about this deck. To give you some background, Aja is known as the Spirit Guide Coach. She has this amazing service where she connects with one of your spirit guides through channeling and then she dictates what your guide looks like to her husband who then paints them. That on its own is incredible. The images in this deck are some of the spirit guides she’s connected with over the years in working with her clients. So the images you see are real spirit guides that have shared their image and wisdom with Aja and now, with you.

That is an incredibly unique idea. I’ve personally never seen anything like this. It may seem like a regular oracle deck on the surface but looking at an image of a real guide feels so much deeper and richer than any other ancestor or spirit guide deck I’ve worked with. I don’t usually like spirit guide or ancestor decks to be honest with you. I find they often aren’t universal enough for me to feel connected with them.

Aja has solved this problem by naming the spirit guides common archetypes like The Dreamer, The Intellectual and The Muse. Of course, she isn’t the first to use archetypes for names either but I think she’s been very clever to use relatable archetypes. Aja includes archetypes like the Witch and the Warrior but also The Best Friend and the Survivor. It feels like a good mix of magical and mundane and I’m here for it. I can resonate with The Intellectual or The Peacemaker. I often find archetypes in decks to be so abstract. They sound poetic and moody but I can’t say they always translate to the everyday. Spirituality does not occur in a bubble. It's in the everyday. It’s in your shirt, your hair, your dining room table, your cup of coffee and the sun drifting through your window. It’s in the emotions you feel, the struggles you face and the car your drive. It’s in your friends and your pet and your garden and even in this computer I’m typing from right now. It’s everywhere and lately, I have felt the spiritual community needs to focus more on the mundane and less on the magical. And I say this because the mundane can be just as magical in its own way.

The Artwork

My absolute favorite card is the Edge-Walker. I feel deeply connected to this image. I feel challenged and supported through this guide. I feel afraid and oddly comforted. I love the direct stare in the eyes while everything else about this guide feels peaceful and reserved. Many if not all of the images are direct like this but this one feels especially powerful.

I feel the same way about the Ox. Now I had no idea what the Ox meant as far as an archetype but I felt connected to the image regardless. This guide appears young but not naive. Their gaze isn’t as severe in fact, its focused off to the side as if they’re looking over my shoulder and I think that really fits the meaning of the card. The guidebook says this guide is here to help you move forward and that’s what it feels like they’re looking at: the future, what’s to come.

“With one foot in possibility and the other in mystery, I walk the line that most avoid, trusting that the unseen holds just as much power as the proven. I don’t seek control. I seek the Truth.”

Overall, the artwork is pretty peaceful and subdued. Looking at the box, you might think this deck is going to be super bright but it isn’t. The colors are muted and therefore much easier on the nervous system. And most importantly, they feel more like real life. I’ve said this before, looking at super sharp screens with super bright colors would have us thinking life looks that way too but it doesn’t.

I’m writing this at my parent’s house. The living room has this GIANT TV that my dad had to have and the color and picture is so sharp to the point that it’s almost uncomfortable. And then I look around the room and I realize life isn’t in HD. Life isn’t perfectly touched up or enhanced. I think the images in this deck are much more “real” in that way.

I also love that the guides are diverse and not in an ambiguous way. You can clearly see cultural differences and I think that’s so important in a spirit guide deck. So many decks have just white people or just black and white people as if those are the only people on the planet. What about the Middle East, Asia, or South America? You can clearly see that this deck has spirit guides from all backgrounds.

Own Spirit Guide Portal

Reading With this Deck

Like the images, I have found reading with these cards to be relatable. So far, readings with this deck just feel accurate to the everyday. I was reading the meaning for the Dreamer, in preparation for writing the collective pull and I couldn’t help but to smile, thinking about how many of us are dreaming of something more than what we have. I pulled the Survivor as the first card related to me and that one really hit home. The truth in feeling like sometimes I’m genuinely just doing my best to survive the day but also, being reminded that “survival can lead to living” feels hopeful.

I literally laughed out loud when I pulled the Detective for myself. I often joke that I should’ve been a detective. I am endlessly curious and this is probably terrible to say but I love catching people in a lie. Not my finest quality but I will be perfectly honest and say, it gives me a little sense of joy when I see that the dots aren’t connecting. I get that same feeling when I know who did in the Who Dunnit before everyone else. And I love to go on a deep research dive. I love to learn and investigate and this deck clearly understood that about me.

I’ve felt inspired working with these cards. I’ve pulled cards that feel like pieces of myself that I’ve lost or perhaps that I haven’t connected with in a long time. I know these are supposed to be spirit guides but it feels like I’m talking to versions of myself. It’s like my own guides are speaking through each of the guides in this deck so the readings feel intimate in a way I’m not sure I’ve ever experienced before.

Collective Pull

I pulled The Dreamer for you. This guide invites you to find an adventure in your life. To move away from conformity and to chart your own path. This guide reminds you that you have goals, desires and plans that you have shoved to the back of your mind, only connecting to them in your fantasies. Take a few moments before moving on with your day to think about those things that come to mind as you drift to sleep. What lights you up? What gets you excited? What is the opposite of what’s currently holding you back? Then think about how you can use those dreams to drive your decision moving forward. Now is a time to have courage to say yes to what is deep in your soul.

Season, Sign, Element and Sabbat

I chose Spring for this deck which may seem unusual. I almost went with fall or winter which is what you were expecting I’m sure. But Spring felt more appropriate because connecting with your guides feels like a restart of sorts. A return or a reconnection to your true self which is more closely connected to spring than it is fall or winter.

I chose Pisces for the sign because Pisces is the sign that is most connected to the other side. If ever there was a zodiac sign that represented a spirit guide, I genuinely could not think of a better sign than Pisces.

I went with Spirit for the Element because of the obvious connection to the other side. This is a very cosmic, ethereal deck and no other element would’ve fit quite as well. And for the Sabbat, I decided to go with Samhain. That is the sabbat of ancestral connection and while this doesn’t have a “samhain” aesthetic, the energy of the deck fits this sabbat perfectly and that’s really what counts.

Who is this deck for?

You absolutely need this deck if you do any kind of ancestral work or spirit guide work or even work with archetypes. This deck is rich, intimate and somehow so familiar. It doesn’t feel revolutionary on the surface but then you peel back the layers and there’s this incredibly radical energy about it hiding there in plain sight.

I think this deck can feel challenging and intimidating. I hate to say that because I don’t want to put anyone off but this deck feels like serious work and I think that’s why it doesn’t feel splashy. Recently, a friend told me about a place in the woods near her home that she’s never been to before despite living in the area her whole life. She said someone took her there and she was so blown away by how magical it was that she talked it up to everyone she knew. She was amazed no one else had been there either and that she’d been there plenty of times and watched as people walked right past it, seemingly having no idea it was there.

She told me she thought it must be “fae guarded” and that she thought it was one of those places where you had to be guided to. That’s kind of how this deck feels: like someone has to initiate you or like it will appear for you when you’re actually ready to work with this kind of depth. Hopefully this review will be that initiation for you.

Deck Companion

I was going to leave this section blank until I found something I deemed suitable to be a companion. But then at the last minute, I thought of the Linestrider Tarot. While not a perfect match in theme, I couldn’t help but to notice some similarities in aesthetic. But what I really love is the match in brilliance. The Linestrider tarot has been an inspiration for me for years. The guidebook is still one of the best I’ve ever seen. It’s complex and explores tarot over the full ecosystem rather than card by card. I feel this matches the complexity of Spirit Guide Portal. There’s deep thought here and that’s something you don’t see too often.

Linestrider Tarot

And if there's a deck you'd like me to review, drop a comment or email me at hello@spiritelement.co.