As you know, I am a dedicated tarot reader, and I don’t usually pay too much attention to Oracle cards other than dabbling into Lenormand at times. But I was invited to write a review on a brand new Oracle deck created by Shaman Durek, ALCHEMY ELEMENTALS: A Tool for Planetary Healing.

Who Is Shaman Durek?

Shaman Durek is a 6th-generation shaman who has dedicated his life to bringing a message of healing and transformation to the world. With clients such as Gwyneth Paltrow and tech giants like Dave Asprey, he is one of the most inspirational thinkers of our time, offering ancient wisdom to modern seekers. The podcast he hosts, Ancient Wisdom Today, is one of the most popular on iTunes. In addition, Shaman Durek has created ALCHEMY ELEMENTALS: A Tool for Planetary Healing, a deck of 88 cards designed to improve human performance after the success of his first book, Spirit Hacking.

Each ALCHEMY ELEMENTAL card contains an energetic code designed to deepen your energetic wisdom and grow your spiritual power as a spirit enhancer. The deck will enhance your psychic gifts and strengthen your spiritual journey due to these spirit enhancers. Using the cards corresponds to the Celestial bodies- Moon, Sun, Star, and Earth and the Elemental powers- storm, Rainbow, Wind, Snow, and lightning- forging a connection between the natural world and your innate ability. In addition to being a beautiful work of art, each card is designed with luxurious finishes.

I have to say that these cards are beautiful and intriguing. The package comes with an instructional book, and it tells you what the cards mean. There are also spreads you can try out and use. I will show you some examples.

What Do The Alchemy Elemental Cards Mean?

You have cards representing the celestial bodies and are in each elemental power to indicate a connection, as was mentioned previously. You are correct if you guessed the Moon has to do with your emotions and communication. The Sun also has to do with your inner passion. The Star represents your responsibilities and power, and the Earth is about practicality and leadership.

The Elements Paint The Picture More Precisely

However, you will not see the cards Moon, Sun, Star, and Earth without any elemental power, which gives the cards a unique meaning. The essential elements are fire, water, sky, and land. The elements are broken down further: fire volcano, fire-tribal, fire-wildfire, fire-ancestor, and fire-candle. Therefore, each celestial body is affected by the type of fire element.

Then you have the water element, which consists of water-ocean, water-river, water-spring, water-lake, and water-waterfall. Then there is the sky element, which consists of sky-snow, sky-wind, sky-lightning, sky-storm, and sky-rainbow. And finally, there is the land element.

The land element is broken down into land-mountain, land-cave, land-tree, land-flower, and land-animal. This may confuse you right now, but once you get the book and know the cards, you will understand that there is a lot to learn about the elements more than you know about them.

For example, you may think of the elements related to astrology as fire being associated with Aries, Leo, and Sagittarius. Then there is Earth, associated with Taurus, Virgo, and Capricorn. Then there is air associated with Gemini, Libra, and Aquarius. And finally, there is water associated with Cancer, Scorpio, and Pisces. And the same with the tarot cards, particularly with the Minor Arcana suits.

Fire associates with the Wands suit, earth associates with Pentacles, air associates with Swords, and water associates with Cups. The Alchemy Elemental cards break that down a little further, and as you can learn about what each of them means with the celestial bodies, they are easier to understand. Other cards come with this package that provides some extra insight.

The Trinity Cards And The Five Pillars

You also have the Trinity cards that the three main things you learn in each incarnation are power, wisdom, and love. You will walk all three of these paths in your lives, but these cards will indicate which ones show up for you consistently and the strongest.

There are also the Five Pillars which are the five bodies that make up the vessel, or your body. So you have the physical, mental, emotional, spiritual, and fifth elements. These pillars work hand in hand, and the ones that show up the most are the ones to concentrate on heavily.

However, the fifth element only comes to your attention once you master the other pillars well. The fifth element is elevated and goes beyond your five senses. That one is the most challenging to acquire as you have to let go of attachments. I am ways off from that! And I am okay with it because that is where I am on my journey.

And what do you do with these cards? You can create different spreads.

What Spreads Do You Use For The Alchemy Elemental Cards?

In the book, there are examples of spreads. And some may appeal to you, and others do not. But you may decide to pull one card a day, as I do with the tarot. I did a one-card pull, and this is the one I pulled today:

I got the land-flower-moon. Let’s look more into what that means!

The land-flower-moon means that I need to do more to share my vulnerability with others. Or it is a confirmation that I am doing it well. And I feel that I do well with it because I advocate mental health and talk about my trauma and struggles. I do it as it helps me, but it also helps others feel like they are less alone in their struggles. And let’s face it, mental health is still heavily stigmatized. The more advocacy, the better to help soften the stigma. However, it will never disappear completely.

Therefore, ALCHEMY ELEMENTALS: A Tool for Planetary Healing is a highly recommended book and a group of oracle cards that can help bring extra insight into your life and situation. They can be an excellent addition to any therapy you have if you are in therapy. You can learn so much about yourself and the life you are living. 

And back to tarot, here is my newsletter that you will want to subscribe to see how tarot can give the insight you need for mental health. I will send you more information about how this great practice can be helpful. You will also get access to my free tarot course, which you enjoy.