I got these more for a laugh than anything else, but I was really quite pleased with them when I opened them up.  This deck and book set, published by Bear and Co, is not a tarot deck.  The concept behind this system is that you are accessing extraterrestrial intelligence through channeling when you use these cards.  I am not a proponent of the "Aliens Among Us" theories, but this system makes a pretty logical case for a lot of what the whole thing is about.

The cards themselves are these funny little square cards, black and white with one bright color, and the color differs for each group of cards.  There are sixty cards in all, broken down into five groups of twelve cards each.  The group title is at the top of each card and the individual card title is at the bottom.  There is no numbering system in place, and it seems that no one card has any greater value than any other.  Basically you draw the cards and then read the accompanying meditations which are in the book, and gain the insight from reading about them.  This is less of a divination system one would use for others, and more a system to use for self-education and growth.

The five suits or groups are Aliens, Circles, Planets, Ships and Stars.  The suit of Aliens includes different alien entities as put together by various people who have experienced alien encounters.  In other words, the twelve most commonly recognized entities are represented here.  The suit of Circles is, of course, the Crop Circles which have turned up all over the world, and here is my greatest skepticism regarding the whole thing, since I've seen extensive documentaries showing the way that the crop circles are made and the ease and speed with which the intricate patterns are meshed out through a field of grain.

The suits of Planets and Stars are fairly straightforward, containing known astrological information about heavenly bodies which are in existence and which we as inhabitants of the planet Earth interact with.  The fifth suit or group is that of Ships, which, like the Aliens suit, contains the twelve most commonly occurring ships described by various alien abductees following their experiences.

The cards are square and stocky, printed on heavy glossy card stock which makes them difficult to shuffle unless you use the "washing" method of swishing them around and mixing the pile.  In fact, opening the new pack of cards, I had to break them all apart, as they were all stuck together.  It was kind of fun though!

The book which comes with the set is a hefty sized cloth covered hard bound with 275 pages.  Most of the book is taken up with the actual meanings of the cards themselves.  For each card, there are three or so pages, with a black-and-white picture of the card, plus a story, sometimes first person, describing the action or significance of the character in the card.  Following this is a meditation or lesson from the authors working the story into a challenge to be met by us in situations.

The book goes on to describe each suit as having a different significance as a group.  The suit of Aliens represents the seeker himself, the suit of Circles symbolizes the information which is delivered to the seeker.  Planets reflect the environment of the seeker which prompts the question.  Ships symbolize the style of behavior through which the seeker manifests expression.  And the Stars represent the energy of the goal or transformation which is being sought.

Five methods of laying out the cards are also recommended in the book, an Insight spread using one card, a Triad spread using three cards, a Pentagram spread using five cards, a Starburst spread using seven cards, and a Spiral spread using nine cards.  Not a lot of information is given for each one, but since all of these are meant for use in self-divination, with practice one could flesh out the meanings of each position and, I imagine, get better at using them.

Overall I recommend this set for collectors, for aliens buffs, and for those who are open-minded in the extreme and seeking to do some personal pathworking with messengers from the stars.  It's an exciting and interesting divination oracle, and also increasingly hard to find as it is no longer being printed.  It is not a tarot, but oracle systems are increasingly popular and it certainly is a worthwhile set.

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Review Copyright 1998 by Gina M. Pace

Contact Cards by Kim Carlsberg and Darryl Anka, 1996
published by Bear and Company, ISBN 1-879181-32-0