This deck and book set from Llewellyn's may be packaged as either of the above titles, depending on where you purchase them.  Older catalogs and stores with a slower inventory turnover may feature the Rune Oracle, while new catalogs and recent store stock will have the Witches Runes.  Don't be fooled by the new packaging, different colored boxes and totally different names; these are the same deck and book.  Llewellyn's took the Rune Oracle off the market and repackaged the set and is now selling it as the Witches Runes; I'm not sure of the reason why.  I have asked a friend who works there, however, and will know shortly, and will post the reason here when I know.

As with all Llewellyn's boxed sets, the packaging is very nice.  The large trade paperback book that comes with the set is excellently set and printed, and the cards are contained in a plain white slide-out tray.  The book is, of course, bound in the same color as the box so if you bought both sets by accident it still might not be readily apparent by the books.  The tray is a great example of overpackaging; though the deck is only 24 cards plus the blank card, the tray is an inch and a quarter thick.  The only reason I can think of for this is to act as a spacer so that the actual box can be the same size as all of their deck and book sets come in.  This is probably a printers consideration; cheaper by the million parts to have all the boxes the same size.

The cards are and are bordered in yellow in the Rune Oracle set, and it looks like they are bordered in black in the Witches Runes set.  Nonetheless, even though there are a lot of cosmetic changes, the images are all identical.  I only have the Rune Oracle open, and didn't have the Witches Runes open (I borrowed a sealed set from store inventory to scan the box) but you get a look at the cards on the box enough to match and compare.  Note that since this is not a tarot deck, there are no Major or Minor Arcana, no suits or court cards.

The blank card is a take on the blank rune, which is an invention of Ralph Blum, who popularized rune divination over ten years ago with his ceramic runes set, widely available in stores.  Norse purists eschew the use of the blank rune for this reason.  It is easily enough discarded if you don't wish to use it.  I'd have thought that it would at least have the borders and stuff but the face is totally blank, although the back design is present on it.

On the face of each card, the image of the rune is presented top and center in a good sized white square.  This is flanked by two smaller navy blue squares with a triple triangle design in them, here called "the Valknut Sign" and representing nine angels in a three-triangle arrangement.  Yes, I found it confusing too.  The rune symbol at the top is in a different color on each card, the color is symbolic of the meaning of the card.  It is something like elemental correspondences but more distinct.  Each color choice is named in the book.

The image area features a scene which illustrates the meaning of the rune.  These are fairly straightforward and simple, easy to understand and use.  Those who are familiar with Jackson's illustrations of the Celtic Oracle will recognize his flowing art style.  Flanked with a tree vine with birds sitting on it, the text box underneath the image has the traditional Norse name for the rune, followed by its English translation.  In many places on the card images, but not in all, there is runic writing, and it is done the right way.

The book that comes with the deck is a nice clean, tight trade paperback that is chock full of information on how to use the cards.  A good amount of background lore is included, even some Norse pantheon mythology.  I'm sure some of the Norse purists will object to this being made so accessible and easy to read and understand (Norse mythology usually puts me to sleep) but it's actually a good book.  Six original layouts are included for your use with the cards, and a lot of correspondences are listed for each card.

The cards themselves are fairly large in size but handle well due to there being only 25 cards in the deck.  They are quite stiff as they are printed on heavy stock, but this wears in easily as they are used and shuffled.  Watch out for the edges, I got a paper cut on one finger when I first opened the cards.  This too wears off with use.

I myself am particular to the color scheme used in the Witches Runes (black borders, green box) as opposed to the Rune Oracle (yellow border, orange box) but the images are the same so it's your choice.  Actually you may not have a choice since few places will be selling them side-by-side.  These are some of the nicer Rune sets I've seen.  And user-friendly, too.  Whichever one you end up with, you will be pleased with it!

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Review Copyright 1999 by Gina M. Pace

The Rune Oracle, copyright 1996 by Nigel Jackson and Silver Ravenwolf
ISBN 1-56718-364-6
Witches Runes, copyright 1996 by Silver Ravenwolf and Nigel Jackson
ISBN 1-56718-553-3
published by Llewellyn Publications, St. Paul, MN