Based on Native American teachings from the Ojibwa in the Great Lakes Region of the US, this set of 49 cards is provided to help the reader regain the center point of balance in his or her life, which is considered to be the cause of so many ills in today's world..... the lack of balance.  The deck is made up of seven cards which represent the Seven Sacred Directions; East, South, West, North, Earth, Great Spirit, and the Here-and-Now.

These seven cards are affected by the seven Changes, which represent the spiritual energy of each of the above directions.  They are: Vision, Incarnation, Transformation, Transcendance, Gaia, All That Is, and Stillness.  Seven Directions times Seven Changes gives you forty-nine cards, which are diagrammed in the little booklet like a small multiplication table.  Where each Change interacts with its own Direction, the card does not have the Direction title on it, which I found somewhat confusing at first.  In these cards the title of the Change itself becomes the card title.  All the rest of the cards bear the title of the Direction at the top, and the title of the Change at the bottom.

A list of meanings for each of the cards is given, and the reader is meant to meditate upon them, either individually or in a layout described in the booklet.  This layout has no name.  Seven cards are laid out in the pattern of a circle with a triangle inside it.  There used to be a book that was published to accompany these cards, however as far as I can tell the book has been discontinued and is out-of-print.  US Games now carries the cards only.  I really would like to get a copy of the book as I feel it would greatly enhance the system used by these cards.

Someone who is willing to work really deeply to figure out this system would probably find that these cards are worth the trouble, they seem to be a nicely developed system but without the book I can't really get everything out of them that they are obviously intended to do.  The artwork is really nice, though simple.  Anyone who has a copy of the book and would be willing to send it to me for review would be greatly appreciated.

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Review Copyright 1998 by Gina M. Pace