I was first introduced to the Wild Kuan Yin Oracle Deck by Alana Fairchild when I took a solo retreat to the Shakti Spirit Santuary in Taos, New Mexico. I was there to find spiritual connection and to write, both for this blog as well as for a novel that I hope to publish soon.
I got a chance to use this oracle deck to aid my writing, and the spiritual depth of these cards was so mind-blowing that I had to purchase my own deck. I’ve been using it for readings for myself, my writing, and in readings for others.
Read on to learn more about the Buddhist Bodhisattva Kuan Yin and my Wild Kuan Yin Oracle Deck review.
Who is Kuan Yin?
Kuan Yin is a bodhisattva (great teacher) in Buddhism. She is the known as the “compassionate one”. Legends say that she postponed her enlightenment in order to help to reach every person here on earth achieve enlightenment.
There are many temples and shrines dedicated to her throughout Asian. She is generally thought of as female, though many cultures describe her as a man. Her name can also be spelled many different ways, including (but not limited to):
- Kuan Yin
- Kwan Yin
- Quan Yin
- Kuanyin
- Guan Yin
- Kuan Yim
For a more in-depth study of Kuan Yin, I highly recommend this book: Discovering Kwan Yin, Buddhist Goddess of Compassion by Sandra Boucher.
RELATED READING: Handling Struggling Relationships with Your Aging Parents through Buddhism
The Wild Kuan Yin Oracle Card Deck
-44 cards
-cards measure 3.75″ x 5.5″
-139-page guidebook
From the back of the box:
Within you beats a wild and compassionate heart, alive with fierce optimism. You have the courage to walk a path of transformation. You will not be tamed by convention. You are not afraid to be different, to take risks for what you love, and most of all, to keep hope in your heart. You are one of the wild ones. This deck is for you.
-Wild Kuan Yin Oracle Deck
Take a look at the Wild Kuan Yin Oracle Deck on Amazon.
Artwork by Wang Yiguang
Wow, this artwork is stunning and captivating. Some of the cards are landscape, and others are portrait. While red is often featured as a prominent color on most of these cards (see picture below), other colors are blue and white.
Wang Yiguang
From Wikipedia, Wang Yiguang is a Chinese painter who is known for his Tibetan paintings of flying people and yaks. This is exactly the style of paintings in this deck, and I wish I could accurately convey the whimsical and light-hearted sense he has instilled in his paintings. They are truly beautiful!
As Kuan Yin is an Asian goddess, I am very pleased that they got a Chinese artist to do the work on these cards. I think this deck would not be nearly as powerful without his stunning artwork.
Card Quality
If you’re someone who likes a more flexible card for shuffling, you might not like this deck. The cards are very thick and sturdy, like individual pieces of art, and will likely crease if you shuffle them too rough.
I absolutely love the thicker, less plastic quality of the cards, but this may be something for you to consider.
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The Wild Kuan Yin Oracle Booklet
The booklet is another of the highlights of this deck and one of the primary reasons to purchase it. It is a meaty book, with 2-3 pages dedicated to each card. In fact, in earlier editions of this deck, there was even more (in some cases 5 or 6 pages of information per card).
But in more recent publications, they edited and cut down the material quite a bit.
For each card, you get an explanation of what the card means, followed by practical applications you can do to continue your spiritual development on that particular subject/card. There are prayers to say to Kuan Yin, as well as other activities to help you heal.
Alana Fairchild
Alana Fairchild is a writer and spiritual teacher who is known for her oracle decks. She has a lot of them, around 28 oracle decks including enhanced publications.
RELATED POST: The 16 Best Books on Spiritual Awakening and Enlightenment
Doing Readings with the Wild Kuan Yin Oracle
Readings with the Wild Kuan Yin Oracle are like many other oracle decks. You can do a reading just with this deck alone, or you can use this deck to supplement another reading.
I typically choose the latter. And that is because one card from this deck provides more than enough guidance and spiritual teaching to focus on.
However, Alana does suggest in the beginning of the booklet to call upon Quan Yin before starting a reading. And then she recommends what she calls the “Bridge of Transition Layout.”
In this 4-card spread, Card #1 designates how you can let go of what is holding you back. Card #2 tells you what your empowering guidance in the present moment is. Card #3 explains what you need to know about the immediate future. And Card #4 tells you the bigger picture of your destiny unfolding.
This may be an overwhelming reading with a lot of information. So the more you know the cards, the more you can extract the basic information you need to know to do a full reading like this.
Alana does give a second spread suggestion called “Seeing from a New Angle.”
Conclusion: My Wild Kuan Yin Oracle Deck Review
All things considered, I wholeheartedly give this deck a 5 out of 5 stars.
When I first did a reading with this deck, I drew card 44 for myself: Wild Red Rider, Blessing Bestowed. This “wild card” in the deck asks the person drawn for to completely let go and trust the Divine Spirit. It claims that life is about to be “shaken up” and expect things to get messy. This is the path.
Since drawing this card, my life has been shaken and disturbed in countless ways. But I am starting to see the trajectory of my life with greater clarity and I can say absolutely that this deck is truly connected to the divine.
I hope when you get this deck that you have the same profound readings as I have! I’ve also had really profound readings from the Dream Weaver’s Oracle by Colette Baron-Reid, so check out my review of that one too!
Wild Kuan Yin Oracle Deck on Amazon
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