{"id":31082,"date":"2025-01-04T11:29:10","date_gmt":"2025-01-04T15:29:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/?p=31082"},"modified":"2025-01-04T11:29:10","modified_gmt":"2025-01-04T15:29:10","slug":"oracle-deck-review-heaven-and-hell-harness-the-power-of-the-angels-and-the-demons-by-travis-mchenry","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/2025\/01\/04\/oracle-deck-review-heaven-and-hell-harness-the-power-of-the-angels-and-the-demons-by-travis-mchenry\/","title":{"rendered":"Oracle Deck Review – Heaven and Hell: Harness the Power of the Angels and the Demons by Travis McHenry"},"content":{"rendered":"

Oracle<\/span> Deck Review<\/span><\/b><\/span><\/span><\/h1>\n

H<\/span>eaven and Hell <\/span><\/b><\/span><\/span><\/h1>\n

Harness the Power of the<\/span><\/b><\/span><\/span><\/h1>\n

Angels and the Demons<\/span><\/b><\/span><\/span><\/h1>\n

by Travis McHenry<\/span><\/b><\/span><\/span><\/h1>\n

Publisher: Rockpool Publishing<\/span><\/b><\/span><\/span><\/h1>\n

72 Card Deck & 168 Page Guide Book<\/span><\/b><\/span><\/span><\/h1>\n

Release Date: April 2, 2024<\/span><\/b><\/span><\/span><\/h1>\n

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You might be forgiven for thinking that angels are both male and female \u2013 there are plenty of images of female angels, or at least angels that appear to be feminine. But officially, angels have no gender. They are not like humans \u2013 they were not created as we were, born from the sexual act between a man and a woman \u2013 they were not born at all. No one proclaims, \u201cIt\u2019s a boy!\u201d or \u201cIt\u2019s a girl!\u201d Angels are not human. They are a different species altogether. <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

But any woman knows that when a species has no gender, that means that whatever that species is \u2013 in this case, angels \u2013 they are by default masculine. According to Christinity.com, in the Bible, the word \u201cangel\u201d is always translated in the masculine form and when angels appeared to humans, they always appeared as men. They were also given masculine names \u2013 Michael, Gabriel, Raphael. In the Quran, it specifically says that angels are not <\/i>female. I have read the Quran but I had to look this up because I couldn\u2019t remember what was said about angels. I found the answer on an Islamic website called \u201cIslam Question and Answer\u201d. However, the Oracle of Heaven and Hell is based on the Christian Bible and nothing to do with Islam or any other religion.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Actually, I never thought about the gender of angels before I started looking at these cards and reading the names and the categories of the angels and demons. Nor did I care. But they are all masculine. Every last one of them.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

For what it\u2019s worth, many people think that when a person dies, they go to heaven and become an angel. But this is also erroneous. They become a saint. Again, let me stress that angels are another species of being \u2013 they are not human.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

I mention this issue of gender because I always thought of my guardian angel as female \u2013 like a heavenly fairy godmother \u2013 and of course, that\u2019s not how it works. Angels \u2013 whether they\u2019re a guardian angel or just one that helps you or maybe hinders you \u2013 aren\u2019t any kind of fairy godmother. They\u2019re angels. <\/i>Fairies are a different species of being. There are all kinds of species of beings. <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

None of this makes any difference to using these cards for divination. The fact that angels are gender-less; or by default masculine \u2013 is immaterial. There are plenty of divination decks \u2013 Tarot, Oracle, Lenormand \u2013 which feature images that are all female, whether they are goddesses or human women \u2013 and there are hundreds of decks which have images of animals \u2013 cats, dogs, horses, crows, wolves \u2013 just to name a few. So unless you\u2019re a man-hater \u2013 and remember that angels and demons are gender-less; <\/i>not masculine <\/i>\u2013 by default or otherwise \u2013 there\u2019s no reason not<\/i> to use the Oracle of Angels and Demons \u2013 unless, of course, you just don\u2019t like the deck, for whatever reasons that are unique to you yourself. And I suppose there might be people out there who aren\u2019t going to like the Oracle of Angels and Demons. Everyone has different likes and dislikes.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

But I like<\/i> this deck. I didn\u2019t think I was going to, but I really do. Sometimes you get a deck to review and you look it over \u2013 the artwork doesn\u2019t really grab you \u2013 the concept isn\u2019t your cup of tea \u2013 it\u2019s not a deck that you would have bought for yourself if you were in the market for a new deck \u2013 but it\u2019s been sent to you to use for a while and honestly review \u2013 and you end up really loving it. <\/i>This has been my experience with the Oracle of Heaven and Hell.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Created by Travis McHenry, the very talented creator of The Hieronymus Bosch Tarot, Angel Tarot, Vlad Dracula Tarot, Magicians, Martyrs and Madmen Tarot (I would really love to own this one!), the Oracle of Heaven and Hell follows in the same tradition of original artwork supporting well-researched spiritual concepts. Travis McHenry is active on Instagram and it\u2019s worth checking out his page. He posts a lot of cool stuff. Plus he\u2019s one hot dude. You can link to him here <\/span><\/span>https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/travis.mchenry\/?hl=en<\/span><\/span><\/a><\/u><\/span>. I am now a dedicated follower. Rockpool Publishing, the publisher of the Oracle of Heaven and Hell, also has a page for Travis McHenry, which is here <\/span><\/span>https:\/\/www.rockpoolpublishing.com\/travis-mchenry<\/span><\/span><\/a><\/u><\/span>. There are other Travis McHenry pages \u2013 Simon and Schuster has one and there\u2019s a Wikipedia page on him, among others.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

The Oracle of Heaven and Hell cards are five inches long and three and three-quarters inches wide, and made of thick card stock \u2013 you\u2019ll be able to use these cards for years and years and they won\u2019t bent from usage or get a corner turned from excessive shuffling. The edges are a shiny red gilt that looks richer than some of the gold-edged cards I\u2019ve seen. <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

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The backs of the cards are black with red accents and white and gray summoning seals. Each card has a picture of an angel and a demon on it \u2013 turn the card one way and the angel is upright; turn the other way and the demon is upright. The angel side is written in black ink and the demon side is written in red ink. Each one has its own name, number and seal. However, neither side is positive nor negative \u2013 rather, they both contain positive and negative messages \u2013 \u201ctwo sides of the same coin,\u201d McHenry writes in the section \u201cHow to Use the Deck. He stresses that the meanings were \u201cnot derived from religious texts\u201d (McHenry, 9). <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

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\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

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\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

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The cards come with a book which is much more than the usual \u201clittle white book\u201d. It\u2019s nicely bound and has 168 pages with all the information you need to use these cards intelligently and competently. Both cards and book come in a box which makes keeping them clean and safe between divinatory use easy. The entire package is top-notch.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

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I read the book completely before I touched the cards. The book explains that there are 72 Kaballalistic Angels, which are \u201cheavenly beings of light\u201d (McHenry, 1) and 72 Goetic Demons, which are \u201ca combination of fallen angels, ancient gods and infernal spirits\u201d (Mc Henry, 3). Both Angels and Demons have a hierarchy, which will be familiar to those of us who grew up in the Catholic Church.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

I was surprised to read that according to the \u201csecret doctrine\u201d of Heinrich Cornelius Agrippa, each human being has three guardian angels, as well as a \u201cservant demon\u201d (McHenry, 6). I am not going into what these three angels and one demon mean to each of us here, but if you do acquire these cards, do pay attention to this section of the book and how these beings may manifest in your life. Knowing the exact time and date of your birth will help you with this.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Then it was time to use the cards!<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

The first spread in the book is the \u201cCircles of Hell\u201d Spread, based on the Dante\u2019s circles of hell. It uses the demon side of the cards. I thought it interesting that the cards weren\u2019t mixed up so that the demon and angel sides weren\u2019t used at the same time \u2013 like upright and reversed cards in the Tarot. However, it was clear \u2013 as I read beyond this first spread \u2013 as a person became more adept with reading with these cards, the cards would <\/i>be mixed up like a traditional Tarot deck. <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

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The directions for the spread were quite simple to follow and I thought that the spread could be used with any Tarot or Oracle deck to get any answer to any question. But if you use the Circles of Hell Spread just as McHenry directs you to in the book, \u201cto help you burrow down to your soul to unlock a problem or issue you may be having\u201d, using the demon side of the cards, you won\u2019t be disappointed. I certainly wasn\u2019t. <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

I was amazed at how easy it was to read the cards. Even without referring to the book, I could get a complete and total understanding of what my problem was \u2013 of course, having the meaning of each card printed on the card certainly helps. I did, of course, refer to the book \u2013 but not before I wrote down the meaning of the cards in my divination journal and what I thought what they meant. <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n


\n\"\"<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

I also did the Stairway to Heaven Spread, which used only the angel side of the cards. Again, I thought this was interesting \u2013 just to use one side of the cards. But again, it was a simple spread and the cards were easy to read and interpret. <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\n

\n

\n

\n

\n

\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

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Again, I was amazed at how easy it was to read the cards and to get a good idea of what I needed to know from the spread. As you can see above, I made quick notes from the spread and hadn\u2019t gotten around to a full analysis but when I did sit down with the book and wrote out a full page of what was going on as I ascended the \u201cStairway to Heaven\u201d. It was so cool to connect with what I knew all along!<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

I really like the Oracle of Heaven and Hell by Travis McHenry. Not only are they a great divination tool, but they are fun <\/i>to use. I\u2019m not even sure why they are fun \u2013 they just are. Who ever thought that angels and demons would be fun? <\/i>But they are. Go to your favorite occult outlet online or in their brick-and-mortar incarnation and buy this beautiful boxed set of oracle cards. You won\u2019t be sorry!<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

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References<\/u><\/b><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

McHenry, Travis. Oracle of Heaven and Hell: Harness the power of the angels and demons<\/u>. Summer Hill, NSW: Rockpool Publishing, 2024. <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

https:\/\/www.christianity.com\/wiki\/angels-and-demons\/are-angels-male-or-female.html<\/span><\/span><\/a><\/u><\/span><\/p>\n

https:\/\/islamqa.info\/en\/answers\/96306\/gender-of-angels-and-do-they-die<\/span><\/span><\/a><\/p>\n

\n

**<\/b><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

About the Author:<\/b><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

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 <\/p>\n

Polly MacDavid<\/b>\u00a0lives in Buffalo, New York at the moment but that could easily change, since she is a gypsy at heart. Like a gypsy, she is attracted to the divinatory arts, as well as camp fires and dancing barefoot. She has three cats who all help her with her magic.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Her philosophy about religion and magic is that it must be thoroughly based in science and logic. She is Dianic Wiccan but she gets along with a few of the masculine deities. She loves to cook and she is a Bills fan. <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

She blogs at\u00a0<\/span><\/span>silverapplequeen.wordpress.com<\/u><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/a>. She writes about general life, politics and poetry. She is writing a novel about sex, drugs and recovery.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Oracle Deck Review Heaven and Hell Harness the Power of the Angels and the Demons by Travis McHenry Publisher: Rockpool Publishing 72 Card Deck & 168 Page Guide Book Release Date: April 2, 2024   You might be forgiven for thinking that angels are both male and female \u2013 there are plenty of images of female angels, or at least angels that appear to be feminine. But officially, angels have no gender. They are not like humans \u2013 they were not created as we were, born from the sexual act between a man and a woman \u2013 they were not born at all. No one proclaims, \u201cIt\u2019s a boy!\u201d or \u201cIt\u2019s a girl!\u201d Angels are not human. They are a different species altogether. But any woman knows that when a species has no gender, that means that whatever that species is \u2013 in this case, angels \u2013 they are by default masculine. According to Christinity.com, in the Bible, the word \u201cangel\u201d is always translated in the masculine form and when angels appeared to humans, they always appeared as men. They were also given masculine names \u2013 Michael, Gabriel, Raphael. In the Quran, it specifically says that angels are not female. I have read the Quran but I had to look this up because I couldn\u2019t remember what was said about angels. I found the answer on an Islamic website called \u201cIslam Question and Answer\u201d. However, the Oracle of Heaven and Hell is based on the Christian Bible and nothing to do with Islam or any other religion. Actually, I never thought about the gender of angels before I started looking at these cards and reading the names and the categories of the angels and demons. Nor did I care. But they are all masculine. Every last one of them. For what it\u2019s worth, many people think that when a person dies, they go to heaven and become an angel. But this is also erroneous. They become a saint. Again, let me stress that angels are another species of being \u2013 they are not human. I mention this issue of gender because I always thought of my guardian angel as female \u2013 like a heavenly fairy godmother \u2013 and of course, that\u2019s not how it works. Angels \u2013 whether they\u2019re a guardian angel or just one that helps you or maybe hinders you \u2013 aren\u2019t any kind of fairy godmother. They\u2019re angels. Fairies are a different species of being. There are all kinds of species of beings. None of this makes any difference to using these cards for divination. The fact that angels are gender-less; or by default masculine \u2013 is immaterial. There are plenty of divination decks \u2013 Tarot, Oracle, Lenormand \u2013 which feature images that are all female, whether they are goddesses or human women \u2013 and there are hundreds of decks which have images of animals \u2013 cats, dogs, horses, crows, wolves \u2013 just to name a few. So unless you\u2019re a man-hater \u2013 and remember that angels and demons are gender-less; not masculine \u2013 by default or otherwise \u2013 there\u2019s no reason not to use the Oracle of Angels and Demons \u2013 unless, of course, you just don\u2019t like the deck, for whatever reasons that are unique to you yourself. And I suppose there might be people out there who aren\u2019t going to like the Oracle of Angels and Demons. Everyone has different likes and dislikes. But I like this deck. I didn\u2019t think I was going to, but I really do. Sometimes you get a deck to review and you look it over \u2013 the artwork doesn\u2019t really grab you \u2013 the concept isn\u2019t your cup of tea \u2013 it\u2019s not a deck that you would have bought for yourself if you were in the market for a new deck \u2013 but it\u2019s been sent to you to use for a while and honestly review \u2013 and you end up really loving it. This has been my experience with the Oracle of Heaven and Hell. Created by Travis McHenry, the very talented creator of The Hieronymus Bosch Tarot, Angel Tarot, Vlad Dracula Tarot, Magicians, Martyrs and Madmen Tarot (I would really love to own this one!), the Oracle of Heaven and Hell follows in the same tradition of original artwork supporting well-researched spiritual concepts. Travis McHenry is active on Instagram and it\u2019s worth checking out his page. He posts a lot of cool stuff. Plus he\u2019s one hot dude. You can link to him here https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/travis.mchenry\/?hl=en. I am now a dedicated follower. Rockpool Publishing, the publisher of the Oracle of Heaven and Hell, also has a page for Travis McHenry, which is here https:\/\/www.rockpoolpublishing.com\/travis-mchenry. There are other Travis McHenry pages \u2013 Simon and Schuster has one and there\u2019s a Wikipedia page on him, among others. The Oracle of Heaven and Hell cards are five inches long and three and three-quarters inches wide, and made of thick card stock \u2013 you\u2019ll be able to use these cards for years and years and they won\u2019t bent from usage or get a corner turned from excessive shuffling. The edges are a shiny red gilt that looks richer than some of the gold-edged cards I\u2019ve seen. The backs of the cards are black with red accents and white and gray summoning seals. Each card has a picture of an angel and a demon on it \u2013 turn the card one way and the angel is upright; turn the other way and the demon is upright. The angel side is written in black ink and the demon side is written in red ink. Each one has its own name, number and seal. However, neither side is positive nor negative \u2013 rather, they both contain positive and negative messages \u2013 \u201ctwo sides of the same coin,\u201d McHenry writes in the section \u201cHow to Use the Deck. He stresses that the meanings were \u201cnot derived from religious texts\u201d (McHenry, 9). \u00a0 \u00a0   The cards come with a book which is much more than the usual \u201clittle white book\u201d. It\u2019s nicely bound and has 168 pages with all the information you need to use these cards intelligently and competently. Both cards and book come in a box which makes keeping them clean and safe between divinatory use easy. The entire package is top-notch. I read the book completely before I touched the cards. The book explains that there are 72 Kaballalistic Angels, which are \u201cheavenly beings of light\u201d (McHenry, 1) and 72 Goetic Demons, which are \u201ca combination of fallen angels, ancient gods and infernal spirits\u201d (Mc Henry, 3). Both Angels and Demons have a hierarchy, which will be familiar to those of us who grew up in the Catholic Church. I was surprised to read that according to the \u201csecret doctrine\u201d of Heinrich Cornelius Agrippa, each human being has three guardian angels, as well as a \u201cservant demon\u201d (McHenry, 6). I am not going into what these three angels and one demon mean to each of us here, but if you do acquire these cards, do pay attention to this section of the book and how these beings may manifest in your life. Knowing the exact time and date of your birth will help you with this. Then it was time to use the cards! The first spread in the book is the \u201cCircles of Hell\u201d Spread, based on the Dante\u2019s circles of hell. It uses the demon side of the cards. I thought it interesting that the cards weren\u2019t mixed up so that the demon and angel sides weren\u2019t used at the same time \u2013 like upright and reversed cards in the Tarot. However, it was clear \u2013 as I read beyond this first spread \u2013 as a person became more adept with reading with these cards, the cards would be mixed up like a traditional Tarot deck. The directions for the spread were quite simple to follow and I thought that the spread could be used with any Tarot or Oracle deck to get any answer to any question. But if you use the Circles of Hell Spread just as McHenry directs you to in the book, \u201cto help you burrow down to your soul to unlock a problem or issue you may be having\u201d, using the demon side of the cards, you won\u2019t be disappointed. I certainly wasn\u2019t. I was amazed at how easy it was to read the cards. Even without referring to the book, I could get a complete and total understanding of what my problem was \u2013 of course, having the meaning of each card printed on the card certainly helps. I did, of course, refer to the book \u2013 but not before I wrote down the meaning of the cards in my divination journal and what I thought what they meant. I also did the Stairway to Heaven Spread, which used only the angel side of the cards. Again, I thought this was interesting \u2013 just to use one side of the cards. But again, it was a simple spread and the cards were easy to read and interpret. Again, I was amazed at how easy it was to read the cards and to get a good idea of what I needed to know from the spread. As you can see above, I made quick notes from the spread and hadn\u2019t gotten around to a full analysis but when I did sit down with the book and wrote out a full page of what was going on as I ascended the \u201cStairway to Heaven\u201d. It was so cool to connect with what I knew all along! I really like the Oracle of Heaven and Hell by Travis McHenry. Not only are they a great divination tool, but they are fun to use. I\u2019m not even sure why they are fun \u2013 they just are. Who ever thought that angels and demons would be fun? But they are. Go to your favorite occult outlet online or in their brick-and-mortar incarnation and buy this beautiful boxed set of oracle cards. You won\u2019t be sorry! References McHenry, Travis. Oracle of Heaven and Hell: Harness the power of the angels and demons. Summer Hill, NSW: Rockpool Publishing, 2024. https:\/\/www.christianity.com\/wiki\/angels-and-demons\/are-angels-male-or-female.html https:\/\/islamqa.info\/en\/answers\/96306\/gender-of-angels-and-do-they-die ** About the Author:     Polly MacDavid\u00a0lives in Buffalo, New York at the moment but that could easily change, since she is a gypsy at heart. Like a gypsy, she is attracted to the divinatory arts, as well as camp fires and dancing barefoot. She has three cats who all help her with her magic. Her philosophy about religion and magic is that it must be thoroughly based in science and logic. She is Dianic Wiccan but she gets along with a few of the masculine deities. She loves to cook and she is a Bills fan. She blogs at\u00a0silverapplequeen.wordpress.com. She writes about general life, politics and poetry. She is writing a novel about sex, drugs and recovery.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":197,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"iawp_total_views":74,"footnotes":""},"categories":[10005],"tags":[10916,10346,10806,10070,15200,15199,10069,15198,15201],"class_list":["post-31082","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-reviews","tag-artist","tag-author","tag-creator","tag-divination","tag-heaven-and-hell-harness-the-power-of-the-angels-and-the-demons","tag-k-review","tag-oracle","tag-tarot-dec","tag-travis-mchenry"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31082","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/197"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=31082"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31082\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":31103,"href":"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31082\/revisions\/31103"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=31082"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=31082"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=31082"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}