The Cantigee Oracle
An Ecological Spiritual Guide - by & for Artists & other Creatives
The Cantigee Oracle is a fantastical and environmental oracle deck, creative prompt deck, and 300+ page guidebook, inspired by nature, myth, and Buddhist and Daoist philosophies. Each card is integrated with a fable, explorations of its symbolic meaning, ways to use the image as an icon, practical actions to take, ecological connections, inquiries for journaling or contemplation, and creative prompts for art-making.
The Cantigee Oracle emerged out of a process of turning the sources of my pain (from horrifying life experiences and from ecological grief) into mythic stories. This process, in turn, emerged from the myth-making aspect of the shamanic work I have cultivated since 2003.
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illustrated by Laura Zuspan, published by North Atlantic Books
What is Cantigee?
Cantigee {kæn-tə-dʒi} (pronounced "can-tuh-jee") is a word I created from two root words—cantus, which could be translated as song, spell, or enchantment, and gee, which is a suffix that translates as Earth. Thus Cantigee is a song the Earth sings, a spell it weaves, an enchantment it emanates. This deck, this book, and each of the archetypes within them are prayers of gratitude, healing, and awakening.
Cantigee as a concept, however, spans far beyond the fifty-two archetypes of this deck and book. If the Earth is singing a song, then every pebble, every leaf, every whisker, every fang, every storm, every crash of wave, every microbe, every wingbeat, every shimmer of light on ice, and each and every one of us is a melody within that immense chorus. The best we can possibly offer the Earth is to listen to its song; and in listening to its song, let it enchant and inspire us; and in letting it enchant and inspire us, to let a melody come through us that is at once both entirely of us and yet somehow beyond what we could have ever imagined on our own.