The Astrology Center of America, 207 Victory Lane, Bel Air, MD 21014
Tel: 410-638-7761; Toll-free (orders only): 800-475-2272
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The Phoenix Cards, Deck & Book Set

by Susan Sheppart, illustrated by Toni Taylor

The Phoenix Cards, Deck & Book Set
Price: $29.95
Number of cards in deck: 28

Measurements: 3.5 x 5.5 inches, or 90 x 140 mm. Large.

Back of card: A gloriously multi-colored "phoenix" arising from flames & a few peacock feathers. Actually, the bird looks more like a bald eagle & according to legend, flames consumed the bird & ashes gave him birth. This has it reversed, or skewed, perhaps.

Book included: Yes, 261 pages, 5.95 x 8.95 inches, or 15.1 x 22.8 cm. Cards are illustrated in black & white.

Publisher: Destiny Books, Rochester, VT. Printed in China.

Comments: As there are only 28 cards, we show four only. These cards are to help you determine your past lives. The method is to show cards of 28 ancient cultures. Presumably you pick a card at random & that's yours. But here is the suggested method, in brief:

Shuffle the cards & lay them out, face up, in four rows of seven cards each. Without really looking at the cards, select seven at random. Set the remaining 21 cards aside. Take the seven cards and, again without really looking at them, set them in some order, from one to seven. Write this down so you can refer to it later.

Then, over the next days & months, think of what connection you might have to previous lives in these cultures. This is the author's theory, at any rate. Now some notes about her theory:

On page 3, the author says that at death brain cells die & memory is wiped out so our memory has to be rejuvenated in some subsequent life. Why don't we remember our past lives? The answer is simple: Remembrance, a form of ESP, is a skill that most of us simply haven't developed as yet. Memory is not stored in the brain. The brain is merely a tool that finds our memory & displays it to us. Develop the skill in one life & you will need only to recall it in some future life. But it is work, both to develop & to recall. To the author's credit, she gives rudimentary instructions for developing this skill.

Past lives: Twenty-eight cards just aren't enough, though I doubt a couple of hundred would be realistic as far as manufacturing is concerned. Various gurus who claim to know say we spend around 700 lives as humans. My guess is that most folks who can drive a car are past the halfway point. Past life regression suggests the interval between lives is often no more than a century or two, sometimes less. These same regressions also suggest we sometimes have a series of lives in the same culture. A series of lives in Greece, a series in Egypt, a series in China, a series as a native American, a series in Europe, etc. My own research tends to confirm this.

My research suggests the reason may be that we are working on some particular problem or trying to develop some particular skill & repetitive lives in the same culture may be the best way of doing this. For example, if I want to be a musician, three successive lives in a European culture (over a span of perhaps 500 years) are better than one life in China, one in Persia & one in France. Of course, if I am already an accomplished musician (child prodigy, typically), I might find it broadening to take successive lives in various cultures. In puzzling out past lives, there are few rules and thousands of possibilities.

A note on the packaging: There was grit sandwiched between two of the cards, it had dug itself into them & after I got it off, the cards were still pitted. So that's what the sale deck is like, folks. If you find defects in this deck, I'd appreciate hearing about them.

The Astrology Center of America

207 Victory Lane, Bel Air, MD 21014
Tel: 410-638-7761; Toll-free (orders only): 800-475-2272

Tarot Home Tarot Decks Tarot Books Astrology Home E-Mail:

Established 1993, The Astrology Center of America is owned & operated by David Roell. Except where noted, this entire site (AstroAmerica.com) & its contents are Copyright © 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000 by William R. Roell. All rights reserved. Tarot card images are Copyright © by the copyright holder (generally the publisher).