The Wisdom of Spiders

The concept for my spider oracle deck was born from a deep spiritual connection to spiders that I only recently discovered the true extent of. While Spider has been a significant influence on how I connect to clients, it has taken me many years to realize that this influence also extended to how I understand, interact with, and perceive energy in itself. 

Connecting those dots to Spider took many years, a deep conversation with my partner, and Spider finally getting fed up and making Herself known in no uncertain terms. It started to become hard to remain oblivious when I was seeing at least a couple of new spiders or webs every single day for months. Even after I realized my connection, She has been sending spiders every day. I suspect it is to keep me on track with this oracle deck so I won’t be distracted.

I am planning to donate a percentage of each purchased deck to the IUCN Spider and Scorpion Specialist Group, and the American Arachnological Society, to contribute to spider research and conservation. Spiders are very underrepresented in targeted conservation funding and efforts, perhaps because they seem less charismatic than pandas, or because they are so small that it can be more difficult to monitor their populations. Every bit helps!

It is vitally important to me to reduce the amount of environmental harm that could be caused through printing this deck. Ignoring those potential harms to our world (and the spiders in it) would be counter to my goals and values in making this deck. Thus, I am also taking measures to ensure that the cards I create are as sustainable as possible given the options available and (hopefully) affordable to me. To this end, my cards will be made from certified sustainably sourced cardstock, with ink and finishes that will allow the deck to be recycled. 

The company I am planning to work with ensures that their inks have strict detection limits for aromatic hydrocarbons, volatile organic compounds, and heavy metals, which helps protect consumers and their workers. They use soy based inks for large print volumes, and printing methods that reduce ink waste. They also have FSC certification and plastic free packaging options.