Shortly after I had the idea for this oracle deck and the pegasuses (flying horses) and unicorns came to life both in my heart and on paper, I suffered an aneurysm a few weeks later. The idea of holding this deck and its creation inside, imagining the oracles until I felt physically well enough to start again with it, supported me in my recovery.
• Unicorns of Music suit, card 6, 'The Unicorn of Calling'; Unicorns of Art suit, card 2, 'The Unicorn Between Worlds'
Each day, like guardians and divine messengers, these magical beings visited me. I will be eternally grateful for their presence, the love and playfulness they bestowed, and the profound healing they brought to my body, heart and soul.
• Unicorns of Poetry suit, card 9, 'The Unicorns and Innate Power'; Unicorns of Art suit, card 4, 'The Listening Unicorn'
It is believed that unicorns and pegasuses once lived on this Earth happily and freely – much like horses today – and were great companions to humans. Modern science bears this out, thanks to a newly discovered skull fossil found in the Pavlodar region of Kazakhstan. We know that the species Elasmotherium sibiricum roamed the planet until at least 39,000 years ago, though they looked more like modern-day rhinoceroses than horses.
• Unicorns of Art suit, card 8, 'The Unicorn Guardians of Nature'; Unicorns of Art suit, card 11, 'The Unicorn in the Mushroom Kingdom'
Down through the millennia, ancient storytellers perpetuated the legends and mythology of unicorns, as they would have learned of them through the oral tradition and passed on the knowledge. Gradually, they became the beautiful creatures that live on to this day in literature and our hearts.
• Unicorns of Poetry suit, card 3, 'The Wild, Untamed Unicorn'; Unicorns of Poetry suit, card 8, 'The Pegasus of Empowerment'
D M Forster
This feature has been extracted from The Unicorn Path Oracle Deck: A 44-card deck and guidebook by D M Forster (£19.99, Watkins Publishing) and reproduced with permission from the publisher.
D M Forster is an artist, a storyteller and a pilgrim of sacred spaces who has travelled the world pursuing her love of philosophy, metaphysics, future thinking, imagination and spirit. All that she has learnt finds creative expression in the unique style of storytelling that flows through her work. Daniela is the illustrator of two decks: The Journey to Enlightenment Tarot and The Unicorn Path Oracle Deck (both £19.99 each, Watkins Publishing).
Grinning ghoulish pumpkins, grotesque ghosts with tortured faces, hook-nosed witches with decaying skin, monstrous spiders in thick cobwebs. It must...
