The Mushroom Oracle

The Mushroom Oracle - botanical collage oracle in four groups

There are plenty of nature oracles. Few are built with as much internal logic as this one. The Mushroom Oracle by Bethany van Rijswijk is made from collages of vintage botanical illustrations, and that shows immediately: the cards look like found objects from an old herbarium, reassembled into something new.

The deck is designed around moments of transition: new beginnings, forks in the path, closings, and seasonal shifts. The guidebook encourages thinking about connections to others, to your environment, and to yourself. That fits the central image of mycelium, the underground network that links everything.

How the deck is structured

The 44 cards fall into four groups: mushrooms, the forest, mushroom people, and fungal structures. That structure is not purely decorative. It adds a layer of nuance to each reading, working in a similar way to suits in a tarot deck. This makes the oracle more layered than it first appears.

The collages draw on old botanical prints. The result is visually dense and rich in detail. Each card holds more than you catch on a first look.

What you hold in your hands

The card stock is sturdy. Cards and guidebook sit nested inside the box rather than loose. The box measures 135 x 97 x 33 mm, a compact size that fits well in the hand.

The cards read well on their own, and also alongside a tarot deck. The four-group structure gives enough framework to combine them with other systems.

When you draw a card, note not just its meaning but also which group it belongs to. That context can shift the reading in a direction you did not expect.

About Bethany van Rijswijk

Bethany van Rijswijk is the artist behind the collages. She worked with vintage botanical illustrations as source material and assembled them into original images. The publisher credits her as the sole creator, for both the artwork and the concept.

Specifications

• Number of cards: 44
• Language: English
• Box dimensions: 135 x 97 x 33 mm
• Contents: 44 cards + guidebook
• Finish: Sturdy card stock
• Artist: Bethany van Rijswijk
• Imagery: Collages from vintage botanical illustrations

Questions we often get

Do you need to know anything about mushrooms to use this deck?
No. The imagery is botanical, but the meanings centre on universal themes like connection, change, and environment. Knowledge of mycology is not required.

What do the four groups actually do?
The cards are divided into mushrooms, the forest, mushroom people, and fungal structures. The group a card belongs to adds context to its meaning, similar to how suits function in tarot. The guidebook explains how to work with that structure in a reading.