Everyday Witchcraft: Simple Steps for Magical Living

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Oracle Cards, An Alternative to Tarot

I've been thinking about oracle cards a lot lately, mostly because I'm working on my own deck for Llewellyn. I put out a tarot deck a while ago, with fabulous illustrator Elisabeth Alba, and when we decided we wanted a new project, oracle cards seemed like the natural way to go.

I've been reading the tarot professionally for over 20 years, and before I had my own deck, I only used one set of cards, the traditional Rider-Waite deck. On the other hand, I have a multitude of oracle decks, including the Conscious Spirit deck pictured above, the Goddess Inspiration Oracle, the Journey into the Goddess Realm Oracle deck and many more.

There's a reason for this (besides the fact that I like the beautiful pictures). Tarot decks are primarily used for use specific reason--divination. But oracle decks can have many purposes. My group, Blue Moon Circle, often uses them in rituals, passing the deck around the ritual space and each pulling a card. Sometimes we are looking for inspiration, other times a hint of what the year ahead holds, or the name of a goddess who wants to speak to us. They may be a focus for meditation, or just an answer to "what should I be paying attention to today?"

While I occasionally pull one tarot card when I need a quick answer to a specific question, I am much more likely to use them for a full reading. Oracle cards, on the other hand, really lend themselves to the one card pull, and I rarely use them for anything more.

Do you use oracle cards? If so, what do you use them for, and which deck or decks are your favorite?

 

 

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Deborah Blake is the author of Everyday Witch Book of Rituals (Llewellyn 2012), Witchcraft on a Shoestring (Llewellyn, 2010) as well as The Everyday Witch A to Z Spellbook (2010) and several other books. She lives in a 100-year-old farmhouse in upstate New York with five cats who supervise all her activities, both magickal and mundane.

Comments

  • Anthony Gresham
    Anthony Gresham Monday, 14 May 2018

    I got an "Angels of Abundance" oracle cards a couple of weeks ago. I have used them once. I plan on getting the "Ascended Masters" oracle cards soon.

    I have a number of tarot decks. This past weekend I used The Complete Arthurian Tarot by Caitlin and John Matthews.

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