How important to you is the underlying system of a given oracle?

.traveller.

This question came up in a thread I read, where the accompanying (sp?) literature did not adequately support the cards.

What constitutes a good oracle, or a bad one for that matter?

What makes you reach for one oracle over another?
 

.traveller.

To answer my own question, I guess I never gave it much thought before now. Some of my favorite oracles have very good systems they build upon, others seem more freeform. On the other hand, I have oracles with good systems that I rarely use... I guess the art plays a factor with those.

I guess my most used oracles are the ones where I can use them without a book of any sort, yet my most accurate one has a book that must be used with it.
 

franniee

I am with you .traveller. I like the ones that I can just read right out of the box. I got the Soul cards last weekend in a trade and I read them this week out of the box... it worked. Not too badly. :D

My Froud's Faeries I can read out of the box...

I haven't read with the playing cards oracles yet because I know I need to learn a system.

The Good witch Bad witch cards are not too bad to read with either...

So I think I prefer out of the box.
 

Chronata

It's an interesting question.

I think when I was younger, and there were less decks/oracle sets available to me...I was much more inclined to sit down and study a brand new system.

but I also really like those oracles where I can make up my own systems, or style of reading with them.

Illustrations do often play a part in whether something will stick with me or not.

Then again, long ago I remember learning the complicated I Ching (with stalks and coins) and nowadays, I just don't want to bother with that whole process! (give me the Tao Oracle...much easier!)

I am much more for instant gratification, or a system that I can just jump right in!

Of course, I also used to make up my own systems for fortune telling when I was a kid...using chips of wood,(that were once roof tiles for a dollhouse) and drawing designs on them.
I guess I still do that! :D

Recently, someone gave me a beautiful metal charm oracle with a cloth, and a system only slightly less complicated than the instructions for my Sony video camera. (it's called IVATOS...and it's wonderful!)

And for some reason...the whole thing just clicked instantly for me...and I stopped looking at the book after the first reading.

So...it depends on how well the system is designed...how well the cards are designed, and whether the whole thing makes me excited to read with!
 

Mellifluous

I like them to work right out of the box, but I read the booklets, too - even if they work without them. I prefer that both ways make sense and be accurate. lol

If the artwork is really good/useful though, I can get past a faulty or weird system eventually and just read them intuitively.

If the cards don't say something clearly to me when they're brand new, and I look in the booklet and it's not helpful either, that lowers my opinion of the deck and its creator - at least temporarily.

I think it's much easier to get past the system of the deck than artwork I don't like though.

Oh, I forgot to answer what makes me reach for one over another... I think it's a combination of mood, what I need from the reading, and how much time I want to spend on the reading.
 

.traveller.

I tend to read pictures like some people read books (I like to read books too though), and often I can get more out of a picture than I can from a description of what the card is supposed to be about. So I guess the art then becomes the most important part of the oracle... except... how to explain the phenomena known as Morgan's Tarot? I love that thing and it works too, without a clearly defined system or lavish art.

Mood definitely plays a big part on the selection process.
 

Sheri

I always respect an oracle's underlying system, but most of the time I won't use it... at least I won't use it as is. I love reading right out of the box! At some point, though, I will check out the system that came with it and see what it's like. Most of the time I will find bits that I will incorporate into the way I read with it. Really though, I have found that I have to really work with an oracle - if it is a complex one - A LOT to work out the best way for me to use it.

Frequently, what puts me off on many systems is that they can be overly superstitious or melodramatic or they put forth rules I can't abide by. For instance, the Russian Gypsy Fortune Telling Cards system says they can't be used on Sunday... if I followed that, I would never read with them because most of my fairs are on Sunday. I can embrace the superstitiousness to appreciate where they have come from, but I can't abide by those types of rules. Usually the associated meanings seem wrong to me too. I'm not saying they are wrong, just not for me, so I end up with my own versions.

I love reading right out of the box. There is a great freedom to be able to do that - especially when most of the decks I have aren't in English! I just got a deck to explore and it is very exciting!

:love: valeria
 

ilweran

If the oracle is cards and I think the system seems to me to be over-complicated, I tend to just shuffle and do a 3 or 5 card spread. If that works, great, if not and I really like the oracle I'll try and use it's system.
 

SpiritOfTheDogz

I've never done an oracle reading without the help of the book, whether that is because i haven't got cards that suit me or just can't read pictures like other do I don't know, but I do need a book. Even then it depends on how things are worded, some books are easier to read and learn than others. I don't really like the decks that are too spiritual and that go too deep and prefer them to be written in a way that suits anyone reading.

Paul
 

Promise

That depends entirely on how connected I am with the particular oracle.

I chose to learn runes very traditionally, even though it was quite time-consuming, because I felt personally connected and drawn to them. It seemed less like a chore and more like a calling to me, so I just flowed with it. The system was important to me there.

I can't say I've done that kind of in-depth study with any of my oracle decks, though. I'm very, very big on imagery, so I just take 'em out of the box, spread 'em out and let the reading commence! If nothing comes to me and the images are dead and don't speak, back to the box they go! I read them how I see most fitting, regardless of what system was meant to be there. Once I buy them, they're MINE and I'll do what I please with them. If I please to learn some crazy system, I'll do it, but if not...