General question about Cards, Spreads, and Reading

Hi!

Well, this is my very first thread at this board
In recent months I got very much into Oracle Card reading, and it's an amazing experience each and every time!
I am currently the proud owner of four lovely decks, and plan to (very gradually) purchase 6 or 7 more I had my eye on for quite some time.
Now, I connect very much to the notion that the cards are actually a kind of key-device to reach one's soul or subconsious and/or loving and guiding energies around us. What confuses me the more I think about it, is how the spreads themesleves work-

There are sooo many spreads out there. Let's say that you choose (or create) a spread with the questions A, B, and C, by that order. How can the cards "know" that card 1 is supposed to answer A, 2 would answer B and 3 would answer C?
I mean, yes, you shuffle and you immerse your energy within the cards thinking about the general subject matter, but questions A, B and C are specific questions by a specific order set by the specific spread you chose, regarding the subject matter.
It seems like the cards would "know" what to answer before you ask them A, B and C and before you even shuffle. That's really confusing to me, as I'm not satisfied with simply wave it off by saying "it's super-natural stuff".
So I guess I just wanted to hear you guys opinion on this..

Hello, glad to hear you're enjoying your Oracle cards.

It's a great mystery how they work, but I don't think it can be a power held within the cards themselves, as some of us have had good readings from cards that were never designed for divination. Unless there are patterns and meaning embedded in absolutely everything.

As you have four decks you might try pulling a card from each instead of all from one deck. I think it gives the unknown force more to work with.

A fascinating topic!
And I guess you'll be getting well thought-out replies from folks who have spent decades thinking about it all. My two pennyworth: the cards themselves can't "know" anything. What "knows" is a part of ourselves. Looking at the cards - or looking at a sand-tray, or embers in the camp-fire or a dead goose's entrails or whatever you choose, is simply a way of switching off the conscious mind (that knows next to nothing) in favour of our inner knowledge of what is going on and what would be the best thing to do.

Oracle images just offer a range of usually dream-like structures to give form to that knowledge.

I do not believe the cards are anything other than pieces of heavy paper. As a psychic medium who is also an Atheist, I believe what I read is energy. Each card's symbolism emits an energy that the reader picks up on.

When shuffling the deck with a question in mind, I often find that what ever is on my mind that day attracts the energy of the corresponding cards. This, in my opinion, is like-attracts-like scenario.

As to how the cards fall into the appropriate column in a decision spread, I believe we infuse the spread with the energy of our deepest desires/fears. If column B is the desired or hoped for outcome, the like-attracts-like energy speaks through the cards. Our fears also show up through the cards this way. When the read gives you a hoped for outcome or lays your fears in front of you, you carry that energy with you into the future and create your reality as such.

Just my two pentacles.

I'd really like to know the answer to this but haven't spent those decades thinking about it, so decided to ask using my newly enlarged Oracle collection. The most helpful advice I can give to the original poster is therefore to do the same with their own cards and see what comes up

I did get that message about loving and guiding energies then it went into a rather difficult discussion of fate and free will - the best understanding I have of this at the moment is that the cards drawn are fated, part of a universal plan to stimulate spiritual growth and connection, but that we need to use our free will in deciding to take the messages on board.

Further details of the spread are in my journal - actually I didn't use any positions, just drew the cards and arranged them by common themes until they all fitted together to make a consistent interpretation

when I first started with tarot and oracle cards, I really believed that what came up was selected by the universe and displayed randomly. We had nothing to do with it and it wasn't completely random, it was chosen by destiny if you like.

Over the years I am really convinced otherwise and do agree with you OctoberSpiritChild. great thread topic to start!

I am a good shuffler but I am lazy when picking the cards for each position. I just deal off the top, I know some people pick each card and say "for this position". I shuffle with the question and topic in mind and then deal. Somehow the positions do fit nearly always! So I think it is connecting with the subconscious and energies. I also have had messages pushed in front of me that are very important and sometimes instead of what either I or a sitter want to know. It has to get the message out there at times! I've had too many experiences now to think otherwise but it is just a tool for your subconscious. With a lot of work I think it is possible to access without any 'tools' but they are helpful (and fun!)

Oracle & Alternative Decks

I'm truly happy for you when you say you have really gotten into Oracle Decks. I am captivated by them but experience no facility in reading them. Tarot cards and playing cards used for divination deliver for me but due to some mental block I have trouble believing "picture cards". Perhaps they are too direct and I am afraid of the truth, I don't know. Universal Seeker (Gareth) lists the Jenlon Fortune Telling Cards as an item in his collection. I like these non-picture cards but I do not know which spread or lay-out Jenlon recommends for reading them. Even though Whitman published them, Jenlon was the creator & producer, so I don't think I should rely on a typical Whitman arrangement of the cards. Also, a smaller lay-out might work for me because I consult the cards fairly often. Therefore, putting out all 36 cards challenges the odds of all named events applying to a weekly fortune.

You might get some ideas from the Lenormand section of the forum, they seem to use combinations of a few cards to get the meaning.

Oh my, it's been two months since I've started this thread, I'm sooo sorry for disappearing like this. This last two months has been kind of hectic.
Anyway, thank you all so much for your wonderful replies, they were all very helpful and taught me so much As I get deeper into the practice of Card Reading, I learn more and more about the process and about myself, and I hope to read and post here on this message board a lot more often.
Btw, as much as I could see, a lot of books and study materials had been written about Tarot, but were there any books written about Orcale Cards and Oracle Reading?

Oracles is such a broad topic OctoberSpiritChild! I mean they go from mermaids to vampires to power animals to wild flowers! I've not seen any books that are general about them, I searched and couldn't see any that came up easily!

When I buy an Oracle deck I have always found the book inside the box quite good. It explains that system and has meanings. Some Oracles have an extra book you can buy to help and give greater insight. But not really seen a general one