Question re Tarot & Oracles

Wendywu

In the "What Deck are you using thread" I often see people using a tarot deck in conjunction with an oracle. I have never used an oracle. So my question is firstly what are oracles for and secondly how do you use them with tarot?

I'd be really grateful for some help on this one for I am a confused person.
 

rwcarter

Hi Wendy,

Whereas the tarot has a fairly standardized structure (78 cards, 22 Major Arcana, 56 Minor Arcana, etc), Oracles don't have that structure. They can have any number of cards and they may or may not have a similar structure from deck to deck. Two oracle decks that have the same card could have vastly different meanings for those cards.

While I haven't used any oracles in conjunction with tarot, I believe that what most people do is to use 1-3 cards as "clarification" or "additional info" to the tarot reading. Kind of like dessert to top off an excellent meal.

Here are some existing threads:
Using more than one pack of cards
Quick Question about Tarot vs Oracle
sorry if this has been answered - Vargo and Madamae Endora's cards
Tarot decks with an Oracle for reading...
Question about Tarot cards...

You can also find more info on specific oracles over in the Oracles forum.

HTH,
Rodney
 

afrosaxon

Hi Wendy,

The Oracle Decks section is a wonderful resource for questions like this. In fact, you may want to hang out a bit in the Oracle sections and see how the weather is on the other side. :D

Here are some threads that may help you (which you can also find by using the "Search This Forum" feature in any of the Oracle sections):

Oracle noob confused

Difference between oracle and tarot

Difference between tarot and oracle decks

Help with Tarot/Oracle Deck

Pairing of Decks

How do you choose an oracle deck?

Good luck, and welcome to AT.

T.
 

blackbird78

Oracles all kind of vary depending on their approach. No two oracles are the same (except for Doreen Virtue's litany of Angel Card decks). The way that I combine Tarot and Oracles is very idiosyncratic.

I do a celtic cross with the New Palladini

the a Celtic Cross with the Thoth (I treat them as two separate readings but often the same corresponding cards pop up)

Then I do an oracle spread with 5 cards from the Druid animal oracle
5 cards from the Osho Zen Tarot
1 card from Rune Cards
3 Cards from Crystal Ally Cards
3 cards from an Angel Card deck whose name escapes me right now
and I get my clients to pull 3 tumbled crystals from a black velvet bag.

I then iterpret the whole lot together. For some reason, these cards and crystals usually fit together and make a coherent reading for me. They are more advice based than prediction based than the Tarot.

The more you read with Tarot and the more you read with oracle decks the easier it comes to you. Some decks don't work together, some do. You just need to work very hard on your Tarot and investigate what oracle decks suit you the best then you'll be putting them together in no time at all!

I've only been reading Tarot since 2006, professionally since 2007 and oracles and Tarot combined since 2008 - I just immersed myself in tarot and oracles

blackbird x
 

Wendywu

Thanks everybody - I have the Druid Animal Oracle - I guess I'll have a look at it. I haven't so far, other than to look at the pretty pictures :)
 

Aerin

It's a very beautiful deck, and one of my first oracles. It reads pretty well too. I started using it as a daily card sort of a deck, and sometimes I've been known to pull a card to 'summarise' a reading with another deck.

Aerin
 

gregory

gregory does not believe in oracle decks. Just thought I would share })

Seriously - I can never get a thing out of them - very odd !
 

Wendywu

I had noticed this dislike of oracles gregory :grin:

I'm not sayin' I'm gonna get anything out of them but the pictures are really lovely, and huge so I might as well stare at them and see what I get back.
 

Welf

I'm not into Oracle card reading either, I get nothing out of them though some of the Oracle Decks are stunning. I had an opportunity last year after my friend died to go through her collection and have what I wanted, the whole lot if I so desired. Now, she had an Oracle Deck collection that sits in line with gregory's Tarot collection... It was an Oracle Reader's Dream collection...

There were so many decks that it took me days to go through them... In draws, on shelves, under her bed... everywhere... I didn't bother counting them, the sheer amount was overwhelming... But not one deck spoke to me... they just sat there silently looking straight at me in their full stunning beauty and spirituality...

Then I left it for a few months and went back through the whole lot again... The same thing again, no go, not even one little tiny Oracle deck said... me me... take me... So her daughter (who ended up keeping one deck, her mum's favourite, The Angel Oracle - something like that) and I gave them all away to a second hand Esoteric bookshop.

And that was that... no regrets...

Welf
 

Wendywu

Got to admit that a silent Druid Animal Oracle sat and stared back at me today. Whereas my new :love: Templar tarot :love: just shouts at me, a lot, very demandingly....

So I'll stick with the Templar, 'cos I think it would wallop me if I didn't pay attention!!