How to Choose and Use Oracle Decks

How to Choose and Use Oracle Decks

At our recent tarot meetup, we had a conversation about non-tarot oracle decks. Some of the questions that came up inspired me to put some thoughts together about how we choose and use oracle decks.

From a tarotist’s perspective, the problem with non-tarot oracles is that they follow no particular tradition. Each diviner needs to figure out how each oracle will work for them.

A problem that occurs in tarot reading but occurs even more frequently in oracle divination is that readers often don’t understand what a reading that uses random token divination truly is.

When we use a random token divination tool, we are responsible for extrapolating the interpretation. This is true for tarot and non-tarot oracles. We cannot simply rattle off a written interpretation, or read the words printed on a card, and take that as an oracular reading.

We must be able to take the keywords and standard card meanings and perform an actual interpretation by applying them to the specific situation or question.

We must be able to look at the image and see within it something that guides us and inspires us.

We must be able to use the words and the images to stimulate our intuition so we can dive into the cards and find the truth that resides there, for that reading, in that particular moment.

When working with the same deck over time we must develop a relationship with the individual cards, remembering how they have spoken in the past to see if their current message might be similar.

There are so many lovely oracle decks available. How can we know which ones to choose? Much like tarot, the deck themes and the beauty of the art should be considerations, but not the only considerations.

For me, a good oracle deck has complex art that I can use to stimulate the imagination and the intuition.

I don’t want to see an image of a fairy and read that I have chosen the ‘Lily Fairy’. I don’t want to learn a fluffy lexicon that someone has randomly invented. I want to work with ideas and images that are understandable and actionable. I want images that can afford a bit of scrying, letting me discover things within the image.

Many oracle decks actually rely on bibliomancy as well as random token divination. To get the full understanding of the card you have to read about the card in the guidebook. It may be possible, over time, to memorize the guidebook, though non-tarot oracle decks do not always lend themselves to this kind of study and memorization.

We can use non-tarot oracles in conjunction with tarot, to clarify a card, close a reading with a final card, or to add information to a tarot reading.

We can also use non-tarot oracles on their own. My favorite way to use them is in working with a group, since anyone can derive information from an oracle deck – no prior skill or understanding is required. To let each person pull one card and share their impressions can be really powerful. That is why I prefer an oracle deck where the cards speak for themselves and do not require us to consult the booklet to do the reading.

Yet, we can bring skill and practice to our work with non-tarot oracles, just as we can with tarot. The important factor is to take the time and energy to dive deeply into the words and images, and make connections with them that are pertinent and meaningful.

My favorite oracle cards use images and words that are evocative. I try to make a few of these decks available in my catalog for purchase. I want my clients to be able to access the beauty and wisdom of these cards.

Here are three of my favorites. Visit my catalog to view and purchase.

The Mystical Wisdom Card Deck features the evocative art of Josephine Wall. Each card has a keyword and a short phrase. The booklet offers a longer description, and a mantra, for each card. Rarely do I use the booklet. I love to pull just one card as a focus point, or a message from the Universe.

Ciro Marchetti’s Oracle of Visions has no words on the images. The accompanying booklet offers some thoughts on each image. I actually never refer to the booklet – I just meditate with the image and see where it takes me.

Alana Fairchild’s Rumi Oracle has artwork that can easily bring one to a trancelike state. The short phrases, inspired by Rumi, are good jumping-off points for self-examination and inspiration. The book offers rituals to perform for each card.

I don’t tend to use oracle cards in professional readings. I do use them in group work and for my own personal growth.

The three I’ve listed here are all great resources for introspection and growth. Can they offer the same detailed information as tarot? Absolutely not. Nor do they require the same sort of training. Yet, like many oracle decks, they can be a great door-opener to intuition, and a good companion tool to a strong tarot practice.

Psychic Protection for Empaths and Readers

Psychic Protection for Empaths and Readers

We hear the term ‘psychic protection’ quite often. Less often do we receive clear information on what that means and how to create it for ourselves.

You might wonder, who needs psychic protection?

The two categories of people who most urgently need psychic protection are empaths and psychic readers.

Empaths are people who naturally feel what others feel, often both emotionally and physically. Empaths need to develop two important skills. The first is to be able to differentiate their own feelings and sensations from those of others. The second is to learn to protect themselves from other people’s energies.

Because empaths so often and easily pick up other people’s thoughts and feelings and read them as their own they are incredibly easy to manipulate. This makes empaths the natural prey of narcissists. That means that empaths need to learn to have good boundaries in all their relationships, and a good sense of self, self-esteem and self-love.

Truly, psychic protection is just another type of boundary that we need to have in our interactions with people.

Psychic readers are those who do psychic work for others, either professionally or casually, using clairvoyance, mediumship, and tools like tarot and other oracles. Psychic readers need to utilize psychic protection for two reasons. First, in day-to-day life, naturally psychic people need to shield themselves from picking up information when it’s not helpful or appropriate so to do.

Second, in a reading we need to be able to give information without taking on the emotional and energetic burdens of our clients.

The difference between empaths and psychics (some people are both) is that empaths feel what others are feeling, and psychics know and see information about others.

Both need to be able to utilize psychic protection every day, and especially when interacting with others.

The psychic protection method that works best for me is quite all-purpose; it’s good for daily life and also for formal readings. I call it the “Fountain of Light” because that is the visualization of the energy we raise and use to cloak ourselves.

Often methods of psychic protection are called things like a ‘bubble’ or a ‘shield’. I don’t like either of those terms. A bubble is too flimsy, and a shield is too war-like. Honestly, the best analogy for this type of protection is a condom because it allows us to safely interact with others in a pleasurable way.

While we may use things like prayer, incense, essential oils, crystals and stones to enhance the protective energy around us, all true psychic protection comes from the energy we raise. Wearing a crystal or reciting a prayer may help, but it won’t do the job completely if we don’t do the energy work.

All energy work begins with conscious breathing, and that is how you want to begin your Fountain of Light meditation. Bring your attention, and your breath, to your root chakra. From there, send your energy into the earth to ground yourself.

Bring energy from the earth back into your root chakra. Then, move that energy up your spine until it gathers at your crown chakra. Open your crown and send the energy out of the crown in all directions like a fountain, falling around you and creating a moving layer of energy around you. Send that energy into the ground, and cycle it back up into the root chakra and once again up the spine and out of the crown. Keep the energy moving around you and through you throughout the day, and throughout your interactions with others. Give the energy a color that feels protective and comfortable.

Once you get comfortable with this quick meditative technique you will find that, throughout the day, you can check in with your energy field and feel the energy moving around you, grounding you, refreshing you, and protecting you.

Spreads, Pulls and Dialogues

Spreads, Pulls and Dialogues

Six Proven Tarot Techniques

The explosion of tarot popularity means there are ever-more folks learning and sharing tarot. This is an awesome thing! Yet, it also means, with more voices in the mix, that there is more room for confusion and misinformation.

Tarot is an interesting thing in that there is no one right way to do things. There are multiple traditions. Since tarot is a tool of creativity, we are discovering new techniques all the time.

The downside is that many new tarotists end up confused, finding that the techniques they have learned fall short in delivering pertinent information.

Here, then, is a short primer on some of the most effective ways to work with your cards in divination.

Comprehensive Spreads

A comprehensive spread is a spread that has positional meanings for many departments of life. The Celtic Cross, the Seven Sisters and the Astrology Wheel are all comprehensive spreads. When using these spreads, it is often best not to have a specific question in mind. Just be open to what the universe has to say and interpret the cards in the context of the positions in which they fall. You may find that a comprehensive spread generates questions that you will want to use other techniques to answer.

If you are interested in learning to master a modern Celtic Cross, and comprehensive spreads in general, you can take my video class.

Topical Spreads

A topical spread is a positioned spread designed for a specific purpose, to answer a specific type of question. The Body/Mind/Spirit three-card spread is great to check in on overall well-being. A relationship spread is great to check in on a relationship. A career spread is helpful in understanding your career direction.

You can find many of these types of spreads online and in books. Use them when you have a specific type of question.

Custom Spreads

A custom spread is a positioned spread that you create for a specific issue. Imagine you had a dream you wanted to interpret. You could create one position for each element of the dream and add a position for each question you have about the dream.

If you were having trouble with a specific relationship you could create one position for each question you have about the relationship.

If you are making a decision you may have one card as the result of choosing each option, or two cards for each option, letting one card give the pro of that choice, and the other, the con. You may use a custom spread only once, or you may create a spread that you save to use again the next time a similar situation arises.

Non-Positioned Spreads

A non-positioned spread is a specific number of cards pulled in answer to a question, where none of the positions have meaning. You might read the cards as a sentence, or as a sequence of events. Or, you might blend the meanings of the cards together to get your answer. You might rearrange the order of the cards in a way that makes more sense to you.

There are two kinds of non-positioned spreads. One kind of non-positioned spread is to simply pull three cards and read them in whatever way makes sense. It’s usually not advisable to try to use more than three or four cards with this technique. Non-positioned spreads of five or six or more are usually quite confusing, unless you try the following technique.

The second type of non-positioned spread involves more cards, maybe six or as many as nine. Here, however, the reader generally has a protocol for reading the spread. Even though there are not specific positions, they may read cards on the bottom as the past, for example, or cards on the end of the row as outer influences and cards in the middle as inner influences.

Use of these non-positioned spreads is usually a matter of reader preference. They allow for greater leeway in interpretation than a positioned spread, yet lack the structure a positioned spread can offer.

Single Card Pulls

A single card pull is exactly what it sounds like. Ask a question and pull a card in answer. If the card you received doesn’t easily answer your question, you have two choices. One is to meditate on the card, research the card and spend time in contemplation to derive its message. The other is to expand your single card pull into a tarot dialogue.

Tarot Dialogues

A dialogue is a conversation with the cards. Ask a question and pull one card in answer. If the answer isn’t clear, pull one or two more – as many cards as intuition tell you to pull. Within that string of cards find a story, or extenuating information pertinent to your question. Does another question arise from this answer? Shuffle all the cards you pulled back into the deck and ask that question. Again, pull a card, or a string of cards, to get that answer. Does that generate a further question? Continue the process until you have a clear view of what is going on. If one or two cards keep repeating, take that as an overall message of supreme importance.

Whatever technique you use to read your cards, you will find that some cards seem very clear, and others confuse you. Do not dismiss the confusing cards. Recognize those cards as an opportunity for deeper contemplation and introspection. You may pull a card to clarify a confusing card. I think it is best to save clarifiers only as a last resort, and to not use them habitually.

In positioned spreads, you might find that some cards make sense to the situation, but not in the position they appear. It’s okay to use the positions as a guide, without being too rigid. Find the value in the cards that appear and know that sometimes the positions will be absolutely poignant in their accuracy, and other times the cards will scream truth while the positions will fade into the background.

To get the most out of tarot, it’s important to learn as many techniques as you can, because different circumstances call for different approaches. As you practice, read for as many people as you can. Read for yourself and keep a record of your self-readings. With tarot, the more you read, the more you will learn the specific and unique ways in which the cards speak to you. Do not wait until you are off-book to begin practicing. It is in the practice of reading that you will learn to memorize the cards and understand their wisdom.

When are Third-Party Readings Helpful?

When are Third-Party Readings Helpful?

The practical ethics of reading about people.

In the world of tarot reading, a third-party reading happens when a client asks for information about someone who is not present, and who did not consent to be read.

Early in my tarot career I had a mentor who advised against third-party readings for a very practical reason. He said that clients would often ask for information about someone who doesn’t exist as a way of tripping up the reader. For example, a person with no siblings may ask for information about her sister, to see if the reader can tell that she doesn’t have a sister.

Sometimes the cards will appear in such a way that the reader will be able to tell that the client is messing with them. Sometimes the cards will give information about a friend or other relative who has a sisterly relationship with the client. Regardless, my mentor’s take was that these readings are best to be avoided.

There are other reasons to consider avoiding third-party readings. Many people believe that to read for someone without their consent is patently unethical.

I believe that, as with many things in tarot, a good reader must evaluate each request and make decisions on a case-by-case basis.

As a professional reader, I have to say I do a lot of third-party readings for a lot of good reasons. There are also some requests I will deny. I make sure that I never shame my client for asking a question that I feel might be unethical or unhelpful to answer. I will usually find a way to rephrase the question or find an appropriate question to ask about the client’s concern.

Tarot ethics are important, but there is no Ministry of Tarot Ethics that decrees what is right and wrong for each of us. As we become ready to read for others, either casually or professionally, we each must figure out what feels right and wrong to us.

What I will share next are my parameters around third-party readings. I am not suggesting that these be your parameters. However, perhaps this will inspire you to consider your own ethics around this important topic.

First, for me it is impossible to read for someone without mentioning the people around them. Our relationships are part of who we are. There are many cards that very often specifically reference other people, most notably the Empress, the Emperor, and the sixteen Court cards. I have to believe that if third-party readings were never to be done, these cards wouldn’t work to describe people so accurately.

One branch of psychic work concerns itself completely with speaking of other people; those who have passed on. Readers who, like me, use tarot in mediumship work would be unable to function if they refrained from third-party readings.

For me, it is fine to discuss our client’s relationships with others, including problems in familial relationships, and solutions for better communication. I think it is fine to discuss the behavior of children, the care of elders and the maintenance of marriages.

I think it is fine to use tarot to strategize our exit from love relationships, and to strategize our relationships with people at work.

When clients want to speculate about the new relationships of their exes, I draw a line. If you are interested in knowing about the intimate details of your ex-husband’s new marriage, the most important question to explore is about why this is bothering you, and how you can heal and move on.

For me, whenever third-party readings might serve to keep a wound open, we need to instead heal the wound. Whenever third-party readings take on a tone of gossip rather than a of healing and helping, we need to figure out what is being triggered in the client, and how we can help heal it.

We also need to be careful not to base readings on assumptions clients have about other people. “Why does my boss hate me?” is a question that can’t be answered until you first ascertain what might really be going on between boss and employee. Perhaps the boss doesn’t hate their employee at all. Then, the question can be turned into two important questions. “What is your boss doing that causes you to feel unappreciated, and how can you change your behavior to create a better working relationship?”

Sometimes friends and family members give clients permission to ask about them. “My daughter wanted me to ask you about her new job.” My husband wants to know if we should get his mother into assisted living.” These sorts of questions are also third-party readings, but to me have no ethical issue since the reading has been requested by the individuals themselves.

Does it harm a person to have a reading conducted about them, without their knowledge? I once saw someone on social media refer to this as a violation akin to “spiritual rape”. To me, that is a bit over the top. The fact is, people talk about people behind their backs constantly. If it is done with meanness and a desire to gossip, it’s probably neither helpful nor healthy. Yet, if it is done with a desire to heal, to help and to understand, I think there is no harm done, and often a great deal of help provided.

Double Vision: Notice This Trend in Your Tarot Readings

Double Vision: Notice This Trend in Your Tarot Readings

Here's a new way to get information from cards in a tarot spread!

Understanding how the cards work together, what I like to call “trends and blends”, is essential to effective tarot reading.

Most readers pay attention to the card numbers and will make note of a trend of more than one of the same number or rank appearing in a spread, or of a consecutive run within suit.

Recently I have started noticing cards within suit with doubled numbers. That is, when the four and eight of the same suit appear together, or the three and six. Very often, doubled-number cards work together, even if they do not appear next to each other in a spread.

Double number cards may tell a story. One card may provide a resolution for the problem shown in the other card.

For example, the Four of Swords suggests meditation as a remedy for the anxiety of the Eight of Swords.

The Six of Cups reminds the Three of Cups not to party too much, lest we do something we will regret in retrospect.

The Six of Swords suggests that logical thinking will remedy the heartache of the Three of Swords.

I shared this concept with a tarot group recently. The connections, correlations and insights that came from that exercise were profound.

The next time you see doubled numbers within the same suit in a tarot spread, see what additional messages you can pull from that configuration.