Rayven Michaels

Do Psychics use Tarot/Oracle Cards?

Although many Psychics often do use Tarot or Oracle cards in their work, not all do.  As with all things, this is the choice of each Psychic as to what tools they incorporate with their readings.  Some Psychics do purely Psychic readings, others may use pendulums, iChing, runes, or other divination systems other than cards.  For those who do use cards, the decks used by each Psychic may be different.  Additionally, a Psychic may also use different decks for different types of readings.

What is the difference between a Tarot Deck and an Oracle Deck?

When buying a deck of cards for the first time, you may see Tarot cards and Oracle cards in the same area wonder what is the difference.  Well, Tarot is a structured system that comes in decks of 78 cards which
consist of a Major Arcana and a Minor Arcana.  The Major Arcana is 22 cards of "higher wisdom" numbered 0 - Fool to 21 - The World.  The other 56 cards comprising the Minor Arcana are structured in four suits (Cups, Wands/Rods, Pentacles/Coins, Swords/Staves). Additionaly, much like regular playing cards, each suit consists of Ace through 10, and then 4 court cards (King, Queen, Knight, Page). The Rider Waite deck is one of the oldest and most popular Tarot decks and has lots of supporting information.  However, the Rider Waite deck imagery doesn't appeal to everyone.  Fortunately, today there is an abundance of decks that incorporate the Rider Waite symbolism so that you can find a deck with very pleasing imagery and still benefit from all the readily available support for the Rider Waite deck.

Oracle cards, on the other hand, are less structured than a Tarot deck.  Decks can consist of as few as 10 cards and as many as 90.  These type decks generally follow a theme such as fairies, totem animals, Gods/Goddesses, shamanic/druid practices, affirmations, dragons, angels, runes, crystals/gems, etc.  Each deck has it's own unique system and can be very simplistic or complex.

A person just starting out with cards is generally encouraged to choose a Tarot deck as supporting information is much more readily available in books, classes, internet, and forums.

How to choose a deck once you decide between Tarot vs. Oracle

Once you have made a decision between Tarot vs. Oracle, how do you actually go about choosing a deck?  The best way is to view decks and choose one with imagery that you resonate with because you will be looking at this deck all the time.  While some may find this to be an easy process, others may find it takes lots of seeking.  A complication to the selection process is that decks often times come in sealed packages making it difficult to see a broad sample of the imagery.  Fortunately, there is a great website that reviews a large variety of Tarot/Oracle decks and posts sample images of the cards.  http://www.aeclectic.net/tarot/cards/.

I have a deck, now what?

Once you have found your perfect deck, what do you do next?  Well, one big decision you have to make at this stage is whether you are going to follow the book that came with your deck or use your deck "intuitively".  Either way, you will want to familiarize yourself with every card.  One way to do this is to pull a card a day.   Start a Tarot journal.  Study that card, write down your thoughts and record imagery that jumps out at you and what it means to YOU.  If you are choosing to read "intuitively", this is all you do.  If you are following the book that came with your deck, you will want to read the book's meaning for the card as well.

After, you have gone through your entire deck familiarizing with each card,  PRACTICE, PRACTICE, PRACTICE.  This doesn't mean you now have to beg everyone to let you do readings for them.  Do simple spreads for yourself and record the reading in your Tarot journal.  These daily (or weekly) readings can be a single card, or a three card spread of past, present and future on an issue.  Eventually, explore other types of spreads.  Over time, you may choose to develop your own spreads for particular types of questions.

Blessings,
Rayven Michaels