Rituals and Wreckage

WELCOME BACK TO ANOTHER EPISODE OF……. Oh wait that’s someone else’s intro. ANYWAY! Welcome back! These last few weeks of school being out have been pure freaking chaos. I took a leap and enrolled my youngest in daycare, the eldest children are at their mothers, and I have been working hard on getting my farmstand going. Trying to get a new schedule together has been a lot harder than i anticipated with the growing length of the days. Ive been trying to apply for college as well. As always I also have been taking on way too much but ya know…. Chaos!

So today I wanted to talk a little bit about Tarot Versus Oracle cards. This is pretty basic information for the most part, nothing wild or crazy. It is something I deemed fitting as I am hoping to have it encourage me to do a bit more work with them myself. In my opinion if you get into the habit of it, Tarot and Oracle readings are such an amazing way to get the day started with a bit of a magic twist. Depending on the cards you use, your knowledge of them, and what spread you choose, a morning reading can be kept SUPER simple if you know what you’re using.

Oracle

So I will say I wont be super informative on the backstory of either of these, as Ive found several mixed sources and ideas and I don’t want to spread false information. So Oracle is really easy and more beginner in my opinion. They are not set decks with the same message on them all. They arent broken down into specific categories and meanings per each specific card either, so no memorization needed. Each card spells out clearly what it is saying. Every oracle deck is different as well. Some are based on astrology, some animals, some positivity, so on so forth. I personally have two different moon based oracle decks. In my opinion, one is WAY sassier than the other. I think every deck no matter tarot or oracle all have their own personalities just like any other divination tool. I also personally am a believer in sleeping with your deck under your pillow for a while to bond with it. I DO NOT believe you have to be gifted your decks though like some people believe.

So Oracle is beginner because 1. You dont have to memorize all the cards for a specific meaning. 2. Well thats about it honestly.

Tarot

Now tarot is wonderful in the aspect you can ask WAYYYY more indepth questions. Also, they do come with little booklets to explain each card, but its super quick if you memorize the meanings. So, all Tarot card decks are built off the exact same 78 card system. 22 “Major Arcana” cards, and 56 “Minor Arcana” cards that are divided into four different “suits”. Now what does all that stuff mean? Glad you asked.

So the “Major Arcana” cards are divided up to basically tell a story. It goes through things like “the lover” “the tower” “the emperor” and such. And in order it seems like they all have a story kind of like a rise and fall of an empire and the battles it faces in between. Now I think I formulated that idea based of my NBC deck where the major arcana goes through the movie through the cards in order. So it starts out with “the fool: being Jack and his ideas moving into the things like “the emperor” being Santa and “the lovers” being Jack and Sally and each scene painted on the card goes in the order the movie flows. So I could be way off the mark but thats just my personal interpretation of them. So the Major arcana cards are “stand alones” that are more guided towards pivotal life points and karma and lessons it teaches, while the Minor Arcana are more “day to day” cards. You dont separate them for just day to day questions though, as you may need to hear something a bit more foreboding in your question even on a day to day basis.

The Minor Arcana are just like a normal playing deck of cards. 4 “suits” usually broken down into Cups, Swords, Wands, and Pentacles/Coins. You’ll notice a few variations on decks, especially newer ones or themed ones, but they all flow the same. Each suit has an “Ace through King” set just like a set of playing cards.

All of the cards have two meanings, an upright meaning and a reversed meaning. If you are properly shuffling your cards then they will be properly mixed up between upright and reversed. (Reversed means upside down cards). Like i said previously, most tarot decks come with an amazing little booklet that breaks down each card. A lot of practitioners prefer to memorize the exact meanings of each and every card to offer strong readings while channeling messages from another power, be it spiritual beings or nature based depends on the reader. I on the other hand am super lazy and love to read, so I have zero issues asking my question, laying out a spread, and reading each page of the pamphlet to get the answer to the question. I also personally dont channel through anyone or anything specific except my cards for a reading. I just kind of “pull from the universe.” Ive seen practitioners give readings based on specific deities and such and I havent felt called or compelled to do such yet.

So along with memorizing the cards meanings, there are also specific “spreads” to ask questions. The most common is the three card pull. You ask your question then shuffle your cards and lay them out in a straight line of three cards. It represents Past, Present, and Future. So if I asked something like “what will my love life look like?”, Ill lay out my three cards and the first one will have a message along the lines of “i see hardship” the next may say “you are showing signs of growth” and the next may say “you need to work harder to reach your goals”. There are several others spreads that I am not equipped to deal with at all. You can also just do basic one card pulls for a question just like you do with an Oracle deck.

BOOM! INFO DUMPPPP

So as you can see, the tarot deck is ALOT more in depth than an oracle deck. Not to say that its a lesser tool, but Tarot is a lot more in-depth , which explains why more information and knowledge is required for a strong and accurate reading. You can get a lot more accurate and detailed information from a tarot deck than you can just basic oracle cards. Sometimes though, the message on the card is the exact thing we need to hear in the moment in a clear and concise way. I own both and I can personally say I don’t have a preference between the two. If you find yourself wanting to dive into them I highly suggest starting with Oracle and working your way up. If you’re wanting to get into tarot memorization, I recommend doing the ol flash card method with descriptions and pictures. Also, remember its not a chore. Dont allow yourself to feel forced or less than for doing it your own way. Its YOUR magic, not anybody else’s. Also, make sure to look around and enjoy all the amazing art on all the different tarot decks. In witchcraft, there is no such thing as too many.

THE END

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