How to Read Oracle Cards

Connecting with the Unseen: How to Use Oracle Cards for Self-Discovery and Spiritual Growth

In the days following Mabon (🍁Fall equinox), Spirits awaken, transforming our world into a fun and spooky celebration of all things supernatural👻. Let’s explore the mystical world of divination with oracle and tarot cards – the original spiritual tools that rival books as my favorite guides to self-discovery.

What are oracle cards?

A set of oracle cards is

1. Usually themed around something meaningful to their creator.

2. They are a fun way to connect to your intuition.

3. Oracle cards are portals to your inner self.

They are magical because an oracle deck can show you what’s going with YOU in the very moment you are using it. Think of these cards as another way to connect to your soul or your heart. The cards themselves are just cards. Made in a print shop, etc. What gives them life is you, the user. They have no inherent power other than they are a portal for you. If you let them, they can be a flashlight illuminating your thoughts. Your intimate wishes, concerns, and certainly can help you tap into your intuition.

A good reading can foretell or warn you about things, admittedly in indirect or ambiguous ways. Obvi, they don’t work the way you might see in movies, the cards won’t tell you you’re going to have death all around you, or that your husband is cheating on you. But they might alert you to hidden betrayals – often your own self-sabotage – or warn of backstabbers you've overlooked.

The more you use the cards the easier it will be to understand them.

Some examples of oracle cards sitting on my office shelf…

The Different Types of Cards

The OG of oracle cards are tarot cards. Tarot's origins are shrouded in mystery, but its popularity exploded with the 17th-century Italian 'Tarocchi' deck. While traditional tarot boasts 78 cards (22 Major Arcana and 56 Minor Arcana), modern oracle decks play by their own rules. Today's card creators let their imaginations run wild – from rock icons like Elton John and Prince to cosmic Starseeds and galactic beings. The oracle universe is limitless, spanning from the mundane to the celestial.

Some oracle readers say it’s best when you are gifted the cards - that those are luckier or have more power. Others say the complete opposite, that you should choose your own. I believe that if someone gifts you a set of cards they hold special meaning (aren’t all gifts special? Someone was thinking of you and spent money and time selecting it just for you, but I digress) but I don’t know that they automatically become lucky or have something special to say - the point is that when you get the cards through whatever provenance, that you spend time looking at them, study them.

How to Work with Oracle Cards

1. Inspect the Cards.

When you first get the cards in your possession. Take great care in opening the box. Pretend you are doing an unboxing video. Go slow. Go through each of the cards without judgement just observe them all. Look at the back design too, the images, the symbols, the colors, the numbers (if they are numbered). How do you feel when you see them? Some cards evoke shock, some can actually be stressful to look at, some are beautiful, relaxing, calming. Take a look at cards’ guidebook.

2. Inspect the Guidebook, too.

How does it look? Is it easy to read? Usually the guidebooks are small, fat and black and white. In rare cases the guidebooks are large and colorful. Make a note in your journal about how the cards make you feel initially. Getting familiar with the guidebook makes it easier to look up a reading’s meaning.

Guidebooks can be big or small, colorful or black and white.

3. Cleanse the Deck.

Leave the Cards Out in the Moonlight.

Another recommendation we see often is to leave the cards out in the moonlight on hard ground, if possible, connected to nature outside. These cards have been sealed and wrapped in plastic and they need to let that stuff out. So I have no problem with this, and have done this with all of my decks. You can also charge them with crystals. If you know how to work with crystals, great! Use them. I tend to be shy about using crystals willy nilly, so I rely on elemental grounding - wind, light, earth. For stubborn decks, try smudging - run the cards through smoke to clear their energy. You'll likely find some oracle sets resonate with you more than others and some may require more energy clearing or better connection with you to be effective.

4. Connect the Cards to Your Energy.

You can try sleeping with the cards under your pillow or near you - so the cards absorb your energy. So they get used to you. Most tarot readers will not allow others to even touch their cards. And when they do a reading that’s when they will have the person being read to shuffle so that they touch the cards and give the cards their own energy - card reading for others can be a confusing business because your energy can get entangled with the other’s and so take great care before reading for someone else.

5. Unveil the Deck’s Specific Wisdom.

Once you have had sufficient time with the cards it’s time to ask the cards why they came to your possession. That way you know when to turn to them - is this deck for spiritual advice? Is it for when you have a love problem? Are these particular set of cards for when you’re stuck? We don’t know yet, so we ask the cards. To do this, first make sure you are in state - that is, you are relaxed, calm, centered, still, and can concentrate on this. It will only take a few minutes.

Unveiling Your Deck's Purpose: A Step-by-Step Guide

1. Shuffle & Ask

- Thoroughly shuffle your cards.

- Ask aloud: "What are you here to teach me?" or "How can we best work together?"

- Focus on your question as you shuffle.

- Stop when it feels right.

2. Draw & Observe

- Pick the top card.

- Note your initial reaction.

- Write down any words on the card.

- Describe the imagery, colors, and your feelings.

3. Consult the Guidebook.

- Look up the card's meaning.

- Jot down what resonates with you.

4. Synthesize.

- Combine your observations and the guidebook's wisdom.

- Distill into a single, powerful sentence.

5. Preserve the Message.

- Write your sentence on a small piece of paper.

- Tuck it into your deck's box.

Example of my Spirit Animal’s Pocket Deck Message for Me

Voilà! You've just uncovered your deck's unique purpose in your life. Pretty magical, right?

I hope you have found this beginner’s guide to oracle decks and that you go do this with your decks, if you have any. I’d love to know if you’ve done this and share what you can about it!

And if you want to know how I use tarot cards to do a full moon guidance reading, you can find it here.

Tell me your favorite oracle deck at the moment and why! Let’s support the creators of these beautiful talismans but remember the true oracle is YOU.