#tarotthursdaythree: All About Oracle Decks

#tarotthursdaythree is a weekly blogging prompt hosted by Julia from Spiral Sea Tarot. Read more of my answers here.

I was very excited to see that the prompts this week are about oracle decks, since I haven't really talked about my oracle deck or how I use them, even though they do a lot of heavy lifting! Oracle cards have a very different feeling and way of answering than tarot or Lenormand. They tend to be very deep and work on more of a spiritual and subconscious level, as opposed to tarot that gives a bird's eye view or Lenormand that can give super blunt answers. I am very picky about my oracle decks, much more than I am with my tarot decks. A lot of oracle decks are too overly positive for my liking, and I feel like they don't showcase the whole of emotions like tarot does.

1. How do oracle cards fit into your practice (if at all)?

I mostly use my oracle cards to enhance my tarot practice. Most often, I will pull an oracle card at the end of a tarot reading to sum up the reading and reveal the undercurrents of the reading. I find that pulling an oracle card gives more insight than looking at the shadow card for larger readings. I also use oracle cards for a one card and three card spreads. I find any larger spreads with oracle cards tend to get muddy very quickly.

2. What is your most used oracle deck (if applicable)?

I currently have three oracle decks - Spirit de la Lune, Earthbound Oracle, and Vintage Botanical Oracle. Out of those, the Spirit de la Lune is my most used deck. It has a system that is similar to tarot, but still has that depth and breadth that oracle decks are the best for. I also love to use the cards for manifesting, and using as a focus for a moon based tarot spread. I will quite often pull the card for the moon phase we are in if it's a cloudy night to pull that energy into the tarot spread or spell.

3. For those who do work with oracle, how do you select which oracle deck you’ll use for any given reading?

If it's a one or three card reading, I will go with my gut, just like picking my tarot deck for a given reading. For combination readings, I focus on how the cards look and flow together. I get a sense of the energy of the cards, as well as picking cards that look aesthetically pleasing together. I really love the Trionfi della Luna with the Vintage Botanical Oracle, the Prisma Visions Tarot with the Spirit de la Lune, and of course, the Wooden Tarot with the Earthbound Oracle.