Deep intuitive insights are one of the most valuable things we can have when choosing which path to take in our career, who to date, and how to maintain a sense of happiness in life. One way to get these insights is with the help of oracle cards.
Now if you’re wondering, what are oracle cards? Don’t worry about it! We will help you understand this great tool so you feel comfortable picking them up and getting these important messages.
Review: Tarot & Oracle Cards: What’s the Difference?
Oracle cards are a great way to start opening your intuitive gifts and connect to your spiritual guides. They are a divination tool that can have different themes depending on the writer and artist. The cards use a combination of symbols, colors, and words to help you tap into higher vibrations of consciousness that allow you to know what the best decisions are. You can use oracle card readings for yourself personally or they are also great to use to help friends and clients.
Oracle card decks are often what people start with then wanting to explore their intuition because there is less to learn than with oracles Tarot cards which are divided into groups that have specific meanings. You can literally pull out an oracle card deck with little or no experience with its chosen topic and still find helpful guidance. The more you get used to doing oracle card spreads the more comfortable you’ll feel choosing which spread to use in which situation.
Types of Oracle Readings:
When you pull a card, you will get specific insights based on the question you frame in your mind beforehand. So before you even try a spread, it’s important to know the type of questions that will be useful to help you. Generally, it’s not useful to ask what is going to happen in the future or what someone else is thinking or doing.
This is because it doesn’t empower you to create the best possible outcome by changing your energy in the present. This type of understanding will come over time so if it doesn’t yet make sense, keep practicing these questions below, and you’ll start to see how you are co-creating with the Universe.
These are the 3 main areas people tend to want to look into in a reading to help them get clarity on how to best proceed. Here are some sample questions you can use when you do the simple oracle card spreads below.
Love
- What is blocking me in love?
- How can I best open myself to new love?
- What do I need to heal to improve my love life?
- What does this person represent or what are they here to teach me in my soul’s path?
- Is this relationship or person in alignment with my highest good?
Career
- What do I need to know about my current career?
- What can I do to expand my success?
- How can I align with my soul purpose?
- How can I heal to move forward with my career?
Health
- What do I need to know about my energy?
- How can I change my mind to help bring healing?
- What is most affecting my health?
- How can I improve my health?
Simple Oracle Spreads:
These simple spreads involve 1-3 cards and are just as powerful as complex spreads. Often the more clear we are about our question, the more clear the answer is which we get from the cards. You don’t necessarily get more clarity by pulling more cards. Advanced card readers still use simple spreads and often prefer them.
1-Card Draw for Daily Guidance
The question you want to ask for this is, “what do I need to know about today?” This question will help you strengthen your intuition if you pull a card for the day each morning. Ask to be guided to use your energy in the best possible way today with the card you pull. This specific intention will help you focus your intuition instead of picking up on fear-based insights.
There are 2 ways to do this.
- Shuffle the deck until you feel you should stop and take the top card.
- Alternatively, shuffle the cards and then spread them out in a fan shape. Let your hand move over the cards and see where your attention is drawn subtly without over-analyzing. Pick the card that seems to call to you.
3-Card Decision Spread
This is a 3-card spread that can help you see what the energy of one thing or another represents in your life. Let’s say you are trying to decide which college to attend and one school will bring great friendships while the other will help you create discipline. Neither is necessarily good nor bad but each represents different experiences. This spread helps you intuitively sense the emotional opportunities available in each so you can choose.
- Card 1 represents the situation of which you are asking about, i.e. going to college.
- Card 2 will represent one of your choices which you will choose before pulling the card.
- Card 3 will represent the energy associated with the other choice.
Your intuition will help you interpret what each experience would feel like. Notice whether it’s light or heavy, constricting or expansive in your body when you look at the card. Notice what impressions come to mind when you pull the cards because this spread can also help you see if you’re being limited in your thinking and could help you see that it’s not time to make a decision or there are more options which you haven’t considered.
Past-Present-Future 3-Card Spread
Sometimes it’s good to use this spread just see where you are as a general check-in for yourself or a friend. This can be a good starting point and can help you find where to look deeper. If things seem to be going well, this can help you see what potential you have to expand. You don’t always have to be solving a crisis when pulling cards. This is also a good ice-breaker to get your intuition flowing when offering a reading.
- Past: This represents a period you have gone through which likely influenced your current state. For some, this may represent one major event, for others, a longer learning cycle.
- Present: This just represents the energy you’re currently in and where your mind is. This will usually feel spot on to your emotional state although sometimes it helps you see what you may be ignoring.
- Current Future Projection: This shows where the energy is pointing which can be shifted with intention and by taking responsibility for your own thoughts to create different energy.
You can also check-in with a situation or part of your life such as love, career, or health using this spread. This spread is helpful because it empowers you to see how you are creating the energy in these areas of life to illuminate how you can shift.
Larger Oracle Spreads:
If you feel drawn to trying a slightly more complex spread, try this 5-card spread. There are many spreads and you will find what you are drawn to use. The Celtic cross spread, for example, is a 10-card spread that is more complex and often used in Tarot. Although, it may not give the same straight forward advice that you can get from a simple card spread.
This 5-card spread might help you dive deeper after an initial oracle card spread. This can help you get more insight into something you’re having trouble accepting or a situation that is challenging you.
- Present: Where the situation currently stands energetically.
- Past: The energy that preceded or brought about this situation.
- Future: The current projection of this situation.
- Reason: A deeper spiritual look at why this is in your path.
- Potential: How this could inevitably bring growth or stagnation.
When you pull each card, it can help to write down your impressions since there are more cards. This can help you distill the message and keep the impressions as you pull cards so you can get the overall picture. Writing down which cards you pull also allows you to return to the spread and reflect on it.
Be Your Own Oracle!
Some people have developed a negative association with the Tarot cards and feel afraid when cards like Death and The Devil pop up due to associations they carry with these words. While a seasoned Tarot reader understands these cards are not bad omens, a person new to getting a reading may be spooked by the names themselves. In order to be sensitive to different people’s associations with certain words or even just your own, it’s perfectly fine to use oracle cards that resonate with you or the situation.
Oracle cards have many themes and you can intuitively choose the cards that you find call to you or you feel will make someone else feel at ease. Because intuitive information comes when we are in a relaxed state, oracle cards are a great way to create a bridge into the intuitive world. The artists often create warm and uplifting images that soothe the mind and lift our spirits.
If you’re on the go and want a reading, simply use our free daily Tarot reading and you can always expand on your card spread by reading your daily horoscope!
Related Article: “Stalker Cards” – Is a Tarot Card Following You?
