If you have ever wondered what the difference is between Tarot cards and Oracle cards, this email is for you.
Tarot as a divination system has been around since the late 1300s. There are 2 “decks” in a tarot deck, which include 22 major arcana and 56 minor arcana. (Arcana means “secrets.”)
The major arcana reveals poignant spiritual insights, while the minor arcana deals with the mundane stuff of life.
The major arcana makes up The Fool’s Journey (just so you know, we are all “fools” in this case), so when you look at the story being told through the major arcana in order, you may get a glimpse of the underlying theme to some of your favorite movies. Whether it’s Star Wars or The Wizard of Oz, the story moves through the plot twists of leaving home, facing various challenges, and returning home, renewed. But it’s not just telling the story of our favorite movies. It’s our story too. And while the major arcana has its numeric order, our lives are more similar to this portion of the deck when it is shuffled with the minor arcana and then laid out – because we all know there is no “order” in this life, no matter how much we try to foresee or control it.
So – tarot has a total of 78 cards, four suits, 16 court cards, and an actual system, complete with suggested spreads and supported by numerology, astrology, color-ology, symbolism, element-ology, and your intuition.
Oracles are entirely different because, while Oracles (as people) have been around long before tarot cards, oracle decks are based on the whim of the person creating the deck. So there are no consistent “rules” between one oracle and another.
For example, my Lumin8 Healing Oracle deck is a unique system. And you are also part of the deck – becoming the 8th piece. Through the seven decks, we first:
- Identify your healing and growth opportunities.
- Discover what emotion is holding it in place.
- Discover which energy field the healing needs to occur.
- Discover which chakra.
- Reveal the Plant Spirit that wants to support you.
- Reveal the element that wants to support you. (*From 10 elements)
- Discover which entities or energy wants to support you.
I love doing readings with Lumin8 because it is a powerful way to determine how someone can either help themselves or find a trusted energy worker to support them.
Things can also get confusing with tarot if one tarot teacher with an Astrology background offers lessons and another offers classes based on a background in Witchcraft. (This affects how seasons and directions are interpreted.)
To make matters worse, Astrology can also differ based on Western or Eastern Astrology. Tip: If you have ever dealt with this type of confusion, pick a system and stick to it. You’ll confuse yourself and any potential clients if you go back and forth.
Numerous books, teachers, and resources teach traditional tarot – which relies on your memory. You’ll memorize the meaning of each 78 upright and reversed meanings – plus knowing the purpose of each position in your chosen spread – Easy, Peasy, right?
Well, if you are anything like me, a memory comes and goes. Intuition is based on what you already know, so there is no heavy lifting in the memory department.
I teach an intuitive approach, offered both in my best-selling book The Intuitive Tarot Workbook and my online class 12 Steps to Tarot Mastery. It requires very little memory and allows for better, more detailed readings after 12 lessons!
If you have always wanted to learn tarot, I am offering my online course 12 Steps to Tarot Mastery at $100 off for the next 11 days (through the end of the month). This program is suitable for both established readers and beginners.
Learn more about it here.
On Figure Candles