How to Choose Oracle Cards — a beginner-friendly guide
Pick oracle cards by theme, artwork, and intuition, then cleanse and set clear questions for the clearest readings.
Professional fortune teller & spiritual advisor
KEY TAKEAWAY
Oracle cards are a flexible, positive style of reading with no upright/reversed rules, which makes them approachable for beginners. Choose a deck based on its theme, artwork, and how it feels intuitively, then cleanse the deck and your space, decide your question in advance, and phrase it clearly. As you gain confidence, you can move on to richer spreads like the 4-card diamond or 7-card hexagram, and even combine multiple decks for deeper insight.
"How cute!" "Gorgeous!" "So beautiful!"
✦What to Do Before You Start Reading Oracle Cards — Key Points to Know
Before you begin reading with oracle cards, there are a few things you should do and keep in mind. It's best to understand these before diving into a reading.
Nyanta
Nekosuke
Cleanse the deck
Cleansing your deck helps you get accurate readings.
We understand the urge to start reading the moment you buy a new deck, but first, take a moment to cleanse your oracle cards.
The cleansing method is simple: you just need to infuse the cards with your own energy.
Even a brand-new, still-sealed deck can carry some kind of lingering energy on it.
By clearing that away and infusing the cards with your own energy, you can raise the vibration of the deck.
To infuse your own energy into the cards, the method is simple: hold the deck in your non-dominant hand and gently tap it with your dominant fist.
Then fan the cards out and touch each one individually.
This infuses your energy into the deck and completes the cleansing.
It's also said that meditating or otherwise clearing your own mind beforehand can make your readings even more effective.
Oracle cards are sacred objects.
Cleansing the cards and settling your own mind is also a form of respect toward the cards, so it's well worth doing every time.
Set up a space suited for reading
As mentioned above, an oracle card reading is something like a sacred ritual, so it's best to prepare your environment before you begin.
For example, choose a calm, tidy room free of noise from the TV or radio.
A reading is meant to unify your mind and focus your attention, so it's said to work best in a room free of distracting thoughts.
For that reason, prepare your surroundings in advance — cleanse not just the cards, but the room itself.
Decide your question ahead of time
To receive a clear message from your oracle cards, decide on the question you want to ask beforehand.
If you don't settle on a question first, you may find it hard to focus during the reading, or you may not get the answer you were hoping to learn — which defeats the purpose of the reading.
To make clear what answer you're looking for, settle on a proper question before you begin.
Be mindful of how you phrase your question
Even though you decide your question in advance, you should also pay attention to how it's worded.
To actually resolve what's troubling you, your question needs to be specific.
For example, instead of:
"Will my crush like me back?"
ask "What actions should I take to build a mutual connection with the person I like?"
Instead of "Will I succeed at work?"
ask "What steps should I take to succeed in [specific field]?"
Framing your hopes and wishes concretely like this makes the message much easier to read.
Just as with asking another person a question, if you don't ask properly you won't get a precise answer — so making your question specific is essential for easier interpretation.
Don't ask the same question repeatedly
Oracle cards draw on intuition to arrive at an answer, so even if the answer you get doesn't quite click or feels unsatisfying, avoid asking the same question over and over in one sitting.
Doing so is disrespectful to the oracle cards that already gave you an answer — if you want to ask again, leave some days in between.
✧Oracle Card Readings for Intermediate to Advanced Readers
Let's also look at some spreads for intermediate and advanced readers.
Intermediate and advanced oracle card spreads use more cards and require more nuanced interpretation, but they let you handle a much wider range of questions.
Once you're comfortable with the cards, do give these a try.
Four-Card Draw (Four-Card Circle)
This spread lays the cards out in a diamond shape.
Shuffle the deck, then place the cards face down in a diamond arrangement in the order left → bottom → right → top. (There's no strict rule, but this order is generally considered standard.)
This is an extension of the two-card draw, and again you decide the meaning of each position beforehand.
For example:
Left: Current situation
Bottom: The problem
Right: The solution
Top: The future
With positions assigned like this, turn the cards face up and read the current situation, the problem, and the answer.
This spread suits questions too complex for a two-card draw, making it well suited to seeking a more detailed answer.
Seven-Card Draw (Hexagram Spread)
A hexagram is the six-pointed star formed by overlapping two triangles.
Using seven cards arranged in the shape of a hexagram, you can read the timeline, your relationship with another person, and your current situation, all in a single reading.
There's no fixed rule here either, so you can arrange the positions however you like, but since the 7th card is often set as the key "outcome" position as shown below, it's generally standard to place the 7th card in the center.
A typical layout would be:
Card 1: The past
Card 2: The present
Card 3: The future
Card 4: The problem
Card 5: Your feelings
Card 6: The other person's feelings
Card 7: The overall outcome
This allows for a much deeper reading of the question you want answered, and mastering this spread may give you real clues to success in love or work.
Advanced readers combine two or more oracle decks in a single reading
Using just one type of oracle deck can narrow your perspective, so some readers use two or more decks together to read from multiple angles.
Most professional fortune tellers weave both tarot and oracle cards into their readings.
Even for a single question, this approach draws out an answer from many different angles, making it a highly effective way to read.
Once you've gotten to know one oracle deck and made it your own, try getting to know another deck too, and experiment with different spreads.
Nyanta
Nekosuke
☾Summary
Oracle cards, unlike tarot cards, have no fixed rules
We've now walked through oracle cards in detail — and one thing stands out: oracle cards are a highly flexible style of reading.
Since there's no upright or reversed position, even beginners find it easy to interpret the cards.
The biggest distinguishing feature of oracle cards is that, unlike tarot, they never deliver a negative message or answer — instead they offer warm, heartfelt guidance in the gentle voice of an angel or goddess, so you can read them with peace of mind from start to finish.
When choosing a deck, beginners are best served by one that comes with a guidebook for clarity, but it's also perfectly fine to simply choose whichever artwork or design you're drawn to, as a way of sharpening your intuition.
We've introduced some basic spread methods, but with oracle cards you're free to design your own spread as well.
For instance, you could set five themes and do a five-card draw, or arrange the cards in a cross or star shape — however you like — to create your own original reading style.
Because they're so flexible, oracle cards are easy for beginners, and you'll likely feel comfortable with them right away.
Don't overthink it at first — the important thing is simply to start handling the cards.
Oracle cards carry messages from the divine, so let yourself be soothed and uplifted by these gentle messages from above.
Reviewed by
Usatoko WHITE
Professional fortune teller specialising in tarot, oracle and Lenormand reading. Usatoko supervises every divination guide at Luna Factory to keep them accurate and beginner-friendly.
Written by the Luna Factory Editorial Team
