✦Introduction

Oracle cards are cards that tell you what you need right now, and what you should do about it. If tarot cards read your past and present to offer guidance about the future, or reveal how someone you care about really feels, oracle cards are a message for who you are in this very moment.

"Oracle" means something like "divine message" or "revelation."

The big difference from tarot is that oracle cards don't so much tell you how your love life will unfold as they tell you what mindset and actions you need for that relationship right now.

Think of oracle cards as messages delivered through the cards from a transcendent presence — an angel, a god or goddess.

Unlike tarot, oracle decks rarely use an upright/reversed system, and they come with fewer rules overall, which makes them approachable even for total beginners.

Tarot always has exactly 78 cards — 22 Major Arcana and 56 Minor Arcana — but oracle decks have no fixed count. Depending on the deck, you'll find anywhere from 40 to 50 cards.

The imagery and meanings vary from deck to deck, too, which means each creator's worldview comes through strongly — and part of the fun is finding the author and deck that resonates with you.

With that introduction out of the way, let's look at the different kinds of oracle decks, how to choose one, and how to read them, right through to the end.

☀Doreen Virtue and Oracle Cards

Who Is Doreen Virtue?

When people think of oracle cards, many probably picture Doreen Virtue first.

Doreen Virtue is an extremely well-known figure in spiritual circles, and oracle cards are inseparable from that world.

She studied psychology at university, earned a doctorate, and worked as a psychological counsellor helping people through emotional struggles.

She was born with clairvoyant abilities and could communicate with things invisible to others — and what she called "angels" were exactly those unseen presences.

Doreen Virtue devoted her work to passing along angelic messages, and it was from those messages that concepts like "Angel Cards" and "Angel Numbers" were born.

If you've ever been curious about oracle cards, you've probably come across her work at least once.

Cards illustrated with beautiful angels and fairies spark inspiration just by looking at them. Her very first release, the Angel Oracle Cards, can be read simply, which made it an approachable deck even for complete beginners.

Leaving the Spiritual World

Angels in the Spiritual World vs. Angels in Christianity

Doreen Virtue was a leading figure who helped shape the world of oracle cards, but in 2017 she encountered Jesus Christ, the central figure of Christianity, and stepped away from the spiritual community.

Christianity, too, has angels who deliver God's messages. But the angels of Christianity and the angels of the spiritual world aren't necessarily the same thing. The angels depicted in oracle cards offer us healing, while the angels who appear as God's messengers in Christianity are not always gentle presences. Archangel Michael, whose name almost everyone knows, is most often depicted in armor with a sword in hand — a powerful image rather than a soothing one.

Joan of Arc's heroic actions in saving France during the Hundred Years' War are also said to have been guided by Michael.

So historically, angels haven't always been portrayed as gentle, healing beings. If anything — especially Archangel Michael — the image has been one of strength.

Archangel Michael appears in the Old Testament and was carried forward into Judaism, Christianity, Islam, and other religions, revered across virtually all of them. That's a somewhat different role from a presence who answers your personal worries and questions.

You could say the angels of the spiritual world are presences who guide you as an individual.

Angels Haven't Disappeared

Meeting Jesus Christ led Doreen Virtue to renounce her past work. Christianity does not permit idol worship, and it is a monotheistic religion devoted to a single, absolute God.

Given that, it's understandable that she leaned toward rejecting spiritual practices altogether.

Crystals and gemstones came to be equated with idol worship, and channeling with the work of demons, in that line of thinking.

Doreen Virtue came to realize that among the presences she had once believed to be Ascended Masters (souls of high spiritual attainment dwelling in the heavenly realm), some had been impersonated by beings with ill intent.

She herself admits that even with her clairvoyant ability, she was never able to fully discern whether a spiritual presence that appeared to her was truly of a high nature or one carrying malicious intent.

That's precisely why she sounded the warning that it's dangerous for ordinary people to immerse themselves in the spiritual world and believe everything without question.

That doesn't mean Doreen Virtue rejects angels or spiritual presences altogether.

And even though her faith and her relationship with angels changed, that doesn't erase what she accomplished.

You should believe in what you believe.

Because neither side is "absolutely" right.

Doreen Virtue's Oracle Decks

After her conversion to Christianity, Doreen Virtue withdrew her own publications and discontinued sales. Going forward, her oracle decks are likely to become harder and harder to find, so if you're interested, it's worth buying sooner rather than later.

The fact that so many people have relied on and used these decks for so long is itself proof of how easy they are to use.

Oracle cards can also be chosen deck-by-deck to suit the kind of question you're asking.

If you want to ask about love, there's a deck for that; if you want to ask about your health, there's a deck for that too — some decks simply read more naturally depending on the type of question.

The first oracle deck Doreen Virtue ever created was the Angel Oracle Cards.

It's the deck that best represents her work, and it remains extremely popular.

It can receive simple, clear messages on all kinds of questions — love, work, relationships — which is another reason it's so beginner-friendly.

True to its name, the artwork is filled with gentle angels, ranging from angels reminiscent of religious paintings to adorable, cute ones — just looking at the cards is soothing.

Doreen Virtue's oracle line also includes decks such as the following.

• Fairy Tarot Cards / Magical Fairy Oracle Cards — Featuring adorable fairy illustrations. Well suited to readings on everyday matters close to home, such as relationships, health concerns, and finances.
• Mermaids & Dolphins Oracle Cards — Illustrated with mermaids and dolphins. Where angel and fairy decks tend to point toward life's purpose and direction, this deck offers concrete, practical advice for living a positive life.
• Unicorn Oracle Cards — Unicorns are considered close kin to angels, said to help people live healthy, abundant lives.
• Flower Therapy Oracle Cards — Cards where flowers of every color offer healing and guidance.
• Goddess Guidance Cards — A deck where you can receive messages from a range of goddesses, including Isis, Athena, and Lakshmi.

The decks above are just a small sample of Doreen Virtue's oracle line.

It's worth exploring what you want to ask the cards, and which deck feels like the right fit for you.

✧How to Use Oracle Cards

Oracle cards aren't for predicting the future. In fact, oracle readings are a somewhat different kind of divination altogether from forecasting what's to come.

• Work isn't going well — what should I do about it?
• There's something I'd like to try in the future — what do I need to do to get there?
• How should I approach someone I have feelings for?

Oracle cards give you advice on how to act, based on whatever you're currently worrying about or feeling uncertain over.

First, let's walk through how to actually handle the cards.

Before Asking for Advice

Relax, and hold the deck in your non-dominant hand (right-handed people use their left hand). Knock on the cards a few times with your dominant hand. This is said to "wake up" the cards.

Do this each time you ask a new question.

Let's Actually Ask the Cards for Advice

Once the cards are ready, it's time to ask for advice. Here we'll introduce the simplest, most standard method — using just a single card.

1. In your mind, ask the figure depicted on the cards — an angel, fairy, goddess, or deity — to support your reading.
2. Shuffle the cards. You can shuffle the way you would a deck of playing cards, or the way you would tarot cards — whatever feels natural to you.
3. As you shuffle, ask, "Please show me what I need to know."
4. Once you feel you've shuffled enough, draw the card that feels right. Look at the imagery and any words printed on the card, and receive the message intuitively from what's depicted.

What matters most in an oracle reading is your intuition. What you personally feel from the imagery on the card is what truly counts. Until you're used to it, it's fine to lean on the guidebook that comes with the deck.

Even once you've gained some experience, you can still use the guidebook to deepen your understanding.

As you grow more comfortable, you might try a "three-card draw." Reading three cards means following the flow between them, which raises the difficulty above a single-card draw — but it also gives you more specific, detailed advice. Working toward being able to do a three-card draw is a good near-term goal.

To Receive a Clearer Message

If you find a reading hard to interpret, try rephrasing your question. Vague questions are harder to read. Rather than asking "Will I succeed at work?", a question like "What should I do to succeed at my current job?" makes the advice you receive easier to understand.

Sharpening your questions is part of sharpening your reading accuracy.

Asking good questions may feel a little difficult at first, but the key is to keep asking, gain experience, and get comfortable with it over time.

☾Summary

Here we've focused mainly on Doreen Virtue while introducing oracle cards, but the world of oracle decks is far bigger than that — there are decks themed around Japanese deities and dragon gods, Indian deities, and even cute animals and characters.

With so many kinds of decks out there, there's bound to be one that's right for you.

"I like the theme" or "I like the artwork" — any reason is a good enough reason. Choosing a deck that sparks your own inspiration is what makes your readings flow more naturally.

Oracle cards offer a different kind of guidance from traditional fortune telling, pointing you toward the path you should take. You can use them on their own, or alongside tarot cards.

Oracle cards can offer answers to a wandering heart, but leaning on them too heavily isn't a good idea. That's likely exactly the concern behind Doreen Virtue's own departure from the spiritual world and her conversion to Christianity.

Use oracle cards well, without over-relying on them — and keep your own convictions firmly in hand.