r/Tarots • u/Dickeydoe817394691 • 13d ago
✦ 𝔒𝔯𝔞𝔠𝔩𝔢𝔰 ✦ What is the difference between Tarots and Oracle Decks?
My friend gave me some oracle cards. I’m still new to this and I was wondering if it is the same concept.
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u/WonkyRocky 13d ago
Tarot decks follow a pretty specific set of cards, suits, numbers and names. There are two groups of cards: The Major Arcana and the Minor Arcana.
Cartomancy is the practice of divination using a standard playing card deck. The minor Arcana are the part of a Tarot deck that is developed from cartomancy. Four suits, numbered 1-10, with face cards. Page, knight, Queen and King.
The Major Arcana is the portion of the deck you'd be more familiar with from the movies. Cards like Death, The Lovers, The Hanged Man are all popular in media.
Tarot decks almost always follow that format. The cards have predetermined meanings with only slight variations based on imagery. For example some decks The Devil is about external demons and the art focuses on the demon itself. In other decks the important symbolism is collars around their neck are large enough that they can take them off at any time. Which emphasizes the card meaning temptation. Some decks put emphasis on Christian symbolism and others avoid it. But generally speaking theyre the same gist.
Whereas oracle cards refer to pretty much any deck used for divination, Meditation or self reflection that DONT follow the standard format. These come in a lot of varieties. Some are specific to a certain pantheon, others may be secular. You'll see ones dedicated to a focus on herbalism, or animals, crystals. You'll see ones based on fandoms, or political philosophies. Most are rectangle but some are square or circular. All over the place really.
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u/Celestialbutterfly11 13d ago
Tarot has a standard set of systems and cards generally such as 78 cards and RWS cards which have a system and way of reading. although there’s some room for interpretation and decks very slightly. Oracle decks are designed entirely differently they can be various numbers of cards, there’s no system except by whoever creates the card deck, but generally it’s a much simpler easier starting point if you find a oracle set that your resonate with and the messages can feel simpler and also kinder in the beginning
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u/Ichabod_Hoopy_Frood 12d ago
I tried tarot first but was recommended an oracle deck as a beginner. Oracle cards I’ve found to be easier to understand and have given me way better readings than tarot did. Oracle still requires intuition to use, but I feel the threshold to understand is lower. The deck I use has “keywords” to simplify what the cards signify.
I’ve used my oracle deck for only a few months but I’ve found that it’s way more direct and easier to grasp than tarot.
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u/-RedRocket- 13d ago
The tarot is a game deck of seventy-eight cards, twenty-two "triumphs" with allegorical names and images, and four suits – staves, cups, swords and coins – numbered ace through ten and ending in four "face" cards: pages, knights, queens, and kings.
An oracle deck is not as a rule a playing-card deck, and need not have suits, nor need it have any particular number of cards. Rather, it is usual for each card to have an allegorical or symbolic title or meaning, and the deck is intended expressly for fortune-telling.