“Dear Gypsy, I was wondering. What do you think about oracle cards vs. tarot cards? Is one better than another? What do you prefer?” ~ Wanda L.

Those are very good questions!

I prefer Tarot, but have many oracle decks in my vast collection. I love to play and experiment with all sorts of cards and decks. That being said, my least favourite are those cards that have the meanings printed right there upon them, as I feel it hinders free thought, spontaneous intuition and unadulterated first impressions. The traditional Lenormand is my very favourite oracle, as it has a direct link to history which lends to it’s mysticism. This falls into direct line with my thoughts and feelings about the Tarot – the older the better, the traditional Rider-Waite being the go to deck for me and all things divination. Not that I won’t purchase and explore new decks. I just find that I can be very picky about which decks I like and catch my fancy. The key is to work with tools that expand your intuitive abilities and stimulate the psychic mind. Anything else, to me, is sort of a waste of time.

Everyone is different. Some people are turned on by colours. Others go for realism. Still others are into heavy symbolism within the images. Some are pulled toward the feel or size of the cards themselves, while still others are drawn to particular artistic styles ie. fantasy, religion, mythology, history. My advice to you and to anyone who comes to me with the question of how to explore and choose decks without going broke in the process is to do web searches under the images tab in Google. Read reviews and keep asking questions. With decks starting at around $20 each, one can invest quite a bit of money into decks. And it is no fun to get stuck with a mediocre or ho-hum set of cards that leave you feeling let down and unstimulated after departing with your hard earned money.

These days folks are churning out decks right and left covering everything from poo to baseball to Buffy to Hello Kitty. (No…I am not kidding! 😉 ) Pay attention to card size, material and how the deck is packaged. You may find that certain publisher’s decks all have the same quality – for better or worse – that may be a good or not so good thing. For instance, some deck publishers use inferior paper. Some may be flimsy and bend too easily to be comfortable to handle without fear of damaging the investment, while others make cards so stiff they are uncomfortable to work with. Some have artwork that is cartoonish or inferior, which also lends to the way the images can trigger responses in a negative way. It is a wise reader who does his or her homework before making that final decision.But even then, with these factors woven in, one won’t know for sure how one will feel about the deck until they have it resting in their hot little hands! (And I do love putting my hands on a brand new deck of cards, don’t you? 🙂 )  In the end….Tarot or oracle…what matters is how they make you feel when you look at them. After that, nothing else really matters…