FAQs About Tarot & Oracle Cards

🃏 Tarot vs. Oracle Cards: Your Essential Guide

Tarot and oracle cards are powerful tools for self-reflection, guidance, and spiritual insight. While both serve similar purposes, they differ in structure, symbolism, and usage. Here's a comprehensive breakdown to help you understand their unique qualities.

🔮 What Are Tarot Cards?

Tarot cards are a traditional divination tool consisting of 78 cards, divided into two main sections:

Major Arcana (22 cards): Represent significant life events and spiritual lessons.
Minor Arcana (56 cards): Reflect daily experiences and challenges, categorized into four suits: Wands, Pentacles, Swords, and Cups.

Each card carries specific symbolism and meaning, often rooted in numerology, astrology, and elemental associations. Reading tarot involves interpreting these symbols within various spreads to gain insights into past, present, and future situations.

✨ What Are Oracle Cards?

Oracle cards offer a more flexible and intuitive approach to divination. Unlike tarot, oracle decks don't adhere to a fixed structure or number of cards. They can range from a few dozen to over a hundred cards, each deck designed around a specific theme—such as angels, animals, or affirmations.

Oracle cards are ideal for quick guidance, daily affirmations, or meditation. Their straightforward messages and diverse themes make them accessible to beginners and seasoned practitioners alike.

🔮 How to Use a Tarot or Oracle Deck: A Beginner-Friendly Guide

Using a tarot or oracle deck can be a powerful way to gain clarity, reflect on life situations, and tap into your inner wisdom. Whether you're just starting out or looking to refresh your practice, this simple guide walks you through the process step-by-step.

🧘♀️ Step 1: Clear or Cleanse Your Deck

Before each reading, it's important to clear or smudge your deck to remove any lingering energy. Cleansing helps reset your cards and prepare them for new insights.

💭 Step 2: Focus on Your Question

With your cleansed deck in hand, think carefully about a question or situation you’d like guidance on. Keep your intention clear and present in your mind.

🃏 Step 3: Use the Three-Card Spread

The three-card spread is one of the easiest and most effective layouts for beginners:

Card 1: The Past – Reveals the background or origin of your current situation.

Card 2: The Present – Reflects your current state or what’s influencing you now.

Card 3: The Future – Shows where you’re headed if you continue on your current path.

✨ Step 4: Perform Your Reading

Lay your deck face-down on a flat surface.
Keep your question or situation in mind.
Choose three cards and place them side by side, face-down.
Once all three are chosen, flip them face-up one at a time.
Interpret each card using both your deck’s guidebook and your intuition to uncover what it means in relation to your question.

Learning to use tarot or oracle cards is a deeply personal experience. Start simple, trust your intuition, and allow the cards to guide you. With practice, your confidence—and connection to your deck—will grow stronger over time.

🌟 Do I Need to Be Psychic to Use Tarot or Oracle Cards?

Not at all! You don’t need any psychic abilities to use tarot or oracle cards. These tools are designed to help anyone—regardless of experience—tune into their intuition and explore their inner thoughts and emotions.

While some psychic or intuitive readers use cards to enhance their readings, you don’t have to be psychic to get meaningful insights. In fact, many beginners find oracle cards to be a gentle, approachable way to start their journey with card reading.

It’s less about predicting the future and more about creating space for reflection, clarity, and self-discovery.

🌙 How to Cleanse Your Tarot or Oracle Deck: 5 Simple Methods to Clear Old Energy

If you’re new to tarot or oracle cards—or even a seasoned reader—you’ve probably heard the advice: “Always cleanse your deck.” But what does that actually mean, and how do you do it?

Just like we need to reset our own energy after a long day, your deck can also absorb energy from readings, environments, and even other people. Cleansing your cards helps you maintain a clear channel for intuitive guidance and ensures the messages you receive are fresh and accurate.

Whether it’s your first time using a new deck or you’ve just let a friend handle your cards, here are a few tried-and-true methods to clear the energy and restore balance.

🔮 Why Cleanse Your Deck?

Before diving into the how-to, let’s talk about why cleansing is important.

It removes any lingering energy from past readings.
It resets your deck to a neutral energetic state.
It helps deepen your connection with the cards.
It’s especially helpful after someone else has touched your deck.

Now let’s explore a few simple and effective cleansing techniques you can start using today.

🖐️ 1. Knock Out Old Energy

This is one of the quickest and most common ways to reset your deck.

Hold your tarot or oracle deck face-down in your non-dominant hand (the hand that receives energy).
Make a gentle fist with your dominant hand (the one that sends energy).
Tap once on the top of the deck to "knock out" old, stagnant energy.

This method is discreet and easy—perfect for daily use or when you're short on time.

🌿 2. Smudge Your Cards with Sacred Smoke

Smudging is a traditional cleansing method that uses the smoke of sacred herbs like sage, palo santo, or sweetgrass to purify objects.

Gently spread your deck on a clean surface (like a table or cloth).
Light your smudge stick and let the smoke waft over each card, moving slowly and with intention.
Visualize the smoke clearing away all unwanted energy.

💡 Note: Be respectful of the cultural origins of smudging and always research the ethical use of your chosen herbs.

🌑 3. Use Crystals for Energy Clearing

Crystals like black onyx and moss agate are known for their protective and grounding properties.

When you're not using your deck, place a small cleansing crystal inside your deck’s pouch or box.
These stones naturally absorb and neutralize residual energy.

This is a low-maintenance way to keep your deck energetically fresh between readings.

🌕 4. Cleanse Under the Full Moon

The light of the Full Moon is deeply cleansing and energetically renewing. It's a favorite method among many readers.

On the night of a Full Moon, lay your cards out in a safe space where they can be exposed to moonlight (a windowsill works too!).
Let them absorb the moon’s energy overnight to refresh their vibrancy and intuitive power.

Bonus: It’s also a beautiful ritual that connects you to the natural rhythms of the universe.

🧘♀️ Trust Your Intuition

You don’t have to follow every method. Choose the ones that feel right to you—and don’t be afraid to mix it up! Some readers even develop personal rituals, like playing calming music, saying a prayer, or meditating with the deck before use.

At the end of the day, your tarot or oracle cards are sacred tools. Taking a few moments to cleanse them is a small but powerful way to honor that connection and keep your readings clear, empowering, and energetically aligned.