I came home late last night and pulled some oracle cards.
I have a strange relationship with oracle cards, i.e., I don't really like them.
Tarot follows a particular structure similar to a deck of playing cards, whereas oracle cards do not. People create their own oracle cards, sometimes random people who have no idea what the fuck they're doing.
Technically, anything can be a means of divination. I remember when I used to drive to work to DTLA every day, I would know what kind of day I was going to have based on how many red, green, or yellow lights I would hit on my commute. Seriously, anything can be a means of divination.
However, I do believe that reading via more established systems, such as the tarot or the I-Ching or runes, involves interaction with a living oracle that has been upheld by a tradition or features some kind of archetype relationship.
Throwing the I-Ching, in particular, feels to me as though one is interacting with an otherworldly being who is ancient and mysterious and not to be fucked with.
Tarot feels more like interacting with the archetype of each card. There are 78 cards and therefore 78 archetypes to source the message from. Reading cards requires becoming intimately acquainted with each archetype—and each one is unique and multifaceted. It's up to the reader to discern, using whatever faculties they have cultivated, which facet of the card is presenting itself in any given reading, with consideration to the querent's question, the position in the spread, and other factors in the space.
All this is to say that in my experience, oracle cards can be severely lacking in the 'backing' of a tradition. Other systems are exactly that: systems. Yes, what I'm pointing to is that I suspect a lot of oracles decks are bullshit, but I also don't really know for sure.
While I have seen very accurate readings pulled using oracle cards, I do not feel the same clarity and purity of vision that I feel when I pull tarot. It often feels like microwaving an Amy's bowl instead of cooking your own pasta at home or whatever.
I own exactly one oracle deck. It is by Doreen Virtue, who is undeniably problematic. She has since renounced her body of work after converting to fundamentalist Christianity. I bought one of her decks at Alexandria II in Pasadena before knowing this.
Sidenote: Alexandria II is one of the best stores in the country (yes, country!) for tarot and oracle decks because they let you physically handle entire sample decks, which is exceedingly rare. It means you can shuffle the cards yourself and get a taste of each deck's personality. They also sell used decks (including rare and out of print), which I used to be somewhat dubious of energetically.
Despite Doreen Virtue no longer having ownership over the oracles decks attached to her name, I still use one of her decks because I truly believe her work was backed by forces of good. Her body of work is oriented almost exclusively towards angels (kinda weird, I know) who she claims guided all of her projects. I honestly have no idea how to unpack that and really do not care to, but the cards pull beautiful messages. They also overuse the word 'God' with a capital G, which makes it no surprise she had the capacity to become a fundamentalist Christian.
I was interested in her work after hearing a talk by her at the iconic Bodhi Tree Bookstore (R.I.P.) that used to exist on Melrose Avenue in West Hollywood until 2011. She seemed like a cool person.
I also thought angels were weird as fuck and made up for a long time. I won't say much about that since that is not my arena, except that I don't really care if her decks are talking about angels or not. They pull great readings!
One thing I find extremely strange is that her life followed a similar path as Pamela Coleman Smith, who designed the first fully-illustrated tarot deck. I will write more about her in the future. They both were prolific AF, and they both converted to extremely conservative traditions later in life—PCS converted to Catholicism.
I don't know what that's about. This is all conjecture, but I do find it more-than-coincidental that they followed similar trajectories after birthing powerful, impactful, and lasting bodies of work. And to establish some additional context, Doreen Virtue was one of the OG bestselling creators of oracle decks before they exploded in popularity. And she is still bestselling even after renouncing it—but still not as popular as the tarot.