How to Choose an Oracle Deck: What to Look For
To choose an oracle deck, look at six things: the art, the number of cards, the guidebook, the card stock and finish, the size and how the deck feels when you shuffle it. The art matters most, because you will look at these images for years. Below, each point is explained, with our own Sacred Signs Oracle Deck as the worked example, so you can see what the answers look like for a real deck.
1. The art: do you want to keep looking at it?
Look at as many cards of the deck as you can find, not only the box and the three cards on the front page. Ask yourself whether the images make you curious, calm or uneasy, and whether that is what you are looking for. A deck you find beautiful is a deck you will pick up.
Our example: every card carries one geometric sign that Astaran saw and drew, in silver foil on a coloured background. There are no figures or scenes, only geometry, a name and a number.
2. The number of cards
Oracle decks run from about 30 to more than 100 cards. A small deck is quick to learn. A large deck gives more variety and makes it rarer to draw the same card twice in a week. If you plan to lay out spreads of five or more cards, a larger deck works better.
Our example: 74 cards, each with its own name and number, from 1 Growth to 74 Nature. All of them are listed on our card meanings page.
3. The guidebook
Some decks come with a few lines per card, others with a full book. Check whether the guidebook explains how to use the deck and offers spreads, and whether its tone suits you. Some books tell you what a card means, others invite you to find out. Check the language too: not every deck has a guidebook in yours.
Our example: an English booklet of 185 pages, with an affirmation and a description for every card, chapters on how to use the deck and the elements behind the colours and spreads such as the five-card “Light Architect”. Booklets in Dutch, German and Spanish, printed or as pdf, are available separately in our oracle collection.
4. Card stock and finish
Thin cards bend and wear quickly. Thicker card stock, measured in gsm, lasts longer and feels more solid. A glossy finish can stick when you shuffle, a matte finish slides more easily. Foil, gilded edges and lamination add to the price and to how long the cards keep looking good.
Our example: 350 gsm acid-free card stock, matte silk lamination, silver foil on both sides of every card and silver edges.
5. Size
Standard playing cards are 63 × 88 mm. Many oracle decks are bigger, which shows the art better but makes shuffling harder for small hands. If you can, hold a card of a similar size before you buy, or compare the measurements with a card you already own.
Our example: 85 × 120 mm, larger than a playing card. If they feel big in your hands, you can mix them face down on the table.
6. How it feels
This is the one point a description can’t settle. Some decks feel right the moment you open the box. If you can’t try a deck in a shop, read what people who use it write about how it feels after a few months, not only on the day it arrived.
Our example: the deck comes in a magnetic box, and the silk lamination makes the cards soft to the touch.
Is there a best oracle deck?
There is a best deck for you, and it is the one you keep reaching for. A beginner usually does well with a deck whose guidebook explains how to start and whose images are clear enough to read without the book. Someone with experience may want fewer words and more room for their own reading. Price says something about materials, little about whether the cards will speak to you.
Our page on oracle cards: what they are and how to start explains how a reading works once you have your deck.
The Sacred Signs Oracle Deck at a glance
- 74 cards with silver foil sacred geometry on both sides
- 85 × 120 mm, 350 gsm, matte silk lamination, silver edges
- English booklet of 185 pages, magnetic box
- €65
See the Sacred Signs Oracle Deck →
Want to try our geometry before you buy a deck? The Universal Signs library is open to everyone.