Oracle Cards: What They Are and How to Start
Oracle cards are illustrated cards used for reflection. You draw one or more cards and look at the image and the words. Then you notice what they bring up about a question or about your day. Every oracle deck has its own number of cards, its own images and its own guidebook. The Sacred Signs Oracle Deck has 74 cards with silver foil sacred geometry, made by Ayana and Astaran and funded on Kickstarter in February 2022.
See the Sacred Signs Oracle Deck (€65) →
What is an oracle deck?
An oracle deck is a set of cards made by one artist or team around a theme of their choice: animals, plants, goddesses, words or, in our case, geometry. The maker decides how many cards there are and what each one stands for, and usually writes a guidebook with a short text for every card. Decks range from a few dozen cards to more than a hundred.
How are oracle cards different from tarot?
A tarot deck has a fixed structure of 78 cards: 22 Major Arcana and 56 Minor Arcana in four suits, with meanings that are shared across decks. An oracle deck has no fixed structure. Its number of cards, themes and meanings come from its maker, so two oracle decks can have nothing in common.
How oracle cards work (and what they do not do)
A reading with oracle cards is a moment of reflection. The image gives your attention something to rest on, and what you notice in it says something about where you are. The text in the guidebook is a suggestion you can take or leave.
Oracle cards do not predict the future, and they do not decide for you. The card you draw is a mirror for the question you bring. As the booklet of our deck says: “YOU are the expert and master of your own transformational process.”
What are oracle cards used for?
- A card for the day. One card in the morning, looked at again in the evening.
- A question. A card or a small spread when you are weighing a choice or trying to understand a feeling.
- Journaling. Writing down the card, what you saw in it and what happened, so you can see patterns over weeks.
- Marking a date. Drawing a card on a solstice, a full moon or a portal date such as 12:12. Our Sacred Dates page lists the dates we follow.
How to start with oracle cards
- Choose a deck that speaks to you. Look at the art, the number of cards, the guidebook and how the cards feel in your hands. Our guide on how to choose an oracle deck goes through each point.
- Get to know it. Before your first reading, look through every card once, slowly, without the book.
- Start with one card a day. Shuffle, draw one card and look at the image before you read anything.
- Ask open questions. “What do I need to see about this?” gives you more to work with than a yes or a no.
- Write it down. A line in a notebook is enough. After a few weeks you will see which cards keep coming back.
Our post starting with the Sacred Signs Oracle Deck goes deeper into a first reading with our cards.
The Sacred Signs Oracle Deck
- 74 cards, each with its own sign in silver foil on both sides
- Background colours based on the medicine wheel, the Chinese elements and masculine and feminine energy
- 85 × 120 mm cards on 350 gsm card stock with matte silk lamination and silver edges
- An English booklet of 185 pages with every card, its affirmation and spreads such as the five-card “Light Architect”
- A magnetic box
- €65
Every card is listed with its number on Sacred Signs oracle card meanings: all 74 cards. The deck, the booklets and the wooden card stand are together in the oracle collection.
More about oracle cards
- Living sacred geometry: oracle cards as daily companions
- Why silver matters in the Sacred Signs Oracle Deck
- Universal sacred geometry oracle meanings
Sacred Signs has always been about giving and receiving in freedom. Next to the deck, the Universal Signs library is open to everyone, and the donation page explains how gifts keep it going.
Oracle cards are a tool for reflection. They do not replace medical, psychological or other professional care. Read how we write about sacred geometry and belief.