I know a lot of people picking up Tarot decks lately and there's some confusion about the difference between Tarot and Oracle decks. I'm going to add my two cents.
I have a bunch of decks. I love my decks. I carry a Tarot deck on me all the time, you never know when someone will want an impromptu reading. I don't, however, carry an Oracle deck everywhere. Nothing against it, I just have my preferences.
Tarot, is a 78 card deck, featuring 22 major arcana and 56 minor arcana. Most Tarot decks are based of of the Rider-Waite deck. The major arcana tells the story of The Fool and his journey throughout the major arcana until The Word, the last card. It is his trials and tribulations. Other Tarot decks have different names for their major arcana, but the same principals apply.
The 56 minor arcana are suits of Wands (also called Rods or Fire), Swords ( called Blades or Knives or Air), Cups (called Chalices, Vessels, or the like, or Water) and Pentacles (also called Coins, Discs or Rings in some decks, or Earth). Each of these suits has a number of Ace (one) through ten and four Court cards, The Page, The Knight, The Queen and The King, or their equivalents. The meanings of Rider-Waite based tarot cards will carry across all Rider-Waite decks. Universal, Rider-Waite, Smith-Rider-Waite, Marseille, the meanings all carry.
Non-Rider-Waite decks will have different meanings. An example of this is in the Thoth Deck by Aleister Crowley. The Thoth deck is just a few years younger than the Rider-Waite deck. Both of the authors were in The Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn together, but Edward Waite published his deck before Crowley did. These decks are different in their meanings but they do have similarities. Unfortunately, I do not have a photo of the Thoth deck at this time, but I will add one as I remember to. This in no way means that one is better than the other. On the contrary, I just learned Rider-Waite first. I have added a Thoth deck or two... or five, to my Tarot collection. They're just not my preferred choice of deck.
Now, we have Oracle Cards. Oracle cards are different. There's not set theme with Oracle Cards. No major or minor arcana consistent throughout the decks. There can be decks of ten cards, or decks of 100 cards. Oracle cards can be angel cards, faerie cards, vintage goddesses, animals, silly cats, witches, pretty much anything. There my be suits, but there doesn't have to be. If there are suits, there's no set number as to how many cards are in each suit, as there is with Tarot. Cards are (in my opinion) a bit easier to read, and the meanings don't necessarily follow across decks, the way tarot usually does. It can be easier to interpret for the novice reader. I may have a Adventure card in one deck, and (as pictured) not have an Adventure card, or equivalent, in another. I like to add oracle cards at the end of my tarot readings. They're good stand alone cards that can reinforce the theme of the reading.
Neither type of deck is better than the other. They are both fantastic divinatory tools. If you're just starting out with cards, Oracle may be easier to ease yourself into Cartomancy. They are a much nicer delivery than Tarot can seem to be, as it's much more direct. Try them both and see which you prefer,
Comentarios