How To Read Oracle Cards For Beginners - Cosmopolitan

It’s not that tarot is hard. There are just a lot of rules: Every deck has 78 cards, and you’ve got to get to know each one and what it symbolizes and then let your intuition guide you and then interpret complex spreads...okay, fine, it *is* hard. And TBH, it can feel like work. (Actual work, in my case—I do tarot readings for a living.)

Which is why, lately, I’ve been turning to oracle cards, the v, v Insta-friendly decks you’ve now seen everywhere (they come in themes like fairy tales, cats, and millennial pink). Think of them as kind of like a way cooler but just as simple Magic 8-Ball. Here are the ones in the photo above, btw:

WorthwhilePaper Inquire Within Deck

$48 at Etsy

TerraSoleilCo Wild Moon Oracle Card Deck

$50 at Etsy

RP Studio Amenti Oracle Feather Heart Deck and Guide Book

Now 50% Off$28 $14 at Amazon

Each card delivers a message symbolized by an image—don’t worry, packs usually come with a guidebook that explains what’s what. The only real rule of oracle cards is that there are pretty much no rules. Here, I’ll walk you through the process....

Step 1: Ask your question.

Make it specific. Something like: “How do I make this big work thing I’ve been daydreaming about actually happen?”

Step 2: Shuffle the deck.

This will get your hands—and energy—mingling with the cards. Then scatter them on the floor, faceup or facedown (no rules, remember?).

Step 3: Select one card.

Stick to single-card readings to get familiar with your deck. Say, for example, it’s a picture of flames. (Note: Oracle cards can have anything on ’em, since each deck has its own theme.)

Related Story

• A Tarot Reading for the End of Mercury Retrograde

Step 4: Take it in.

Maybe fire makes you think of...burning it all down? Or cleansing to start over? Note which symbols stand out to you and what that imagery could mean.

Step 5: Look it up.

If a guidebook came with your cards, check out how the card description matches up with your initial impression. (Oh, fire is all about gathering courage to kick-start a challenging project? I’m listening....) Write down your OG question and surround it with key words or meanings from the card you chose. What emerges from this word cloud? How do those ideas translate to your current situation? Put it all together.

Step 6: Let it simmer.

Sometimes your reading won’t make sense right away. Come back to your notes in a day or two, after your subconscious has done more work to realize that maybe the fire card was a nudge to burn up old habits and smoke out the grit you need to level up in your career.

The more you do this, the more you’ll sharpen your visual intuition and be able to ~see~ the story in the picture. Like a crystal ball but cuter.

Related Story

• The Best Tarot Decks for Every Level of Reader

Photographed by Jeffrey Westbrook; styled by Alma Melendez.