Oracles have been in existence for thousands of years dating back to the Ancient Egyptians who used animal and natural omens, dreams and hieroglyphs to unravel the future. One of the most well known in history is the Ancient Oracles at Delphi in Greece , dating back to 1400BC. People would visit from all over Greece and beyond to have their questions about the future answered by the Pythia, the priestess of Apollo. Her answers, usually cryptic, could determine the course of everything from when a farmer planted his seedlings, to when an empire declared war. Around the same time the Sibyls of Rome used to write the prophecies on leaves and scatter them so clients had to catch them and piece together the meaning.

Tarot was borne from the tradition of the oracle, combining cartomancy with symbolism with a much disputed history. Overall tarot is a well known divination tool, a form of oracle that is structured through its major and minor arcana and 78 cards, a system for tapping into your intuition.

Oracle cards share the same basic premise as tarot, without the structure or system that defines the tarot.

Instead oracle cards can consist of as many or as few cards as is required, and taps into a whole host of different beliefs, areas of interest, guidance and insight. Common oracle decks are angel oracles, these base their insight on the varied number of angels in mythology/religious history, also goddess (and god) decks again based on ancient mythology, sometimes specific to Greece , Roman, Nordic, Native American or Pagan, sometimes a combination of all. There are also animal oracles (which have roots in Native American folklore), fairy decks, tree decks, spirit oracles, soul oracles and so on.

Oracles then are a form of divinatory system that someone has designed in order to share their wisdom, or the wisdom of their chosen subject to bring insight and guidance to the reader and querent.

They can be read and used in the same way as the tarot, many come with their own specific spread designs, although more often than not the best way to use them is in a daily one card reading to help give you guidance, and through meditation.

Oracle cards work in the same way as any other system, including tarot, through a connection of your energy and insight. You could even create an oracle deck of your own using uplifting and guiding quotes from people you admire for instance, or words of wisdom. The wonderful thing about oracles is that there are no rules to creating an oracle deck, and that most of them have been created in love and light to give you, the reader or querent, the best possible insight and guidance.