This is a guide for how to create a tool for self reflection that utilises the magic of art.
What is an oracle deck?
So oracle deck is the name given to pretty much any set of cards that people might use in the ways they use tarot (for guidance, divination, creativity etc).
Broadly speaking, each card in an oracle deck represents a certain 'vibe'/feel through an aesthetic.
Sometimes it is abstract as fuck like pictures of feathers, sometimes it is very standard and obvious like... a bunch of goddesses.
They can have any number of cards, arranged in any system you want. Some people create a narrative to them, some don't, some leave it up to you to create your own meanings.
I think the key aspect to a good oracle deck is that each of the cards really evokes a certain feeling-y space. So that when you draw that card you're like 'oh yeah, that vibe'
And often, despite each of the cards evoking different vibes... they all very evidently belong to the same world in some way (this can be in ANY way... they just need one linking aspect that makes them all part of one energy working together)
Some examples: Teal Swan made a bunch of abstract paintings of certain ‘frequencies’ of energy she feels she can see. Brain Froud painted all of the fairies that rocked up to visit him and put them into a deck of cards (the guidebook tells you to figure out your own relationship with these faeries… so they have no ordering system ATALL)
How Do I Make My Own Oracle Deck?
So, to make and use an oracle deck out of your own art, you
1. gather some bits that inspire different potent feelz
2. put them together and see what unifies them / how they speak as a group (you may end up taking bits out or adding other bits in at this point)
3. make a shuffleable situation (I was going to say put them on card and cut them to the same size... but I think its not even necessary for the size to be the same... just that you're able to stake them together & shuffle them.. or any equivalent form of a randomizer function)
4. ask a question, or don't .. and just be curious. shuffle the "cards"*. draw 1,2,3 or however many you want (*you could even do this all digital and just find a randomising programme on the internet that selects from a set of images and displays them)
5. interpret what it means in whatever way is helpful or interesting to you.
Bonus fun creative prompt: Put random words in front of oracle deck and then make it
Or just a random word generator
Challenge: Can you make an oracle deck in a different creative medium? Like, audio oracle deck? // audio tarot?
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