Help, connection to words only not images

Hi

This is my first post as I have recently plucked up the courage to join this community after years of being inspired by following and reading many of your posts. I love and have a very strong affinity with crystals and over the years have collected a number of oracle cards. I love the idea of oracle cards but my problem is I can never seem connect to the images or symbolism. I have been to numerous courses and understand how it works but just don't connect with what I see. Not sure why. I feel I connect more with words usually from reading the book or the bit of text on a card as opposed to the image. I was wondering if there is anyone else on here who experiences this too having a connection to the words not the image. Ideally I would like to add to my growing collection of oracle cards and looking for a new deck with words on one side only that will help me tap into my inner wisdom/intuition. Does anyone have any thoughts or suggestions?

Thanks for reading my post.
Jubear

I am very connected to the images, myself, however, more up your alleyway, there is a Runes oracle kit that features learning or "flash" type cards, that have the words printed on one side, and the pic (very plain) of the rune on the other. It's called "(Living Magick Learning Card Series) Rune Learning Cards - Fundamentals of the Futhark Runes". As the Runes themselves are an alphabet, you are looking at letters, not pictures per se.

There is also a deck of Rune cards inside the kit with no keywords. Maybe Runes would really work for you, as it is mostly all about the words.

Another thing you might try is a deck like the Holitzka I Ching, which again has only the simplest of pictograms on the cards, which is related to a grid of broken and unbroken lines. Again, the interpretation lies mostly in the LWb, so again, words are far more important than the really minimal brush-stroke art work on the cards.

Both are excellent oracles, in my opinion.

Hope this helps!

Oh and PS: I just thought of one more - the Vintage Oracle, which, while featuring lovely ladies from the Victorian period on them, are really more about the one word written under each one, and then the lengthy explanation of it in the LWB. You don't need to rely on the pictures to get the gist.

Hi Jubear,

I don't own any Oracle decks such as you mention, so have no suggestions for you there -- but seeing as how you have an affinity with crystals, have you considered trying a crystal Oracle deck? I own the Gems deck by Bianca Luna, where the main image on each card is a particular crystal, i.e. amethyst, carnelian, black tourmaline, etc. Perhaps a deck such as that, or similar, may help you to tap into your intuition better. (There is also a guide book with the deck that gives additional ideas for interpretation.)

Welcome to AT!

Runes and I Ching are wonderful suggestions. Also, working with the crystals might be more to your taste. However, before diving into something new, perhaps, it would be a good idea to revise 'the old', so to speak.

For me, connection to images in Oracles isn't something that comes instantly and naturally. Rather, it's a product of (sometimes quite lengthy) research and study, and then practice. Some Oracles feature a character on each card (a faerie, an angel, an animal, a god/goddess etc.), and you need to actually know the stories behind that character to get the full connection to the image. Other Oracles feature scenes or sayings, and those need study as well. Some Oracles show a symbolic keyword on each card (like 'Doctor' or 'Love' - thinking Sibillas here), usually accompanied by a relevant picture, and those symbols, though often intuitively understandable, still need study and practice to fully unlock their meanings.

That's why I suggest looking through the decks you already have and, perhaps, working exclusively with one of them for some time, making notes about the cards and doing practice readings here on AT. You might surprise yourself. You might also want to ask other AT users about your chosen Oracle: maybe, someone has it and can help you out and give you some tips!

Hope you enjoy your journey!

Thank you

Hi

Thanks for all your suggestions, really helpful. I am going to check out the suggestions here and also try looking at some of the decks. The I ching was something that jumped out at me as this has been on my mind the last few months and has intrigued me for many years and have a book on it so this will be my first port of call to research.

I think I will also re-visit one of my decks as you suggest dancing_moon and try to study a deck. Any tips on how to begin studying decks and to work out the characters and their stories along with the symbolism? I think this is the part I am missing in my learning, I honestly thought you could pick you a deck and bam get the meaning straight off. LoL. I have a lot to learn. So glad I joined here.


Onion Budgie, I have a few crystal desks and like to work with the Crystal Ally cards but find them a bit large to use daily. Insightful though. I have not tried the Gems by Bianca Luna deck do you have this and what do you think of it? I have been eyeing up the Judy Hall deck too. Not got around to purchasing this one either. Any thoughts on this deck?

Thankyou for replying.
Jubear

Jubear

Jubear said:

Any tips on how to begin studying decks and to work out the characters and their stories along with the symbolism? I think this is the part I am missing in my learning, I honestly thought you could pick you a deck and bam get the meaning straight off. LoL. I have a lot to learn. So glad I joined here.

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It depends on which deck you'll pick but the general principle is not unlike that used at school. Let's say you picked Angel Voices Oracle. No text except the names of the angels. You would need to take each card and make notes about it (what is the angel holding/doing? what astrological symbols are depicted? what could all these mean in a reading?). Searching the Internet for information about each angel and including the most important points into your notes would also be a good idea. After you do all this, there's usually one or several key points that stand out in the card and give you a more or less consistent idea of the card.

Let's say you were working on the angel #24 (Hahuiah). The image shows an angel kneeling in front of a pool of water, there's full moon above his head, and there's a blooming lotus in the pond. My immediate associations would be emotions (water, moon), reflection, meditation, humility, consolation and enlightenment. There are symbols of Saturn and Moon on the card, which reinforce the message of emotions, feelings, dark night of the soul, and also restrictions and time associated with Saturn. The online description of this angel states that he helps prisoners, outcasts and criminals, and guides them so that they don't make the same mistakes again. He also gives clarity and understanding of truth. Do you see how those things resonate with the symbols on the card? In a reading I would expect this card to show up when clarity is necessary, or when there's a risk to repeat the same mistakes, etc. And once you make the notes and review them a few times, you'll be able to remember what the lotus means, the pond, the moon, etc. But to come up with that, you do need to do research on each card. In the end, however, it's really rewarding because you'll be able to read the cards, not the text on them, like a real pro.

Hope it's helpful.

Welcome to the AT forum Jubear! Oracles, unlike tarot, have no set of defined cards, so in some ways you do need the words to know what the card is about. But think of those words as the frame of a house; you've got the basic walls and foundations, but now you have to think about interior design. This is your story about the cards that can come from the images or words. I had several people who encouraged me to speak out loud about what I saw and what it made me think about (memories, songs, poems, movies, book titles, etc.). Those things can be added to fill out your "house."

Jubear said:

Onion Budgie, I have a few crystal desks and like to work with the Crystal Ally cards but find them a bit large to use daily. Insightful though. I have not tried the Gems by Bianca Luna deck do you have this and what do you think of it? I have been eyeing up the Judy Hall deck too. Not got around to purchasing this one either. Any thoughts on this deck?

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Yes, I have the Gems deck. The cards are standard size for Oracle, have a matte finish, and fit very well in the hand. Good quality stock, too. The crystal image on each card is large, filling around a half of the available space. On each card also is depicted the element associated with the stone, its astrological sign, and its corresponding Chakra.

The guide book is quite good; it suggests a message and a meditation for each card.

The deck might be useful for picking a blind card to determine which crystal to work with that day. Let the crystal come to you, rather than your consciously selecting one, so to speak!

It's not one of my most frequently used decks, but I do enjoy it, and am glad that I bought it.

I'm not familiar with the Judy Hall deck.

Hi Jubear! I am new to oracle cards and have been away from my tarot for a very long time.

With my tarot I am doing a three card reading for the day each morning and have bought a journal to start writing about the reading. I am hoping that will help me connect with my cards. You could maybe try something similar with your cards?

I bought a beautiful set of oracle cards - well three actually- telling myself they were for my daughter when she was old enough. I said I would just look at them and put them away, but I'm really enjoying them and might have to get a second set for her (I've got heaps of time, she's only 7)

These are the sets I have Each card has text and the book is delightful in describing each card, a message from the character (for want of a better word) depicted in the card and a divination paragraph.

http://www.aeclectic.net/tarot/cards/oracle-shadows-light/

http://www.aeclectic.net/tarot/cards/les-vampires-oracle/

http://www.aeclectic.net/tarot/cards/shapeshifters-oracle/

Been Practising

Thanks for all your suggestions, I have been practising with my cards today. There is so much to read into the cards and I think I have a lot of learning to do. I find my interpretation often does not link to the card creators descriptors. Where do you find out what the symbols mean or even the characters?

My quest continues.......
Jubear