ORACLE decks you've gone BACK and FORTH on

2dogs

I struggled with all my Oracle decks. I'd be very attracted to some of the images but not like others at all, and would get confused over the range of meanings given in the guidebooks. I'm happier with fact cards where I don't get any emotional reactions, can get a clear idea of what real phenomena the cards are describing, then come up with my own spiritual claptrap ;).
 

AnjouTwo

I struggled with all my Oracle decks. I'd be very attracted to some of the images but not like others at all, and would get confused over the range of meanings given in the guidebooks. I'm happier with fact cards where I don't get any emotional reactions, can get a clear idea of what real phenomena the cards are describing, then come up with my own spiritual claptrap ;).

What a fascinating approach. I used some of the cards you mention in your profile in an academic setting, but it never crossed my mind to use them in a deeper way.

In terms of my own experience with oracle decks, I've gone back and forth with Nicola McIntosh's Crystal Grid Oracle . It's delightfully made and a subject I find interesting, but I haven't been able to use it as an oracle successfully. But, I find myself looking at it quite often.

Also, I might have had a momentary dissociative episode when I supported the Revelations Oracle on Kickstarter. I'm not normally drawn to maximalist, photo-collage-based, imagery.
 

Dark Victory '39

Presently, the only oracle deck I own is the Oracle of Visions, but I haven't really warmed up to it. The cards are quite large and I don't find that I can draw much meaning from the images, even though many of them are beautiful.

Oracle of Visions is a weird one. It's my least used oracle; however, every now and then it gets bang on results in sort of a, 'what can i expect from this day/ week?' and it will throw something out there that absolutely captures the weekly/ daily theme in a precise and bizarre way. However, i've had to ignore the little book; ciro's writing is too logical for me. And i had to do a lot of questioning of the deck in a separate session of getting to know it, asking: well, how would you describe such-n-such situation, (a situation that i know perfectly well how I would describe).

I too, like greatdane have a little bit of an on-off w/ playing card oracles, but i'll say it's mostly on. I've found it to be an intense experience w/ that deck: my understanding of a reading i did early last summer (about something extremely important) is STILL unravelling in my understanding the depth of the reading. those head, throat, torso, foot positions have been so useful for spreads of all kind, because of the way they can be 'dignified' by a particular suit. Anyway, I have the alchemy version, which i love the art, and I don't think i'll ever stop working w/ the deck, but there is something that i have not totally translated (or transitioned over from) and i find it a difficult deck to read for others with. As a whole i would say i use oracles for myself and tarot for others. Anywho...
 

EmpyreanKnight

Les Vampires

I like dark decks, especially those with a vampire theme. You'd think that after the Twilight mania that swept our zeitgeist, more oracles would be created presenting/celebrating/milking this theme. I was surprised to find only this one though.

At first it appeared seriously cutesy, and I don't do cute. But looking at it in another angle, it is unmistakeably baroque and gothic, and it isn't easy to dismiss. For all the wide-eyed lightly-penned images of the characters, a genuinely dark and melancholy vein runs underneath. But then again some close up shots in some cards would have me muttering "nope nope" again.

What really decided this for me, aside of the theme and the large size of the cards (definitely a plus in my book) are some rather detailed videos I found online. The cards are just undeniably beautiful. So before the week ends they're gonna be with me. :)
 

danieljuk

I hope you like it EmpyreanKnight :) I did go really back and forth on Les Vampires, it's not my usual artwork style at all. I bought it on a whim and was anxious I might regret it! I do like the cards more than I thought and don't regret buying it and it's a lovely set with heavy cards and the book! It's a lovely oracle to read with, I have had great success with readings on AT with it. Especially good for love and emotional readings I have found :) I definitely went back and forth on it, but it's not just gothic wide eyed people, it has more depth!
 

EmpyreanKnight

Thanks for the reassurance, bud. :) I see that you're a guy yourself, so you understand why I felt such a disconnect with the deck at first. But yeah, I'm really excited to open the package once it lands on my lap.
 

Le Fanu

Les Vampires

Another guy who's bought this one.

My view is that she's done (and continues to do) such a tsunami plethora of decks - and the torrent shows no signs of stopping - and I reason that one only needs one Becket Griffith/Cavendish deck in the average lifetime and this is by far the most dramatic in my opinion.

I do quite like it - a few dud cards - but overall darkly baroque. Not sure I find it "deep" in its readings - sorry to say this but generally I don't find that Oracle decks give deep readings - I don't think they have the depth of tarot and the elaborate symbolism - but this deck is quite nice for those "what do I need to know" kind of spreads.
 

Mittkait

Les Vampires

I'm really on the fence about this deck.

I like the idea behind the cards. I've even grown to love Becket-Griffith's artwork. But the deck just seems to have a very teenage angst feel to me. I don't have a problem with the answers the deck gives, it just gives them through the lens of someone between the ages of 16-24 years old.

I asked it if it wanted to be gifted to my niece, and its answer was "like, whatever, do what you want dude."
 

EmpyreanKnight

Les Vampires

I finally got the Les Vampires Oracle earlier, and what can I say. It's gonna stay with me, and is definitely in no danger of landing in my Christmas giveaways pile.

It's rather warm and dreamy, and very introspective. I can just contemplate them and I'll be satisfied. I have never been struck with the Twilight mania, and I have never even watched any of the movies beyond the ten-minute mark, so I cannot relate with what you felt Mittkait. Because I look at the characters as being centuries-old, with all the loss and wisdom and clarity it entails. Instead of teenage angst, I see a world-weary melancholy born of centuries and even millenia of watching everyone in an endless cycle of living and preying and exploiting and shaming and dying, in a danse macabre they have no choice but to participate in.

The images themselves remind me of a quite from George MacDonald, which in this case is very apropos:

Beauty and sadness always go together. Nature thought beauty too rich to go forth upon the earth without a meet alloy.

I have not yet read the whole book, and I would still have to see how well this one reads. But yeah, this is a gamble that is well worth the risk. For me, Les Vampires is for keeps.
 

darkkittie099

Lucy Cavendish Decks and Oracle Cards in General

I am so glad that I am not the only one who feels this way about oracle decks! A while back I bought three Lucy Cavendish decks: Oracle of Shadows and Light, Oracle of the Shapeshifters & Les Vampires. I ended up only keeping Les Vampires. The deck was way more mature than the other two oracle decks. I connected with it instantly and felt that it was the deck I needed at the time. The meanings have given me a lot of food for thought and the ones that haven’t I have been able to modify the meanings using the keywords only to fit my situation or what I was picking up intuitively from the cards. This seems to be working just fine. The other two were definitely targeted for a teen audience. Granted the versions I bought were the American versions and not directly from Blueangel publishing however, I feel like even if I had bought the Australian versions I still would not have connected with them. Mind you I gave each deck plenty of time, did a lot of journaling etc. I even created spreads for each. Initially it seemed like it was working out but then for some reason I stopped connecting with any but Les Vampires. That is the weird thing with oracle decks. With tarot once you have your system down you can just find a deck that you connect with. The system you can apply to any deck. With oracles you need to find a deck AND meanings/ a system that you connect with. If you end up not connecting with the meanings, pictures, author's writing style or beliefs etc. then what do you do? It can be disappointing sometimes. This of course is leaving out decks/ other oracles such as Lenormand , Playing cards, I-Ching, Runes etc. I also agree with a previous post that sometimes decks come into your life for a while but not all of them are meant to stay.

I agree with Le Fanu 100%, I think you start to see a lot of commonalities between the Lucy Cavendish collaborative decks with Jasmine Beckett-Grifith and the truth is that you only truly need one of those decks. This became very apparent after having those three together. This is my opinion of course and I am sure there are others who would disagree. One thing that I also really liked about Les Vampires is that I felt that her meanings were very general enough that it did not matter what your spiritual or non-spiritual beliefs are. With her other decks I felt that if you do not come from a Wiccan background or are in high school (which I am not in either) it is going to be hard to connect to her decks. Again this is how I feel and I am sure others would disagree.

This has also happened to me with other oracle decks. I have had a lot of oracle decks come and go from my life. So far the only oracle decks I have kept that are NOT Playing cards or I-ching:

• The Psychic Tarot Oracle Cards (shoutout to Glass Owl for suggesting this awesome deck)
• The Answer is Simple by Sonia Choquette
• Les Vampires by Lucy Cavindesh.

After so many disappointments with oracle decks I am now VERY picky with what I choose to buy. That means searching the internet for reviews, going to new age stores and looking at deck reviews on youtube that show all the cards in order for me to make a decision. I also search up excerpts of the guidebook in order to see if the meanings resonate with me or if they can easily be tweaked without completely losing what the original author was trying to portray with the cards. The only deck that I have an urge to buy right now is the Gospel of Aradia which is supposed to come out in either May or June. It is a blue angel publishing oracle deck. I have been having A LOT of synchronicities with Aradia and witches in general. I saw the few images and connected deeply with the artwork. However, I will definitely be looking at reviews before any purchases are done.

EDIT: I just noticed that this is an old thread. Whoops! Sorry about that. I saw this thread and the urge to write a reply was strong.