Using both Tarot and an Oracle in a spread

HearthCricket

I am hoping Mercenary, and others, will be able to help me with this. I have been reading Tarot for 30 years, now, but would like to start using an Oracle deck as a "clarifier", as Mercenary has done in the past. Does anyone else do this? Any advice? I just received my Madame Endora's Fortune Cards to use with many of my decks-I just love it. What would the procedure be for reading for myself and for others? Just shuffle and pick? Lay it out at what point in my tarot spread? And where? For example, would it be worth using in a celtic cross, or is that pretty definitive on its own? Is it better for a shorter spread? Any particular spread? Thanks! :)
 

Elven

Hi HearthCricket :)

I think using Tarot and Oracle together well really well. Finding a pair of decks (1 Tarot and 1 Oracle) which blend nicely and speak to you is an amazing reading and intuitive experience.

The Oracle can add to the meaning of just one tarot card or it can inhance certain aspects of the entire reading. They can be used as the cautionary side of the reading or the illumination card, the clarifier ot the signifier. They dont really have to have a specific placement if you dont feel its necesary. Their scope of illumination is very wide - and they can sometimes point very specifically to Symbols in that are in the Tarot cards.

It might help starting with asking a question then drawing a tarot card and then drawing an Oracle card - then compare them and intuitively blend them to do the reading. They (IMHO) always compliment each other - or have a comentary on the same issue which combine nicely to give one overall answer - not so much two seperate answers.

Its good to try them the other way around too. Use the Oracle as the basis of the reading and then draw a Tarot card to expand on the Oracle reading.
You dont need to use the same amount of Tarot cards as Oracle cards either.

I find I like to use the placements of a tarot spread sometimes to do an Oracle reading, or use a favourite Tarot based spread to lay out the Oracles.

How ever you feel is the most comfortable way for your Tarot and Oracle to relate to you is the right way. There are some threads in the Oracle section which might help and there is a Soul Gathering Exchange reading thread every week where you can try out your new cards and do exchange readings with other Oracle readers! :)

Hope this helps!

Have lots of fun
Many Blessings
Elven x
 

mercenary30

I have mostly explored with a one for one reading with tarot and oracles. The most positions I have ever done that for is 12, because there are 24 cards that need to be read, and that makes for a lot of typing.

I usually pick which is my primary and which is my clarifier before I begin the reading. A few times I have made the oracle the primary and the whole reading still works out very well, and like Elven said they almost always work together for understanding.

I tend to talk a bit about the primary card then the clarifier before I put them in combination, mostly because many people who are familiar to the tarot meaning may not be so familiar with the oracle, and it give a bit of base information for them to consider.

When I am putting the deck combo together, I usually stick with themes that are similar. For example, there are two Tarot/Oracle combinations that are gimmies... Vargo Gothic with Madame Endora's Fortune Cards and DruidCraft with the Druid Animal Oracle. I also have the Cartouche Cards oracle and I own like 5 or 6 Egyptian decks, so I can pair that one up with any of those.

I really enjoy doing readings this way though.
 

Moonbow

I've used Thoth and Lenormand before... an interesting combination.

I only did this with one card of each but it was interesting because even though they are completely different, they complimented each other well. The Lenormand softened the Thoth card. You may find my posts somewhere in the 'Daily Thoth' thread (it's a long thread!)

I suggest just to experiment and see what happens.
 

HearthCricket

Thank you for the input. I thought, for now, to use it as a clarifier, and see how things go, and then flip it and try the other way, after using it a bit. I can see it would pair up well with several of my decks, including the Fantastical, the Gilded, and my Victoria Regina. Mercenary- I loved your readings using both and it has greatly inspired me to finally try out oracles. I am actually very excited about this!
 

lunakasha

I recently tried a new spread using the Thoth and Madame Endora Cards, but they were weighted equally and read in pairs throughout the spread (as opposed to using one to clarify the other).

I had two "crosses" in the center, one for each deck, and then four "pairs" (Thoth/ME) arranged N, S, E and W of the crosses. It was a very interesting reading, and the cards complemented each other very well: visually, the cards look great together, and both decks are influenced by Egyptian culture, which makes them *flow* together nicely.

:) Luna
 

sprite

i tried this not to long ago and really liked it. i was doing the summer spread, for the first time, great spread by the way, and decided to try a clarifer. i used the gothic deck then the madame endura cards as the clarifier. i read the spread question then the card and thought of a question from that and used the oracle to give me insight on the question. i enjoyed it and it just seemed to dig a little deeper.
 

Cerulean

I could see how Madame Endora and Gilded/Dreams would do well

...also photorealistic beauties such as Prague and Bohemian Cats might also add whimsey.

Right now, I've been using Animals Divine with some soft-focus decks...the Well Worn Path added more human dimensions and felt good with it.

Maybe a thread on good 'blender' decks might be fun, as it seems mixed deck readings are a lovely way to expand the use of tools we like.

Regards,

Cerulean
 

lunakasha

Cerulean said:
...also photorealistic beauties such as Prague and Bohemian Cats might also add whimsey.

Right now, I've been using Animals Divine with some soft-focus decks...the Well Worn Path added more human dimensions and felt good with it.

Maybe a thread on good 'blender' decks might be fun, as it seems mixed deck readings are a lovely way to expand the use of tools we like.

Regards,

Cerulean

YES....excellent idea Cerulean!!!

I love using more than one deck in a reading....it would be fun to hear how people are using them, and which decks work well together.

:) Luna

PS: I am a little jealous that you've got the Animals Devine and Well Worn Path decks already, LOL! And I would love to try a "blended" reading with the Gilded and Tarot of Dreams, as soon as I get mine....:)
 

Rogan

Check out the Acumen Spread in the spreads index... It combines two decks, one full tarot deck, and another deck of majors to clarify the situation... Im sure you could replace the majors deck with your oracle deck to get the same results... The spread works brilliantly with me...

Rogan.