I get this question a lot when I do my readings. It can be a little confusing because they’re both types of cards are used for divination and readers, myself included, will often use them together. The simple answer is that all Tarot decks will have the same 78 cards, regardless of what kind of Tarot deck it is, and all oracle decks will have different cards. Some Tarot decks will change the names of cards slightly or will add 2 extra cards since there would be 2 left over cards anyway through the way they print cards in sheets.

Tarot Decks

Tarot decks are made of a system including 22 major arcanas and 56 minor arcana divided into 4 suites: wands, swords, cups, and pentacles. These 4 minor arcana suites represent the 4 different elements in the western occult system (the eastern system uses 5 base elements) Wands=Fire. Swords= Air. Cups=Water. Pentacles=Earth. You will sometimes see different decks change the names of the suites (calling pentacles '“coins” is a common one), but they still represent the same elements. Some decks will even just do away with suit names entirely and just say “8 of fire” or “2 of water” instead. The major arcana cards will have the same named cards assigned to a number that always follow a particular order. The numbers start at 0 with The Fool and end on 21, the World. Some decks will switch the order of 8, Strength, and 11, Justice, but that is uncommon. Some decks will change the names of cards to fit with their theme better, but they will still have the same meaning depending on what number they are. The cards all represent different parts of the Kabbalah, or Tree of Life. The minor arcanas 1-10 represent the 10 different nodes, called Sephirot, on the Tree of Life, and the major arcana cards represent the different pathways that connect those Sephirot. The court cards: page, knight, queen, and king represent the different tiers of Sephirot you pass through as you move through the Kabbalah. *Note: I am working on a blog post on the Kabbalah and will link here when finished

There are 2 main styles of Tarot decks that differ in how they depict the minor arcana. The original version of the deck only had full artwork for the major arcana and had ‘pips’ for the minor arcana, a picture of 3 swords, 5 wands, or 10 cups with nothing else. The other style is based on the Smith-Waite deck (also called the Rider-Waite Smith or RWS deck. Click here for a blog post about why I prefer to call it the Smith-Waite deck). The Smith-Waite style has artwork for all the cards that have scenes depicting what the cards represent.

Oracle Decks

Every Oracle deck is different. Unlike Tarot, which is based on a set system, the Kabbalah, Oracle decks are created based on whatever intent the author has. Oracle deck can have any number of cards and will usually be based on specific themes, like numerology, a specific deity, different symbols, etc. You could even make a simple “yes”, “no” oracle deck out of those 2 blank cards that sometimes come in decks. Oracle decks are nice to work with because they zoom in on specific areas of life whereas Tarot is more about “the big picture.” You can use oracle cards by themselves or in conjunction with Tarot cards. Both are equally valid forms of divination. Some people find oracle cards easier to learn since they will often have their meaning printed right on the card, so they don’t have to refer to a book as much when learning and can begin tapping into their intuition with less interruption. I like to use oracle cards as clarifying cards and as a final note to end sections of readings on. They will usually sum up or elaborate on a point that was already made during the reading, which is always so cool to me when it happens. Since each deck is different, you can use them for specialized purposes in larger readings to really maximize the amount of information you have access to in a reading ( I like to use this deck for personality types a lot since it has so many different cards to pull from). They can offer a lot of variety and versatility in a reading.

Thank you so much for reading! Leave me a <3 in the comments if you see this and let me know, what’s your all-time favorite deck?