You do not need to purchase an oracle deck.
You can create one.
In fact, creating your own oracle can become a powerful magical exercise because the symbols are chosen by you and given meaning through your own practice.
Your deck can contain twenty cards.
Thirty-six.
Forty-four.
Sixty-four.
There is no sacred number you must obey unless you are deliberately recreating an established system.
Decide What Your Oracle Is For
Before making the cards, decide what kind of oracle you are creating.
Perhaps it is:
- A Spirit Communication Oracle
- A Shadow Work Oracle
- A Dream Oracle
- A Witchcraft Oracle
- An Elemental Oracle
- A Relationship Oracle
- A General Divination Oracle
The purpose determines the symbols.
Choose Your Symbols
Write a list.
For example:
- Candle
- Key
- Moon
- Crow
- Snake
- Door
- Thorn
- Rose
- Skull
- Mirror
- Forest
- Ocean
- Crown
- Sword
- Tower
- Star
- Chain
- Eye
- Raven
- Path
Do not simply copy the meanings from another deck.
Ask yourself what each symbol means to you.
A key might mean opportunity.
Or knowledge.
Or secrecy.
Or access.
Or initiation.
Write a short meaning for every card.
Then add a 'shadow' or contrary meaning.
For example:
THE KEY
Opening • Access • Solution • Knowledge
Shadow: Missed opportunity • Locked door • Information withheld
Create the Cards
You can:
- draw them by hand
- paint them
- splatter them
- use embroidery
- sew pieces on
- fold or cut out parts
- collage images
- use stickers
- add dried and pressed flowers or herbs
- print digital artwork
- use photographs
- create sigils
- combine words and symbols
- use entirely abstract designs
Number the cards if you wish.
Give each card a title.
Then create a small guidebook containing the meanings.
Consecrate the Deck
When the deck is complete, place it on your altar.
You may surround it with the four elements, for example:
Earth — a stone
Air — incense
Fire — candle
Water — bowl of water
Hold the deck.
State its purpose.
For example:
"These cards are now an oracle for reflection, intuition, and communication. May they reveal what is useful, conceal what is not yet mine to know, and help me distinguish desire from understanding."
You may then sleep with the deck nearby, meditate over it, or draw a card each day.
Using Your Oracle
Shuffle.
Hold the question.
Draw one card.
Then three.
Or create your own spreads.
Maybe you'd like to keep shuffling and see what falls out.
A simple spirit spread:
- What does my companion wish to discuss?
- What should I understand?
- What am I overlooking?
- What can I do?
- What develops if I follow this guidance?
Record the reading.
As you continue using the deck, your relationship with its symbols will deepen.
You may eventually discover meanings that were not present when you first created the cards.
Add them to your journal rather than immediately changing the original guidebook.
Your oracle can grow with you.
