- Serena 8 Comments

the difference between tarot and oracle cards + my favorite indie oracle decks!

the-difference-between-tarot-and-oracle-cards

One of the questions I get asked most often is the difference between tarot and oracle cards. I use both all the time, but it wasn’t always like that – in fact, when I first started reading tarot, I had 0 desire to get an oracle deck. None. I eventually caved and got one, the Connected and Free Alchemist Oracle, because it was pretty and I thought it would work well with my Wild Unknown deck. (It did!) Much to my surprise, I loved it and promptly ordered 23438195804 more. (Only a slight exaggeration.)

So what’s the difference between tarot and oracle cards? The quick and dirty version is that tarot consists of the traditional 78 cards, made up of the Major Arcana and the Minor Arcana. They’re the ones you’re most likely to see in TV and movies and stuff because they look cool and seem ~spooky~ if you don’t know anything about them. (They’re not spooky though, I am a total baby and would know.) While the meanings of each card might vary slightly from deck to deck and due to each reader’s intuition, they’re pretty consistent for the most part – for example, Death almost always means rebirth and transformation in some capacity, the Three of Swords signifies heartbreak, etc. Once you learn how to read tarot, you can pretty much pick up any deck and be able to read with it as long as you jive with the imagery.

Oracle cards, on the other hand, don’t belong to a specific system. Each deck is different and the meanings of the cards are determined by the deck’s creator. Often they’ll come with a guidebook to explain their meanings, but for the most part it’s up to you and your intuition to derive meaning from these babies. Some cards have keywords printed on them which makes things easier! I tend to prefer oracle decks that have very few words printed on them – just enough for my intuition to run with. (There are some exceptions, as you’ll see later on.)

While there are some really incredible mass-market oracle decks out there and I’ve used and loved a few of them, I’m really drawn to indie decks – I love getting to know a bit about the person behind the creation, especially if I feel like I have a lot in common with them! Because of that, most of the decks I own tend to be from independent artists. I’ve included 10 in this list that I own and love, in no particular order (and that’s not even counting the countless decks I love but haven’t bought yet! Looking at you, Awakened Soul…) These make really great gifts for the witchy folks in your life. I’d put them on my own wishlist except that, you know, I already have them…

I’ll be the first to admit that I’m a deck hoarder, so please don’t judge the fact that I have 398534098 oracle decks, okay? Also, you know I’ll always mention if a post has been sponsored or if something was sent to me fo’ free, but all of these decks were purchased with my hard-earned dollars and all opinions are my own. Just wanted to make sure we all knew that. Do you trust me?? Okay, good, here we go!

connected and free alchemist oracle

  1. The Connected and Free Alchemist Oracle: The one that started it all! Mine is the first edition but there’s a second edition out now. I love the vibe of these cards and many people note it has a similar feel to the Wild Unknown deck, so if you like that style of art this might be a good one for you! I personally find that the readings I get with this deck are much gentler than what I get with the Wild Unknown, in case you were worried about that. sacred wild oracle
  2. Sacred Wild Oracle: This deck is a newer addition to my collection but I am so, so in love. The cardstock is thick and sturdy and the deck is small enough to fit in your bag! I usually keep mine in my purse along with my Linestrider Tarot in case I need a little on-the-go guidance. Each card has a gorgeous image, a word or phrase, and a few lines of how you can connect with the message of the card. Love!animal kin oracle
  3. Animal Kin Oracle: This is the first edition, but the second edition is also lovely! I freaking love the artwork on these cards, and what’s not to love about animals? Yes please!animal spirit oracle
  4. Animal Spirit Oracle: Speaking of animal oracles, the Wild Unknown Animal Spirit oracle is amaaaazing. It comes with a super comprehensive guidebook which I LOVE (I read intuitively for the most part but am a sucker for reading the guidebook after I get my initial impression of the cards!) It’s a little pricey but so worth it – the box is gorgeous and shimmery and the cards are absolutely stunning.earthbound oracle
  5. Earthbound Oracle: This one is from the same artist that did the Wooden Tarot. It’s got gorgeous natural imagery with just a hint of creepiness in all the right places. It’s portable and also very affordable! I really love his art style, even if the Wooden Tarot is a little too creepy for me to really use :’) sacred creators oracle
  6. Sacred Creator’s Oracle: Another deck that comes with a super comprehensive guidebook! This deck is great for soulful business owners or really any creative looking to put themselves out into the world. The cards each have a message on them that you can get intuitive meaning from, but I actualy really recommend using the guidebook for this one – Chris-Anne has included SO much information about how to work with these gorgeous cards. Did I mention they’re pretty? They’re very pretty.spirit de la lune oracle
  7. Spirit de la Lune Oracle: This is the first edition of the deck – I believe the newer edition has a different box. I’m a moon lover through and through (not like it’s in the name of my blog or anything….) and this deck offers a whole new way to work with the lunar cycles! I do use this for general oracle readings, but I usually incorporate it into my moon rituals by displaying it on my makeshift moon altar. Such a lovely way to connect with Mama Moon!arcana of astrology oracle
  8. Arcana of Astrology Oracle: This stunning deck is by the artist who brought us the Antique Anatomy Tarot and the Oracle of Oddities. It’s an absolutely beautiful, highly Instagrammable, astrology-inspired deck with lovely planets and constellations on each card. And how cool are those card backs? I love it so much! mini mandala medicine cards
  9. Mini Mandala Medicine Cards: Okay, I love this little deck and I love Steph Burton! Let me say first of all that this deck is tiny and adorable. It fits in any purse (maybe even your pocket if you’re wearing man-pants that have actual pockets instead of the fake pseudo-pockets that women’s pants have. ARGH WHY WITH THE FAKE POCKETS) and each card has a lovely mandala, a name, and a one-word message on it. I really love this deck for traveling as it comes with its own little velvet bag! If little decks aren’t your thing, she also released a larger version of the deck with a guidebook. I’m tempted to pick that one up too but trying to tell myself I don’t need any more decks for a while!! crystal affirmation cards
  10. Lavish Earth Crystal Affirmation Cards: My most recent deck and one of my all-time faves! First of all, this cardstock is my dream cardstock. It’s flexible and glossy and gorgeous. Second of all, I’m very interested in vibrational medicine and would love to have a crystal healing practice one day. I could completely see these cards becoming a part of that, and would love to offer readings with it alongside the vibrational therapy! For now, though, it’s really helping me connect more with crystals and teaching me more about my faves, like Celestite above.

So those are my top 10 oracle decks! They’re seriously all to die for and I love to support creators in the community when I can, so I hope you pick one (or all of them!) up if they hit you in the decklust.

What’s your favorite oracle deck? Do you prefer tarot cards or oracle cards for your personal practice? Let me know in the comments, I’d love to hear your thoughts!

- Serena 3 Comments

witchy wishlist: july edition!

witchy wishlist: july edition!

Oh man, I’ve been getting serious about budgeting lately and let me tell you, this gal is NOT a fan. There are SO many pretty witchy things out there right now and I’m just itching to do some online shopping!! I’ve been good, though (for the most part…) and I’ve decided that if I want to buy something, I need to wait two weeks and see if it would still make my life better if I had it. So much of my spending is impulsive, and this has really helped so far! But it doesn’t help me wanting the thing in the moment, so I decided to make a little “shopping list” of the things I have my eye on right now to a) look at them some more b) share them with you and c) maybe talk about them if you’ve been wanting them too! So without further ado, these are the things that have my fingers itching to click the “add to cart” button lately…

(Just so ya know, the Amazon links are affiliate links. I’ll mark them with a little * so you know! This just means that if you buy the thing, I’ll make a small commission and you won’t pay any more than you would otherwise. That’s it!)

Did you know the Floret Oracle is available? You can find more pictures and links on my blog! ? Bloglink in bio ? #oracle

A photo posted by Chan (@limoniume) on

1. The Floret Oracle

Okay, I am so happy that Chan created an oracle deck!! She has been a HUGE inspiration to me throughout my online tarot journey and her aesthetic is just to die for. This deck is so her style and at ~$20, it’s really kind of a steal. I WILL be ordering this as soon as pay day hits, and her Tumblr is here if you want to check her out!

2. Moonology: Working with the Magic of Lunar Cycles*


 This book is basically everything I need in a book right now, tbh. I LOVE to celebrate the moon cycles but I end up falling back on the same few rituals every time. This looks like it’s full of so many new ideas and I can’t wait to check it out!!

Excited to announce the opening of the new Witch of Lupine Hollow shop – the inaugural item available is a 39 page new and full moon ritual workbook! Check it out on etsy #newmoon #fullmoonritual #newmoonritual #fullmoon #pagansofetsy #witchesofetsy #witchesofinstagram #printables #practicalmagic

A photo posted by The Witch of Lupine Hollow (@lupinehollow) on

3. New and Full Moon Workbook

Speaking of the moon, The Witch of Lupine Hollow has this 39-page workbook that’s all about working with the moon cycles and I’m dying to nab it! The summer solstice with its full moon was such a powerful celebration for me and now I can’t get enough. Using the energy of the moon to kick butt and get what you want?? Yes please. I can’t wait to see all the ways to celebrate that The Witch of Lupine Hollow has to share, because her blog is THE BOMB.

4. Divina Vol. 2*


 I’m pretty sure I’ve gushed about how dreamy the Divina journal is before, but now there’s a volume two and I NEED it in my life! For one, how gorgeous and classy is the navy cover? And for another, this one doesn’t have dates in it – perfect for people like me who journal diligently every day for a week and then forget about it for two years, whoops!! It’s a dream journal AND a divination journal, so like, basically everything I could ever want in a journal. Darla really hit it out of the park with this one. Now if only there was a pastel purple cover…

The sacred flow of abundance is a *thing*. Sometimes a sensitive thing… so the card had to be included in this magical tool for the #entrepreneurial soulful journey πŸ™‚ . . . As I am working on the guidebook for these #oraclecards I am spending a few days with each message… and this card could be a book in and of itself! I foresee online extras, creator souls! ✨#abundance #manifestation #selflove #lawofattraction #hustle . . β–½ Earth spirit, you are working within an energetic field of vast potential- A beautiful cloud of limitless joy, where your energy collapses around your observations… based on your observations… in order to match your observations. ∞ What is your current money observation? How do you feel about it, or how does it make you feel? How we perceive money affects how it flows in our lives… and sometimes we let our feelings about money box us into earning much less ? Money = energy, yes? How are the energetics of your abundant life doing? β–½ . β–½ Are you observing abundance in your everyday life? Or are you keenly aware of your scarcity as you #hustlehard to earn your abundance? β–½ β–½ Do you see the beautiful opportunities all around you? They are there, lining the edges of your life β™‘ β–½ β–½ How unshackled are your money beliefs, and are you ready to loosen them and let them go? ✨?✨ . . . . α’ͺIα‘Žk Iα‘Ž α—·IO! This card was designed with so much love, and well wishes for your prosperous, amazing life as you build your big sacred dream πŸ™‚ #tarot #spiritjunkie #tarotreadersofinstagram #loa #bosslady #bossgirl #lifecoaching #moneyflow #risingstrong#femaleentrepreneur#dreambig #makeithappen #entrepreneur #womeninbiz #solopreneur #soulpreneur#nevergiveup#success #spiritualbosslady #spiritjunkie #lightworker #sacredcreatorsoracle

A photo posted by Miz Pixie Chris-Anne (@pixiecurio) on

5. The Sacred Creators Oracle

Okay, okay, so I broke my resolution a little for this one – I have actually already committed to back this on Kickstarter. But I figured if I changed my mind I could always downgrade my pledge if I had to, so it still counts! At any rate, I HAVEN’T changed my mind – this oracle deck is perfect for soulful creatives and creators and I am IN LOVE with the colors/messages/literally everything about it. It’s so close to being funded, so if you want a little guidance in your heart-centered business pursuits, go and snag it while you can!

Have you seen these pretty things floating around the Internet, too? What’s been on your wishlist lately? β™₯

- Serena Leave a comment

etsy vs. storenvy: where to sell your tarot readings

etsy vs. storenvy: where to sell your tarot readings

One of the most intimidating parts about beginning to sell your tarot readings online can be deciding where – and how – to sell them. There are plenty of online marketplace websites, but I think most people would agree that the two that come to mind right away would be Etsy and Storenvy. I read a lot of reviews of both websites before I set up my online shop for the first time, but none of those reviews were really geared towards tarot readings and I find that the answer of “which is better?” sort of varies depending on what you’re selling. I ended up with both an Etsy and a Storenvy and after using both for a while, I’ve broken down the pros and cons of each platform so you can decide what’s best for you!

Etsy

Etsy is probably the biggest marketplace website out there. It’s a great place to find all kinds of products, mostly handmade items but with a lot of digital offerings, as well.

Pros: Etsy looks professional. People have heard of it, so it looks good on a business card and gives your shop credibility. There are limited customization options, which automatically gives your shop a clean look and makes this an accessible platform for the aesthetically challenged or those who don’t want to bother making a layout for it. They also recently added a category for tarot readings (you find it under Home and Living > Spirituality and Religion > Tarot Readings and Divinations.)

Cons: First of all, there’s a listing fee of .20 cents for each item you list, and you have to renew that fee every six months or so. While this isn’t that steep, it can be intimidating to shell out money when you aren’t making a profit yet. Secondly, Etsy takes a 3.5% cut of everything you sell. Third, I found that it actually wasn’t that easy to set up and customize my shop (with the limited options available) – the fields you need to fill out are sort of scattered over different pages and it took me a while to be able to find my way around. There was also an issue a while back with Etsy removing stores that sold tarot readings or spells and didn’t have a disclaimer saying it was for entertainment purposes only, so you have to be careful that you’re not guaranteeing any kind of outcome of your readings. Finally, because it’s so big, it’s not very likely that someone will stumble on your shop – any clients you find will probably have had to have been directed there from your website.

Storenvy

Storenvy is actually the platform I decided to go with initially. It’s less handmade-focused than Etsy – there are a lot of little trinkets and items for sale that people probably bought wholesale to sell individually. Because of that, you can find a lot of cool and weird stuff on there, and if tarot readings aren’t cool and weird then what is?

Pros: It’s free to list items, so you can get all your stuff out there and not worry about paying anything unless you make a sale (more on that in the Cons section.) You can really customize the way your store looks on Storenvy and it’s not very difficult to figure out how. I think this is important for tarot readers because all of us are so different – the look of your online space goes a long way towards showing a potential client what kind of reader you are, and might be the thing that sells them on choosing you as their reader. Also, they offer this thing you can opt in to called the Marketplace, which basically makes it easier for people to find your stuff and also lets you participate in some seasonal promotions, like for Black Friday, without you having to come up with it yourself.

Cons: There is a 2.9% + $.30 fee from either PayPal or Stripe, whichever you choose, to process payments. This is cheaper than Etsy and probably unavoidable no matter where you sell, but just thought I’d throw it out there. Also, if the sale was facilitated through the Marketplace, Storenvy takes a 10% cut. If you’re not good with HTML, the customization option might hurt you rather than help – you definitely don’t want your shop to look unprofessional. Finally, you have to pay $9 a month to offer coupons and discount codes – that’s steep when you’re just trying to get started! Every time I’ve wanted to do a promotion I’ve had to manually change the cost of all the items in my store, and it means I can’t offer a coupon code to my newsletter subscribers like I do with Etsy.

So those are my thoughts! If you’re just starting out and aren’t sure you want to make any kind of financial investment just yet, I would recommend that you go with Storenvy. It’s fun and free and a good place to learn the ropes of online selling. The fact that it’s free is what pushed me over the edge and I’m glad I started out on there! I do think that you should eventually consider going with Etsy though – it looks professional and many people have heard of it and use it, so that’s more exposure for you!

Do you have any questions about selling on either platform? Which site would (or did) you decide to go with?

- Serena Leave a comment

valentine’s day: gifts for your witch (or yourself!)

valentine's day: gifts for your witch (or yourself!)

It’s almost Valentine’s Day, and if you’re like me you probably put off your gift shopping until the last minute! If your significant other is a little on the witchy side, I’ve got your back – as a certified person-who-likes-things, today I’m here to share some gift ideas just for you! All of them have links to where you can buy them, but of course feel free to just use them as inspiration, as well!

And if you’re going to be single on V-day? Treat yo’ self! Seriously, there’s no better time to show yourself some self-love. Last year I was single and had the most lovely pampering day all to myself, and let me tell you, it’s hard to be sad about your single status when you’re drinking wine in a relaxing bubble bath. But anyway, back to the gift ideas!

1. Crystals

Let’s be honest, witches love crystals!! Rose quartz is the obvious one for love, and a little heart-shaped palm stone would be a really cute way to show you care. But if rose quartz isn’t their jam, some other stones that often are associated with love are aventurine, rhodonite, and rhodochrosite.

2. Candles

I’ve been admiring the candles from this Etsy shop for over a year now. There are some darker, more traditionally witchy ones if pastel isn’t your jam, but it’s MY jam, sooo.

3. Bath products

How CUTE is this bath bomb?! It looks just like a cupcake!! I think you really can’t go wrong with giving bath products as gifts (unless your significant other doesn’t have a bath tub, in which case, some cute handmade soap would do just as well!)

4. Beauty products

Once I wander in to the beauty section of Etsy, it’s game over. This stuff makes your skin all shimmery, like the goddess (or god, or general ethereal being) they are inside!

5. Jewelry

You know I had to include the most basic V-day gift idea (next to chocolate and flowers, that is!) Raw crystal jewelry is pretty, unique, and – luckily – costs WAY less than going to Jared’s or whatever. Plus, even if they have one rose quartz necklace already, no two are alike! β™₯

A photo posted by ?Black and the Moon? (@blackandthemoon) on

6. A new deck

If you know your significant other is into tarot and oracle cards, surprise them with a new deck! This one by Black and the Moon is #1 on my wishlist right now – the Arcana of Astrology. Isn’t it pretty?! Don’t worry, the cards aren’t all pink!

And remember, if you’re low on funds or just plain uninspired, the best thing you can do for your significant other is make a beautiful memory. Bake something together, or make them something handmade – candles are super easy with materials from the craft store!

Are you doing anything fun for Valentine’s Day?