How To Use Oracle Cards For The First Time

Oracle cards are a great tool for connecting with your intuition and receiving guidance from spirit. While you may use them to see where your energy is and where it is going, you can always change your energy and therefore change your future.

Think of your oracle cards as going to talk to a trusted friend or advisor. They are a tool to help you but ultimately it is up to you what you do with the information.

If you are looking to work with your own intuition, higher self, and spirit guides and wondering how to use oracle cards, then this article is for you!

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How Do Oracle Cards Work?

To very quickly answer this, they tell you where your energy is via the law of attraction.

It’s impossible to do an oracle card reading wrong because, via the law of attraction, you will always see where your energy is and therefore where you are going. It can’t be any other way. It is a universal law.

For a more detailed explanation, check out my article, “How Oracle Cards Work & 5 Reasons You Should Try Them.”

Oracle cards connect with your own energy and bring you a reflection of yourself.  Think of it like a mirror, they are showing you what is inside of you and ultimately what you are attracting into your life.

When you work with spirit and your higher self to do oracle cards, they help to provide you with clarity to interpret the cards through your intuition. 

How to Choose Your First Oracle Card Deck

When choosing an oracle card deck, you want to pick one that you are drawn to and that feels good to you. When you look at it, how does the energy feel to you? Be sure to look at the pictures and words on the cards.

Another important thing to consider when choosing your first oracle card deck, is how easy is it to understand?

If you are a beginner, you want to be sure that the words aren’t too complicated. You want to be able to use your intuition and not refer to the guidebook for every card.

Choose a deck that has words that are easy for you to understand and that use language similar to yours.

My absolute favorite oracle card deck is Energy Oracle Cards by Sandra Anne Taylor. You can find them at Amazon HERE. They are beautiful and so easy to use. They have a very flowing energy, and the words are simple are easy to understand.

How to Use Oracle Cards

1. Center Yourself

The first thing you want to do is to center yourself and your energy. This can be as simple as closing your eyes and taking a couple of deep breaths.

Or maybe you like to meditate before connecting with spirit. Going outside for a couple of minutes before you do a reading is also another great thing to do.

However you center yourself is great. Do what feels good to you. It doesn’t have to take much time or be anything too complex.

2. Connect with Your Higher Self & Spirit Guides

Next, take a moment to connect with yourself and your spirit guides.

Take a deep breath and ask your higher self and spirit guides to assist you with your reading.

Ask for only love and light to be present during your reading and that you get the most accurate reading for your highest good.

3. Choose a Deck That You Are Drawn To

You want to pick a deck you are drawn to because you will receive the most accurate messages this way. Your intuition knows which deck will be the most valuable to you for the questions you have in mind.

Don’t think about it too much. Your first instinct of which deck to use is your intuition saying, “Choose this one.”

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4. Ask A Question

There are many different types of oracle card spreads you can do, but when learning how to use oracle cards for the first time, it is best to start with one question. You want this question to be specific. The more specific you can get, the easier it is for your angels to deliver messages to you.

You want to make sure it’s one question such as, “what will be the outcome if I take this new job?”

If you ask more than one question, the message can be confusing to read. For example, if you say, “should I stay at my old job or should I take this new job?” Those are two different questions and should be asked separately.

Once you get more experience with oracle cards then go ahead and ask more complex things, but in the beginning, I recommend just asking one question at a time.

5. Shuffle the Cards

Shuffle the cards and stop when your intuition tells you to. This is your angels, spirit guides, and higher self nudging you to stop now. It will be a very subtle “stop.” It won’t be loud or obvious. It is an internal feeling.

You may also notice that cards fly out of the deck. Pay attention to these cards as these are important messages.

6. Lay the Cards Down

Lay out the cards from left to right, depending on the oracle card spread you are doing. Generally, the left means the past, then the present, then the near future, etc.

You can begin laying out the cards from the top of the deck or cut the deck in half and lay out those cards, or only lay out the cards that flew out of the deck.

Listen to your intuition. The important thing is to be consistent each time you do an oracle card spread for yourself or someone else.

7. Check in with Your Intuition

Your intuition is going to be the strongest way you get messages when doing oracle cards. Notice what your first thought is when seeing each card. This is the strongest message for you.

Even if the card has a different meaning when you look it up later in the guidebook, your intuition is what is the most important.

How do you know what your intuition is saying?

• How do you feel upon first looking at the card?
• Is your body having any sensations? For example, hot, cold, excited, knots, tastes, or smells.
• What is the first thought that pops into your head?
• What images feel right and like a message for you?
• Do you notice any visions popping into your mind?

Your intuition communicates with you in many different ways and is often very subtle.

8. Look at the Images

When understanding how to use oracle cards, it’s important to look at the images on the deck. Whatever stands out is a message for you.

You are noticing it because your intuition is picking up on it. You wouldn’t notice it if it wasn’t in your energy and not a message.

Before you go to the guidebook, spend some time looking at the card without using your brain to interpret it.

What is standing out to you?

How does it feel?

What sensations are you receiving from this card?

9. Use the Guidebook for More Clarity

Always check in with your intuition first but come to the guidebook for more clarity. Some oracle cards are easier to interpret than others and some are made with beginners in mind.

The guidebook is made to offer different perspectives that you may not think of. Notice what resonates when you read the messages from the guidebook as that is a message for you.

10. Add a Different Deck (For More Clarity) Or Pull More Cards

If you feel like you are still confused after doing your oracle card spread and looking for more guidance, you can ask for more clarity. Be specific and deep deeper into your question.

You can also use a different deck that you have and combine it with the first deck to get more options and therefore more clarity in your answers.

Each deck is different and the more you do your cards, you will get to know which deck has which types of cards in it. Trying a new deck can help you to fit the pieces together.

How to Do Oracle Cards for the First Time: What NOT to Do

• Try to Force the Outcome

I’ve done this many times and learned that it is not the proper way to get guidance from the universe. If you try to force certain cards, then you won’t receive the guidance that you truly need at that moment.

The guidance is there to help you get what you want and if you are trying to force certain cards to come out that you want, then you are missing the whole point of doing them! Like I said, trust me, I’ve been there!

Also, you will have a rigid energy when shuffling and reading the cards and it will be harder for you to receive the intuitive messages that are coming through.

It’s best to go in with no expectations and be open to receiving the guidance you received. Even if this guidance is a bit painful, it is ultimately there to help you move in the direction you want. Ignoring it or throwing it away will not help you get closer to your goals, only further away from them.

• Ask the Same Question Over & Over Again

When you ask the same question over and over again hoping to get a different outcome, then you are trying to force an outcome. You won’t receive the messages as clearly because you are resistant to receiving the messages you are getting.

It also shows that you don’t trust the guidance you are receiving, and spirit might not like it if you keep trying to force a new answer.

You can however ask for more clarity, ask using a different deck or ask in a different way to get a different perspective. But when you ask with the same deck and the same question it messes with the original message.

I know this because I’ve done it! I so badly wanted a certain outcome but no matter how many times I asked I never got the outcome I wanted, and it only left me frustrated and not open to what messages I did receive.

• Take the Messages as Set in Stone

Everything is fluid and ultimately you have the power over your own life. So, if you see something in your oracle card spread, you don’t have to take it as it’s absolutely going to happen. It’s only showing you where your energy is currently. You can change it anytime.

So, take each message as something that is fluid and changeable, depending on you and what you do with it.

Final Thoughts – How to Use Oracle Cards

Oracle cards are a great way to understand what is happening in your life right now and where your current energy is leading you.

When looking at how to do oracle cards for the first time, the most important thing is to be relaxed and tune into your intuition. It is easier to get messages when you are relaxed.

The more you do oracle cards, the better you will get at interpreting the messages. Have fun with it and be open to the messages you receive. They might be different than you expect, but exactly what you need at that moment.

~Meghan