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Sabio Tarot · Decks and systems

By Sabio Tarot

Tarot cards and oracle cards: how to tell them apart when buying a deck

A box of 44 images bearing messages such as “rest”, “change” or “protection” may be an interesting tool for reflection. If it has neither four suits nor a sequence of trumps, however, a guide to the 78 tarot cards probably will not help you find its cards. The most useful distinction when buying is not a ranking of worth: it is whether the deck's structure, your book and your practice fit together.

The usual historical tarot structure comprises 56 cards in four suits, 21 trumps and the Fool, according to the Metropolitan Museum of Art. The V&A describes the modern formulation of 22 Major and 56 Minor Arcana. In today's market, “oracle” is used for decks whose creators choose other card counts, categories and methods. There is no single universal template for an oracle deck.

Check the structure

Before studying the illustrations, look for a complete card list on the box or in the booklet. Are there Cups, Swords, Wands and Pentacles—or declared equivalents? Does each suit have ten numbered cards and four court cards? Are the 21 trumps and the Fool present? If the correspondences are explicit, it may be a reimagined tarot deck even if its names or appearance have changed.

If instead it offers its own categories—seasons, plants or messages, for example—and does not claim to preserve that structure, it is clearer to treat it as an oracle deck. A count of 78 alone does not prove tarot structure: someone could design 78 cards around another system. And a deck containing only the 22 Major Arcana may be a deliberate extract from tarot without being a “complete tarot deck”.

How you learn each type

With tarot, a general book can teach you relationships among suits, numbers, court cards and Major Arcana. You still need to look closely at your own edition, but you share a map with many other decks. With an oracle deck, the creator's guide may matter more because its categories, sequence and meanings belong to that particular product.

That does not make oracle cards “easier” by definition. A 40-card deck may be complex if each card requires knowledge of its own tradition. An illustrated 78-card tarot can be accessible if its imagery offers clear clues. Difficulty depends on the method, the quality of the guide and your aim.

Two buying decisions that prevent frustration

First, decide what you want to practise. If you want to study Major and Minor Arcana, suits and card combinations with tarot books, look for a deck that preserves clear correspondences. If you want journal prompts or themed images with original categories, an oracle deck may suit you better.

Second, look inside a sample of its guide. Does it explain how to ask a question, lay out cards and relate two images? Does it define its categories? An attractive box with a booklet that merely lists keywords may be insufficient for learning either practice.

Imagine buying a plant oracle deck to use with your journal. You draw a card called “Root”. A book explaining tarot's Five of Pentacles will not tell you what that artist intended with “Root”. You can make a personal association between them, but they are not the same card under different names.

Hybrids and marketing names

Some editions combine traditional suits with extra cards; others call a deck “oracle tarot” while keeping 78 corresponding places and changing the scenes. Read the contents list before classifying it. If you can trace all 78 correspondences, a tarot book may help with some adjustments. If you cannot, begin with the guide to that particular edition.

History also calls for care: the Met documents variation among early decks. The familiar structure is not a metaphysical boundary that invalidates every experiment. For a buyer, though, it is a practical convention that helps identify compatible study resources.

If in doubt, photograph the card list on the box for your notes and compare it with the contents page of the book you want to use. You need not settle a debate over terminology; you need both lists to refer to the same deck. Continue with how to choose a first tarot deck and the full tarot deck or Major Arcana only.

The card count can mislead

It is possible to make an oracle deck of 78 images without suits or trumps and market it as “tarot”. It is also possible to sell a set of 22 Major Arcana that really does correspond to a recognisable part of tarot. The number alone therefore does not settle the practical classification. What you need to know is the architecture connecting the cards.

Make a table with four questions about any box: how many groups does it name, what are they called, do they have an internal order, and does the booklet explain how two cards relate? If it answers in its own categories, you will need to learn its system. If it retains tarot's positions, you can turn to general books while still checking the illustrations. If it explains nothing, do not assume its marketing label supplies a method.

An “animal tarot” offers a useful example. It may replace the Emperor with an animal figure and rename Cups while preserving exact correspondences. In that case, a classic manual teaches the structure, but the purpose behind each visual choice belongs to that edition's creator. Another animal deck may be organised by habitats and seasons without any connection to 22 + 56; there, talk of “the Five of Cups” has no matching card. A theme does not determine a structure.

What to ask before recommending a deck

“Is it tarot or oracle?” may be too abstract for someone trying to learn. Try “Do you want to follow a book about the 78 tarot cards?” and “Would you rather study a visual system made specifically for this box?” Someone may want both at different times. Recommending an oracle deck to a person who wants to work through a Marseille manual will frustrate them; recommending 78 cards because they are supposedly “more serious” also ignores their aim.

Before a spread, decide whether you will use each deck separately or give them different positions within one exercise. If you combine systems, explain each one's role in advance. An oracle card with a printed phrase may help you frame a final question, while three tarot cards let you examine relationships between suits and positions. Do not claim that using both decks together makes them more predictive.

The history of tarot documented by the Met and the V&A helps identify inherited structures and their changes. It does not make “oracle” an inferior category. It is a broad term for designs whose logic is learned from each edition. An open card list and guide will usually resolve a buying decision better than a debate over names.

Sources consulted