There are a lot of people who would consider oracle cards as woo-woo. In fact, when you search what oracle cards are, the top sites would mention that it is “a divination tool”.
I hope you got here because you wanted to see other ways of using oracle cards beyond divination. Here, I’ll talk about how you can use oracle cards for mindfulness and healing.
When I use oracle cards, it’s more about helping my clients get clarity on the topic that they are asking about. Sometimes there’s less divining and more therapeutic dialogue. What matters is my clients get a sense of where they are, what they want, and have options they can look into at the end of the session.
When I use oracle cards in my daily life, my intentions would be in grounding my psyche, caring for the state of my mind-body-spirit, and improving my awareness and intuitive gifts.
That may seem abstract because it's within the big umbrella of mindfulness and healing. So in the list below, I’m making it more concrete. I’m going to share with you 5 ways I use oracle cards for mindfulness and healing and give you tips on how you can do it, too!
5 Ways to Use Oracle Cards for Mindfulness & Healing
Set Daily Affirmations
An affirmation is a statement or a phrase that is sometimes declared as a promise, a goal, or a reminder to oneself. It’s a positive statement that's empowering, grounding, and keeps you mentally and emotionally balanced.
When using Oracle Cards to set daily affirmations, you can choose decks that have words, phrases, or passages on them.
If you’re starting out with both Oracle Cards and setting your own affirmations, choose decks with phrases or passages on them like The Universe Has Your Back or the Soul’s Journey Lesson Cards. These are great decks that already have affirmation type themes.
If you’re already familiar with affirmations, you can choose Oracle Cards with 1 to 3 words on them. This way, you can use the deck to help you craft an affirmation around whatever is written on the card you drew for that day. Most of the time, these decks will have beautiful imagery symbolic of the words written on them. Some are even infused with healing energy. For such decks, you can try out the Spellcasting Oracle Cards and Inklings Meditation Deck.
How to use Oracle Cards to Set Daily Affirmations
Each morning before you begin your day, take 5 minutes to pause.
Have your Oracle Deck out in front of you.
Take 3 full breaths, eyes closed would be preferred.
When you open your eyes, shuffle your deck with the intention of setting your affirmation for the day.
Pick a card and look at the message as well as the image.
If you like to craft your own affirmation, reflect on the card that you got and create one.
Otherwise, you can use the message on the oracle card as your own affirmation. If it’s a one-word type of deck then this can be your format: “Just for today, I am [word from your Oracle Card].”
Say your affirmation 3 times and then go about your day.
Throughout the day, whenever you take a pause or a break, say your affirmation out loud or loudly in your head.
And at the end of the day, you can reflect on how this affirmation impacted your day. You can journal about it. And then before you sleep, say a few word of gratitude, and say your affirmation 3 times for the final time today.
Help focus your Intention
An intention is more than just what’s in your mind or what you intend to do.
It also goes deeper than an affirmation. It’s the desire behind the affirmation encapsulated in a word, a thought, or a feeling.
It’s this intention that actually makes your dreams come true faster. And make your goals manifest quicker.
When you have a clear and focused intention, distractions die down and the actions you need to take not only become clearer but are no longer limited by what you expect them to be.
In mindfulness practice, intention setting is important because it will ground your energy and keep you aligned with your life purpose every day of your life.
Having a clear intention will also keep you from getting attached to the results. This will help you navigate through “life’s struggles” better.
Intentions can be a phrase or a word. Personally, I like my intentions to be single-worded. I pick values that I’d like to cultivate within myself like strength, compassion, or patience. If you want your intentions to also be value-centered, identify ones that are aligned with your purpose or ones you know will help you achieve what you want to achieve.
When I work with my clients, I help them craft their intentions by completing this statement: “My intention for today is _____________.” Or “My intention for this activity is _____________.”
Oracle Cards then can be a great help to focus your intention and drive your purpose. They serve as your reminder and your anchor, especially when things get extra unpredictable.
I recommend picking a deck with cards that have a ONE WORD message on them. If it has extra messages below the keyword or has beautiful imagery to help you remember, then it would be helpful, too.
You can try the Spellcasting Oracle Cards, the Wild Offering Oracle, the Soul’s Journey Lesson Cards, and Inklings Meditation Deck for starters. These are beautiful Oracle Decks that are value-centered.
How to Use Oracle Cards to focus your intention
When it comes to focusing intentions, I find that it’s better to practice it weekly and at the start of the week.
Each week, take around 15 minutes of undisturbed time.
Have a JOURNAL close by for your notes and your PLANNER where you set your goals and write down your tasks for the week.
Sit quietly for a minute and think about your intention and feel the emotions that come with it. Write these emotions/feelings down.
Now look at what you need to do for the week. While doing so, be aware of how your mind and body are reacting to the list of “tasks”. Pay attention to your emotion and write them down.
See if there are any dissonant emotions that came up. These are usually the ones that do not align with your intention and, therefore, your purpose. These are the ones that will usually get you stuck, delaying whatever it is you’re manifesting.
Have your Oracle Deck out in front of you.
Take 3 full breaths, eyes closed would be preferred.
When you open your eyes, shuffle your deck with the intention of grounding your intention.
Pick a card and look at the word and the image. Reflect on it and let the word and image be ingrained in your mind.
Take a picture of the card for good measure, too.
If you still have time, meditate on the card for 5-10 minutes so that you’ll be resonating at its frequency, too.
This serves to symbolize your intention and not only helps to focus it but also to deflect or easily release any of the dissonant emotions if ever they come up during the week.
Change your Current State of Mind
Sometimes, life can be too loud and demanding for anyone to really start living. I’m sure you also have a lot on your plate. When things get stressful, everything just piles up and it’s easy to spiral into rage, anxiety, fear, and all that. Worse, you can just as easily snap at your loved ones when you don’t mean to.
Having an Oracle deck close by can be your safe haven. Just having yourself focus on something else, something uplifting, can help change your current state of mind.
Wonderful decks to have in this exercise would be the Soul’s Journey Lesson Cards, the Wild Offering Oracle, Moonology Oracle Cards, and Believe in Your Own Magic. These have keywords + messages for you PLUS lovely images to go with the words.
You can also go with the Sacred Rebels Oracle, Oracle of the 7 Energies, and the Mystical Shaman Oracle Card Deck if you like the less straight to the point messages.
Take note, though, it doesn’t mean that you’re already in positive spirits after drawing a card, but doing so will help arrest the impending downward spiral. So your Oracle deck would be useful for that.
Using Oracle Cards for this purpose is similar to those exercises where you count to 10 before acting on an explosive emotion like anger. But if you’re not the counting type and you’re more visual and tactile, then you Oracle deck is your best friend for this.
This works when you have an Oracle deck that’s within reach. As long as you don’t have to walk or drive for more than 5 minutes just to get to it, then this activity will work for you.
Another thing. sometimes when you’re already deep in the emotion, you may not be able to reach for that Oracle deck anymore. If you’ve already acted on your emotion, just know that that’s okay. But if after, you start feeling a sense of guilt or another emotion that you’d rather not spiral into, then you can still do this exercise.
Just in case you tend to act on your emotions quickly or if you don’t have an Oracle deck yet, you may want to check out my Mindful Practice Guide. No Oracle deck needed, just 3 quick and simple tools to help you when you’re about to spiral.
How to Use Oracle Cards to change your state of mind
The minute you catch yourself getting pulled by an emotion or an intrusive thought that you don’t want to be stuck in, reach out for your Oracle Deck. If you can and need to drop everything else, park your car on the curb or excuse yourself from the table, do it.
Begin shuffling your Oracle deck and if you can, make audible sighs of breath while doing so.
If a card pops out, that’s your card. If not, draw one card.
Turn the card whichever way you want—upside down, flip it over, or see it from an angle. Also pay attention to the edges if it’s frayed or if there are dents. Run your fingers along the edges. Are there fingerprints there, etc.
Then look at the image and the words on the card. Identify the colors. See if you can identify the images themselves. See how the words connect with the image, etc.
By doing so, your mind detaches from the emotion or intrusive thought and opens itself up to wonder and exploration, which are open states to help you get unstuck, too. If you want to journal this wonder and exploration, go ahead.
When you feel like you’ve had your exploration with this card, put it down with a whisper of gratitude.
Then check-in with yourself. Observe if you’re still filled with that emotion or if it has dissipated a bit. Are you still in that state of mind? Or are you more “in control” now rather than being controlled by the situation?
If you notice that there has been a shift (it doesn’t have to be considerable), then you can go about your day. If you feel like you need to take longer in this exercise, do so. Or if you have more time, continue this with the next exercise below using the same card.
Shift Your Perspective
Shifting your perspective is similar to opening your mind to the situation and looking at it from different angles.
Life’s stresses and some belief systems can cause you to look at a situation and judge it for how you see it through the filter of your stress and B.S.
Shifting your perspective is also a great way of practicing compassion. Understanding the situation from the view point of another.
As a mindfulness and healing practice, shifting your perspective can help catch destructive belief systems and create belief systems that will instead lift you up and empower you. In this regard, it’s practicing compassion towards yourself.
Having an Oracle Deck not only helps you change your state of mind as in No. 3 but help guide your perspective in a more positive manner.
So if you’re coming from the exercise in No. 3 and would like to go deeper, then this would be your next step.
How to Use Oracle Cards to Shift your Perspective
This activity presupposes that there is a situation, a person, a relationship, or a “something” that you want to look at differently.
Short of asking someone else’s opinion about it, have your Oracle Deck instead and create your own opinion that is less biased and more compassionate and accepting.
Think of that “thing” that you are inquiring about or needing a change of perspective on.
Have your Oracle Deck in front of you.
Take 3 full breaths, eyes closed would be preferred. Before opening your eyes, ask the question, “What do I need to know about this [identify the “thing”]?”
When you open your eyes, shuffle your deck continuing to ask that question.
Pick a card and look at the message as well as the image on it. Don’t force an answer to your question. But just give your full attention to the card. How it feels in your hand, the texture against your fingers, etc.
And then begin seeing a connection between that card and the situation you’re asking about. If you need to journal this down, do it. Whatever comes up in this part is the answer to your question.
It’s important to not overthink or force this exercise. If there is nothing, then see it as a confirmation that for now, what you see is as it is with an invitation to suspend any judgment.
Create an inner dialogue
So you’ve changed your state of mind and shifted your perspective… that’s it, right? Not really. You can still go deeper when it comes to using Oracle Cards for mindfulness and healing.
Like I said, it depends on your intention and the deck that you’re using.
If you have more time and want to dive deeper and understand the real you, you can use Oracle Cards to create an inner dialogue between you and your psyche.
This is nothing woo-woo. It’s therapeutic, really. Imagine you’re writing a letter to yourself and that other self is writing you back. An Oracle card can help guide that conversation or even create that inner dialogue.
How to Use Oracle Cards to Create an Inner Dialogue
Whether you’re continuing from Nos. 3 and 4 or already jumping straight to this part, you may want to have a journal with you or a recorder to help record the dialogue:
Have your Oracle Deck out in front of you.
Take 3 full breaths, eyes closed would be preferred.
When you open your eyes, shuffle your deck with the intention of “receiving a message” or “having a topic” that is relevant to you right now.
Pick a card and look at the message as well as the image.
Consider why the card is relevant to you. You don’t need to rush this part but allow for the inner dialogue to happen.
Once it’s there, let it flow. Record it via your journal or recorder so you can come back to it later.
The aim of opening up that inner dialogue is to (1) gain clarity on the situation and to (2) have a better understanding of yourself and your thought process.
At the end of this exercise, take a pause and reflect on the whole inner dialogue. It’s a great way to develop awareness and mindfulness.
BONUS: Spark mindful conversation with others
Ok so the above list is really using oracle cards for yourself. But did you know that you can use oracle cards to spark mindful conversation with others?
This eases the strain in “needing to” make conversation and avoid falling back on small talk about the weather or what you ate during lunch.
Similar way to creating an inner dialogue in No. 5, you can use Oracle Cards to spark and guide mindful and meaningful conversations with others.
You don’t have to whip out your oracle deck to do this unless you want to. You can just draw a card before meeting up your friend and that can be a topic that you bring up.
It makes your conversation take on a richer color and even give you an opportunity to deepen your connection with each other.
How to Use Oracle Cards to Spark mindful conversation with others
Before meeting up with someone, take out your Oracle deck and close your eyes.
Breathe 3 full breaths and think about having a mindful and meaningful time with that someone.
Open your eyes and shuffle your deck with the intention of getting a card for guidance or to help strengthen your relationship with this person.
If a card pops out, that’s it. If not, then draw a card.
Pay attention to the word or message on the card as well as the image. You can write down whatever thoughts came to mind and make that as a conversation starter when you meet up with that person later.
Just a reminder though, this is an open topic and not a debate. Your conversation with your friend would be with the intention of strengthening your relationship, not weakening it by arguing on opinions.
If you’ve reached all the way here, THANK YOU! I hope this post has been helpful for you when it comes to using oracle cards as mindfulness and healing tools.
These are just some of the ways that I use and would recommend using oracle cards for mindfulness and healing. There are so much more ways out there and, of course, you’re not limited to just mindfulness and healing. This is just my preferred way of working with Oracle Cards in my practice.
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