This post might contain affiliate links. If you choose to purchase through them, we may receive a small commission at no extra cost to you. By using these links you are directly supporting us to create mystical musings, thank you!

Oracle Cards vs Tarot Cards vs Runes

There are many divination tools out there, but 3 of the most popular are definitely oracle cards, Tarot cards, and Rune Stones. Each of these uses cards, or other materials such as crystals or stones etc in the case of Runes, with imagery, symbols and/or words written on them. Each card/stone is intuitively selected and laid out into a spread to help answer questions and give us guidance by tapping into our own intuition and subconscious. Ultimately, each method is a way of connecting with ourselves and the energies around us, but the message will be delivered in a slightly different way with each method. Here is an overview on the differences between them:

Oracle Cards

Oracle card decks are more free-flowing and open in respect to other methods, not following any specific structure- their content is purely invented by the artist. Due to the freedom of interpretation, many like to work with oracle cards as they are much easier to learn than Tarot, being largely intuitive and simpler to use. They can come in any format with any number of cards in an oracle card deck and will usually have their own guidebook of meanings created by the artist. For this reason, oracle cards hold the greatest variety in style and theme of the deck.

Check out our post on oracle cards and some beginner’s spreads to try for more information!

Overall, oracle cards are:

Usually simpler to learn and interpret
Unique and created by an artist
Usually less cards in a deck than Tarot
Often more positive/inspiring
Less specific and detailed
Offer broader guidance
Best for simple, intuitive insight

Tarot Cards

Tarot Cards on the other hand follow a structured system invented in Italy in the 1440s. They include 78 cards in a Tarot deck- 22 Major Arcana cards which deal with the larger themes in life, and 56 Minor Arcana that depict the details in our day-to-day worlds. There are 4 suits (Wands, Cups, Swords, Pentacles) with an ace and numbered pip cards 2-10, and 4 Court Cards in each suit (a Page, Knight, Queen, and King).

Each card has an overview of relatively agreed upon meanings but they are also rich and varied, with many layers open to different interpretation depending on the reader and the artist of the cards, as well as taken in the context of the question asked, situation at hand, and spread layout. In combination, there are a multitude of meanings a specific card could take on in the end.

They are also usually interwoven with elements of numerology, Astrology, mythology, archetypes, and/or sometimes Kabbalah, geometry, and alchemy in the case of Thoth and others. Because of this, there is an extremely wide number of circumstances that Tarot cards can be used for, some say for every single event that ever has and ever will be! They can offer great detail and specific insight and guidance to a seeker, due to their structure and full language, that many prefer because of their complexity and structure (in respect to oracle cards). For this reason, it also takes a long time to become a confident and competent Tarot reader.

To learn more about the world of Tarot, enrol in my Intuitive Tarot Course!

Overall Tarot cards are:

A deck of 78 cards based on astrology, numerology, mythology, archetypes, and/or sometimes Kabbalah, geometry, colour theory, and alchemy
More complex to learn fully
Rich in nuance and detail
Able to offer more specific guidance and insight
Suited to deal with a wide variety of situations
Relatively fixed in structure but contain a large personal interpretation and artistry
Best for going in deep with a question

Rune Stones

Rune stones are an ancient Norse divination method, dating back to about the 1st century AD. They consist of 24 letters of the Elder Futhark runic alphabet inscribed on stone, wood, crystals, or card, and used in a similar way to Tarot or oracle cards. A seeker will pull rune stones from a bag and lay them out in a spread, or some like to “cast” them onto a cloth and read the ones that fall upright, and their meanings will be interpreted to answer a question. As they are such an archaic form, based on oral tradition, they have a wide variety of keywords and meanings associated with each rune, again open to interpretation dependant on the reader, the question, the layout, and the current situation. This makes Runes more generic and broader in their offerings.

For more information on what their letters mean, check out our post on How To Read Runes!

Overall, Rune stones are:

24 Runic letters from the Elder Futhark alphabet inscribed on crystals, stone, wood, or card
The oldest method of divination of the three options
Wide in the variety of meaning for each rune
More basic, simpler at answering questions and interpretations
Best for bigger picture views and quick guidance

Which divination method is best for me?

While there is no best divination method, only the one that is best for you and your current circumstances, in general the most detail will be received from the Tarot, a solely positive reading will be from oracle cards, and a general, simple answer will be given from Runes. Of course, you can also combine all three! Many people like to finish their Tarot reading with an oracle card pull (which I love doing), or start their Tarot reading with a Rune layout first to go into more detail with later, for example. As with anything of this nature, the option that calls to you the most will be the one that is right for you.

If you’d like to receive your own personalised reading with me for questions about your life, book in an Online Tarot Reading here, and Online Rune Reading here!

I look forward to connecting with you :)

two-wander-book-your-reading — book your reading with me!

So that’s the difference between oracle decks, Tarot decks, and Runes. If you have any questions or anything else to add- let me know in the comments section below, I’d be happy to answer for you!

If you’d like to self-study the worlds of Tarot and Runes instead, check out our comprehensive guidebooks here and here.