Oracle Dessuart – All’s Well That Ends Well

This post took me longer to get done than I thought it would because of experimenting with the best way to scan the cards.

Today, I decided to draw three cards from the Oracle Dessuart. Even though I’ve had it for a long time, I don’t seem to use it very often. It is a French Oracle deck named after the deck designer and is based on a standard 52 card deck of playing cards. The captions on the cards are in French and English and the booklet that comes with the deck is in French, English and German - it has more detailed meanings for each card and a few spreads.

This deck is supposed to always be read in a line, the cards are horizontal and are meant to look like a film strip when they are all put together. The background of every card is a desert scene with an illustration to show the meaning of the card set upon the desert background. Hidden in each illustration is the number and suit of the card. So, when you look at a reading – it reminds one of an avantgarde film with a series of events happening which all end up being related.

When put end to end, the cards will meet up to make the desert background seamless. (Sometimes, you have to move them up or down just a bit.)

Here are the cards I drew:

Be sure to click on the picture to see it full size – it looks way better and you can see how the images join together.

Meanings:

• Damage: Disaster, Flood, Devastation, Downfall, Repairs, Insurance, Collapse. You can see on the side of the building it is the 4 of Spades.
• Fortune: Good Omen, Good Luck, Stoke of Luck, Happiness, Favor, Winnings, Betting, Grace. You can see by the Tattoo on the girl’s leg that this is the Queen of Clubs.
• Success: Reward, Triumph, Exaltation, Abundance, Honor, Distinction, Laurels. If you look at the astronaut’s footsteps, this card is the 10 of Clubs.

One is always supposed to read this deck in a line – like it is happening in a film. So, in the interpretation of the cards, it looks like something that seems like a disaster will, through good fortune or grace or both, be changed to success. That is always nice!

This is a fun deck to use. I think one of the reasons I don’t use it more often is that I don’t like the meanings for the Diamonds. I’m not that skilled at reading playing cards but I’ve always assumed that Diamonds are not a negative suit. This is what the LWB for the Oracle Dessuart says about the suit of Diamonds: “They are rather negative and express the hardships of existence.” That sounds more like Spades to me.

The book also says Spades are negative and symbolize anxiety, hardship, suffering and unhappiness. It says Hearts are positive and express beauty, goodness, hope and love. According to the book, Clubs symbolize activity and wealth and tend to be positive.

Perhaps, in some systems of card reading, Diamonds are negative. I guess it’s up to the designer of the deck. However, it does tend to make the deck a bit negative when two full suits are about suffering and hardships.

It was hard to scan the cards all put together because they wouldn’t fit on the scanner. I had to scan them all in a row vertically and then cut them apart and reposition them all in a linear row – took ages but now I know how to do it!