Available for purchase on MakePlayingCards . com!
The Refract & Reflect Oracle is a labor of love, loneliness, fear, frustration, sadness, and hope. Each card is tied to a facet of life that adds meaning or mayhem… sometimes both. Gaze upon them, contemplate the keywords, break down single elements… don’t be afraid to go deeper.
From Sept 22 through the end of Oct 31, 2026, the deck is 15% off!
Who This Is For
This deck is for anyone with the curiosity and patience to explore all the little elements that live inside the cards. While there are some repeated visual elements, it’s not structured like a tarot or Lenormand deck. There aren’t even any numbers on the cards! I wanted the reader to have as much freedom as possible to explore the art at their own pace. The accompanying mini guidebook offers a short, evocative statement or question that hints at my intention with the imagery, but there are no stringent meanings.
You can use the Refract & Reflect Oracle for journaling, creative writing/illustration prompts, or meditative journeying sessions! Sky’s the limit! Setting aside 5 minutes to pull a card and simply writing about what you see and what it reminds you of can yield some powerful insights. The mini guidebook has some card spread ideas, but if you want more directed layouts, I have some spreads over here! If you wanna commit to a regular practice, I also have a Beginner Tarot Journal template over on Notion (it can be used for oracle decks)!
If you’d like to see it in action, I’ve been using them for New Moon Horoscopes! I draw just one card for every zodiac sign and it’s been quite interesting to see which ones have been repeating. You can find the archive of posts here. Read for your rising sign (if you know it), please!
Regarding Reversals
In the Refract & Reflect Oracle, there are no real reversals. The cards themselves are square shaped, which means they’re likely to rotate while shuffling. This is intentional! For so many tarot and oracle card enthusiasts, reversals feel too complex and/or confusing, especially in the beginning. I wanted to do away with that pressure and make the “upside down” and “sideways” views part of the meaning.
While there are a few cards that look mostly “correct” when the keyword itself is in the upright position, all of them have individual elements that look “correct” only after you’ve rotated it. Maybe it’s a vase that spills out when it’s turned 180° or a lamppost that shines its light at 90°. Each card has so many layers (literal layers upon layers in Affinity Photo)! I wanted people to enjoy holding the cards in their hands and playing with them.
This little “gimmick” repeats in the little foldout booklet that comes with the deck as well. It’s made with an accordion fold, but I’ve laid out some sections horizontally and others vertically. I want you to play with the paper!
Origin Story
The Refract & Reflect Oracle was born after the September 2024 lunar eclipse, during a period of confusion. It was a complete surprise. At that point, I had been reading tarot and oracle cards regularly for a little over a decade and in all those years, I never had aspirations to craft a deck of my own. But it was a time of uncertainty and fear, and when in the deepest of doubts… sometimes all that’s left is to create.
I made the first card, “higher calling,” mostly out of artistic curiosity. There was the intention of maybe using it as a header for a future blog or substack post, but by the time it was complete, it was clear it was meant to be something more. It was also clear it was meant to be part of something bigger too.
Once I realized it was going to be a oracle deck, the process went by quickly. Surprisingly quickly. In less than three weeks, I managed to knock out the remaining 47 cards. I think I managed to make 6 cards in one day! They weren’t all one-and-done pieces, but most of them were. Just like with the inception of the deck, I didn’t set out with a workflow schedule, it just happened. These cards wanted to be out in the world and I’m very grateful for the rapidity of the process.
By November (still 2024!), I was already ordering prototypes and figuring out a feasible means of production. Thankfully, third time’s a charm, and I was able to make them available for sale by the end of that month! Ideally, I would love to have more control over the process and ship them out myself, but print media is pricey and shipping logistics are plagued by geopolitical problems so for now, the Refract & Reflect Oracle is only available at makeplayingcards.com.
This is a print-on-demand site that ships internationally, ensuring that this deck is practically available everywhere! Because it’s print-on-demand, the costs are a bit higher than if it were produced in bulk, so, to help lower the final price, this deck does not come with a box. Even a simple tuck box raised the price by nearly $10 USD. Personally, tuck boxes are my least favorite type of container anyway, so instead of adding something that would likely get thrown away, it left it out entirely. So, when you buy it, it’ll be shrink-wrapped, but this gives you a chance to find a case that’s perfectly your style!
Generative AI Concerns
Generative AI was NOT used in the making of the Refract & Reflect Oracle deck at any point. All images are either public domain (CC0), licensed for commercial use, or from my own photos/art. Everything was done in Affinity Photo 2, layer by layer.
Every word in the guidebook was written by me as well! No chatbots/LLMs used for that either.
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Previous Prototypes
