A review by laurareads87
111 Oracle Spreads for Every Day: Enhance Your Readings, Spark Your Intuition, & Deepen Your Connection with Any Card Deck by Krystal Banner

informative inspiring fast-paced

4.0

 I was intrigued by the idea of an oracle spread book, so was happy to pick up 111 Oracle Spreads for Every Day by Krystal Banner. This is a book that I’d recommend mostly for tarot/oracle beginners, but that as a seasoned reader I have found some new ideas in. 

It isn’t ever really explained what makes these spreads ‘oracle spreads’ rather than tarot spreads. I do think this could’ve just as easily been titled ‘111 Tarot Spreads,’ though perhaps it wouldn’t stand out on the shelf given how many tarot spread books there are. 

There is a section at the beginning of the book briefly explaining what distinguishes oracle from tarot and that getting to know your deck(s) will help you get used to choosing deck/spread combinations that work for you. I do think more could be said here for beginners – ex. on choosing neutral (as opposed to affirmation) decks if the spread calls for it, or on types of oracle decks that, broadly speaking, work well for different kinds of readings. The table of contents is well organized. Banner’s writing is approachable and clear, and she encourages readers to adapt spreads as they wish. 

The book reads as inclusive – gender neutral language is used for ‘partner’ in relationship spreads for example, and the spreads included are diverse and open-ended enough to account for a lot of different audiences (ex. the ‘work’ section includes spreads related to self-employment / business ownership, being employed, looking for work, career changes, and so on). Inevitably some spreads won’t be relevant to some readers (a spread on guardian angels isn’t something that I would ever use, for instance) but there is enough variety here that I think any potential reader would find a range of spreads that they’d use. 

In terms of what doesn’t quite work for me, I do wish that there were at least a few citations given that some concepts come from specific authors’ work (“love languages”) or from very specific cultural contexts (chakras). I also find some of the spread positions are too broad to be useful (ex. on page 139, one spread position that the reader is to draw a single card for is “What are yoru passions, desires, and goals?” – this feels like at minimum a three card spread on its own). 

In terms of approach to reading, Banner’s spreads include some predictive positions but the tone tends to be one of ‘the future isn’t fixed’ (ex. ‘future’ positions are often framed in terms of possible outcomes rather than set-in-stone). There is a lot of focus on shifting one's mindset and/or manifesting what one desires, which will be an emphasis that works for some readers more than others. Spreads range from 1 card (is one card a spread?) to 12 cards, with most in the 3-6 card range. There are some great spreads here, particularly around decision-making, and on first read through I bookmarked ten I’d like to try.