Great question! This question comes from @Tatina Scott-Atkins .The difference is simpler than most people think. A tarot reading covers the whole of your life. Relationships, career, finances, spirituality, health, transitions — whatever is happening in your world, tarot has language for it. It was built to speak to the full human experience, so nothing is off the table when you sit down for a tarot reading. An oracle reading is filtered through a specific theme. Every oracle deck is created around a particular lens — ancestors, goddesses, angels, the moon, animals, affirmations. So the reading you receive is shaped by whatever that theme is. If someone is reading for you with an ancestor oracle, the guidance is going to come through an ancestral lens and is assumed to be messages from the ancestors. A goddess deck is going to speak through feminine archetypes. And so on. The deck's theme determines the vantage point of the reading. I hope that answers your question

This is one of my favorite questions @Victor Zamacona because it tells me you're serious about learning the right way. There is a growing body of literature on Ifá, Lukumí, and Yoruba tradition, and some of it is genuinely excellent. Here are authors and scholars worth knowing: Scholarly & Ethnographic Authors - David H. Brown — Santería Enthroned is one of the most thorough ethnographic studies of Lukumí practice in Cuba and the diaspora - Lydia Cabrera — her work, especially El Monte, is considered foundational for understanding Cuban Lucumí and its plant/herbal traditions - Joseph Murphy — Santería: African Spirits in America is a solid, accessible introduction to the tradition from an academic lens - John Mason — prolific writer on Orisha culture, foods, ceremonies, and Yoruba spiritual life; deeply respected in the community - Miguel "Willie" Ramos — a practicing priest and scholar whose work on Lukumí liturgy and history is highly regarded - Wande Abimbola — one of the foremost authorities on Ifá from the Yoruba homeland; his work on Odu and Ifá philosophy is essential - William Bascom — his ethnographic studies on Yoruba divination and Ifa remain academically significant - Robert Farris Thompson — Flash of the Spirit traces African artistic and spiritual traditions across the diaspora beautifully A necessary caution though. Even the best books can only take you so far. Some of what is written — even by respected authors — reflects a particular lineage, a particular moment in time, or an outsider's interpretation of what they observed. Books cannot initiate you. Books cannot read your Ori. Books cannot tell you what your specific path requires. The most important thing you can do alongside reading is learn from your elders. A living, initiated, experienced elder in your lineage will always be your most credible source. What they pass down to you directly — through ceremony, through conversation, through years of relationship — carries an authority that no book can replicate.

Last week was so hectic and up and down, i didn’t know if my son and i would able to make it down to Chicago thankfully we were. And i now know i am a Child of YEMAYÁ 💙💙💙💙💙💙💙

🎉 Happy Father’s Day, @Baba Victor Today, our community would like to take a moment to honor and celebrate a man who gives so much of himself to the service of others. Baba Victor, thank you for the countless readings, classes, ceremonies, phone calls, prayers, teachings, corrections, encouragement, and sacrifices that often happen behind the scenes. Many of us have found clarity during confusion, hope during difficult times, and direction when we felt lost because you were willing to answer the call of service. Thank you for being a spiritual father, teacher, mentor, and guide to so many people. Your dedication to preserving tradition, teaching with patience, and helping others grow has touched more lives than you may ever fully know. On this Father’s Day, we celebrate not only the father of your family but also the father figure, elder, and leader that so many in this community have come to love and respect. May the ancestors continue to walk beside you, may Orunmila continue to guide your wisdom, and may all of the love you pour into others return to you multiplied. Please join us in wishing Baba Victor a very Happy Father’s Day! ❤️ Drop your favorite memory, lesson, or message of appreciation for Baba Victor in the comments below.

This one is for @Marie Saez — and honestly, for every single person in this community who has ever stood in front of their altar and gone completely blank. You are seen. You are not alone. And I have something I want to share with you that I think is going to change the way you think about prayer forever. My grandmother used to say something that has stayed with me all of my life. She said that the Holy Spirit can interpret all languages — even the ones that sound like nothing more than a moan or a groan. I have never forgotten that. Because what she was really saying is that spirit doesn't need you to be eloquent. Spirit needs you to be real. Do They Know What You Mean? Marie asked the question that I think a lot of us are secretly afraid to ask out loud — do they actually know what I mean when I fumble through my words? Yes. They do. Your ancestors, your Orisha, your Ori — they are not sitting on the other side waiting for you to get the phrasing just right before they decide to listen. They are not grading your grammar. They are reading your heart. And your heart has never once fumbled. The sincerity behind your words is the prayer. The words themselves are just the vehicle. Three Words Said With Everything You Have I want you to think about this. If you stood at your altar and all you could get out was "I need help" — but you said those three words with every ounce of sincerity in your body, with tears in your eyes and your whole heart behind it — that prayer would be more powerful than a Baptist preacher on Sunday morning delivering a perfectly crafted sermon. I mean that. It's not performative. It's not about how it sounds. It's about relationship. It's about connection. And connection doesn't require perfection — it requires presence. Show Up and Say What You Can Sometimes you won't have words. Sometimes you'll stand there and go completely blank — and that silence itself is a form of prayer. Just showing up matters. Just lighting the candle and standing there matters. Just saying "I'm here" matters.