Oracle of Visions Offers a Key

Permission requested to post on a slightly off-topic subject here - my new oracle deck.  I have been anticipating the arrival of my Oracle of Visions (OV) by Ciro Marchetti for many months and I was thrilled when I finally had a copy in my hands.  First I just have to say that as with all of Ciro’s decks (warning- I am not just a fan, I am perhaps a fanatic!) the deck is beautiful.  The imagery is clear and each card tells an intriguing story that stands alone and needs no interpretation.  I love the luscious colors and curiously ornate little bits of machinery in the style of steam-punk that always appear in his work (only I think Ciro was doing this years before it became de rigueur).

When I first get a deck of any kind I like to go through all of the cards and admire them. This was particularly satisfying as I had been privileged to see this deck in various stages of its creation.  Then I begin to incorporate the deck into my daily draws to get to know it.   I did this for a week or so with the Oracle of Visions and almost every day, no matter what, I received card #31 (called “Secrecy - Confidentiality”) in the book.  I was mostly focused on the key in this card.

A key, according to the Merriam-Webster dictionary, is an instrument -  usually metal - by which the bolt of a lock is turned.  This is the description of what we see visually.  Another explanation is that a key is something that gives an explanation or identification or provides a solution (the key to a riddle, for example).

Here is an example of a key.  You can’t read this ‘word’ - lfz - without knowing that the key is to look at the letter one to the left in the alphabet from each of these letters.  Thus if you use the alphabet below you can see that ‘l’ ‘f’ ‘z’  becomes - ‘k’ ‘e’ ‘y’ - key - and you crack the code!

abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz

So the implication, when we are talking about keys, is that they help us to gain access to some place or some thing from which we were barred.  In the OV version there is a woman who looks about with some trepidation.  She has a mysterious box which obviously needs a key and although she has some keys around her neck, it’s possible that the one that she needs is the one that is enclosed in a brightly glowing glass globe.  She can actually see the key that she probably needs, but in order to get to it she will have to break the glass.

I don’t see this card so much as representing secrecy as I do the process of problem-solving.  What is life but a series of taking this step and that step and making some progress only to find that these additional steps are required to achieve one’s goal?  The energy of this card depicts a time that is a good moment in that at least we can see the key we need; we know that it exists.  But the slightly unavailable aspect of it implies that there is still some work to do before we can actually use the key and gain the access that we seek.

In this case where I received this card so consistently in daily draws I think it is a reference to progress that I have been making in my own personal affairs.  For some time solutions were not even obvious to me, but lately I have begun to see some possibilities.  I will have to change some things in my life and perhaps even let some things go, but there is a solution!  I would also like to think that the Oracle of Visions has a personal message for me; that as an oracle it will be able to help me provide useful and viable solutions for myself and my querents.  In either case, I’m definitely looking forward to seeing what other keys this lovely oracle may be able to show me!

To see images of cards from the Oracle of Visions, visit www.mysticpallet.com.