April A to Z Challenge! A is for... Actually...

So once I chose my theme for the challenge I started a spreadsheet to try and decide *what* aspects of Equestria would be good to play with for this Friendship is Magic Oracle (new name--like it?!). The more I thought about it and the more images I pulled, the more I thought something more interactive-jump-right-in would be a better approach, and so...

Actually.

We're just gonna start doing readings.

For the duration of the challenge, we will be using the licensed MLP gaming cards. There are a few things to be aware of:

  • Like traditional oracles and Tarot decks, the images and symbols have the potential for multiple interpretations, however, most traditional decks and oracles are pretty finite, with a set number of cards and images. The number of gaming cards that can exist is, well, infinite--new cards, images, situations, characters, events etc. are constantly added.
  • Cards are sold in blind packs--you never know what you're gonna get, which could mean duplicates. And there are also " I went to toys r us and bought a couple of packs for the experiment. Here's what I got:


With 2 decks and 3 blind packs I ended up with 83 unique cards: 15 situations; 5 "troublemakers"; 10 events; 9 resources; and 44 friend/character cards. These *could* be considered suits, but I think after playing with these we can come up with some better means of organization--or perhaps NO organization, depending on where the readings take us. Now, let's have a look at an actual card:


Here's Maud ('cause I love Maud). We have a few things going on here that can be "read"
  • The character herself--Maud. What is Maud like? Her personality? Her looks? Her history?
  • What kind of pony/character is she? Maud's an Earth (elemental!) pony. What does this tell you? What elemental/earthly/physical/mundane vibe do you get from the card?
  • Gaming directions (Unless I see a pattern of some kind, I'm not going delve into this)
  • A quote from or information about the character, situation, etc.

If Maud was to come up in a reading, I might say that the querent might not show all that they are on the surface. That there is beauty in simplicity. That one has to look to the physical plain for answers. Maud is the older sister of Pinkie Pie--so I might say that families contain all types of people and that the querent might find a hidden treasure in someone who is *not* like themselves... VERY IMPORTANT: There is also the vibe of the reading, the querent and the reader once the question is asked that will come into play. So let's give it a try, shall we? Comment below for a one card reading from my "starter" deck and we'll see what we get!

*please note that I am on the road until the 3rd so readings will not be instant--but I will get to each one!*