Whoo-hoo! Coming soon! A dream interpretation oracle cards that I’ve been creating for quite some time! It’s quite an adventure making a deck and in this post I plan on writing my experience. Plus reveal three cards from the upcoming deck.
Creating the Dream Interpretation Oracle Cards
Here are the following steps I took:
Research
Information on how to make an oracle card deck is scarce and scattered on the internet… There is a more information on designing a tarot deck; however, not that much. Which is why after I spent hours researching this topic (using a bunch of different search words), I wrote the blog, “Want to Create an Oracle Card Deck” to help and save time for other card designers.
Planning
From my research, I knew it was important to plan the deck’s content and resist the fun part of doing the images and card setup first. Since dream analysis is much more than symbolism and there are lots of decks on symbols, it was a no-brainer that the deck would be on techniques I use to interpret client’s dreams and teach my students how to analyze their dreams. Then I did an outline for the forty card’s topics.
Writing
Next, it was time to write the card’s meaning and affirmation. This sounds simple, but it’s not. Why? Because I wanted each card to have a similar format and be matchy, matchy. After editing a few times and using online editing tools, I had my two main editors review it for me.
Images
Sadly, my talent is lacking when it comes to drawing and painting, although I’m skilled at being a creative techie. Buying pictures from artist or websites can be very expensive and have an additional fee if the buyer is using them to sell merchandise. Instead, I began searching for free photos on Pixaby and Unsplash to alter with photo/graphic editing apps and tools.
Photo Tools
I used the following five tools either alone or in combination of:
- Art Pencil Camera app in Android
- Photo Overlay Effect
- PowerPoint in Microsoft
- Publisher in Microsoft
- Canva
Using a tarot size template as a guide, I created my own template and each card in Adobe Photoshop.
Intuition and Flexibility for Dream Interpretation Oracle Cards
Life experience has taught me that very little is written in stone and plans can go to the wayside. Therefore, when I received the message from my guides to add twelve common symbols to the deck, I took their advice and now the deck has fifty-two cards.
One day, after disliking an altered image I did, I began browsing through the artist profiles on Pixaby. It occurred to me that there could be scammers who had stolen an artist picture, then uploaded it to the platform to make money. How my stomach was turning upon thinking of having to create a new card or decks and/or deal with copyright issues because of these scammers.
Maybe I would never have to deal with a copyright photo; nonetheless, it led me in a new direction of using sleeping animal photos instead. Besides my own photos, I would like to thank my life mate, Chris, a wonderful photographer for all his photos of our pets, in nature, and trips we took to aquariums, the alligator park, and bird park. Gratitude to my father, sister, niece, Dakota, Stacy, and Chris’ dad for their photos.
Printers and Platforms
In case you don’t know, it’s extremely expensive for an Indie oracle and tarot deck maker to print up cards! Big companies like Hay House or others oracle and tarot cards you find in bookstores and New Age shops, purchase ten thousand or more decks from China printing companies, which is why they are able to charge such low prices for their decks. Perhaps, that will change for those companies because of Corvid-19?
The idea of running a time consuming crowdfunding, dealing with shipping hundreds of decks, taxes, and collecting sales tax for many states in the United States wasn’t my idea of fun. Game Crafter has a crowdfunding where they take care of everything, yet my intuition didn’t feel that’s the right path or spot for this deck.
Finally, I’ve decided to sell the decks on Etsy as they collect sales tax for mine and other states. And to have Shuffle Ink print fifty decks as I loved their sample decks they sent me.
Two More Lessons on Dream Interpretation Oracle Cards
I’m sure there will be many more lessons. Here are two lessons:
First Lesson
One of my friends, loved a sample card, yet had no idea how to use it. My response was: as a tool to interpret a particular dream, what you need to do on your dream interpretation journey, flash cards to learn how to analyze dreams, or use with another oracle/tarot deck.
When I was reviewing the cards, it occurred to me that some of the cards could be used as an oracle card without using it for dream interpretation. Whatever works for you is cool with me.
Second Lesson
A dream of mine for this deck was to have a two piece box; nevertheless, I’m not ready to shell out money for five hundred decks or use Game Crafter’s pro box that doesn’t properly fit a tarot size deck. Tuck boxes that house most playing cards aren’t a favorite of many, plus customized tuck boxes aren’t cheap. I was thinking of buying plain white tuck boxes.
While I was hemming and hawing over what to do about boxes, I was inspired to check out other Indie’s decks on Etsy. Giggle, this is where following my intuition and being flexible helped. On one person’s account there were two reviews on how beautiful the deck was, but they were disappointed because the white tuck box was crushed. Then I noticed that many creative vendors and a friend of mine were doing well selling decks without a box, instead they were using pretty bags.
The next day I discovered the perfect bags for my upcoming deck, bought them, and saved $215.00!
Final Thoughts on Dream Interpretation Oracle Cards
Hopefully, the cards will be ready at the end of summer or in the fall before the holidays. To stay informed, sign up for your free gift and receive my newsletter, subscribe to or follow this blog by email.
Update
Analyze Your Dreams Oracle Cards are sold out and no longer available. I will create a new, updated version and stay tuned for the announcement. In the meantime, please check out my other decks on Game Crafter.
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