Recently, right around the Solar Eclipse in Leo, Doreen Virtue published a video on YouTube elucidating her recent decision to denounce mediumship and divination, and more specifically tarot cards, and even more *quite* specifically, her own previous depictions of Jesus as an Ascended Master as opposed to the actual Son of God. It took me a while to get around to watching the video, because I have become very fond of Doreen Virtue and wasn’t sure what I personally would “hear” — I know myself as a rather mutable Pisces Sun/Gemini Moon, and was quite interested to hear what Doreen would have to say to explain all this.

When I first returned to tarot reading, I’d see Doreen Virtue decks around on Instagram, and I wasn’t really “into” her style of gentler messages, at first glance I didn’t like the art, and I didn’t like all the “words” all over her cards — I like reading intuitively based on card images and figured all that extra noise would dilute the intuitive process. Then I was drawn to get the Ascended Masters Oracle (it has very few extra words, haha) to use with the Cosmic Tarot, and I LOVED it! I was still still skeptical of the Angel Tarot Card and Fairy Tarot Cards, but then I received both as a gift from my mother-in-law for Christmas, and let me tell you, looking through those decks for the first time was magical. The art is gorgeous and I fully “don’t disagree” with the wordy prompts on the cards, and find different parts of the sentence will “light up” for me to steer me in the right reading direction. I find these decks so powerful that I’ll often combine them into a “superdeck,” or I’ll use them as oracle cards with other tarot cards so they can speak more clearly. It does get muddlesome doing big readings with all those keywords on the cards! But I digress. I later bought the Goddess Guidance Oracel to go with my Mythic Tarot, and no surprise, I adore that one too.

So, long story short, Doreen Virtue’s decks are awesome, surprisingly well-thought-out for their fluffy reputation, and I love them and recommend them. Now, this Doreen Virtue news was a toughie for me before checking out her video because I feel quite “connected” to the woman — I like watching YouTube videos with my babies, and Ori and I watch Gregory Scott every morning and Iris and I watch Doreen Virtue every week. Iris thinks Doreen is just the best, and puts on long dresses to arrange herself to play with her mini tarot cards “just like Doreen Virtue!” I myself appreciate her thoughtful and bubbly presentation, although I’d noticed in her videos that she seemed to be going through a tough time lately — having watched the video explaining her new direction, I fully appreciate her position, support her in her decision, and hope that we can all be similarly supported should we decide to make changes in our own personal spiritual viewpoints. Doreen Virtue is legitimately trying to live her faith from a point that feels more authentic to *her,” and is taking what she feels is the appropriate action to feel good about herself and the message she is delivering. You go girl!

All that being said, I am still going to use my decks, including the Ascended Masters and both tarot decks! You may have noticed that I even used them in my two most recent posts, on Jupiter sextile Saturn and Venus in Leo. These lovely decks have so much personality and have such clear, chatty personalities! I was inspired by Instagram’s @intothemoonhouse to ask my decks how they feel about their “creator”‘s decision — what a fun exercise! Surprisingly, the Ascended Masters Oracle is pretty unbothered since that one’s the one she has the biggest problem with now, going so far as to ask them to be pulled from stores and to no longer be printed. Ascended Masters gave a big shrug  and offered up Vishnu | Trust. Just stick with what *you* believe and stay on the track that calls you! The Goddess Guidance Oracle was equally unbothered, offering Kuan Yin | Compassion, suggesting allowing others to make their own choices, staying centred in your own, and keeping an open heart all the while. The tarot decks were a different story — Doreen Virtue is going to “phase out” her name on them so they’re only by Radleigh Valentine, and all her royalties will now go to Hay House’s charity. Well, these decks are devastated! Angel Tarot cards are fully heartbroken and feel destroyed (I kept seeing the 3 of Swords and XVI – The Tower while shuffling), but they very much still want to be used and still have lots to say. They offered XVII – The Star, asking me to “maintain hope” for them and absolutely still use them when I need  a bit of gentle “light in the darkness.” Fairy Tarot Cards are more anxious, feeling “in the dark,” and in spiritual crisis (I kept seeing the 9 of Swords, XVIII – The Moon, the 5 of Pentacles while shuffling) — while Angel Tarot Cards are still a bit linked to their “mother’s” spirituality, the Fairies are kind of in total limbo! Anyway, this deck offered up the 4 of Wands, suggesting that it, too, still wants to play and be celebrated, it loves our relationship and wants it to keep blossoming and “falling in love” with me. Absolutely, baby cards! This was such a cool exercise because it renewed my love for these decks (it never left, but it was lovely to visit with them so closely together) and it was such a joy to look at all the art and to receive such clear communication from them. I was trying to think of a metaphor for this situation, and I think a good one is that if I had a pair of shoes I loved and then the designed made a public announcement that they didn’t think that was a good expression of their designer-vision and would no longer be making those shoes, I’d still wear them! It’s my style and that particular pair has become “my” shoes and I love them!

TL;DR: Doreen Virtue has renounced tarot/mediumship/divination as well as some of her oracle decks. She’s awesome and is progressing on her own spiritual journey, and on mine, I’ll continue to use her lovely decks!

Angel Tarot Cards. Doreen Virtue and Radeigh Valentine. Artwork by Steve A. Roberts. Carlsbad, CA: Hay House, Inc., 2012.

Ascended Masters Oracle Cards. Doreen Virtue. Various artists. Carlsbad, CA: Hay House, Inc., 2007.

Fairy Tarot Cards. Doreen Virtue and Radeigh Valentine. Artwork by Howard David Johnson. Carlsbad, CA: Hay House, Inc., 2015.

Goddess Guidance Oracle Cards. Doreen Virtue. Various artists. Carlsbad, CA: Hay House, Inc., 2004.