"What is the difference between Tarot cards and Oracle cards?" Great question.
The Tarot is a system of 78 cards intersecting between five modalities (Spirit, Physical, Emotional, Intellectual, Energy) and numerology (ones are beginnings, two are balance, etc).
Oracle cards have their own system. My favorite are Medicine Cards. Usually around forty-fifty cards, they might follow a particular path, most have positive images and lovely affirmations. I like using them as clarifiers - energetic resources, focus points, sources of support.
This is one of the reasons I love the tarot - Here are these 78 life lessons, the pretty moments as well as the knitty-gritty. Its the hard stuff that we have to look at, and the beauty of a tarot reading is getting the root of the moment, as well as validation, a new perspective, and often, just plain old good advice. The part of us that "knows" without the shame, guilt, doubt, disbelief getting in the way.
Of course, the Major Arcana depict the Major Life moments - Death, The Tower, The Devil (more on these later), but its also the Minor Arcana that let us tune into our finer sensibilities, just like paying attention to the moon.
Disappointment. Grief. Despair. Exhaustion. Sorrow. Heartbreak. Doubt. These are all human emotions, human life lessons. Seeing oneself reflected in the cards does not mean you are destined to be cursed with this particular affliction, but instead asks you, just like going to grandma, insert tarot book, to get a new perspective. What are the resources on the card - animal, plant, color, chakra. Like the cat who licks its wounds, lick yours, heal, and move on.
Socrates once said, "The unexamined life is not worth living." Look, learn, apply. The tarot has much to offer as you gather information, reflect, and then make the best decisions.
