Your oracle deck can actually be a pretty powerful tool to fight stress

Stress may be a six-letter word, but it can be d-a-m-n taxing on your mental health. Spikes in the stress-inducing hormone cortisol take a toll on everything from our skin to our sleep. While there’s no quick fix to usher any and all worry out of our lives, Tovah Avigail—a spiritual concierge and co-founder of Vibehaus—names oracle cards a game-changing spiritual practice in the midst of tough moments.

In case you’re not yet familiar with tarot card‘s close cousin, oracle decks are a less rigid modality for accessing your intuition. Rather than consisting of a set of 78 cards like tarot, they may come in the form of spirit cards, angel cards, and affirmation cards, among others. Each card comes with a unique message, and Avigail says that if you tune in, you’ll receive a nugget of knowledge you might really, really need.

The spirituality expert explains that the cards feel your vibration (a stressful vibration, in this case) and send back an answering energy through what card you happen to draw. “Something that I really use that was actually my entryway into the psychic world was when I inherited a fortune deck from my grandmother after she passed away,” she said while speaking on a mental health panel at WeWork in New York City. “Oracle decks are really my go-to when I’m in a moment, and I really need to check in with what I need right then.”

“Oracle decks are really my go-to when I’m in a moment, and I really need to check in with what I need right then.” —Tovah Avigail, spiritual concierge

Is it a little (okay, a lot) woo woo? Absolutely, but as Avigail explains, reading into these mystical telegraphs often helps us grasp the world as a whole—as well as each of our places in it. “This is one of my go to practices because you read the message and you really understand you’re not alone—at all… It’s something you can really do for yourself,” she says.

One of the nicest things about decks (tarot or oracle) is that they’re super portable. You can stash them in your bag to keep as a safety valve for whenever stress bubbles up to the surface. They’re there for  mid-day meltdowns, traffic jams, existential crises—you name it. The cards have your back.

Shop oracle decks for your next WTF moment.

Mystic Mondays Tarot: A Deck for the Modern Mystic $19

Moonology Oracle Cards: A 44-Card Deck and Guidebook $15

The Wild Unknown Animal Spirit Deck and Guidebook $24

Hedgewitch Botanical Oracle $23

So you’re interested in tapping into your intuition? Here’s how to start, and how to do it when you’re dealing with anxiety.