What obstacles would a lay oracle face in todays environment?

[hope rainbow]

In the East, people will hold more respect but they would not understand the difference between a Dorje Shugden oracle and the typical shamans and mediums of wayside shrines. So, education in that respect would be very important.

I think the West would pose a little more of a challenge as they would see the oracle as nothing more than remnants of pre-Buddhist indigenous influence.

Skepticism would be a bigger hurdle in the West than in the East.

Indeed BU, the oracles would be seen as nothing less than "hocus-pocus" by most Western people.
But that is ok, because for those skeptical (or even cynical) minds over oracles and tulkus, that however still feel the urge to practice Buddhism, there is also NKT that do not entertain anything to do with tulkus and oracles.
And I always thought that the main reason for NKT not to do so was to accomodate the minds of Westerners that have not been exposed to oracles for centuries.

There were however oracles in Europe in the past. The most famous oracles were the oracles of Delphi.

extract from http://ehistory.osu.edu/world/articles/ArticleView.cfm?AID=8:

Originally, the perfect candidate was considered to be a young virgin girl.
But after one of the virgins escaped with a young Thessalian it was decreed no prophetess (also called the Pythoness or the Pythia) would be appointed under 50 years of age.

A booming industry grew up around the Oracle.
Temples were built and rebuilt, priests were trained, rituals evolved and sacrifices were performed.
Priests interpreted the incoherent utterances of the Pythia.
Presents were brought to both placate the deity and in the hope of influencing a positive prophesy.
The Delphic temple itself became one of the largest "banks" in the world.
Delphi became a center for banking and commerce.

The divine nature and associated deity changed a few times over the course of several centuries.
When the profits of the Oracle began to decline it was declared that Poseidon was speaking through her.
Later this changed to the goddess Themis and, finally, Apollo was determined to be presiding over Delphi.

For over a millennia people traveled to the hill to consult the Oracle.
Farmers consulted the Oracle on matters as simple as planting and harvest.
Famous world leaders consulted on matters of conquest.
Sophocles, Alexander the Great, and Croesus of Lydia all consulted the Oracle at one time or another.

The priests' interpretations may have been more coherent than the Pythoness but they generally remained cryptic and ambiguous.
Croesus for example donated a fortune to the oracle to find out if he should invade a neighboring country.
He was told "If you go to war you will cause the destruction of a great empire".
He went to war and not only was defeated but was captured.
He sent word to the Oracle asking why he was misled.
The word came back that he wasn't misled, he had been told that there would be the destruction of a great empire and there was -- his.

The world famous Oracle of Delphi played an influential role in ancient history.
For fourteen centuries it helped determine the course of empires.
The prophesying was abolished in the 4th century as it conflicted with Christian beliefs that were at that time being embraced by Rome.

[Ensapa]

The biggest obstacle for an oracle to manifest in today's environment would be doubt. There would be a lot of people who would doubt the authenticity of the oracle, and there will even be more people, especially Buddhists who would reject the existence of a Buddhist oracle, or the tradition of oracles in the Buddhist tradition because they are too afraid of being labelled as superstitious for believing in something that is hard to explain. And as a result of that, today's society will not accept Buddhist oracles so easily as many people who proclaim themselves to be Buddhists tend to be quite cynical. Being close minded is today's illiteracy.