Playing Cards

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Middleagedseeker
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Joined: Sun Feb 02, 2014 10:44 am

Playing Cards

Post by Middleagedseeker »

I’m curious if anyone here has any experience using regular playing cards as a form of divination? I have heard that you can read the cards sort of like you read tarot cards? I haven’t done any research on this yet but I will since I’m definitely interested. I remember as a kid my Pennsylvania Dutch Grandmother and a friend of hers used the Gypsy Witch fortune telling cards as well as a regular old pack of my Grandfathers pinochle cards.
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SpiritTalker
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Re: Playing Cards

Post by SpiritTalker »

I've dabbled. I like the GW cards too :) because the meanings are printed on the cards. I've got a book ... Etc. The number cards values are similar to interpretations in numerology.

I snatched these from this handy site which gives more info:

https://exemplore.com/fortune-divinatio ... ying-Cards

Hearts - Cups - Emotions, feelings, relationships; water
Spades - Swords - Thinking, communication; air
Diamonds - Pentacles - Practicalities, material world; earth
Clubs - Wands - Creativity, action; fire

Ace - Beginnings
Two - Balance
Three - Connection
Four - Stability
Five - Disturbance
Six - Harmony
Seven - Mystery
Eight - Movement
Nine - Growth
Ten - Completion
Joker = Fool

Jack/Knave
Heart - Falls in love easily, romantic, chatterbox
Spade - Rebel, fights for a cause, intellectual, political
Diamond - Reliable, hard-working, quiet, hidden depths
Club - Unreliable, hotheaded, risk taker, athletic

Queen
Heart -Emotional, dependent, empathic
Spade - Sharp, intelligent, ruthless, insightful, organized
Diamond - Practical, warm, dependable, motherhood
Club - Energetic, career-minded, untidy, disorganized

King
Heart - Wise, tolerant, diplomatic, feeling, patient
Spade - Introspective, ethical, communicator, stern
Diamond - Self-made, business owner encouraging, enjoys the fruits of his labors, jolly
Club - Creative, forceful, entrepreneurial charismatic, hot-tempered
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Tylluan
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Location: England, UK

Re: Playing Cards

Post by Tylluan »

One of the best readings I've ever had from someone was a playing card reading. As long as the person knows what means what its a really good form of reading.
My soul is awakened, my spirit is soaring. And carried aloft on the wings of the breeze. For above and around me the wild wind is roaring. Arousing to rapture the earth and the seas.
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Siona
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Re: Playing Cards

Post by Siona »

Yeah, they're the only cards I really use anymore. Had a lot of trouble finding a tarot deck that had imagery that really resonated with me... so, just figured why not get rid of the images, lol. They are very similar to tarot cards in how you would use and read them, but without the major arcana. You can use many of the same spread styles. Anything from a single card pull to more elaborate styles.

I have two decks myself. One is a standard deck where I pulled out the joker cards and don't use them. Another is a joker and thief deck, where instead of two jokers there is a joker card and a thief card, and readings can change depending on if/where one shows up in a reading, making things a little more complex. Everyone seems to have their own way of dealing with the joker cards (equating them to the tarot fool is also popular), if they use zero, one, or two of them, so you might look into what's out there if you want to read playing cards.

Another thing that can be different is picking a significator card. Usually in tarot you will place all cards face down, and you will know one spot might represent the person asking the question. That can be done with playing cards, too. But, often you will specifically pick a card from the deck that relates to that person. Like, if you are reading for an older man you you might use a king card, and if that man is curious about his fiances, you would use the king of diamonds, which represent money matters. You might even pick out two cards if the person wants a reading about another specific person (usually in relationship matters, but also in family, business, and so on). If you are reading for yourself, there may be one card you always use for yourself, and it can be any card for any reason. Whatever you are drawn to. Then you lay the rest of the spread around those significators. You also do not have to use them at all, but you might see them brought up if you start reading about this sort of divination.

One thing I like about playing cards over other forms of divination I personally use is that you can get a pretty accurate time frame with readings. There's 52 cards in a deck, 52 weeks in a year, 4 seasons in a year, 4 suits in a deck, etc, so each card starts to correspond with a time. Other people use different systems that break the deck down differently. You'll also see a fair amount of variance in what each card might mean. Doesn't hurt to experiment with a few different schools of card meanings, see which one sticks with you.

The downside of playing cards is that without images to get intuition from, it comes down a bit more to memorization. But if you learn what each suit means, and then what each number roughly relates to, you can usually figure out a system to keep things straight. Lots of practice helps, too.
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Juniper
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Re: Playing Cards

Post by Juniper »

I have animal spirit cards, Celtic deck cards, crystal cards, herbal tarot cards etc.... but I've never even thought about playing cards! Thanks for the information, very interesting. I'll have to dive into it
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