SaskMick
How are the cards numbered exactly ?... I know that the numbers 1-78 refer to individual cards, but which card is which ? Knowing that could make the cards themselves almost irrelevant.
How are the cards numbered?
AnemoneRosie
Do you have a deck? If you go through your deck, separate out each suit. You'll notice that the Coins, Wands, Swords, and Cups are each numbered Ace-10, and then have four "court" cards; these have names rather than numbers, which makes your plan of not having a deck not quite work 
You'll notice that there's a fifth suit too. That one is called the Major Arcana and is numbered from 0-21 or from 1-22 (often via the use of roman numerals).
Some people read playing cards, yes. Other people read 'Marseilles-style' decks (here called 'TdM' for 'Tarot de Marseilles') as the 'pips' (the suit cards) don't have pictures - just numbers.
You'll notice that there's a fifth suit too. That one is called the Major Arcana and is numbered from 0-21 or from 1-22 (often via the use of roman numerals).
Some people read playing cards, yes. Other people read 'Marseilles-style' decks (here called 'TdM' for 'Tarot de Marseilles') as the 'pips' (the suit cards) don't have pictures - just numbers.
SaskMick
You mean I have to have a deck ???
No I don't have one yet, but it's on it's way.... In the past I have selected numbers and gave the numbers over the phone to a tarot reader to use for readings, that's how I know you don't always need the actual tarot cards.
No I don't have one yet, but it's on it's way
.... In the past I have selected numbers and gave the numbers over the phone to a tarot reader to use for readings, that's how I know you don't always need the actual tarot cards.Alta
There is no truly standard order for the cards, so your tarot reader probably had their own method, which would not be universal.
SaskMick
The numbers work as well as the actual cards. He told me how I pick them is up to me, but what I did was cut 78 1" paper squares and numbered them with a pencil then turned them over then selected to ones that felt right. I would then right the numbers down in the order I selected them.
CrystalSeas
Do you know whether your reader used 0 (zero) as the number for the Fool card? Or did they use 21 as the number for The Fool? Not all decks use the same numbering convention. In most Rider/Waite/Smith (RWS) decks, The Fool is numbered 0. But if you weren't asked to use zero in you 78 numbers, then it is likely that your reader was using a different convention.
And how did the reader organize the suits? Was it Wands, Cups, Pentacles, Swords,? Or Wands, Swords, Cups, Pentacles? Or some other order? That makes a difference, since 'Card 31' will be very different depending on what order the suits are arranged.
magicjack
I'm pretty sure the reader is using the numbers as sort of a shuffle letting you, the person choose the cards by way of number since your are not face to face. I'm curious though what happens to the court cards? You can of course Incorporate numerology into your readings and numbers do play a part but I'm not sure this is what's going on. And yes, the suits too.
AnemoneRosie
They could also be pulling cards from the deck, as in they shuffle and cut and then count to card x, y, and z with x, y, and z corresponding to the numbers that you've chosen. That way it would replicate choosing cards via a fan.
SaskMick
I used no 0 , just 1 to 78. Apart from that I know absolutely nothing. I would think he could give any number he wanted to any card.
CrystalSeas
Or, as AnemoneRosie suggests, they aren't numbering the cards at all.
Instead, they thoroughly shuffle the deck of cards and then use your numbers to select, for example, the fifth card from the top, and the twenty-third card, and the thirty-first card, etc.
Using that technique, even if you gave them the same numbers each time, you would get entirely different cards in your reading.
