My playing Card Meanings

ocho8s

Hello PR

I just got an old deck and wrote all the meanings and I am ready to start but I got one question
How do you pick the cards???
In tarot, I shuffle 3 times, cut the deck in 3, put it back together and then fan them and pick the number of cards that I need.......... but on this one somehow did not feel comfortable doing that
So how do you pick your cards???

bendiciones
Anaoly
 

Little Baron

I have been wanting to work with a playing card deck for some time.

As much as I like Tarot decks with non-scenic minors, I like the idea of working with a deck that is even more basic visually. Playing cards have that quality and I am not so precious about them, physically.

I have a few cartomancy books but neither are very good. They suggest interpretations but do not have any back-up as to how they came to this conclusion; or where the interpretations came from originally. I find that this makes the interpretation, coming through me, a little stale. This card suggests a letter, as an example - why? Also, one of the books I have (can't remember its name off hand) seems to have meanings that are in the vein of Waite, which I do not feel comfortable using. Someone suggested that there are numerology threads here that may be useful - maybe I will search them out. Does anyone know of some (easy on the brain) numerology sites that may be useful in terms of interpreting playing cards.

I had not considered the 'double deck' idea but it could be interesting. Looking at the majors trumps of the tarot when a card comes up twice - interesting idea. Even though, would that not just be like reading tarot? Does anyone know whether playing card meanings and tarot meanings are supposed to overlap in anyway or are they something completely seperate?

LB
 

Phoenix Rising

I just got an old deck and wrote all the meanings and I am ready to start but I got one question
How do you pick the cards???
In tarot, I shuffle 3 times, cut the deck in 3, put it back together and then fan them and pick the number of cards that I need.......... but on this one somehow did not feel comfortable doing that
So how do you pick your cards???

Hi Anaoly,
I do both, either randomly just like what you've done, or split into 3 and off the top. I tried both ways to see if they would work out and make sense, it was a trial or error, but they both worked out. So whatever i feel right to do at the time. With the Magic square I normally do random, just like you.

Little Budda: Welcome, I went through all the thoughts and wanting to know where and why those cards were assigned to those meanings. I found a couple of great sites, which are in another post on this thread, I think in Umbraes post and another post on here under "astrological correspondences to playing cards"
In the end I did my own, because there were things in it that I wanted to include for a more modern day approach, like a vehicle, when I think of what else I might want to include in the meanings, and link it together that way. It is only through feedback and from others experiences that it links together and makes sense.
I too thought that I may as well read tarot if the meanings were the same, so that's why I changed it. It doesn't have to be traditional or originate from somewhere, as they are flexible. But alot of my meanings are based on tradition, tarot, astrology, numerology and from other people's sites, I just included some things that I wanted in it.
Hope this helps.

Lucille
 

Little Baron

Thanks Lucille,

I like the way you describe; makes it a very personal deck and one that obviously grows with you. I like your method for all the reasons I already described; in that they are 'your' meanings. You have taken what, with the knowledge you already have, you feel is the important ingredients of that card. If I just copied down your interpretations exactly, it probably wouldn't feel right. I will go look at some of the sites that have been recommended here and 'work' with my deck to gain some of my own ideas for my cards.

Thank you very much for your help.

LB
 

Little Baron

Trying It Out for Myself!

Just pulled a card to see whether I could have a go at finding an interpretation in it for myself ...

I pulled the '3 of Diamonds'.

I link the Diamonds to Earth. I see progression in the three's, as they move away from the two - in this case, like Deniers in Tarot, I associate this progression or 'moving on' with finances. An extention. The growing of assets. The '3 of Diamonds' could be a reward for a job well done or a promotion. Maybe a moving away from that which is comfortable.

Negatively, maybe the three (after the two) indicates a spanner in the works or unwelcome change. Maybe it is suggesting that the querant is not moving on or is not taking another risks with finances or work.

Just wanted to share this with you and ask whether this is how some of you find your own meanings for the cards. I read the links with great interest, but probably because of the hinderance of placing the meanings of the tarot cards on to the playing cards (even when I was trying not to), I found myself either disagreeing with the interpretations or not understanding them. I thought that just pulling a card and just meditating on it for a bit, as you suggested PheonixRising, may be the way to go and it was a nice exercise. When I was doing this, with a couple of cards, words just jumped into my mind in a flash - for the 7 of Hearts, the words' 'dreams' and 'proposal' came to mind instantly; for the '9 of Hearts', I got 'emotional withdrawal' and 'depression'.

Look forward to hearing others comments on all of this.

Kind Regards

LB
 

Phoenix Rising

Hi Little Buddha

Your method was very much like how I did it too. It just felt right, even though some of them may have been linked to tarot. That logical part of me, wanted the meanings to have a base, so that's where the numerology and astrology came in, and then when it felt right and did a reading using it, and all made sense.
I'm finding that the cards may need some expansion with them, but it all works out.
Remember the cards are a extension of our subconscious, so what we already know inside is expressed with a cards.

cheers

Lucille
 

Kara

Hi everyone, this is my first posting. I love browsing this forum and site, it's amazing!

Please forgive me if I'm being rude, but I just wanted to comment on the above statement about not feeling comfortable shuffling and cutting playing cards like with the tarot.

A friend of mine, who taught me how to read playing cards (I'm not an expert) and coffee cups, just shuffles (or has her clients shuffle and turn) the cards and then turns the pack over and over repeating her own name silently until it feels right. Sometimes she tells clients, after they've shuffled, to turn the pack only three times while repeating their birth names (for full readings) or current names (for smaller, present day questions/readings), nicknames their lovers gave them for relationship spreads, etc. Also works with questions instead of names. You can also say the name of someone else you'd like to have a reading on, and that person's story will come up.

Simple, but effective, I think - turning the pack and repeating something makes you focus your thoughts.

Then, depending on if she is using a poker pack, or a skat(32-card) pack, if it is a large layout, or a smaller 3 - 5 card layout, the cards are either fanned out and picked(by questioner), simply read from the top of the shuffled pack, read from the top after cutting once, or cut by client into four piles (golden dawn had same system) representing four elements. Depending on which pile the client then chooses, (though they aren't told which pile is which element), she can tell in which direction the thoughts of the client are directed, and probable direction of the reading. Since I learned from her, that's the way I keep it too, and it works for me. For larger layouts, I read from the top, for small ones I fan out, and then choose.

And something else, for what it's worth, she never bothered with the left hand or right hand issue, she always uses her right hand, when reading for herself too - but she flips the cards. She holds them face downward, and then flips them open immediately, without laying them first into a spread and then turning them over one by one. I hope you know what I mean...:) Needless to say, this works for me too.

Her cards aren't really protected either, just kept together by a hair elastic sometimes. The reasoning, I think is, the cards have to be able to breathe and be 'street-smart' in a sense, to work. They have to go everywhere with you, 'see' the world and the everyday, and be used, really used, and touched by as many people as you can, the more vibes it gets, the more vocabulary it has to talk to you. If it is used it is liked/loved, and the deck becomes easier to use.
I know I learned the meanings a lot faster that way, because I constantly had them in front of me, and I had to think about and remember the meanings. This is what works for me...:) Sorry about the long first post!
 

Phoenix Rising

Hi Kara

Welcome to At, and it's great to see another cartomancer, too. I will be looking forward to reading your posts, as I'm fairly new at this as well, but it's great. I like what you say about having them travel around with you, I'll have to do that alot as well, at the moment they just sit next to the computor.
Is cartomancy your main form of reading? or do you do both tarot and cartomancy?
 

Kara

Both tarot and cartomancy, but even though I've been doing this for awhile now, I still feel like a novice. I love reading other people's methods of doing things, and there is so much in this forum to learn and read, it's incredible! Thanks for the warm welcome, Phoenix!
 

rainwolf

Can you just apply the minor arcana meanings to the cards? I sense soem deja vu when i read some of the meanings, and i know what suits they stand for, so could i just use tarot minors?