playing cards(for divination)have the same meanings as minor arcana?

hello

I wonder if the common playing cards decks, when used for divination have the same meanings that those of the minor arcana. thanks

I particularly like Spanish playing cards for divination because the suits are the same as the Minor Arcana and you also have knights, which other decks have lost.

I sometimes read with Spanish playing cards as if they were Minors, alongside a Majors only tarot deck. It´s one of my favourite methods!

hello. thanks for your answer.

And, regarding the french deck, it also occurs? thanks

It depends on how you want to read them, or what meanings you want the playing cards to have. There are several different authors (and web sites) which have meanings for playing cards and many of them are different. The older, more traditional, fortune teller type meanings for playing cards are completely different from the minor arcana meanings. Do a search online for Cartomancy and see what the different card meanings are that are posted. If you want to read them like the minor arcana, you certainly can. It's really up to you what you'd like for your cards to mean.

Of all the various systems, I like the idea of assigning an element to the suit and a planet to the numbers. Looking at the patterns and fractions of the pips is interesting too!

That's how I use them, with the same meanings as the minors, but you have to account somehow for the missing Knights. I combine them into the meanings of the Pages (Jacks) and the Kings.

But you can use any interpretation you're comfortable with, and a few years ago (haven't looked lately) there were quite a few variations spelled out online that I found with a simple search, as well as a few threads here, if memory serves.

I agree. the playing cards can be given the same meanings as minor arcana, if that is how you wish to read them. any interpretation you are comfortable with, as Nevada mentioned is okay. I sometimes do this as well when reading with my playing cards (tho it's been a long while since i read w/them), and also combine the page/knight into the meaning for the jack card.

if you google "cartomancy" you will find a boat load of sites on reading with playing cards. there are also lots of books available in barnes and noble and other book stores for this type of oracle reading. many different ways of reading the cards too, and so it is just a matter of finding the right way for you. no way is wrong--just find something that works for you. good luck!

and, you can practice your way on here in the oracle readings!

This should get you started.

http://cartomancy.darkbb.com/index.htm

I believe there was a downloadable pdf but I'm not sure if I got it from that site or not.

Nevada said:

That's how I use them, with the same meanings as the minors, but you have to account somehow for the missing Knights. I combine them into the meanings of the Pages (Jacks) and the Kings

Click to expand...

I also buy the Austrian/Prussian Tarock decks and use the suits. They have all the pips plus four court cards. And some of them are gorgeous. Here is one of my favourites;

http://taroteca.multiply.com/photos/album/266/Allemand_A_2_Tetes#149

I read them like a pack of playing or cards or together with a Majors only deck

Le Fanu said:

I particularly like Spanish playing cards for divination because the suits are the same as the Minor Arcana and you also have knights, which other decks have lost.
I sometimes read with Spanish playing cards as if they were Minors, alongside a Majors only tarot deck. It´s one of my favourite methods!

Click to expand...

I did not know that the Spanish playing card decks included all four courts. Thank you for that, Fanu. All these years I have just been living with readings with the king, queen, and knight. Also, thank you, Sinduction, for the link to The Art of Cartomancy Forum.

I have recently been researching as old of books that I can find that contain divination of cards, tarot or regular. I have tired of the new books, I want to read older books on the subject. Here is a little piece, that mentions double-headed playing cards (I think that most regular playing are all double-headed), that I found interesting that I'd like to pass on as food for thought. It is taken from Foster's Encyclopedia of Games by Robert Frederick Foster (1897): "According to Eittella, the father of all fortune telling, only 32 cards should be used, and it is essential that they should be single heads, because a court card standing firmly on its feet is a very different thing from one standing on its head. If single-head cards are not at hand, the lower part of the double-head cards must be canceled in some manner." I wasn't sure, upon reading this, if the author meant "canceling" or adjusting in one's mind or physically altering cards?

Just something I thought of while reading this thread.

Regards ~