themagicwand
Just out of interest here - has anyone ever used standard playing cards to do readings with?
The 4 suits of playing cards are equatable to the 4 suits of tarot, ie Swords = Spades, Cups = Hearts, Wands = Clubs, Pentacles = Diamonds. And obviously with playing cards we lose the knight, the jack being the page.
It is my understanding that up until a couple of decades or so ago, real Romany readers in Europe tended to favour playing cards to tarot. This was so they could easily be passed off in less tolerant times as being merely a plaything, something the children played with, etc. rather than the devil's work that the tarot were often seen as.
In the east end of London, spiritual home of the tea leaf readers, the old ladies used to use playing cards for readings also. Tarot cards have not always been as available as they are in this day and age.
I heard one delightful story of a lady who used playing cards all her life to fortune tell for friends and family. Many years ago in the UK there used to be a brand of cigarette called No. 6. Inside packs of No. 6 cigarettes were tokens that could be saved until one had enough tokens to redeem for an item from the No. 6 gift book. This old lady as a youngster got herself a packet of No. 6 playing cards (they had the No.6 logo on the back) and taught herself how to do readings with them.
When she died she insisted that she was buried with her pack of No.6 cards so no-one else could get their hands on them!
I've used playing cards sometimes though not often. They really do suffer I find from not having the major arcana with them, plus people seem genuinely disappointed that they're not having (as they would see it) a "real" tarot card reading. Perhaps playing cards are just too associated with games, and magicians, and tricks to be taken seriously as tools of divination?
The 4 suits of playing cards are equatable to the 4 suits of tarot, ie Swords = Spades, Cups = Hearts, Wands = Clubs, Pentacles = Diamonds. And obviously with playing cards we lose the knight, the jack being the page.
It is my understanding that up until a couple of decades or so ago, real Romany readers in Europe tended to favour playing cards to tarot. This was so they could easily be passed off in less tolerant times as being merely a plaything, something the children played with, etc. rather than the devil's work that the tarot were often seen as.
In the east end of London, spiritual home of the tea leaf readers, the old ladies used to use playing cards for readings also. Tarot cards have not always been as available as they are in this day and age.
I heard one delightful story of a lady who used playing cards all her life to fortune tell for friends and family. Many years ago in the UK there used to be a brand of cigarette called No. 6. Inside packs of No. 6 cigarettes were tokens that could be saved until one had enough tokens to redeem for an item from the No. 6 gift book. This old lady as a youngster got herself a packet of No. 6 playing cards (they had the No.6 logo on the back) and taught herself how to do readings with them.
When she died she insisted that she was buried with her pack of No.6 cards so no-one else could get their hands on them!
I've used playing cards sometimes though not often. They really do suffer I find from not having the major arcana with them, plus people seem genuinely disappointed that they're not having (as they would see it) a "real" tarot card reading. Perhaps playing cards are just too associated with games, and magicians, and tricks to be taken seriously as tools of divination?