Developing a Personal System for Reading with Playing Cards

cardlady22

An interesting thing to consider with the Courts is the direction they face. Are you going to assign projective vs receptive to their right/left, or your own perspective as the reader? Lay them out in a 3 by 4 grid and compare them across the suits. What do they hold, and in which hand if one is shown?

ETA: I'm looking through to find where I've read those things listed. Of course, each author assigns them their own way.
Milton A. Pottenger's Symbolism
 

Richard

Oh, yes! Very interesting. Thanks, cardlady. I'm going to start taking note of the orientation of the Courts when they appear.

By the way, yesterday I received the Pippoglyph playing cards which Lee mentioned in another thread. They are visually stunning, not only the Courts, but also the Pips.
 

hunter

The Pippoglyph cards are very nice. I gave my deck away this morning :-0 Someone was oohing and aahing over it and seems to want it more than I do, so...I gave it to them. My pink deck is THE deck now that the Pippoglyph is gone. Somehow it makes it easier to drop the maiden mother crone idea, now that it is my only playing card deck.

My readings all seemed to require the more traditional court assignments and...I'm depressed and foggy lately, and I think it is best to use the system that has the most support for it.

I've been having amazing sucessful readings. The pip cards always seem to strongly declare a major, by all sharing a similar correspondance. Yesterday 3 of the 4 cards were Mercury and the 4th was an ace which doesn't have a planet or zodiac correspondance, so it was easy to assign the Magician to the reading.

I've been using the adapted feel good version of the typical 4 card spread--past, present, crossing, future--found in "Spiritual Tarot" and I've been using the feel good readings for the present card, but regular RWS meanings for the other cards. And the charts in "Tarot and Astrology" to assign a major.
 

Satori

cardlady22 this is a treasure trove! I have wanted to see how you set up your system, and here it is!

Keep going!!! Please! And let's hope the Mods sticky it to the top of the forum! :)

I wouldn't be able to use Ms. Kenner's system either. I don't consider Fall the beginning of the year...:(
 

cardlady22

Pip Patterns (aka fractions)

This step is still not solidified for me, so I'm just going to state a few basic thoughts. See what you come up with as you think about the shapes and relationships between 2 number components. Pull out your regular playing card deck and look at the arrangements of the pip symbols. Because they are set up with reversals, they can be seen as describing a field with players or sides to them.

Ace ~ has a single point
Two ~ 1 over 1 (? a line)
Three ~ 2 over 1 (? a triangle- I'd prefer to see it arranged this way)
Four ~ 2 over 2 (? a square)
Five ~ 3 over 2 (? a bloom or explosion)
Six ~ 4 over 2
Seven ~ 5 over 2
Eight ~ 5 over 3
Nine ~ 5 over 4
Ten ~ 5 over 5

These aren't shown on the cards, but are implied:
J/Eleven ~ 6 over 5
Q/Twelve ~ 6 over 6
K/Thirteen ~ 7 over 6
**see attachments of graphics done by Deborah Lowrey

Does the presence of 6 and 7 appearing only in the Courts make you feel differently about the "usual" numerology assignments?

And with the 9, in some older decks it was only the 9:diamond: that received the H pattern. The other three suits were done similar to the Seven with the extra pip in the center top.

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When you work out the mixed number like mathematical fractions, which ones get associated together by value?

Ace, 2, 4, 10, Queen all become 1

3 and 6 become 2

5 becomes 1 ½

7 becomes 2 ½

etc.
 

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cardlady22

Polarity and/or Gender

We're all familiar with the idea of odd numbers being considered masculine (+) and the even numbers being considered feminine (-). If those concepts leave something to be desired you can look at "polarity" and add a third option:

Positive/active, outward ~ King
Negative/passive, inward ~ Queen
Neutral/either ~ Jack

How would you look at the pips in this light? Would you say all Aces are neutral? What about Tens?

For me, the suits are :heart:/:diamond: = outward ~ with :club:/:spade: = inward

And this brings me around to why I like the idea of the "year" starting with Capricorn, Solstice. You draw in a breath and exhale. A seed gets planted for it to grow. And the suit arrangement follows the number of points or sides in the symbol.
:spade: 1
:heart: 2
:club: 3
:diamond: 4

ETA: I don't understand the mathematics/theory, but it stuck in my head when I read a post about it taking 2 spins for something to return to its original state/position.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spin-½
 

Satori

cardlady, could you discuss further your choices for the suit choice and the inward and outward notion. I was intrigued by the hearts being outward.
 

cardlady22

:grin: I think this is a good example of where elemental assignment can make a huge difference in how you interpret the energy.
The colors themselves, red vs black, are my first level consideration. Black absorbs light; its opposite reflects.

:heart: has been assigned as fire or water. Water is the association for the correlative tarot suit, Cups. In its purest form, I see Love as something you act on or give out to another person, animal or cause.

:diamond: has been assigned as air, fire or earth. Earth comes from the tarot Pentacles. Value(s) motivate you to go gather, and then build or distribute to and for others' benefit.

:club: has been assigned as air and fire. Fire comes from the tarot Wands. I prefer Air because I associate it with the wind bringing all sorts of new ideas and learning. Our thoughts are constantly whirling; hopefully changing. We have far more Thoughts that just sit still in our hearts & minds. But, if it is Earth, it is our training and learning that provides the foundation of our mindset.

:spade: has been assigned as earth, water or air. Air comes from the tarot Swords. Earth could be seen as a linking with the tool. Water is Life and Death. You don't have control over it, you have to respond by dealing with whatever level you have to work with.

Does that help? At least with seeing why/how different people define them? Perhaps a strict, singular element=suit isn't the best fit.
 

hunter

Thanks for all this. I'm going to have to compare it to my books. I don't have the book handy and don't know its title, but I have a aqua blue book with the work "keys" in the title that talks about primary and secondary elements for the zodiac signs.