Overview
In my book "Backwoods Shamanism" I
discussed the use of the common American "poker deck' as a
divinatory tool. The use of cards as a fortune telling device,
otherwise known as the practice of cartomancy, is by no means new,
nor is it particularly "ancient" in the grand scheme of
things. The practice is found in nearly every country and culture in
the world today, but rose in popularity in different countries at
different times throughout history. Amongst English speakers it has
been since at least the 16th century that cartomancy has been
practiced. Since that time numerous half-cocked "theories"
(in quotations because some barely qualify as hypothesis, much less
verifiable theorem) about the origins of the practice and the "true"
methods, traditions, meanings, etc have been printed. At this point
in time the whole pool of information has become so murky it is
likely we will never have any ultimate truth in the matter. What can
be said with certainty is that there have been a variety of card
types printed and that people have used all of them to gain insight
into various problems and queries of everyday life. This post aims to
make a simple summary of the how's and why's of cartomancy.
Myths
Many people swear up and down that their cards are
a direct line to the spirit realm, that cards are magical tools and
must be treated with great reverence, observing myriad taboos like
never letting another person touch your cards and keeping them
swathed in silk or charging and cleansing them under full and new
moons. I do not want to start a riot here and far be it from me to
deprive an individual of rituals that make their lives more
meaningful and satisfying, but it has to be said that as far as the
historical perspective the whole practice was at least at one time
far more mundane. For many of us, it is just this which makes
cartomancy an appealing form of divination. The cards that have been
used are the aforementioned poker/bridge deck, the French piquet
deck, the German deck which has modified suits and, of course, the
ever popular tarot. Each and every one of these started off as media
for a variety of games, not as magical tools. The fact that they were
relatively common and inexpensive by the time people started talking
about using them for fortune telling is what made them popular for
this purpose, not the other way round. For, you see, up until the
Renaissance (at the earliest) all things magical and esoteric were
the sole province of the elite classes, Cartomancy finally put the
tools of divination in the hands of the common folk. If cards had
been in fact a secret tome of ancient Egyptian mysticism (as some
have claimed) then it is certain that the vatacan would have scooped
them up and locked them away in the vaults and burned every copy of
anything that revealed this knowledge. Cartomancy is just an example
of applying metaphysical thinking to simple objects like shapes,
colors and numbers. Their value is not in hidden occult power but in
their ability to force us to "think outside the box" so to
speak and to look at our questions from angles and perspectives that
were likely not previously considered. As such, cards are never what
we might call "true oracles" because an oracle, in the
strictest sense, is someone (or, more rarely, some thing) which
speaks (orates) for a Divine source. Today we might call this a
"medium" though modern mediums are more known for
channeling the dead and other spirits while oracles channel Deities.
At any rate cards do none of this but rather appeal to other parts of
our brain and force a state of suspended rationality where we are
more likely to notice things our conscious thinking left hemisphere
processes may have missed but our sub-conscious and dreamy right
hemisphere is happy to fill in with its creative and artistic flair.
Simply put, the cards do not speak for spirits, but for our
subconscious. Again, this should not de-value them as a divinatory
tool but rather place them in a more appropriate context to give us
better insight into our readings with them. I do consult oracles on
most spiritual matters, but it is often the case that we (or those we
are reading for) are creating subconscious blocks between ourselves
and our goals and it is here that cards show their true value. When
the oracles give a clear "thumbs up" to something, yet it
still does not manifest, it is time to read the cards and see how we
(or our clients) may be self-sabotaging and what we can do to fix it.
Variations
Aside from the plethora of "oracle decks"
covering things like angels, demons, animals, past lives and spirit
guides the main sets used in cartomancy are tarot, lenormand and our
common playing cards. Lenormand was made popular by the French
diviner of the same name but the deck itself was invented by Johan
Kaspar Hechtel for his "Das Spiel der Hoffnung" The Game of
Hope which, I have read, played a bit like snakes and ladders. The
symbols on the cards are derived from the symbols found in another
fortune telling device, tasseomancy, the reading of tea leaves or
coffee grounds. The symbols in the tarot are derived from the mostly
Christian mysticism of the Rosicrucian and Golden Dawn variety with
the trumps being practically ripped from the pages of the book of
revelations. I have seen many websites and books try to draw lines
connecting the various card packs and their esoteric meanings and I
find it to be an exercise in futility because, while it may look good
on the surface, they really are not the same at all when you come
down to the individual meanings. It has been said that the tarot is
an expanded deck which combines the old European suits, which are
reflected in the more common "French" suits today, with a
pack of more metaphysically potent trumps. The truth is tarot has
been used for a variety of games and it is the presence of trumps
which sets it apart from other card games. I mean, if you really
tried to, you could probably play a form of poker with a deck of
"Uno" cards but why would you? That is what comparing tarot
to poker cards is like, it is apples to oranges. Just as the games
played with different decks are unique, so too should be the mode of
divination with them. The game of "Rook" attempted to
remove playing cards from their supposedly pagan origins but I wager
someone could come up with a way to divine with that deck too. Moving
on, the esoteric meanings of the suits are not exactly the same
between the tarot and other card decks. By extension. the "Lenormand"
cards traditionally have an inset of one of the French suited cards
from the 6's on up through the court cards. Compare this to the
piquet decks which use the 7's and up. While all of these seem to
reflect one another on the surface, the divinatory meanings are quite
different in most cases and it is for this reason that I hold that
they should all be regarded as separate entities, each with their own
distinctive style and personality so to speak, and equally valid in
their own right. The more cards you have in your deck the more
options you have for meanings. Double those if you include "reversed"
and upright meanings. However, if you think of the cards as
pictographs in a language that is divination, it also means the
language itself becomes more complicated. So the virtue of smaller
decks like the piquet and Lenormand is that they can speak more
simply and directly. Tarot is enriched with a wealth of cabbalistic
and astrological correspondences. The French Piquet decks
traditionally have full print pictures and, as such, are read
reversed or upright, just like the tarot. Only the Lenormand and
poker cards are read with singular meanings.In tarot, each card can
tell a story unto itself and many people will do single card readings
for simple questions and quick answers. With the poker deck the
typical "one card reading" gives you a straight yes (red)
or no (black) with a little bit of "maybe" if you consider
diamonds and clubs as being milder versions of the others. Besides
that poker and Lenormand cards are read in relation to one another.
going back to the analogy of cards as pictographs the tarot cards
could be considered to depict whole words or phrases while, in the
other decks, the cards are letters or sounds which only form whole
phrases when placed next to one another. It is for this reason that
tarot is typically read in "spreads" where each card in the
layout represents a particular position or concept relating to the
query while the rest are laid out in lines and tables where every
line creates another word of phrase like a divinatory acrostic.
General Correspondences and notes on the practical
application of each system.
Tarot
Major arcana= esoteric concepts and spiritual
influences. Royal arcana (face cards)= actions, authority and
execution of matters, bridging the gap between the divine and the
mundane. Lesser arcana (ace-10)= practical efforts and phases of
mundane life.
wands= fire, action and enterprise. swords= air,
logic and dominion. pentacles (also called disks or coins)= earth,
crafts/labors and the fruits thereof. cups= water, emotion and
felicity.
Aces= the unformed or the raw essence of the suit.
2's= choice or accord. 3's= movement. 4's= foundations. 5's=
challenges. 6's= integration. 7's= actualization 8's= diligence 9's=
substantiation 10's= mastery/completion. P's= messengers, those who
speak. Kn's= enforcers, those who act. Q's= counselors, those who
think. K's= legislators, those who dictate.
Significator- may or may not be used and, if so,
is usually selected before the reading based on appearance of a
person. Many modern readers now use the astrological sign instead.
Method- cards are shuffled and laid out in various
diagrams called "spreads" where each position has a
predetermined significance. The meaning of the card is considered in
relation to the meaning of its position in the spread and a narrative
is formed in a logical sequence. Tarot is often used as a meditation
tool because of the depth of meaning that can be derived from even a
single card. As such, tarot readings are regarded by many as a
guiding or teaching session rather than an actual act of fortune
telling. Arthur Edward Waite, a member of the Golden Dawn,
Rosicrucians and Freemasons who co-authored and made popular the
tarot as we know it today, was a proponent of this school.
Poker deck
Hearts=water/spring, relationships and providence.
Diamonds=fire/summer, Means and ends. Clubs=air/autumn, work and
plans. Spades=earth/winter, challenges and loss.
K's= men in general, power, authority, and the
execution thereof. Q's= wisdom, truth, women in general. J's= news,
messages, young people and children. A's= beginnings 2's= exchange.
3's= May refer to crops (where the suit is the season for said crop)
but generally indicates growth, gains or “some” of something.
4's= structures, stability, stagnation, permanence. 5's= physical
nature and health. 6's= destined direction, irresistible movement.
7's= fated challenges. 8's= Livestock, production and community
efforts. 9's= change, expansion or “much” of something. 10's=
Endings in general, whether happy or sad. Sometimes travel or
something coming from a great distance.
Significator- left in the deck and appears at
random, if at all. May indicate more than just people and, when it
does refer to a person, speaks more of their nature than their
physical appearance.
Method- Cards are shuffled then lain in rows of
three for simple readings, a square of nine for more depth. The
center card is the focal point or subject of the reading. The cards
to either side define it. In a square of nine the cards above and
below each card of the center row provide further details about each
of those cards. A narrative is formed by the combined meanings of all
the rows and columns rather than treating the positioning as
past-present-future, etc. Once a year a special forecast is done by
laying all cards in a 4x13 table where each row corresponding to one
of the thirteen full moons of the year. To save space the cards are
usually stacked on top of each other with only the number and suit
showing (since the artwork is insignificant in this type of reading)
in the same manner as in a game of solitaire. Timing is determined by
beginning with the date of the next (or current) full moon and
working your way out. Since all cards are used, every “significator”
will fall somewhere in the table with the date and influences
surrounding that particular concern being revealed by the row it
appears in and the cards surrounding it. Since each row signifies a
lunar month and a particular concern this reading is mainly concerned
with the horizontal rows rather than the vertical columns as in the
square of nine. Where two or more signifying cards appear in the same
row it means these concerns are liable to be connected in some way,
since they would fall in the same lunar month. The most important
technique to develop when reading with poker cards is that of looking
at the “big picture” rather than attempting to derive too much
from a single card. It is less about the sequence and more about the
interplay of influences.
Piquet deck
Hearts= matters of affections (family, friendship,
romance, etc) Diamonds=travel, business and deals. Clubs=money,
success and power. Spades=Loss, suffering and deceit.
7's= revelation. 8's= exchange or crossroads. 9's=
changes 10's=”much” of something A's= news, messages, gifts,
unexpected things. J's= suitors, Q's= women. K's= men.
Significator- left in deck and cards are dealt
until the card corresponding to the appearance of the querent shows
up.
Method- cards are shuffled, then dealt three at a
time until the significator appears. When it does, the other two
cards become the "doors" and a fourth card is drawn and
placed to the right of the third card. This card then becomes the
"key" and sets the tone/theme for the reading. The "doors"
and depth to the reading and may provide information about options.
The placement of the significator indicates the time period of the
forecast, being quite near when in the first position and up to a
year in the third. Additional cards may then be placed in a "tableu"
forming more detailed phrases by reading up and down and left to
right. Symmetry is always observed, ie if a row is placed above then
a row is also placed below. The “grand tableu” consists of 4 rows
of 8 cards and the orientation of influences in the timeline is
determined by the position of the significator rather than by
preconceived significance assigned to specific positions. Special
significance is found in certain cards appearing in the same row or
column. These include "The Court" which features four
upright face cards. This is said to indicate collective efforts and
is highly auspicious, unless the key card is a spade. The "Treasure"
is when the key and door cards are 7's and signifies a grand
acquisition. The "Grim" (yes. Potter fans, that's where it
comes from. Remember card reading basically replaced tea leaf and
coffee ground reading as the common folks' divination) is when the
key and doors are all inverted, black (spade or club) face cards.
This indicates a terrible loss. Finally, the "Sudden Wind"
is when the key and doors are all aces. It means that a major change
is coming, though the nature of this change may be good or bad,
depending on the orientation of the key card.
Lenormand
Individual symbols which may share divinatory
meaning with their German suited (hearts, bells, acorns, leaves)
counterparts, which is a separate tradition from those which use the
French suited cards. My personal theory is that the original game
designer was simply trying to create a more versatile card pack to
appeal to a broader audience. No pattern to be found among the
symbols, numbers and insets. No consideration given to “reversals”
or inverted card meanings.
Significator- Only two, Man and Woman, which are
drawn prior to reading.
Method- Much like the poker and piquet decks the
cards are shuffled and placed in rows or tables of 3, 4, or multiples
thereof, and read in relation to one another and the significator.
** My intention was to include a table in this post showing the interpretations of each of the cards in each tradition side by side. Unfortunately I am getting an error message when trying to post both together so, for now, this will have to suffice. Thank you for reading and hopefully I can publish the rest soon!**
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