Tarot and Cartomancy

I am interested in your opinions about connecting the traditional "wise & subtle" craft of reading plain, run-of-the-mill playing cards with reading pip cards of a tarot deck. What have been your experiences, or do you not advocate such use?

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1. Do you do it? How (much)?
2. This method doesn't work for you.

KK

I am surprised no has posted an answer to this . What a fascinating site ! I love the interesting names of the court cards - something new to think about there for sure.

There are some cartomancy threads in the Divination section I think. I find the whole subject of card reading the old ways fascinating , although I don't know enough about it. I think there is a lot to learn from the old card readers . They were here first, as far as I can tell .

I often think that the introduction of the major arcana into a deck of cards might have been a momentous development for any cartomancer , and could have opened up a whole new world of symbolism to explore in readings .

Lol- " Spades: Earth, Winter "

(debate from a different thread)

Dark Inquisitor said:

There are some cartomancy threads in the Divination section I think. I find the whole subject of card reading the old ways fascinating , although I don't know enough about it. I think there is a lot to learn from the old card readers . They were here first, as far as I can tell .

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As far as I know, Tarot was actually here first... I could off course be misinformed, but I don't really think "they" where here first.

Whatever the case it is indeed fascinating and it is a great learning tool to use "regular" cards for a change.

kilts_knave: Long before I ever knew of or used Tarot, I used regular playing cards for many years.

As a tool, the humble playing cards were as accurate as Tarot & contributed greatly towards the reading skills. I incorporate what I learned from them in reading Tarot cards. I also recommend their use for their apparent simplicity; also for the same reasons as for the use of Tarot decks with non-illustrated pips.

As is said, do not judge a book by its cover.

By the way: many thanks for the links. Stumbled across the "Wise & Subtle Arts of Reading Cards" some time ago & a pleasure to see it again. The elemental correspondences interesting.

I am curious about reading with playing cards and would like to try it but am wary of learning another system of interpretation. Is it difficult to use both "systems"? I think I'd look at a spread of playing cards and think "but in tarot terms it would mean this and not that..." especially if it was one of those readings where the cards tell me what I don't want to hear.


--Myrrha

kilts_knave said:

I am interested in your opinions about connecting the traditional "wise & subtle" craft of reading plain, run-of-the-mill playing cards with reading pip cards of a tarot deck. What have been your experiences, or do you not advocate such use?
KK

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(Slightly off topic: recently, I just got a new playing card deck, and I love it! )

Like MeeWah, I used playing cards long before I happened upon the World of Tarot. The cartomantic meanings I had been taught as a kid had very little similarity to the tarot card meanings I first learned only nine years ago. With the pictorial number cards, not to mention the major arcana (!), I saw virtually no relationship between the two practices.

Now, I kind of merge the tarot and cartomantic meanings when I read my playing cards. I like the way tarot has influenced those readings. Before tarot, I read the cards by rote, and each card had only one meaning. Tarot taught me to make connections between the cards, to allow flexible meanings for each card, and - most importantly - I now use my intuition.

Probably due to familiarity, I still feel slightly more comfortable with my little poker deck; however, tarot now strongly influences how I read regular playing cards.

Myrrha said:

I am curious about reading with playing cards and would like to try it but am wary of learning another system of interpretation. Is it difficult to use both "systems"? I think I'd look at a spread of playing cards and think "but in tarot terms it would mean this and not that..." especially if it was one of those readings where the cards tell me what I don't want to hear.
--Myrrha

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Myrrha,

With the right correlation between the playing card meanings and the tarot card meanings, there shouldn't be a problem with skewing the reading away from an undesirable message. I've found, for the most part, that the tarot just tends to give the cartomantic assignments more depth and layers of understanding.

Actually, I think it's easier to use both systems. I've combined the old way I learned a long time ago, the "tarot way" I learned fairly recently, and a system I created for reading the Major Arcana into the cards. I thinks it's easier because it comes from the my own knowledge and reading experience.

I have a theory that the playing card meanings handed down from generation to generation might have been developed the same way. Undoubtedly, they went through many permutations as they were passed along. I think there's something wonderfully organic about drawing upon your own ancestry, knowledge, and experience to make your readings sacredly yours.

The site has a charming presentation of cartomancy.

I've seen similar associations in some cartomancy books of the first page--the second page detail is fascinating and much more developed than I've seen in beginning books...or perhaps simpler cartomancy descriptions in a deck such as the Alan Tarot, which has French pips (poker style pips) and double-ended trumps.

Thanks for the useful link! It seems there's a gentler or interesting slant on some of the interpretations--if I was reading for someone using French pip suits, it will be useful if I could enjoy such assignments.

I've read one or two other tarot authors--E. Connolly for one--that believe the number nine is really the culmination of the suit and interpret meanings in that way.

If I ever do use these assignments, they might be intriguing as a method to underline readings with fancy French pip decks such Transformation Decks...

In terms of reading for self and others, I'm usually more inclined to use a tarot deck for it's pictures, layers of meaning or associative patterns that I like in the design...which I see in historic 'Latin' suits--that is why I like even the 48-card "Spanish Cadiz" style of decks for reading. The learning from tarot to these decks seem easier for me.

So it's just a personal preference.

Cerulean

I was looking for a "special" deck of playing cards to use to read with and came across several sites that sell Spanish playing cards (they are playing card sellers) and was very surprised to see that some of the new decks still use swords, cups, coins and wands for the suits! The court cards are very illustrated too and seem very Tarot-like. I might get a deck later.

For now I am going to experiment with one of the decks I got with my Texas Hold 'em poker set. They seem to be working pretty well.

valeria

Nocturnal Lure said:

As far as I know, Tarot was actually here first... I could off course be misinformed, but I don't really think "they" where here first.

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http://jducoeur.org/game-hist/seaan-cardhist.html