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Understand the meanings of playing cards in any tarot spread
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Using playing cards to tell your fortune might seem like a slumber party trick, but it’s actually part of the art of cartomancy, which dates back to the 1700s! [1] X Research source It only takes a few minutes to do a simple card reading, and it’s really fun to interpret the cards and what they say about your future. We spoke with tarot and cartomancy experts for professional guidance on how to use playing cards as tarot cards. With their help, we’ll walk you through the essential steps for reading tarot (without tarot cards) to get you doing your own readings in no time.
Steps
Section 1 of 3:
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Match each playing card suit with one of the suits in a tarot deck. The four suits in a tarot deck are cups, swords, wands, and pentacles, and the four suits in a playing deck are hearts, spades, clubs, and diamonds. Here’s how each suit connects to the tarot, according to psychic astrologer Stina Garbis:
- Hearts
equal the cups
suit in the tarot, which relate “messages to the emotions,” representing your feelings, relationships, and home, says Garbis. [2]
X
Expert Source
Stina Garbis
Psychic Astrologer Expert Interview. 14 February 2022. - Spades
, like the swords
in the tarot, relate to “intellect or challenges,” as well as obstacles, loss, and planning, continues Garbis. [3]
X
Expert Source
Stina Garbis
Psychic Astrologer Expert Interview. 14 February 2022. - Diamonds
, according to Garbis, would “equal pentacles
and relate to finances and work.” [4]
X
Expert Source
Stina Garbis
Psychic Astrologer Expert Interview. 14 February 2022. - Clubs
“are wands
and refer to future actions,” travel, and creative thinking, concludes Garbis. [5]
X
Expert Source
Stina Garbis
Psychic Astrologer Expert Interview. 14 February 2022.
- Hearts
equal the cups
suit in the tarot, which relate “messages to the emotions,” representing your feelings, relationships, and home, says Garbis. [2]
X
Expert Source
Stina Garbis
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Study the tarot meanings for each card number. In tarot, number cards are called “pip” cards. Like in the traditional tarot, each card number means something different. When you interpret the card number, Garbis advises interpreting that meaning in the context of the suit’s meaning. [6] X Expert Source Stina Garbis
Psychic Astrologer Expert Interview. 14 February 2022. Here are the general meanings of each number in a tarot or playing card deck:- Ace: Beginning, attributes of the card suit
- 2: Relationship, balance
- 3: Connections, growth
- 4: Foundation, stability
- 5: Change, challenge, imbalance
- 6: Harmony, success
- 7: Wisdom, spirituality, choices
- 8: Organization, movement, stagnation
- 9: Realization, understanding
- 10: Completion, transition to something new [7] X Research source
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Interpret face cards as representatives of specific people and situations. In general, the face cards (or “court” cards in tarot) reflect real people and the impact they’ll have on someone’s life. Kings and queens tend to mean an adult person, while knaves (or jacks) will represent younger people. These cards may mean that someone with the associated characteristics is coming into your life. Here’s how to interpret each face card as a tarot card: [8] X Research source
- Knave (jack) of hearts: Romantic partner; confidante
- Knave (jack) of spades: Focused, clever
- Knave (jack) of clubs: Adventurer, risk-taker
- Knave (jack) of diamonds: Grounded, serious
- Queen of hearts: Kind, nurturing woman
- Queen of spades: Honest woman
- Queen of clubs: Passionate, ambitious woman
- Queen of diamonds: Practical, helpful woman
- King of hearts: Wise, calm man
- King of spades: Calculating man
- King of clubs: Inspirational man
- King of diamonds: Hard-working, rich man
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Interpret the joker as the “fool” tarot card—which represents a surprise. The joker playing card represents the person who’s receiving the tarot spread, similar to the “fool” in tarot . When the joker card appears in a reading, it may mean that a situation you’re facing will suddenly change. It’s not positive or negative on its own, but connect it back to the other cards in your spread and use your intuition to figure out what it means to you. [9] X Research source
- For example, let’s say you’re doing a reading to find out if you’re going to meet someone special soon. In that case, the joker could mean that you’re about to have a sudden change in your love life.
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wikiHow Quiz: What Tarot Card Am I?
Section 2 of 3:
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Clear your mind and set your intention before you start your reading. Center yourself just as you would before a tarot reading by meditating or taking a few deep breaths. Jumbled thoughts make it hard to interpret your cards. Close your eyes and breathe deeply to release any thoughts circling your head. When you feel ready, dive into your reading. [10] X Research source
- For instance, you might close your eyes and take a deep breath. As you let out your breath, imagine your thoughts going with it.
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Ask the cards a question to guide your reading. Be specific about your topic to get clear direction from the cards. Professional tarot card reader Susan Levitt suggests asking about your relationship, work issues, life choices, or spiritual path. [11] X Expert Source Susan Levitt
Tarot Card Reader Expert Interview. 20 November 2019.- If you’re wondering about a particular person or event, ask, “Where is my relationship with Alex going?” “Will I be happy if I move away for college?” or “What will happen if I take this promotion at work?”
- Try more general questions like, “What’s in store for my love life?” “How will the new year unfold?” or “Will I be successful in my career?”
- It’s okay to ask more than one question, but do a separate card layout for each.
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Shuffle your cards and cut the deck. Knock or blow on the deck to clear lingering energies. Ask for guidance as you prepare the deck. Shuffle the deck a few times to make sure the cards are really mixed up. Set the deck on a flat surface, then cut it once—which means separating the shuffled deck into two smaller decks. Finally, restack the deck so it’s ready for the reading. [12] X Research source
- Keep your question in the front of your mind as you shuffle.
- If you plan on using your cards for yes/no questions, you might not want to think about a specific question while shuffling. Instead, you might think, "Give me the answers I seek."
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Draw one card for answers to yes-or-no questions. Ask your question and pick up the top card. Your question can be very general or very specific—either way, the cards will give you a clear “yes” or “no” answer. Continue to ask questions for as long as you like, drawing a new card each time. [13] X Research source Red cards mean “yes,” and black cards mean “no.” Here are some good questions to ask :
- “Will I find love soon?”
- “Is Taylor the right person for me?”
- “Is this career path right for me?”
- “Should I switch majors?”
- “Can I trust Mario?”
- “Am I on the right track at school?”
- “Should I enroll in a photography class?”
- “Should I move to Portland?”
- “Will this project be a success?”
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Lay out a simple spread to answer your open-ended questions. A spread is a series of cards that you read all at once. Try a 1- or 3-card spread with your playing cards to get started. Draw the cards from the top of the deck one by one and lay them in a row. However, you don’t need a special layout to read your cards. Just follow your intuition. Spiritual advisor Emily Christensen mentions how she “encourage[s] students to listen to their intuition and how they…feel as they lay their cards out.” [14] X Expert Source Emily Christensen
Spiritual Advisor & Founder of Rainbow Raaja Expert Interview. 8 July 2020.- For a 1-card spread, draw the top card on the deck and interpret its meaning.
- In a 3-card spread, draw three cards from the top of the deck. The first card represents the past, the second card represents the present, and the 3rd card represents the future.
- As you get more into tarot, you might learn how to do traditional tarot spreads . However, this step isn’t necessary for reading playing cards.
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Combine all of your card interpretations to get a full picture. First, pair each card’s suit meaning and the number or face card interpretation. Garbis says, “In cartomancy, you use the number to mean something, and the suit to mean something, and you combine the messages to get the meaning.” [15] X Expert Source Stina Garbis
Psychic Astrologer Expert Interview. 14 February 2022. Then, look at all the cards together and see how they play off each other. Finally, use your intuition to decide what the cards mean to you. Here are some example readings for the question, “Should I switch jobs?”- 1-Card Reading with the Ace of Spades: Spades can represent obstacles, loss, planning, and intellect, while the ace represents beginnings. This card might mean that changing jobs will require a lot of planning, but it could be a good idea because you see new beginnings in the cards. The loss could represent your old job.
- 3-Card Reading with the 3 of Clubs + 4 of Diamonds + 5 of Spades: In this spread, the 3 of clubs represents the past and could mean that you had creativity and connection in your job before. The 4 of diamonds represents the present and could mean you have money and stability now. The 5 of spades represents the future and could mean you’d have change, obstacles, and loss. This spread might mean it’s best to stay at your current job, depending on what your intuition tells you.
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Use your own intuition and feelings to interpret each card. Tarot reading isn’t about rules—it’s based on intuition. Traditional card interpretations can provide a lot of guidance for your readings, but they’re not necessary, Christensen affirms. [16] X Expert Source Emily Christensen
Spiritual Advisor & Founder of Rainbow Raaja Expert Interview. 8 July 2020. If interpreting your cards feels difficult or constricting, just go with your gut.- For example, let’s say the number “8” has always felt lucky for you. When an “8” comes up in your reading, you might interpret it to mean something positive in your future.
- Similarly, clubs look like clovers, which might remind you of your childhood playing outdoors. You might decide that clovers represent your inner child and spending time in nature.
- The key is being consistent. If you assign special meanings to your cards, always interpret them that way.
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Expert Q&A
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QuestionCan you use normal playing cards as tarot cards?Reverend Stina Garbis is a Spiritual Advisor and the Owner of Psychic Stina. With over 30 years of experience, she specializes in providing personal and professional advice through astrology and tarot card readings. Reverend Stina has experience working with high-profile celebrities, sports figures, politicians, and CEOs. She has been featured in many publications, including Bustle, Vice, The New York Post, and Readers’ Digest and she also has a 200k+ following on TikTok. Stina holds an Ordained Minister License from The International Metaphysical Ministry University Seminary.Yeah, definitely! It’s called cartomancy. Tarot has a major and minor arcana, and a regular deck of playing cards does not have that, but that is fine, since you can find you have all of the answers in the major arcana, or in a deck of regular playing cards.
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QuestionHow do you tell fortunes with playing cards?Reverend Stina Garbis is a Spiritual Advisor and the Owner of Psychic Stina. With over 30 years of experience, she specializes in providing personal and professional advice through astrology and tarot card readings. Reverend Stina has experience working with high-profile celebrities, sports figures, politicians, and CEOs. She has been featured in many publications, including Bustle, Vice, The New York Post, and Readers’ Digest and she also has a 200k+ following on TikTok. Stina holds an Ordained Minister License from The International Metaphysical Ministry University Seminary.In cartomancy, you use the number to mean something, and the suit to mean something and you combine the messages together to get the meaning. When in doubt, you can look up the meaning of the card and refer to it as its tarot equal.
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Tips
- Christensen recommends being creative and following your intuition when reading your tarot. So, be flexible! [20] X Expert Source Emily Christensen
Spiritual Advisor & Founder of Rainbow Raaja Expert Interview. 8 July 2020.Thanks - Set the scene to make your reading more fun. Light a candle or incense, set out some crystals, and turn down the lights.Thanks
- In the regular tarot, cards that are upside down mean the reverse of the card’s normal interpretation. Unlike tarot cards, playing cards typically don’t have reverse meanings because the cards look the same in both directions.Thanks
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References
- ↑ https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/history-of-playing-cards
- ↑ Stina Garbis. Psychic Astrologer. Expert Interview. 14 February 2022.
- ↑ Stina Garbis. Psychic Astrologer. Expert Interview. 14 February 2022.
- ↑ Stina Garbis. Psychic Astrologer. Expert Interview. 14 February 2022.
- ↑ Stina Garbis. Psychic Astrologer. Expert Interview. 14 February 2022.
- ↑ Stina Garbis. Psychic Astrologer. Expert Interview. 14 February 2022.
- ↑ https://youtu.be/Z1qMJChIKCo?t=330
- ↑ https://youtu.be/Z1qMJChIKCo?t=489
- ↑ https://youtu.be/Z1qMJChIKCo?t=526
- ↑ https://youtu.be/JdCp9sBnrVg?t=163
- ↑ Susan Levitt. Tarot Card Reader. Expert Interview. 20 November 2019.
- ↑ https://www.mysticmag.com/psychic-reading/the-ultimate-guide-to-cartomancy-reading-basics-and-card-meanings/
- ↑ https://youtu.be/lbwZtH0KVGY?t=334
- ↑ Emily Christensen. Spiritual Advisor & Founder of Rainbow Raaja. Expert Interview. 8 July 2020.
- ↑ Stina Garbis. Psychic Astrologer. Expert Interview. 14 February 2022.
- ↑ Emily Christensen. Spiritual Advisor & Founder of Rainbow Raaja. Expert Interview. 8 July 2020.
- ↑ https://frenchplayingcards.mit.edu/tarot/tarot-history
- ↑ https://biddytarot.com/tarot-card-meanings/
- ↑ https://culture.org/psychics/how-to-read-tarot-cards/
- ↑ Emily Christensen. Spiritual Advisor & Founder of Rainbow Raaja. Expert Interview. 8 July 2020.
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