How To Read Tarot Cards With Standard Playing Cards?

Tarot cards and playing cards have some differences that affect how they can be used for tarot readings. Understanding these differences is essential to interpret the card meanings when using a regular playing card deck for fortunetelling or divination. Tarot cards have 78 cards, while a playing deck only has 52 cards. However, using court cards and numbered cards, one can read the Tarot with a standard deck of playing cards.

Cartomancy is a method that allows anyone to read the Tarot with a regular deck of playing cards. This involves choosing a deck that speaks to you and reading through the accompanying booklet to familiarize yourself with the card meanings. Lay the cards in positions 1-3 or one at a time, and let the associations come to you.

The best way to read tarot with playing cards is to play with a basic playing card deck on hand, read up on numerology and symbology, and let words/letters come to you. A simple way to do a yes or no tarot reading with playing cards is to assign “Yes” answers to the red cards and “No” answers to the black cards.

In summary, reading the Tarot with a regular deck of playing cards is possible, and it requires a little bit of know-how. By understanding the differences between playing cards and tarot cards, one can interpret the card meanings effectively and get a real reading.

Can you do a tarot reading with playing cards?

Cartomancy is a method of reading tarot cards with playing cards, dating back to the 14th century. It uses 52 playing cards instead of the 78 tarot cards and doesn’t include the major arcana or all royal cards. It’s a great way to read your fate or karma on the go, and some people prefer it because it’s more concise and direct than tarot. Cartomancy is a great alternative to tarot cards, as it doesn’t consist of the major arcana or all royal cards.

How many cards do you lay down for a tarot reading?

Howe recommends two basic spreads for beginners: a three-card pull and the Celtic Cross. The former involves drawing three cards from the deck to represent the past, present, and future, while the Celtic Cross is a classic starting point with 10 cards each. However, there is no “right” spread; it’s more about the connections between the cards, as the cards around a certain card influence the meaning.

Dyan suggests focusing on the quality of each message instead of the quantity of cards pulled, as the connections between cards are influenced by each other and sometimes amplified by each other. The Celtic Cross spread is a classic starting point, but there is no one “right” spread.

How to do a love reading using playing cards?

The practitioner should then lay the cards into piles, with each pile representing a different letter of the alphabet (e. g., L, O, etc.). As each letter is thought of individually, the practitioner should tap each pile in turn, thinking of the corresponding letter in the lover’s name or the person being read about.

Can playing cards be used for divination?

Cartomancy is a form of fortune-telling or divination that emerged in Europe in the 14th century. Practitioners, known as cartomancers or card readers, use standard 52-card decks for fortune-telling readings in the 18th, 19th, and 20th centuries. In France, the 32-card piquet stripped deck is most commonly used, although the 52-card deck can also be used. In English-speaking countries, the most common form of cartomancy is tarot card reading, with tarot cards being almost exclusively used for this purpose. Cartomancers, card readers, or simply readers are all professionals involved in cartomancy.

How to start a tarot reading?

Michelle Tea recommends beginners start with a three-card reading, which can be used to determine past/present/future, problem nature/cause/solution, situation/action/outcome, and more. The Rider-Waite–Smith tarot deck is used for this reading. Tea’s family often relied on tarot for tough decisions, such as discussing a brother’s breakup or deciding whether to drop out of school. The three cards can be pulled from the deck to provide guidance.

Is it OK to pull tarot cards for yourself?

Tarot readings can be done by beginners, providing insight into current situations, honoring intuition, and forecasting potential outcomes. To begin, clean the energy of your space by burning herbs, ringing bells or chimes, taking a bath, or using crystals. A Selenite wand is a popular energy refresher that aids clarity.

Sit comfortably and close your eyes, focusing on the protective energy surrounding you. Take deep breaths, think about your question or needing guidance, and keep your mind and heart open to the answers that may come through the cards. Shuffle the deck, focusing on your desired query, and shuffle the cards in front of you. The pattern laid out is called a “spread”, and the meaning of each card in combinations builds up to the overall answer to your query.

Before beginning to shuffle, know which spread you will be working with. As answers come through, it’s important to draw additional cards for further clarity or start with a new question from a different perspective. Tarot readings can be a powerful tool for personal growth and understanding.

Can you play normal card games with tarot cards?

A complete Tarot deck, such as one for French Tarot, contains the full 78-card complement and can be used to play any game in the Tarot family, except for Minchiate, an extinct game with 97 cards. Tarot games are played with tarot packs designed for card play and have a permanent trump suit alongside the usual four card suits. The first of two great innovations in trick-taking games since they arrived in Europe was the concept of trumps, which emerged in northern Italy around 1420.

A similar concept arose in the game of Karnöffel, where some cards of the given suit had full trump powers, others were partial trumps, and the 7s had a special role. These features have been retained in games of the Karnöffel family down to the present, but are never seen in tarot games. Suits with variable powers are called chosen or selected suits to distinguish them from trump suits.

Is it OK to shuffle tarot cards?

When acquiring a new tarot deck, it is essential to thoroughly shuffle the cards to ensure they are in order. The most common method is to place the deck on the floor and smoosh them around, then pick them up and start shuffling. Some experts suggest keeping the cards with you for a week to tune them into your energy and vibration, while others prefer spending extra time shuffling them. One common technique is the overhand shuffle, where you place the deck in one hand and release a section of cards at a time into the opposite hand until the cards are mixed up.

How to make tarot cards out of playing cards?

To convert poker cards to tarot cards, follow these steps:

1. Gather necessary supplies, such as white paper, glue, tape, or sticky back white labels.
2. Organize your cards by suit, measuring out paper to fit them.
3. Fill in your Tarot suit info and number info, and stick them to the cards.
4. Do a reading to confirm your results.
5. Enjoy your new Tarot deck! Both poker and Tarot decks share some origins, making this process a perfect match.

Separate your cards by suit, arrange them in order from Ace (low) to King (high), and keep your Joker cards nearby.

Is tarot card reading true?

Early French occultists claimed that tarot cards had esoteric links to ancient Egypt, the Kabbalah, Indic Tantra, or the I Ching. However, scholarly research reveals that tarot cards were invented in Italy in the early 15th century for playing games, and there is no evidence of significant use of them for divination until the late 18th century. The belief in the divinatory meaning of the cards is closely associated with a belief in their occult properties, which was propagated by prominent Protestant Christian clerics and Freemasons.

From its uptake as an instrument of divination in 18th-century France, the tarot went on to be used in hermeneutic, magical, mystical, semiotic, and psychological practices. It was used by Romani people when telling fortunes and as a Jungian psychological apparatus for tapping into “absolute knowledge in the unconscious”, a tool for archetypal analysis, and even a tool for facilitating the Jungian process of individuation.