Tag: playing card cartomancy
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Playing Card Cartomancy VII: The Fives
Last week we talked about the divinatory meaning of the fours in a deck of playing cards, which are all variations on the theme of stasis. This week we’re talking about the fives. Up until now, the numerology informing our interpretations of the pip cards has been pretty standard. It’s not identical to the meanings…
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Playing Card Cartomancy VI: The Fours
Where the divinatory meaning of the threes in a playing card deck are all about plenty, the fours are all about stasis. Numerologically, the fours are very stable – think of the four legs on a table or a stool, preventing it from tipping in any direction. In the context of divination, this stability shows…
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Playing Card Cartomancy V: The Threes
Where the divinatory meanings of the twos in a playing card deck are all about polarity, the threes are all about plurality. What started as a singular relationship is multiplied again and again, into a dynamic web of interaction where nothing can be perfectly isolated from anything else. The threes are about bounty, about plenty.…
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Playing Card Cartomancy IV: The Twos
Last week we talked about the meanings behind the Aces, now we’re on to the Twos. Where the Aces are the seeds of their respective suits, they are all very unified; the Aces relate to the individual and their circumstances or motivations. Twos are where we start to see division, and the dynamic relationships that…
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Playing Card Cartomancy III: The Aces
Last week we covered the meanings of the suits in playing card cartomancy. This week we’re going to dive into the imagery of specific cards, starting with the Aces. In a very broad sense, we can think of the numeric cards as having a story arc that unfolds within their respective suit. This starts as…
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Playing Card Cartomancy II: The Suits
Last week we talked about the importance of color in playing card cartomancy. This week we’re getting more specific with an examination of the suits. In the playing card deck we are discussing there are four different suits: diamonds (♦️), clubs (♣️), hearts (♥️), and spades (♠️). For readers coming from a tarot background, it…
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Playing Card Cartomancy I: The Colors
Last week we kicked off our series on playing card cartomancy. In this post we’re going to be exploring the first foundational element in cartomantic divination: color. Throughout this series, I’m going to be assuming a standard set of American playing cards, such as those made by Bicycle. Such a deck has fifty-four cards (thirteen…
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Playing Card Cartomancy: An Overview
Last month I wrote about how different divination systems have different characters and vocabularies. One of the systems I referenced repeatedly was playing card cartomancy. It’s one of my favorite systems, so I’d like to start a new post series walking through the basics of that. First off, what is cartomancy? Cartomancy is a form…