How do I feel about Cartomancy vs Tarot

I was born into a family of card players. My brother and I quickly became keen card players, enjoying the social aspects of playing card games both as children and adults.

From the moment we could talk, our grand parents started teaching us card games and how to handle a deck of cards with care and respect. They were themselves keen bridge players in organized bridge rings. We learned every game there was: Canasta, bridge, rummy, old maid and many solitaire games - everything except for Poker, which was not at all allowed to play! (Which was, probably a smart draw: All too many people have lost property or savings due to alcohol and gambling.)

I quite quickly developed a relationship with the suits. I felt the different energies of the suits, the court cards and the pips. Whenever I held a deck of playing cards in my hand, I felt a rush of history, magic and more-ness coming over me. I knew from within that the deck was more than games. I didn't know and don't know if everyone else feels the same when they play cards, but I suspect many do not intuitively feel the energies of the different cards when they play.

But even normal playing cards have energy, you see. Just take look at the Queen of Spades and the Queen of Hearts. Pick them up and compare. Pay attention to what you feel. Do the same with the Ace of Spades and the Ace of Clubs. You will feel the different energy when holding them.

Relationship with the Tarot

You would probably already know this, but the relationship between the Tarot and the playing cards is not that distant. Both systems share common roots, yet they have evolved differently, offering somewhat different approaches to divination.

Cartomancy, with its straightforward interpretation of playing cards, is often seen as a practical tool for providing quick, direct answers to everyday problems or questions. The Tarot, in contrast, is viewed as a more profound spiritual tool, inviting deeper reflection and introspection.

The main difference between the two decks is, obviously, the Major Arcana. The pips and the court cards are generally the same in both decks, with the exception of the Pages in tarot, which for some reason were lost in the 52 card deck.

The Minor Arcana corresponds, in my opinion, perfectly with the 52 cards in the playing deck, with the following key words:

• Spades - Swords - Intellect and thoughts, tribulations - Air

• Hearts - Cups - Love and emotions, healing - Water

• Clubs - Rods - Action and passion, socializing and work - Fire

• Diamonds - Pentacles - Material world and finances, fortune - Earth
  

So you see, if you do not have a tarot deck at hand, it will be easy to do a reading with normal playing cards as well. The only prerequisite is that you know your tarot so well, and have developed a relationship and understanding of the energy of all the cards, that you will not need the imagery on the cards in order to read them.

Speaking of imagery. The earlier tarot decks seldom had imagery on the pip cards. They were in fact, also playing cards, originated for a card game called tarocchi. It was not until the 18th and especially the 19th century (by a.o. the infamous Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn), that the tarot cards were decorated with an abundance of esoteric, occult and religious imagery and symbols.

When looking deeper into the history of the Tarot, the Order of the Golden Dawn (of which the writer and mystic Arthur Edward Waite was a member) stands out in their efforts to connect the tarot to mystic and occult traditions, astrology and religion through the use of symbolism and numerology.

A.E. Waite was, together with Pamela Colman Smith, the main creator of the Raider-Waite Tarot Deck, which many decks of today derive from. Understanding that the Raider-Waite deck today has become somewhat of a golden standard for modern Tarot decks, we should also remember that the Golden Dawn was a group of highly creative people, some of them known even to make up a lot of "mystic" stuff, and that it was they, who created the version of the Tarot that so many people use today (including me).

Merging the two

If we try to look past all the esoteric symbolism of the Golden Dawn, we are in fact left with a deck of divination cards (Minor Arcana) for everyday topics, looking a lot like the playing cards, plus a set of 22 archetypes (Major Arcana), suited for deeper readings.

Take away the Major Arcana, and you can again play card games with your tarot deck. So you see, the tarot and the playing cards are interlinked and not at all different.

Complicating this seemingly straightforward case though: Systems of cartomancy can vary greatly, In many cases, the meaning of each card does not directly correspond with the meaning of the corresponding card in the minor arcana in the tarot, even though the suits corresponds. (The reasons for this are many. History, time and place - divination with playing cards have developed separately in many different places in the world, much more scattered that with the tarot. This has probably much to do to the work of the Golden Dawn, who collected and systemized the tradition of tarot, establishing a sort of school of thought which has influenced tarot readers ever since).

However, the more I work with both decks/systems, the more I find them the same. Is it because, they draw from the same divine source? Or is it just me who adapt and merge the two as I work with both, side by side, over time?

Divine & Play Tarot Deck by Matt Green