I have made references in some of my pages about the regular deck of playing cards are thought to be ``cousins`` per se of the Tarot. Naturally some of you may be curious as to how this may be so . . . .

There will be some who dispute that this is how playing cards were derived. They may point out the difference in the amount of cards and a Tarot deck; and that a regular deck is associated differently to other aspects (i.e. astrology and such) than the Tarot. Yet this does not change the fact that there are at least two schools of thought about this topic:

1] Those who believe that the Tarot is indeed an offshoot of the regular deck. This group thinks that Tarot evolved from playing cards in the mid-14th century when the 22 "trumps" adopted into the regular deck and added one more card to each suit.

2] Those who think the Tarot came first, and the regular playings are, actually, an offshoot of Tarot.

This article deals with the latter school's thought. Not saying that I believe that Tarot came first, then regular playings. Just that this allows me to post some interesting trivia [a. k. a. arguments].

There are 78 cards in a Tarot deck and the deck is divided into 2 sections. 22 Major Arcana, or "trumps", and 56 cards in the Minor Arcana. The Minor Arcana consists of 4 suits with 14 cards each -- king, queen, knight, page, ace, then the cards numbered 2 thru 10. When these were converted over to make a smaller deck, here are the changes that occurred and other attributes that have been given to the regular playing deck :

• All of the Major Arcana was dropped from the deck . . . except for one card. The Fool became known as The Joker in the regular playing card deck.

• The Minor Arcana had the female Page/Princess card become a male Jack court cards line up. The Knight is the card thought to been deleted in the transition.

• The suits remained as 4 separate units, with the Ace and numbers 2 thru 10. The suits were renamed although, oddly, the new names corresponds -to a degree- with the old names:
  • Wands became Clubs
  • Cups became Hearts
  • Pentacles/Coins became Diamonds
  • Swords became Spades

  Thus a continuation of the thought that the 4 suits corresponds with the 4 elements (fire/earth/air/water). The 4 elements aspect is more broken down to show how they correspond with man. Ancient philosophers classified the characteristics the 4 humours : choleric, sanguine,phlegmatic, and melancholic. Today they are known to relate to intuition, intelligence, compassion, and depression.

• The 52 cards of the ordinary playing deck are said to symbolize the 52 weeks of the year.

• It is also thought that the 4 suits relate to the 4 seasons:
  • Spades = Winter
  • Clubs = Spring
  • Hearts = Summer
  • Diamonds = Fall
  Not enough 4 thoughts? Ok how about these: the cards may also relate to the 4 weeks in a lunar month, the 4 parts of a day, and/or the 4 stages of a lifetime (infancy / adolescence / adulthood / old age).

• The Ace in each suit rules the first week of it's corresponding season.
  • The Kings rule the second, the Queen rule the third, Jack rule the fourth, Tens rule the fifth . . . and so on with the Twos ruling the last week.
  • The first week of a cartomancy year is March 1 to March 7th and is ruled by the first card in the deck : the Ace of Diamonds. The last week of the year being February 22 to February 28th and ruled by the lowest and last card of the deck : 2 of Spades.
  • The extra day in a leap-year is under the rulership of the Joker.

• The red and black cards introduced to us in the ordinary playing card number 26 of each color. Thus a duality seems to appear . . . the reds referring to feminine attributes and the blacks being masculine attributes. Night and day . . . ying and yang . . . introvert and extrovert; all signs of dual-ness said to be assigned to the why's of 2 colors.

• It is said the 365 days appear in the ordinary cards . . . in at least 2 ways :
  A) When any 3 cards are chosen, they give a possible combination of 7 possible meanings. 7 being the number of days in the week, of course, and when multiplied by the number of cards/weeks then you have 364 . . . then add the Joker, and you have 365. Ta-da!!
  OR B) add the number of total pips on all the numbered cards (including the Ace) -- add the number of court cards, plus their total value on the basis of 10 -- then adding the number 13 (number of cards in each suit)..and viola, you will have the following : 220 (number of pips on the 40 numbered cards) + 12 (number of court cards) + 120 (value of court cards) + 13 (cards in each suit) = 365!

• The 13 cards in each suit are said symbolize
  • the 13 lunar months of a year, the 13 weeks in each quarter (season), and the 12 calendar months plus the year as a whole.
  • Jesus and His Apostles,
  • Jacob and the 12 tribes of Israel,
  • King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table,
  • Robin Hood and his 12 merry men,
  • the 12 zodiac signs and the Sun
  • . . . etc.

• Reference to sacred trinities existed before the Christians believed in the Holy Trinity (i.e. The Triple Goddess). In the playing cards it is said that the trinities is represented by the King, Queen, and Jack of each suit.

• The 40 cards of the deck (minus the court cards) reminds some of passages within the Old and New Testaments.
  • 1. Israelites wandering for 40 days and nights,
  • 2. Moses on Mount Sinai for 40 days,
  • 3. Jesus fasted for 40 days in the desert,
  • 4. Jesus preached for 40 months, and was in the tomb for 40 hours,
  • 5) Jerusalem was destroyed 40 years after the Ascension
  • . . . .etc.

• Other relevances to the number 40: takes 40 weeks to have a baby. It is said 40 winks is as good as a full night's sleep

• Excerpt from a halfpenny broad sheet said to have appeared as early as 1778 entitled "Cards Spiritualized or, the Soldier's Almanac, Bible, and Prayer Book":

  (Prelude : a soldier named Richard attended church with his regiment, instead of pulling out the Bible he instead spread out his deck of cards in from of him. Naturally the clergy thought this was scandalous and demanded an explanation)

  Richard : ``'When I see an ACE, . . . it reminds me that there is ONE GOD; and when I look upon the TWO or a THREE, the former puts me in mind of the FATHER and SON, and the latter for the FATHER, SON, and HOLY GHOST. A FOUR calls for remembrance of the FOUR EVANGELISTS, MATTHEW, MARK, LUKE, and JOHN. A FIVE, the FIVE WISE VIRGINS who were ordered to trim their lamps; there were ten indeed but five, your worship may remember, were wise, and the other five foolish. A SIX,that in SIX DAYS GOD CREATED HEAVEN AND EARTH. A SEVEN, that on the SEVENTH DAY HE RESTED from all that He made. An EIGHT, of the EIGHT RIGHTEOUS PERSONS PRESERVED FROM THE DELUGE; vig.,Noah and his wife, with his three sons and their wives. A NINE, of the NINE LEPERS cleansed by our Saviour; there were ten but only one returned to to offer his tribute of thanks. And a TEN, of the TEN COMMANDMENTS that God gave Moses on Mount Sinai, on the two tablets of stone' He took the KNAVE and put it aside. 'When I see the QUEEN, it puts me in mind of the QUEEN OF SHEBA, who came from the furthermost parts of the world to hear the wisdom of Solomon, for she was as wise a woman as he a man, for she brought 50 boys or girl, all clothed in girl's apparel to show before the King Solomon, for him to test which were boys and which were girls - but he could not until he called for water to wash themselves; the girls washed up to their elbows but the boys only up to the wrists of their hands, so King Solomon told by that. And when I see the KING, it put me in mind of the Great King of Heaven and Earth, which is God Almighty; and likewise his Majesty King George the Fourth, to pray for him.' (The Magistrate pointed out that the soldier had neglected to satisfactorally explain one . . . the Knave) ' . . . the greatest knave that I know is the serjeant who brought me before you' 'I don't know,' replied the Mayor. 'Wether he be the greatest knave or no; but I am sure he is the greatest fool' (The soldier then continues..) 'When I count the number of dots in a pack of cards, there are 365 - so many days as there are in a year. When I count how many cards are in the pack, I find there are 52 - so many weeks there are in a year. When I reckon how many tricks are won by a pack, I find there are 13 - so many are there in a year. So that this pack of cards is both Bible, Almanack, and Prayer Book to me.'``

• Playing cards have incorporated into daily conversations (something the Tarot has not really done):
  • 1. calling someone a "card" (they have a hidden mystique that we have found amusing and intriguing?),
  • 2) calling someone an "ace" (are we describing their expertise or ability as seen in the cards?)
  • 3. calling someone a "Joker" (self explanatory . . . hahahah!),
  • 4. ``'Jack' of all trades, Master of none``,
  • 5. advice often given is ``play your cards right`` or ``lay your cards out on the table`` . . . even if we feel that they have ``an 'ace' or two up their sleeve`` it is better than not ``following suit``, and they may even ``win hands down`` and try to keep a ``poker-face`` as they ``ante - up`` or try ``to bluff`` the other person to ``show thier hand``. *chuckle*

  There are not that many books available on the market that go into great detail about how to use the regular deck of playing for divination. You may come across small sections in ``compilation`` books of divinational methods, but there are two I have found that deal exclusively with this format: Its In The Cards by Dr. Leo Louis Martello and Fortune-Telling By Playing Cards by Nerys Dee (thru whom I used to list most of my references above).

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