Let's look at the deck itself.
Why are there 52 cards? Why 4 suits?
And what do these suits represent?
To begin with, there are 52 weeks in a
year. If we add the numbers 5 and 2
together (like it's done in numerology),
we have the number 7. Seven is the
number of days in a week, and it's the
number of visible planets, referred to
by the Order of the Magi as the Seven
Thunders.
If we take the numeric value of each of
the cards, Aces being 1's, all the way
up through the 10's, and if we count
the Jacks as 11's, the Queens as 12's
and the Kings as 13's, and if we add up
these values for each of the 4 suits -
4 times 1, 4 times 2, 4 times 3, etc.,
all the way through to 13, it adds up to
364. The number of days in a year, minus
one. The extra card is the Joker.
People born on New Year's Eve, Decenber
31, are the Jokers of the deck. They
are not connected to any specific suit,
therefore they are chameleons, who can
transform into whatever they desire.
For examples, look at Val Kilmer and
Anthony Hopkins, both particularly
chameleon-like actors.
So if you give the Joker the value of
one, it brings the total value of the
deck of cards to 365. The number of days
in a year.
The 12 Court cards - the Jacks, Queens
and Kings (one of each in each suit) -
represent the 12 months in the year. The
numbers have meanings, as do the suits.
The actual symbol used by the Order of the
Magi, for example, is the Ace of Spades.
You've seen on most decks how this card
is different than the others - the Ace
is usually drawn bigger and is ornately
decorated. This one card, above all,
represents the secrets that are there to
be discovered by studying the cards in
depth.
The cards are symbols, and everything
about them symbolizes something. The
suits represent the 4 seasons and the 4
elements. The hearts symbolize spring
and the water element - love and re-
lationships of all kinds. lf your birth
card is a heart, you are most likely a
person whose personal karma and main
form of expression is worked out through
relationships. (Of course, everything
I'm telling you here is being hugely
simplified, for reasons of space.) The
clubs symbolize summer and the air
element. Clubs represent mental pursuits,
acquisition of knowledge, the mind,
communications - anything involving ideas
and opinions and the ability to share
and communicate them. Writing, teaching,
publishing, public speaking, going to
school - these are all club-related
subjects. If your birth card is a club,
you are at home most with ideas, ex-
pression, sharing information, any form
of communication. The diamonds represent
autumn and the earth element. They are
symbolic of values - what we value in
life. (This gets interpreted a lot in
terms of money but it doesn't stand for
only that.) If your birth card is a
diamond, you are mostly likely concerned
deeply with values and/or money, your
basic value system. And the spades
represent winter and the element of
fire. The Phoenix rising from its own
ashes, the promise of a new spiritual
life. The spades represent work,
health, your inner fire, all things
related to death and/or changes in your
work and health.
In relation to the Tarot, the hearts are
the suit of cups, the clubs are the
wands, the diamonds are the pentacles
and the spades are the swords.
The first known book ever published on
this subject is called "The Mystic Test
Book", written by the Grand Master of
the Inner Temple of the Ancient Order
of the Magi, Olney H. Richmond. It was
originally published in 1893. In it, he
says, among other amazing things, that
he believes the cards must have originated
in Atlantis, since all major civilizations
claim to have "invented" them. This book,
which I am still reading, is extremely
technical in that he gives many precise
mathematical equations that have been
used by the Order of the MAgi to calculate
the Spreads. There is nothing left to
"chance" about this system; it is very
precise. It's called "The Mystic Test
Book" because, he says, if you use its
formulas and analyses to test their
accuracy, you will find them to be true.
It's a curious book to read - a lot of
things in it I don't exactly understand
- but when I began researching and
studying this subject I of course (like
any 7 of clubs person worth his salt)
wanted the "source" material as well as
everything that's been written after it.
And how do the planets fit in here, you
may be wondering. The Seven Thunders?
When looking at a Yearly Spread, there
are 7 periods during each 365 day term.
Each one is under the influence of a
different planet, beginning with the
Mercury period which begins anew each
year on your actual birth date, and
continuing through the other 6: Venus,
Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and
Neptune. Pluto is now being used as
well, as well as a Pluto "result card."
The reason I'm sharing this is to make
you aware that this system exists. You
don't have to accept it, believe it or
look any further than this in its
regard. But if you didn't know about
it already and you find yourself
interested or curious, this will take
you to my Birthcardazoid room at my
newly-launched wwwdot site, Cardazoid.com,
where you can learn more. (Please no te
that this link will open in a "new"
window, which means when you're finished
checkin' it out, you can close that
window and you'll still be here, at
the Underground.)
Or to just find out what card you are, you can
use my FREE birthcard chart, also at Cardazoid.
What I want to do here as well, to give you
a concrete example of how this works, is
to take a deck of cards and pull one out
at random - the old 'pick a card, any
card' routine - and tell you which birth
days are represented by that specific
card and what it means. So let
me get a deck. . .Hold on. . .Ok, I have
one. . .I'm going to shuffle it 7 times
and then pick a card out. Hang in while
I shuffle. . .(Yes, I am actually doing
this right now.) Ok. . .I've shuffled.
Now I'm going to pick a card. . .It's
the Jack of Diamonds.
If you were born on any one of thefollowing days, your birth card is the
Jack of Diamonds: January 16, February
14 (Valentine's Day), March 12, April
10, May 8, June 6, July 4 (Independence
Day) and August 2. So what the heck
does this mean, you ask? For one thing,
the Jack, being one of the Court cards,
represents some form of mastery of its
suit. The diamonds symbolize values and/
money. So therefore the Jack of Diamonds
person has some form of mastery in
the field of business - he or she may
be an entrepreneur of some kind, or at
least have creative ideas for making
money. Jack of Diamonds people are good at
creative financing. It can also give you
intuitive genius, either with money or
spiritual realization (or both). The
Jacks are all basically very youthful,
even when they're older; they can be
immature as well. They also tend to be
androgynous or at least open-minded
about sexuality. They can become
tramps and wanderers if they choose not
to use their strong powers of mentality
to educate themselves. Jacks are also
prone to be indecisive, stubborn and
irresponsible if they do not aspire to
their higher selves. The Jack of Diamonds
person tends to love the sea - all the
Jack of Diamonds people I know do - and
they all need an outlet for their rare
creative talents. Sometimes they are
unable to choose the right profession
because they have trouble working at
something unless they are guaranteed to
make money at it. This desire for money
many times will block their creative
expression. They need to dig deep to
decide what it is they truly value.
I hope you've enjoyed this introduction
to the Order of the Magi - Ancient
Secrets 101. Maybe you'll want to learn
more, maybe not. But I hope at least
you'll never look at a deck of cards
quite the same way again.
