Okay, so I got this idea buzzing around my head the other day about trying to use regular playing cards, you know, the kind you use for poker or whatever, to do a sort of Tarot reading. I didn’t have my actual Tarot deck with me, found myself wanting to pull a few cards, and thought, why not give it a shot with what I had?
Getting Started
First thing, I grabbed a standard deck of 52 playing cards. I took out the Jokers, set them aside. Didn’t know what to do with them, and figured 52 was enough to deal with for a start. Stared at the deck for a bit, thinking how this was gonna work.
Then I started thinking about the suits. How could they match up with the Tarot suits? It seemed kinda obvious for some:
- Hearts: Yeah, that felt like Cups straight away. All about emotions, relationships, feelings. Easy enough.
- Diamonds: These made me think of value, material stuff. So, I linked them to Pentacles or Coins. Seemed logical.
- Clubs: They kinda look like little sticks or batons, right? So, Wands it was. Action, energy, ideas.
- Spades: These look sharp, kinda pointy. Made me think of Swords. Challenges, intellect, conflict.
That part felt pretty natural, actually. The numbers, Ace through 10, I just decided would match the Tarot Ace through 10 in their respective suits. Ace of Hearts became Ace of Cups, Ten of Spades became Ten of Swords, and so on.
Dealing with the Court Cards
Next up were the face cards: King, Queen, Jack. King and Queen were simple – King and Queen in Tarot. The Jack was the odd one out since Tarot has Knights and Pages. I thought about it for a second and just decided, for this experiment, the Jack would be the Knight. Kept it simpler in my head than trying to figure out a Page equivalent right then.
Now, the big elephant in the room: the Major Arcana. Tarot’s got those 22 big-picture cards. Playing cards… don’t. I mulled this over. Should I assign some face cards? Maybe the Kings could double as Emperors or something? In the end, I decided to just skip the Major Arcana for this practice run. I told myself I’d just focus on the Minor Arcana and Court Card equivalents, see how that felt for everyday questions.
Doing a Reading
Alright, mapping figured out, sort of. I gave the playing card deck a really good shuffle, focusing on a simple question, something like “What energy should I focus on today?”. Then I drew three cards, laid them out: Past – Present – Future style.
I pulled, let’s see… I think it was the Seven of Diamonds, the Queen of Hearts, and the Jack of Spades.
So, translating using my system:
- Seven of Diamonds became the Seven of Pentacles. Okay, so maybe looking at long-term projects, patience, investment.
- Queen of Hearts became the Queen of Cups. Alright, emotional maturity, intuition, being caring.
- Jack of Spades became the Knight of Swords. Ah, okay. Acting fast, maybe being a bit blunt or rushing into things.
Putting it together felt… interesting. It wasn’t quite like looking at Tarot images, which have so much symbolism. I had to rely purely on the core meanings I’d assigned. It felt a bit more direct, maybe less nuanced?
How It Felt and Final Thoughts
Honestly, it was a bit strange at first. Holding a regular playing card and trying to see Tarot depth in it. But, the meanings did come through, in a basic way. The connection I made between the suits seemed to hold up okay for a simple reading.
Was it as rich or deep as using a proper Tarot deck? No, definitely not. Especially missing the Major Arcana, you lose that layer of archetypal energy. And the lack of imagery means you have to work purely from memory of the meanings.
But was it useless? Not at all. For a quick check-in, or if you’re in a pinch without your Tarot cards, it actually worked better than I expected. It forced me to think about the core meanings of the Minor Arcana and Court Cards without relying on pictures.
So, yeah. I did it. It was an interesting little experiment. I might even try it again, maybe think more about how to incorporate the Majors somehow, or just use it for quick, simple questions. It’s kinda cool knowing you can find guidance even in a simple deck of playing cards you have lying around.
