Standard Deck Card Reading

by Marilyn Muir, LPMAFA

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Over my long experience in Spiritualism and Metaphysics, I was able to reach and welcome quite a few audiences of newcomers. Sometimes we would just have fun – we would do something simple that could be explained in an hour or so, and could be developed quickly and easily. This particular exercise also helped establish the concept of thinking and working “symbolically” by showing how simple it was to experience a question and answer approach using a regular deck of playing cards. These same concepts could later be utilized into reading a tarot deck. I would invite each attendee to bring a fresh deck of cards to learn with, and at the end of class would provide a “cheat sheet” of the basic setup, rules of engagement, meanings of the cards, and a simple reading layout. Anyone could do it and practice a developed skill.

Why a fresh deck of cards? Everything we handle experiences the energy of what we are doing, and we want a “clean” deck for reading purposes. The deck should be dedicated to this specific purpose. Initially, we want the “reader” to imprint the deck with their personal energy, handle it, shuffle, look at the cards, etc. This was done individually while I was instructing. Since you will be allowing a questioner to handle your deck when setting forth their question, you need to learn how to remove that temporary imprint and, moving forward, return to your clean deck attuned to your personal energy. (See more seasoning instructions below.)

Be sure the face side of the cards are showing when first shuffling. For simplicity while learning, read all cards as right side up. Once your deck has had multiple uses, some cards may be naturally reversed head to foot. Those cards may then be read as unresolved or unknown issues, or as missing information, changeable, thereby adding to your reading skill. Stay simple at first, developing nuances naturally.

Standard playing deck (52 cards: Four each: Ace thru 10, Jack, Queen, King standard, + Fool / Joker (two)

Activities (Aces and numbered cards) and people (face cards):

Ace: beginnings, start of things, newness, initiation, individuality

Two: cooperation, couples, joint activities, networking

Three: communication, small social groups, neighbors, family

Four: structure, home, rules, limitation

Five: change, pivot, uncertain, travel, motion

Six: teaching, core family, responsibility, larger social groups

Seven: science, religion, privacy, seclusion, intellectual

Eight: business, organization, state-of-affairs, contracts

Nine: completion, resolution, conclusion, finality

Ten:  up-leveling, moving beyond current stage, new start-old issue, success

Jack: children or younger people, students, immature or inexperienced

Queen: mature woman of suit matters

King: mature man of suit matters

Fool / Joker (not generally used): innocent, naive, foolish, wild card  

Four suits are different levels of human experience:

Clubs: commerce, growing things, growth itself, prosperity

Hearts: emotions, family, relating, caretaking

Spades: military, police or firemen, surgery, friction, assertion

Diamond: money, materiality, “things”, investments

Multiples of a suit or number: issues represented by suit or number are dominant

Multiples of people cards: outcome in the hands of others

Simple spreads: These readings have a very short-term time value, three months or less.

Ask one clear question at a time, no multiple questions, no duplicate questions.

Do not change the question or layout once cards have been shuffled and dealt.

  • 3 card simple yes/no question: shuffle, deal three cards: two reds = yes, two blacks = no
  • 3 card simple: deal three, can be past, present, future of the question

Modified Celtic Tarot spread:

  • You can pre-select a person card to represent the questioner, OR
  • You can choose an activity card to represent the question. Define the query, choose the card, and then shuffle.
  • Either query card will be the center of an equal-armed cross layout
  • Lay the first card from the deck across the query card, this is what crosses or is an obstacle
  • Lay the next card below query, this is the foundation of the question
  • Lay the next card to the left of the query card, this is the past of the question
  • Lay the next card above the query card, this is the immediate future of the question
  • Lay the next card to the right of the query card, this is the eventual outcome for this reading.

Care of deck:

This is a dedicated deck. Respect what you are doing; do not use this deck for anything else.

Seasoning: Keep the deck close to you for a week, in your pocket or under your pillow, and handle it  frequently.

Do not let others handle them at this time. If they do, get a new deck and season it correctly.

Once seasoned, others may shuffle to ask questions. Shuffle the cards hand over hand, do not riffle.

Keep the cards discrete to your energy. Clear deck from previous reading by riffling while you dedicate clearing outsider energy to return the deck to your own energy.

Do not open psychic doorways under the influence of drugs or alcohol.

Enjoy the experience and the fun, but know you are at step one of developing a new skill.

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This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.