Any book suggestions for playing cards?

[Moon-Hermit]

Hello everyone!

Recently I’ve started studying the meanings of playing cards and how to use them as a complete separate system for divination. I had read a bit about it ages ago in Caitlin Matthew’s Lenormand Oracle Handbook but quickly forgot about it since I found the playing card insets to be too complex at that time.

I wanted to see if there are any well known books that solely focus on teaching playing cards and used by most practitioners? 
The first book I read about it was Playing Card Divination by Stephen Bell but the reading style just didn’t resonate with me to be honest. I’ve also saved Read Like The Devil by Camelia Elias for when I get more advanced in the practice. I’ve downloaded the ePub version of Fortune Telling Using Playing Cards by Jonathan Dee too after seeing it mentioned in another topic in the forum today.

[Raggydoll]

This one is a classic 

 

 

 

[Moon-Hermit]

14 minutes ago, Raggydoll said:

This one is a classic 

 

 

 

Thank you so much, @Raggydoll 🙏

I will definitely look into it. 😊

[akiva]

16 hours ago, Raggydoll said:

This one is a classic 

 

 

 

I second this, if you can get this book (iirc it's on scribd), it's sooo good! 😄

 

Some others worth mentioning:

 

54 devils  is more folk based, but quite popular. It's a cheap book too making it accessible. 

 

Card readers handbook is a classic. This helped shaped Kapherus' system. Ignore the 2 star review, I don't think that person has a clue what they're talking about. 

 

Practical manual of cartomancy is lesser known, quite modern in it's writing, but perfectly workable 😊

 

Cartomancy in Folk Witchcraft is another popular one, I've not read it myself (yet), but it also covers TdM too. 

 

One thing to note about Elias is she uses the hedgewitch system, and afaik doesn't give credit where it's due. This lead to someone who's a relative of the late Dawn Jackson (the creator of this system) leaving a harsh review on one of her books. If you're going to learn the hedgewitch system, then learn it from the very well written and free source 😉 

[Moon-Hermit]

2 hours ago, akiva said:

I second this, if you can get this book (iirc it's on scribd), it's sooo good! 😄

 

Some others worth mentioning:

 

54 devils  is more folk based, but quite popular. It's a cheap book too making it accessible. 

 

Card readers handbook is a classic. This helped shaped Kapherus' system. Ignore the 2 star review, I don't think that person has a clue what they're talking about. 

 

Practical manual of cartomancy is lesser known, quite modern in it's writing, but perfectly workable 😊

 

Cartomancy in Folk Witchcraft is another popular one, I've not read it myself (yet), but it also covers TdM too. 

 

One thing to note about Elias is she uses the hedgewitch system, and afaik doesn't give credit where it's due. This lead to someone who's a relative of the late Dawn Jackson (the creator of this system) leaving a harsh review on one of her books. If you're going to learn the hedgewitch system, then learn it from the very well written and free source 😉 

Thank you so much for all the helpful information, I appreciate it very much! 😊🌼✨

[Scandinavianhermit]

Hello, @Moon-Hermit!

 

Cartomancy with playing cards is very much divided into geographical regions, but fairly often several methods coexists in each region since way back. Exchange of methods has increased in the last 130-150 years, first because of translated books to and fro, more recently because of Internet/The Web. The methods (a handful of separate ones) from my own part of Europe aren't translated into English, as far as I know,* but an American method worth pondering is described in Wenzell Brown's How to tell Fortunes with Cards (1st edition 1963). I became familiar with a Swedish translation (1972) located at my local public library in my youth, and it has another "flavour" than the traditional regional methods I encountered otherwise.

 

 

* I believe Raggydoll has described some of them, somewhere at this forum.

[Scandinavianhermit]

I may add, that Brown's method is very focused on self-improvement – not an approach every cartomancer is interested in, but I think it complements any method focused on how to avoid danger.

[tarotnottaken]

I second the suggestion to use Horne's book Cartomancy in Folk Witchcraft. I wrote a review elsewhere on this forum. It's a fantastic book.

[Luketha]

On 9/29/2024 at 7:29 PM, akiva said:

One thing to note about Elias is she uses the hedgewitch system, and afaik doesn't give credit where it's due. This lead to someone who's a relative of the late Dawn Jackson (the creator of this system) leaving a harsh review on one of her books. If you're going to learn the hedgewitch system, then learn it from the very well written and free source 😉 

 

I have mentioned this in another thread, but Dawn Jackson was not the creator of the Hedgewitch system. The original author was An Arteful Anonymous Witch. You can see Dawn giving credit to this individual here (the very last name on the list): https://web.archive.org/web/20090205142638/http://www.hedgewytchery.com/craft_credits.html

 

It is also worth noting that Elias claims the Hedgewitch system itself is not entirely original, but partially adapted from Etteilla:

 

"In terms of the spreads she uses, they are all Etteilla’s. She doesn’t say so though. She appropriated them and gave them a new name. For example, what she calls the Coven, is Etteilla’s Great Star. My own reading style is close to what she did in terms of relying on logical inferences, though I don’t subscribe entirely to her reductionism à la ‘red is good’, ‘black is bad’."

Source here: https://taroflexions.wordpress.com/2013/06/08/fortuntelling-in-three-steps/

 

On 9/29/2024 at 2:05 AM, Moon-Hermit said:

I wanted to see if there are any well known books that solely focus on teaching playing cards and used by most practitioners? 

 

Finally, to address the topic at hand... while most of the Hedgewitch system is available for free online, the "Picturebook Compeat" version--with the final two spreads--has been recently published on Amazon by Dawn's working group: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0DTKFC7D9

[akiva]

3 hours ago, Luketha said:

I have mentioned this in another thread, but Dawn Jackson was not the creator of the Hedgewitch system. The original author was An Arteful Anonymous Witch. You can see Dawn giving credit to this individual here (the very last name on the list): https://web.archive.org/web/20090205142638/http://www.hedgewytchery.com/craft_credits.html

Thanks for clearing that up. As Dawn Jackson has a name I still consider her the face of the hedgewytch system 😊

 

3 hours ago, Luketha said:

It is also worth noting that Elias claims the Hedgewitch system itself is not entirely original, but partially adapted from Etteilla:

 

"In terms of the spreads she uses, they are all Etteilla’s. She doesn’t say so though. She appropriated them and gave them a new name. For example, what she calls the Coven, is Etteilla’s Great Star. My own reading style is close to what she did in terms of relying on logical inferences, though I don’t subscribe entirely to her reductionism à la ‘red is good’, ‘black is bad’."

Source here: https://taroflexions.wordpress.com/2013/06/08/fortuntelling-in-three-steps/

I'm not sure what Elias' point is here? Etteilla’s literally the king of appropriation. His spreads were from Italian sources. The meanings for his Petit Etteilla are also suspiciously similar to the oldest 35 Tarocco Bolognese meanings too. She can't really call out Dawn for doing exactly the same thing Etteilla did?

 

Here's a spread synonymous with the Tarocco Bolognese:

Looks suspiciously similar to Etteilla's, just upside-down, don't you think? 😄

[Moon-Hermit]

5 hours ago, Luketha said:

Finally, to address the topic at hand... while most of the Hedgewitch system is available for free online, the "Picturebook Compeat" version--with the final two spreads--has been recently published on Amazon by Dawn's working group:

Thank you @Luketha for the suggestion. I’ll definitely take a look at this one too. 🙏😊

 

5 hours ago, Luketha said:

"In terms of the spreads she uses, they are all Etteilla’s. She doesn’t say so though. She appropriated them and gave them a new name. For example, what she calls the Coven, is Etteilla’s Great Star. My own reading style is close to what she did in terms of relying on logical inferences, though I don’t subscribe entirely to her reductionism à la ‘red is good’, ‘black is bad’."

I haven’t yet read Elias’s book on Marseilles tarot completely so I can’t comment on the spreads she uses, but I’ve finished the one about playing cards. Personally, I found her way of seeing things helpful, as the “red is good, black is bad” enabled me to come up with the most basic interpretations first and expand on them later. Though that isn’t the solid rule she uses for every reading; one student example in the last chapter of the book I think (I don’t remember for certain which part specifically as I don’t have access to the book while I’m writing this) she explains how red cards don’t always necessarily mean “yes” or “positive” and context always rules over the final interpretation.

I have only recently started working with playing cards as a divination system so I’m not judging the methods or the reasoning behind them by any means, this is just the viewpoint that has worked for me so far; although I would like to know the more experienced folk’s opinions on not just Elias but also the different approaches toward reading the playing cards that exist. I have read so many mixed views so some clarification would be appreciated. 🙂

[Luketha]

1 hour ago, akiva said:

I'm not sure what Elias' point is here? Etteilla’s literally the king of appropriation. His spreads were from Italian sources. The meanings for his Petit Etteilla are also suspiciously similar to the oldest 35 Tarocco Bolognese meanings too. She can't really call out Dawn for doing exactly the same thing Etteilla did?

 

Here's a spread synonymous with the Tarocco Bolognese:

 

That makes sense as An Arteful Anonymous Witch (again... not Dawn 😆) was allegedly Italian, and claimed that the system was passed down to them by their grandmother.

 

Where can I read more about Tarocco Bolognese meanings and spreads? I can't seem to find the source of that image--it would be useful to me as I can read Italian myself.

[akiva]

12 minutes ago, Luketha said:

 

That makes sense as An Arteful Anonymous Witch (again... not Dawn 😆) was allegedly Italian, and claimed that the system was passed down to them by their grandmother.

 

Where can I read more about Tarocco Bolognese meanings and spreads? I can't seem to find the source of that image--it would be useful to me as I can read Italian myself.

The majority of TB practice is handed down word of mouth. There's not a great deal online but I did find some stuff when I first started:

 

In terms of meanings this site is good. It covers the original 35 cards, plus the more modern 50 card system. It's also in book format, and goes into a bit more detail, but if you just want to read the cards it's not worth it imo, as most of the book is filler.

 

Giordano Berti did a great mini book on the full set (62 cards), it's based on Mitelli's deck, but the all the meanings pretty much reflect TB ones. 

(https://www.giordanoberti.com/prodotto/giuseppe-maria-mitelli-e-il-tarocchino-bolognese/)

It's expensive for it's size/pages, but there's not many english sources out there. 

 

If you read Italian you may be aware of the Italian cartomancy forums, they also have information. I can't link them on here, but happy to PM them if need be. I found a 45 card system browsing around on those. Apparently according to Berti 40 and 55 card systems are common too, but I've yet to find one. 

 

[katrinka]

4 hours ago, Luketha said:

Where can I read more about Tarocco Bolognese meanings and spreads?

There's some useful stuff here. It's one of those rare good blogs.

https://moderatelyquicksilver.com/?s=Bolognese

 

[katrinka]

4 hours ago, Luketha said:

That makes sense as An Arteful Anonymous Witch (again... not Dawn 😆) was allegedly Italian, and claimed that the system was passed down to them by their grandmother.

Grandmother stories are a dime a dozen. 🤣

While the method is useful, the attributions are sketchy indeed. I expect "The Hedgewytch" will become one of those things like "Zolar": one dies, no problem, they get a new one.

[Moon-Hermit]

It’s been some time since this thread was created, but I thought it would be good if I added to the list myself as well. 😊 I recently came across Ana Cortez’s “The Playing Card Oracles” and I found it helpful after studying some of the resources that others kindly mentioned here. The cover looks like this:

As mentioned in the book’s title, she looks at the playing cards like oracles; an approach that is basically her system- but one that still sticks close to the one readers widely use- with added mystical names and meanings. While I don’t believe in assigning a set meaning to the cards like what we have with the RWS tarot cards, her explanations of the suits according to their elements and numerology is what I found very concise and useful. In the later chapters, she even talks about using geomancy with the playing cards which was a new concept to me (and a fun one to experiment with!) All in all, while it’s a personal preference whether to use set spreads and pre-assigned meanings in your readings or not, I think some really helpful details are mentioned here that are worth digging into.

-Wish you all a beautiful spring 🌼✨

[katrinka]

The Archive has some wonderful old books that are Public Domain now. Help yourself!

https://archive.org/details/1899minettawhatthecardstell

 

https://archive.org/details/fortunetellingby00foli

 

And a lot more!