Your Favorite Playing Card Decks

[Grace]

6 minutes ago, Flaxen said:

Thank you! Although I’ve just noticed that my photo is turned upside down so my names don’t match. 🤦‍♀️ The strigiformes is the owl deck and the top middle is Celtic Myths. 

Ahhh... Celtic Myths it is then. There is something about that one, interesting art, not too cluttered. It's lovely!

[Decan]

I just saw online that the Wust Bourgeois Playing Cards deck isn't to sell anymore (I posted its pic above); it's really too bad since it is a beautiful deck that shuffle very well (nice linen cardstock). They don't sell enough copies of this deck maybe. Okay so mine is "rare" now, but won't resell it!!

[Guest]

My favorite deck is the Dragon Bicycle Cards. I really love Asian-style artwork and unfortunately I don't have a cellphone to snap a picture of my deck but I can post a direct link to the website of the brand that sells them.

 

https://bicyclecards.com/product/bicycle-dragon/

 

 

I love how each king holds a samurai sword. Since the King of Hearts is "the suicide king", maybe he could now be called "the harakiri king"?

Edited October 4, 2020 by Guest

[legendaryelement]

On 2/16/2020 at 2:45 PM, Mi-Shell said:

Hi @Starlight!

I just now checked the web site from Jody Bergsma and I think, that, sadly they may be out of print.

I do have them since at least 12 years.....

Maybe you can find them at a resale site?

good Luck! ♥

Deck info

• it’s a magical world (lighter box/background; circular seed of life back)
• life on the wild side (darker box/background; Celtic knot cross back)

[vulprix]

Okay, thread resurrection time! 💀

 

These are some of the decks I am proudest of. ❤️ I do not read with all of them.

 

My “Union” deck

Purple peacock-themed Bicycles

Animal Kingdom cards

HOTCAKES! by Uusi (just LOVE this one)

and two bee themed decks:

Bumble Bee

and Killer Bees (both by Ellusionist)

 

I usually read with either the Bumble Bee cards or my trusty red-backed Bicycles 🙂

[MissTerry]

My work-horse deck is a normal poker deck with all of the meanings written on each card. I had a large card collection and over the years, I stopped using all of them except my cartomantic poker cards. They've proved to be highly accurate over the years for me. I test them regularly. I use my poker deck daily. I ask how my day will be in the morning and draw 3 cards. Then in the evening I ask what I did that day and draw 3 cards. 

[AuroraMoone]

On 6/29/2021 at 6:24 PM, vulprix said:

Okay, thread resurrection time! 

 

These are some of the decks I am proudest of.  I do not read with all of them.

 

My “Union” deck

Purple peacock-themed Bicycles

Animal Kingdom cards

HOTCAKES! by Uusi (just LOVE this one)

and two bee themed decks:

Bumble Bee

and Killer Bees (both by Ellusionist)

 

I usually read with either the Bumble Bee cards or my trusty red-backed Bicycles 

 

I LOVE the Bumble Bee decks! They remind me of the Golden Thread tarot deck! I'll have to pick those up.

 

Right now, I'm using a standard deck that I got in NOLA from the Harrah's casino! Time for an upgrade!

[WilliamEridani]

Sorry to be a thread necromancer but I had no idea there were so many different playing card decks out there! Some of those are just stunning!

My current deck is just a standard deck with a custom printed back. I didn't even make the image. It was just one I really liked. I had a POD service print it for me.

I will be using the same service for the deck I am designing.

 

This is the back of the cards I currently use:

[Raggydoll]

I have found that I’m very drawn to antique playing cards, so I am going to increase my collection with some reproductions of historical decks. It’s lovely to see everyone’s favorite decks! 

[Nemia]

I have a number of playing card decks, and by far my favourite ones are the antique German ones. 

 

 

That's the Piatnik Binokel. 

 

 

Bavarian Schafkopf (I don't know to play Schafkopf but like the cards)

 

 

The Bergmann (miner's) deck. 

 

Horrible picture quality - I have to re-take some pictures of these decks. 

 

I love them since I saw them as a child in my grandmother's collection of playing cards. My grandfather played a lot of traditional card games, and these German decks were used. In every German region, they look differently. 

 

I've wanted for YEARS!!! to learn how to read with German playing cards but there is little learning material, and if I find something, it doesn't make enough sense to me. I'll have to trust my intuition, I wish I had the time to jump in... 

 

But I really like these decks. 

[Raggydoll]

1 hour ago, Nemia said:

I have a number of playing card decks, and by far my favourite ones are the antique German ones. 

 

 

That's the Piatnik Binokel. 

 

 

Bavarian Schafkopf (I don't know to play Schafkopf but like the cards)

 

 

The Bergmann (miner's) deck. 

 

Horrible picture quality - I have to re-take some pictures of these decks. 

 

I love them since I saw them as a child in my grandmother's collection of playing cards. My grandfather played a lot of traditional card games, and these German decks were used. In every German region, they look differently. 

 

I've wanted for YEARS!!! to learn how to read with German playing cards but there is little learning material, and if I find something, it doesn't make enough sense to me. I'll have to trust my intuition, I wish I had the time to jump in... 

 

But I really like these decks. 

Lovely!

 

I have read about Swedish playing card meanings that date from the 1800s (possibly earlier), and I think they might have German influence. The clubs suit is considered the worst one, which would correlate with the acorns suit being the most problematic one in German decks. I too struggled a bit to find old information about German card meanings, but I figured that it is because I am not a German speaker. If someone here has a source of older German card meanings then do share it with the rest of us! 

[Mister]

37 minutes ago, Raggydoll said:

If someone here has a source of older German card meanings then do share it with the rest of us!

 

Ha!

You know what?

I wish I had somesuch thing to share - I would.

What I do have is my own method, which can not be labeled as older stuff.

After all, I blended it myself so that it is to my liking and workable.

And: No sharing that one. Make your own instead! 😊

 

JudyReadsCards shared her grandmothers meaning and method here.

 

Seeing that it is her grandmother, that stuff is older than my own.

 

There is some stuff labeled traditionally german going around, but most of it strikes me as being similar to what Mr. Korolev once shared on his youtube-channel, specifically: The french method, with King and Queen of Hearts representing the seeker and partner.

Also, the hardware is missing, i.e.: The books. Old ones.

What you find here and there are "fortune-telling games for entertainment".

Inspirational at best, with allusions to something which could be coherent.

That something, though, remained MIA.

Sometimes, I think that maybe, in some antique collection, there is a book waiting to be discovered, but it won't be me who sets out to hunt it down.

 

One of the older packs of german divination systems is quiet well known: Our beloved "Spiel der Hoffnung", which is a Schafkopf-Tarock pack blended with the french suits (for the ladies), and illustrated pips and courts. Aka "Lenormand Wahrsagekarten".

Perhaps that is why often, that what is labeled traditionally german nowadays comes around like anotherone doing the lenormand.

 

@Misterei mentioned a while ago that the pictures utilised therein seem to have been used on the continent around that time.

Which is news to me!

 

I did stumble on allusions (unnerving buggers) here and there, one being found in the works of Albrecht Dürer referencing the King of Diamonds, but nothing consistent until now.

So there has been something around, no doubt, albeit it seems to be harder to find than a sporadic search would yield.

 

Then again, I am not the kind of person to dig into the history and traditional stuff for the sake of it if I can as well spend the time to read according to my own designs.

😇

 

So, no progress despite the lengthy post.

Lemme just put the quote again.

47 minutes ago, Raggydoll said:

If someone here has a source of older German card meanings then please do share it with the rest of us!

[akiva]

4 hours ago, Raggydoll said:

I have read about Swedish playing card meanings that date from the 1800s (possibly earlier), and I think they might have German influence. The clubs suit is considered the worst one, which would correlate with the acorns suit being the most problematic one in German decks. I too struggled a bit to find old information about German card meanings, but I figured that it is because I am not a German speaker. If someone here has a source of older German card meanings then do share it with the rest of us! 

Poland has a cartomancy system (requires google translate) which uses a 24 card deck (ace, 9, 10, J, Q and K) and also utilises the clubs as the worst suit, as does the (or a) russian system for reading a piquet deck. I can link it if you want, but it requires signing up to a forum and it's all in russian so needs google translate too 🤷‍♂️

They all seem to share some common themes with their meanings which is quite interesting.

 

I've found old books for french and more western European/English systems but have also struggled to find older german/eastern european systems.

 

Just realised that I have "The magical cards of Mlle Le Normand" which is the companion book to the Die Zauberkarten deck that Caitlin Matthews sells. This contains some old german card meanings for a 36 card deck (single keywords for each card). It was originally published in 1855 apparently, so pretty old!

 

[Raggydoll]

5 hours ago, akiva said:

Poland has a cartomancy system (requires google translate) which uses a 24 card deck (ace, 9, 10, J, Q and K) and also utilises the clubs as the worst suit, as does the (or a) russian system for reading a piquet deck. I can link it if you want, but it requires signing up to a forum and it's all in russian so needs google translate too 🤷‍♂️

They all seem to share some common themes with their meanings which is quite interesting.

 

I've found old books for french and more western European/English systems but have also struggled to find older german/eastern european systems.

 

Just realised that I have "The magical cards of Mlle Le Normand" which is the companion book to the Die Zauberkarten deck that Caitlin Matthews sells. This contains some old german card meanings for a 36 card deck (single keywords for each card). It was originally published in 1855 apparently, so pretty old!

 

Thank you, and please link it! It’s interesting to compare.
 

When I first started out with playing card divination I believe that I had found a very brief list of meanings in a book that had belonged to my dad or uncle. It was an older book. I then built my own system of meanings out of that. I don’t remember those original keywords (I was around 11 or 12 years old when I started and that wasn’t exactly yesterday 😁). 
 

 

[Raggydoll]

So after a quick glance I can tell that a lot of the Polish card meanings align with the old Swedish ones. The Swedish method uses 32 cards, so might be even more similar to the Russian piquet system.  The Swedish book dictates that the cards are laid out in rows of 8, so four rows in total and then the cards are interpreted a little bit like with lenormand, where you are supposed to look for the significator and then study near/far and other patterns. I saw that the Polish method uses 3 rows of 8 and that these rows are past/present/future, so the reading style seems to differ. Once I have seen the russian system I can let you know how it compares! 

[Mister]

You know what, @Raggydoll?

 

I am pretty sure that the past/present/future thing is one variation amongst many.

It would be no surprise if the readers in poland also use the same layout in the "all future" style.

Segmentation according to the readers need seems to be widely applied.

 

On the similarity of meanings:

Andy Boroveshengra often mentioned Colette Silvestre, which brought me to acquire her book on Lenormand.

In there, you find a description of each card with one of the described aspects being the "cartomantic value", meaning "how the card would be read in french style if it was the playing card only".

Those do pretty much align with the meanings assigned to the pictures when it comes to hearts and diamonds.

With pique and trefle / leaves and acorns, it is different.

Until you apply the definition she gives for leaves to the acorns, that is.

They fit to a T.

And vice versa, also.

 

I am looking forward to your comparisons of the swedish/polish/russian trinity!

[akiva]

Here is the link @Raggydoll having reread that particular list of meanings, it definitely feels very german regarding the clubs.

That forum has multiple sets of meanings for playing cards (all using a 36 card deck), here is one of them  and Here is the other 😊

 

I also have this for the 24 card method which is formatted a bit better. Though it lacks the combinations given in the original one I linked you to.

I know there's a lot to dig into there 😂 but it's l fun for someone who loves researching and comparing things.

 

3 hours ago, Raggydoll said:

The Swedish book dictates that the cards are laid out in rows of 8, so four rows in total and then the cards are interpreted a little bit like with lenormand, where you are supposed to look for the significator and then study near/far and other patterns. I saw that the Polish method uses 3 rows of 8 and that these rows are past/present/future, so the reading style seems to differ. Once I have seen the russian system I can let you know how it compares! 

This is very interesting... I've seen older cartomancy books call this method the 'oblique' or something like that.

It was traditional to read from the significator left, right and all diagonals. Then count in 13's (the number always changed depending on the author) from the significator in all directions. Finally one would pair all the cards (1st and 32nd and so on) to close the spread and give a final read. 

 

From what I've read in english written sources, it seemed that rows were given to past/present/future, but very differently in that it involves the significator/doing a box spread rather than designating a whole row as "past" etc.

Here is an image of minetta's oblique system from her book (out of copyright) which can be used for a 9 card box spread too:

While not the same for every author, some do mention similar things as this (just not as in depth most of the time). Some authors just tell you to read in all directions and dont bother explaining what all the directions mean.

 

6 hours ago, Raggydoll said:

When I first started out with playing card divination I believe that I had found a very brief list of meanings in a book that had belonged to my dad or uncle. It was an older book. I then built my own system of meanings out of that. I don’t remember those original keywords (I was around 11 or 12 years old when I started and that wasn’t exactly yesterday 😁). 

I'm not sure if it would be allowed, but seeing as it was originally published in the 1800s I could type up the keywords for the german deck in the Zauberkarten book that I have? It could jog your memory 😊

[Raggydoll]

1 hour ago, akiva said:

Here is the link @Raggydoll having reread that particular list of meanings, it definitely feels very german regarding the clubs.

That forum has multiple sets of meanings for playing cards (all using a 36 card deck), here is one of them  and Here is the other 😊

 

I also have this for the 24 card method which is formatted a bit better. Though it lacks the combinations given in the original one I linked you to.

I know there's a lot to dig into there 😂 but it's l fun for someone who loves researching and comparing things.

 

This is very interesting... I've seen older cartomancy books call this method the 'oblique' or something like that.

It was traditional to read from the significator left, right and all diagonals. Then count in 13's (the number always changed depending on the author) from the significator in all directions. Finally one would pair all the cards (1st and 32nd and so on) to close the spread and give a final read. 

 

From what I've read in english written sources, it seemed that rows were given to past/present/future, but very differently in that it involves the significator/doing a box spread rather than designating a whole row as "past" etc.

Here is an image of minetta's oblique system from her book (out of copyright) which can be used for a 9 card box spread too:

While not the same for every author, some do mention similar things as this (just not as in depth most of the time). Some authors just tell you to read in all directions and dont bother explaining what all the directions mean.

 

I'm not sure if it would be allowed, but seeing as it was originally published in the 1800s I could type up the keywords for the german deck in the Zauberkarten book that I have? It could jog your memory 😊

Thank you so much, this is extremely helpful! I would love to see those german keywords, and since its from the 1800s I can't imagine how it could be problematic to share them.

 

Looking at the Swedish list, one of the things that stand out to me is that among all the ominous club cards, the jack is the worst and he can represent death. The only clubs card that could be neutral or even positive seem to be the ace. If it is surrounded by red cards it means a pleasant surprise, otherwise it indicates shocking news. 

  

There is no counting and no mentioning of direction or diagonals in the method given, but you do look at general proximity and specific card combinations. So it is like a simplified version, which I must say that I really appreciate!

[akiva]

Here are the german keywords @Raggydoll:

 

Leaves:

A- Money the questioner receives

K- Good fortune in undertakings 

Q- good times

J- news

10- expenses 

9- sad news

8- vexation

7- fright

6- loss

Hearts:

A- pleasant news

K- a gift

Q- loyalty

J- joy

10- a gift (not sure why this is repeated)

9- unhappiness 

8- pleasure

7- happy news

6- luck in games 

Acorns:

A- death

K- vexation caused by a man

Q- infidelity 

J- unpleasant news

10- disputes

9- falsehood

8- disloyalty, theft

7- domestic woe

6- distrust

Bells:

A- trade

K- rich acquaintance 

Q- good news 

J- financial gain 

10- a gift (again?!)

9- unexpected luck

8- illness

7- vexation in friendship

6 vexation over money

 

Easy to make a system out of these meanings, though there's a fair bit of repetition. So definitely needs some work doing to it.

 

1 hour ago, Raggydoll said:

Looking at the Swedish list, one of the things that stand out to me is that among all the ominous club cards, the jack is the worst and he can represent death. The only clubs card that could be neutral or even positive seem to be the ace. If it is surrounded by red cards it means a pleasant surprise, otherwise it indicates shocking news. 

It's fascinating that the jack would represent death on it's own 🤔 it's such a strong meaning to give a court card.

 

1 hour ago, Raggydoll said:

There is no counting and no mentioning of direction or diagonals in the method given, but you do look at general proximity and specific card combinations. So it is like a simplified version, which I must say that I really appreciate!

Is this book out of copyright/in pdf format? I'd love to run it through google translate and read it! 😊

[Raggydoll]

34 minutes ago, akiva said:

Here are the german keywords @Raggydoll:

 

Leaves:

A- Money the questioner receives

K- Good fortune in undertakings 

Q- good times

J- news

10- expenses 

9- sad news

8- vexation

7- fright

6- loss

Hearts:

A- pleasant news

K- a gift

Q- loyalty

J- joy

10- a gift (not sure why this is repeated)

9- unhappiness 

8- pleasure

7- happy news

6- luck in games 

Acorns:

A- death

K- vexation caused by a man

Q- infidelity 

J- unpleasant news

10- disputes

9- falsehood

8- disloyalty, theft

7- domestic woe

6- distrust

Bells:

A- trade

K- rich acquaintance 

Q- good news 

J- financial gain 

10- a gift (again?!)

9- unexpected luck

8- illness

7- vexation in friendship

6 vexation over money

 

Easy to make a system out of these meanings, though there's a fair bit of repetition. So definitely needs some work doing to it.

 

Thank you, that’s so kind! 
 

34 minutes ago, akiva said:

 

It's fascinating that the jack would represent death on it's own 🤔 it's such a strong meaning to give a court card.

it can apparently also mean thoughts, but in the example reading it is interpreted as death.   The context does matter (hard to explain well!). 
 

34 minutes ago, akiva said:

 

Is this book out of copyright/in pdf format? I'd love to run it through google translate and read it! 😊

I will send you a PM!