Quote - C C Zain

What the Tarot can be made to reveal
is limited only by the understanding of the reader. 

-- C C Zain

Reading for yourself

So, true to my word, at least this once - an "info-post". :)

Is it advisable to read Lenormand for yourself when "feeling very emotional or worried about something"? The asker had been told not to read Tarot under these circumstances, as the cards would just reflect their chaos and make things worse. Better to have someone else read for you.

My reply, which applies to Tarot, Lenormand, et al. -

If we can't read for ourselves when we're feeling emotional or worried about something, i.e. when we really NEED a reading :) what good is the ability? Yes, a reading by someone else would be great, but it's not always an option. In order to read effectively for others we have to be able to set our ego aside, focus on the process and read what the cards say without attachment. If, with much practice, we can achieve that for others, we can achieve it for ourselves. No way is it easy, but you have to find a way to let go.

That's it. No blinding insight, but it might be helpful to someone.

Judy says...

When I began this blog I said that "...this is where I'll be housing my growing list of cartomancy links and snippets of useful info." I haven't been very good at keeping up with that. I confess, most of my online cartomancy activity takes place on Facebook.

Sometimes someone there posts an interesting idea or question and I am compelled to share my wisdom. Ok, maybe not wisdom, LOL - but at least what I've been able to glean from other knowledgeable practitioners or what I've found to be true through my own practice. It struck me that, if I were a better blogger, those replies are the sort of thing I'd be posting here. So, that's what I think I'll do - repost some of those comments here.

For now, I'll share links to my favourite Facebook groups.

Fortune Telling with a Pack of Ordinary Playing Cards - all kinds of playing card meanings and methods are explored. I'm an admin in this group.

Cartomancy Study Group - an active group that focuses mainly on playing cards as well as other forms of cartomancy.

Lenormand and Cartomancy - a very relaxed and friendly group.

Give me a wave if you're there. :)

REPOST: Andy Boroveshengra: Shuffling and Cutting Naked Under the Moon!

Andy Boroveshengra: Shuffling and Cutting Naked Under the Moon!: Questions on how I shuffle, and how I deal my cards are topics that find their way into my inbox, often.  All too often, at least to my mind...

Concerning Spiritual Gifts

1 Corinthians 13:1-2 New Testament, New International Version - UK 

If I speak in the tongues of men or of angels, but do not have love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. 2 If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing.

Lucky me!

Every month, the American Tarot Association (ATA) runs a contest in their e-zine. And every month, I enter it. Me and 10,000 others, I always think. But guess who won the March contest?

I've already spent some of it on a new tarot deck - Dame Fortune's Wheel Tarot. A friend of mine posted a reading with these cards recently and I was intrigued by the use of Etteilla's meanings. Can't wait!

Deck cleansing for the cartomante of limited means

I belong to quite a few cartomancy groups of Facebook and the question of how to cleanse a deck of negative energy has come up several times recently.

I'm not the type to have a supply of smudge sticks, dragon's blood or dressed candles to hand (I do have Florida Water, mind you - love it!). If you're the same and you find yourself with a troubled deck then this may be of interest.

My Thrifty Witch method for cleansing a deck – when all you've got is salt and time!

Place the offending deck ;-) face down on a clean level surface. Place your hand, right or left, you decide, flat on top of the stack and begin twisting the deck. Keep putting your hand back and twisting to mix the cards. As some escape to the sides, push them back into the pile and keep twisting them all together until you're satisfied they've had a thorough blending.

Gather up the cards and place them in order, whatever "in order" means to you – by suit or by number, etc., turning any reversed cards upright.

Get a clean dish or tray and sprinkle some salt on it. Sea salt if you have it, or just ordinary table salt. Place the deck face up on top of the salt and sprinkle it with a bit more salt. You don't have to bury it. Now place the tray and deck on a windowsill where ideally it will get some sunlight, and better yet moonlight, and leave it there for 5 days.

While you're waiting, use another deck. This bit is important. It keeps you from anxiously waiting for your other deck to be ready (so your energies won't be disturbing the resting deck), keeps your divinatory engine ticking over, and potentially releases any negative energies you yourself may be holding into the stand-in deck.

As you can see, there’s a fair bit of leeway in these instructions. Take what you find useful and make the process your own. Like all magic, Intention is the key.

REPOST: Fennario's Weblog - OOPS! (some common mistakes)

Read and inwardly digest.

Fennario's Weblog 06 Feb 14 - OOPS! (some common mistakes)

A German Method of Fortune Telling with 32 Playing Cards

As this is my most popular post, I'll leave a note here to let you know that this blog has now moved to Judy Reads Cards. I hope you'll join me there.
13-Apr-18: I have finally uploaded my "expanded" meanings.

My grandmother Helene, from Niedersachsen/Lower Saxony in Germany, told fortunes with coffee grounds, Swedenborg cards and Skat cards, i.e. a 32-card deck of playing cards, also known as a Piquet deck: sevens up to Kings plus Aces. When she learned that I was interested in such things, she sent me a deck with her meanings written on the cards and a brief note of how she read them.

Lene, as she was called, though I would never have dreamt of calling her anything but Oma, only read the cards upright. Sadly, I don’t speak more than a smattering of German, so with the help of Google Translate and reference to a couple of online Skatkarten sites I’ve translated her notes as well as I am able. They were written on the cards in ballpoint pen and some are quite difficult to make out. If you are familiar with German and/or Skatkarten, and spot any misinterpretations, please let me know.

Update: November 2013

I have since corresponded with my aunt Edith, Lene’s youngest daughter and, luckily, she was taught how to read the cards. Edith was able to provide a bit more detail, which I have worked into the information given below.

Clubs:
Ace	Neuigkeit, Geschenk	news, gift
King	Arzt oder Beamter	Doctor or Official
Queen	falsche Dame, böse Gesinnung	false woman, evil alignment (way of thinking)
Jack	Glück, Botschaft	luck, message
10	Reise, großes Haus, Krankenhaus	travel, big (official) house,    hospital
9	güte Veränderung	good change
8	Sorgen über (einen kleinen) Weg	Worry over a small way (for a short time)
7	Tränen, Trennung, Hindernis	tears, separation, obstacle
Hearts:
Ace	Haus	house
King	Er	He
Queen	Sie	You
Jack	Liebe	love
10	Einladung	invitation
9	große Freude oder gütes Ereignis	Great joy or Good event
8	frohes Wiedersehen	happy reunion
7	Liebe in Aussicht	prospect of love
Spades:
Ace	Schrak, Krankheit	Fright, sickness
King	Älterer Herr	older gentleman
Queen	Dunkle Dame böse, Witwe oder allein	dark evil woman, widow or single
Jack	falscher Freund	false friend
10	Beruf	profession
9	Verleumdung, Falschheit in nächster Zeit	slander, falsehood in the near future
8	Gefahr, Krankheit, Ärger	danger, illness, anger
7	Kummer, Verlust, Streit,         Unannehmlichkeit	grief, loss, strife, inconvenience
Diamonds:
Ace	Brief	letter
King	jünger Mann	younger man
Queen	Mädchen oder Frau	girl or woman
Jack	Glück	Happiness
10	Geld, Gewinn	money, profit
9	Vorteil geschäftlich	business advantage
8	Neuigkeit geschäftlich	news of business
7	Geld oder Kind	Money or Child

I should point out here that other German sources tend to assign negative meanings to the Clubs, but you’ll see from the above list that, for Lene, the “worst” cards are the Spades.

Lene’s reading instructions were, as I mentioned, quite brief – essentially shuffle, cut, lay out, read. The fact that she didn’t think it necessary to provide any details on “how” to read them suggests that she felt her method was so commonplace as to not require explanation. I have found meanings similar to hers on Kartenlegen mit Skatkarten (KmS), so I’m guessing their method of breaking down the layout and combining the cards is likewise similar. I’ll go into more detail below. To begin:

Herzdame in die mitte legen.

Karten mischen. Mit der linken Hand 3 Haufen zum Herzen legen.

Die mittleren Haufen auf die letzten legen dann beide Haufen auf die ersten legen.

Die ersten 3 Karten von jedem Haufen haben eine Bedeutung.

Dann die Karten von oben so um die Herzdame legen:

Dann kombinieren was einem die Karten sagen...

The same steps as described by Edith:

Herz Dame in die Mitte legen.

Karten mischen. Mit der linken Hand 3 Haufen zum Herzen legen, den mittleren Haufen nehmen, die 1.drei Karten  nachsehen sie haben eine Bedeutung, dann die Karten auf den letzten Haufen legen, und wieder die 1.drei Karten ansehen, dann alle auf den 1.Haufen legen und wieder die 1.drei Karten ansehen.

Die Karten von oben so um die Herz-Dame legen.

Dann sehen was einem die Karten sagen...

·     Place the Queen of Hearts (Herzdame) in the middle. {Note that Lene only mentions the Queen as a significator. Presumably all her “clients” were female, but if you are reading for a man use the King of Hearts, or select a card that represents your area of concern, for example the 10 of Spades for work.}

·     Shuffle the cards. With the left hand, lay 3 piles “to the heart”, i.e. towards you (confirmed by Edith). {What does “to the heart” mean here? Perhaps, like KmS – “2 Stapel zu sich hin abheben”, you are meant to cut towards yourself, towards your heart.}

·     Put the middle pile on the last pile, then put the two on the first pile.

·     The first 3 cards of each pile have a meaning. {I’m uncertain if she meant 3 cards from each pile or just the 3 exposed cards. KmS uses just the 3 exposed cards. Either way, check them before you recombine the piles} Here Edith made it quite clear – you look at the bottom three cards of EACH pile, combining them to give you a meaning, before placing that pile on the next one.

·     Then place the cards from the top around the Queen of Hearts:

·        Then combine what the cards say.

KmS uses a simple 9x4 layout, but despite Lene’s fancy Star arrangement, I think the breakdown would be much the same: first read the central cross - cards 1, 3, Significator, 4 and 2, combining the cards in sentence fashion. Then read the row – 11, 3, S, 4, 12, then the column – 9, 1, S, 2, 10, and finally the diagonals. Card 17 gives an overview of what’s occurring on the home front.

Update: April 2015

I’ve been studying other “large star” spreads recently and have found that the various “arms” were given different meanings, eg. past/future, obstacle/aid, etc.  I have yet to decide how I want to approach reading Oma’s star.

Now that I know we should be reading the bottom three cards of each cut, it occurs to me that, unless the middle pile (which will now be on the top) contained more than 16 cards, at least one if not all of the cards from the bottom of that pile will appear somewhere in the spread and may be worth paying particular attention to.

Lene then continues:

Vom übrigen Haufen, 5 Karten ziehen.

Die dann auf die Karten legen was man näher wissen möchte.

Zum Beispiel - Herzdame, fürs Haus, Liebe, Reise, und so weiter.

And Edith:

Vom übrigen Haufen 5 Karten ziehen,

und so auf die Karten legen

z.B auf Dich (Herz -Dame )and so on, um zu wissen, was in der nächsten Zeit passiert.

·        From the remaining pile, draw 5 cards.

·        Then lay the cards on what you want to know in more detail, or as
Edith put it, to know what is happening in the near future.
for example – (on the) Queen of Hearts, for the home, love, travel, and so on.

We then proceed to a second spread.

Lene:

Zuletzt alle Karten mischen.

9 Karten ziehen und so auslegen:

Wieder kombinieren was sie sagen.

Edith:

Alle Karten wieder mischen, Herz -Dame bleibt auf dem Tisch liegen.

Karten ziehen und so auslegen

dann wieder sehen was die Karten sagen.

·       Last shuffle all the cards. Edith adds: the Queen of Hearts stays on the table.

·         Draw 9 cards and lay out as follows:

·         Again combine what they say.

And that is all I have been told. Oma passed away in 1998, at the age of 95.

Edith has been very patient with my questions and requests for clarification, so I’ll leave her in peace for a while, but at some point I’d like to ask her how she combines the cards and reads the Star layout.

Update: June 2014

Sadly, Tante Edith has no more information in this regard, or perhaps doesn’t have sufficient confidence in her English to attempt an explanation. Bearing in mind my paltry German skills, this is a feeling with which I can very much sympathise. 

I would love to hear from anyone who recognises any aspects of this method, or can elaborate on what I have presented.

One hundred and ten years ago today

Alles Gute zum Geburtstag, Oma. 

Und danke für das Begabung des Kartenlegen.