It’s in the Cards
by Psychic Rainbow

4th December, 2009 - Posted by Rainbow x7953closeAuthor: Rainbow x7953 Name: Rainbow x7953
Site: http://www.psychicsource.com/Psychics/Profile.aspx?PsyID=460
About: Rainbow joined Psychic Source in the autumn of 2008. A member of the ATA and certified as a professional reader by the TCBA, she has over 20 years experience reading Totems, Spirit Guides, and Past Lives. Rainbow is also the Dean of Faculty for an online metaphysical school, where she writes and teaches classes in Shamanism, Tarot, and Lunar Astrology, amongst other subjects. Rainbow is of Cherokee and English descent and is a constant student in the mysterious schools of life. She has studied with Medicine Elders of the Cherokee and Delaware Nations, and is ordained as a shamanic minister. A published author, recorded singer songwriter, accomplished storyteller, and intuitive artist; she is at her happiest when she is creating something. While living in England she studied complementary and alternative healing disciplines, and is a practitioner of aromatic stone massage, crystal healing, herbal preparation, and meditation as medicine. Rainbow has a flair for recycling by finding new uses for discarded items and is keenly interested in organic gardening and cooking and environmental issues. Her leisure hours are spent feeding a passion for needlework including knitting, beading and working with leather. She lives in the Midwest with her husband and four-legged kids.See Authors Posts (14)

Who hasn’t picked up a deck of playing cards and wondered about their beginnings? Perhaps your grandmother used to read cards at family gatherings, or maybe a friend.

No one is entirely sure as to the exact origins of playing cards. It is thought they perhaps started as the Minor Arcana of the Tarot, with the Joker being akin to the Major Arcana Tarot card, The Fool. What we do know, though, is that using a pack of playing cards as a tool for psychic exploration is as time honored as the cards themselves. Meanings of cards are immortalized in such songs as ‘Desperado’ by the Eagles, ‘Shape of My Heart’ by Sting, and ‘Ace of Spades’ by Motorhead. Watch closely, and you will find them being used as props in many supernatural thriller films and television programs.

Playing cards have always demanded respect, and this can be proven by the amount of superstition that surrounds them. I remember playing euchre with my family as a teenager and my dad would always blow on the cards if we were losing. Sometimes he would put a hat pin in my shirt over my collar bone or get me to stand up and walk around my chair for luck, and I remember Uncle Ernie would sit straddling his chair backwards for luck if he was more than 4 points behind in a game.

Some religions forbid the use of playing cards by anyone, even for just a game of rummy. Playing cards – like Tarot – are sometimes called ‘The Devil’s Pictures,’ or ‘The Devil’s Picture Book.’ My husband is from a fishing family; he always said the old fishermen would never take a deck of cards on a boat lest it bring them bad fortune.

9 of Diamonds
There were a lot of Scots people who played Cribbage at the local pub we frequented when we lived in England. They called the Nine of Diamonds card ‘The Curse of Scotland’. It is said that this card was used as a cue to instigate the Massacre of Glencoe, and that a message ordering the Battle of Culloden was written on the Nine of Diamonds.

4 of Clubs
The Four of Clubs is another card that has a bad reputation. It is believed that this card will bring bad luck to other cards in the deck. Some sources for reading playing cards see this as the worst card in the deck. The way I was taught to read, though, there really are no ‘good’ or ‘bad’ cards when doing a reading for someone; there are only opportunities.

Respecting the Cards
While it can be a lot of fun reading playing cards, Tarot cards, crystals, or any other tool, we must remain respectful of the responsibility we assume when we peer into other people’s lives. Many times in the course of my work people will say to me, “I wish I could do what you are doing,” and I think, “No, you don’t.” Many times people see the wonderment, the magic, or the mysticism, and neglect to see the responsibility that people accept when they agree to read the cards for someone.

As well as respecting the people for whom we perform our services, it is also important that we respect the tools we are using. If we are going to be serious about reading playing cards, I feel it is best to use a deck specifically for reading, rather than one that is also going to be used for playing card games. We might choose one of the newer ‘themed’ decks, whose pictures are based on a film, or flowers or animals. This is not necessary though. Playing cards can be purchased from most bargain stores such as The Dollar Tree or Dollar General or Poundstretcher, and they can cost as little as two decks for a dollar.

Learning to read the cards doesn’t have to be difficult, costly, or time consuming. It came easily to me, having learned to read the Tarot first, but that is not necessary. Many people read playing cards, some as a parlor game and some as a guide to the situations in their lives. Have you ever had any experience with reading playing cards?