This article was written by The Zillennial Zine’s fall editorial intern Valerie Dawn. Find them on Instagram at @valeriejardine15. If you would like to share an article with The Zillennial, send us an email at thezillennialzine@gmail.com.

Did you know you can do tarot card reading with playing cards? Getting into tarot reading can be intimidating, especially given the vast number of decks available nowadays. It may feel overwhelming to pick out a theme or decide if buying one is even worth it as a beginner. Fortunately, there is a way to learn tarot without purchasing a deck, and the cost is way less. 

It won’t be the same as a tarot deck because of the number of cards. In tarot, the deck is split into two subcategories: the major arcana and the minor arcana. Arcana translates to “a deep secret or mystery”, which helps decode the messages received. The minor arcana has 52 cards, the same as a deck of playing cards. When tarot card reading with playing cards, the only thing missing will be the major arcana. The reading will still be accurate based on your knowledge and intuition. 

Since playing cards have no images other than the suit and the number of symbols, save for the royalty cards, knowing the basic themes for each aspect of the card will help you read them better. To help aid in understanding, I will be referencing a guidebook for one of my favorite decks, “The Wild Unknown” by Kim Krans. Some important things to remember when tarot card reading with playing cards are the suits, the numerology behind the numbers, and what the royalty cards represent. Once you have a basic understanding of these things, you’ll be able to translate the message in the cards. For further guidance, you may consider getting online tarot card reading by TarotAtlas experts to deepen your insights and enhance your understanding.

Suits

To start tarot card reading with playing cards, you need to learn the tarot suits. Similar to playing cards, there are four suits: swords, wands, cups, and pentacles. Each tarot suit is represented by a playing card suit, an element, and a duration of time. 

Swords

Swords are the same as spades in a playing deck. The way to remember this is that a spade is a type of shovel, with a sharp tip at the end, similar to a sword. It also kind of looks like the tip of a spear. Swords are the element of air, slicing quickly with ease. Because air moves fast, this suit has the shortest period. Think in terms of hours or days. When drawing a sword/spade, these cards let us know whatever is coming is coming soon, or an action is about to be taken.

When thinking about the vibe it brings, swords/spades show intellect and reason. It shows facing conflict. Take these words at face value. While they may have a negative connotation, there is always a way to find a message of hope within a tarot reading. Drawing back to the Three of Swords, while the card signifies heartbreak and turmoil, this event or action may be necessary to grow as a person, and it may end up being a burden lifted after the initial shock.

Wands

The Wands/Clubs are the second shortest period, and these messages may be within weeks or a handful of months. The actions these cards bring are around physical and spiritual energy, work, growth, and intuition. A physical reaction to whatever they may bring. These cards are a call to action for some aspect of your life, and a change may be necessary for your personal growth. 

Cups

The third suit is Cups, which are Hearts. Hearts/Cups represent emotions and the element of water. Think of your heart overflowing with feeling, like a cup filled to the brim ready to spill. These cards give messages about something you have been feeling lately, something coming your way, or tend to be a warning about the emotions you have experienced before. The messages will be about relationships (in any form), family, love from the heart, and things that matter to you. In terms of time, Hearts/Cups represent several months, or a couple of years. Things are within reach but after a short wait. 

Pentacles

The last suit is Pentacles, which are Diamonds. Pentacles represent the earth, or our physical, material possessions. The earth is something tangible and usually represents objects we value, like money, careers, and wealth. Diamonds are easy to remember as Pentacles because of their luxuriousness as a crystal. These cards tend to give messages about your wealth, your job, or something physical that may be coming your way. Pentacles/Diamonds are the longest period and may take several years. These cards allude to long-term goals as well.

Numerology

Now that you know the suits, it’s time to familiarize ourselves with numerology. These general messages can be used outside of tarot as well, like when you see angel numbers or sequences that have meaning to you. A good book to look into for learning about numerology is A Little Bit of Numerology by Novalee Wilder in the A Little Bit Of series, which features small books by different professionals in witchcraft and divination. We will discuss general themes for each number and how they connect with each suit. 

Royalty

The last part to know about tarot card reading with playing cards is how to read the royalty cards: jack, queen, and king. 

In regular tarot decks, the royalty cards include page, knight, queen, and king. These titles may vary based on the theme of the deck. For example, the deck I mentioned earlier, “The Wild Unknown” uses the terms son, daughter, mother, and father. These cards reference specific people that may be important in the reading. For the sake of the playing cards, the jack will represent both pages and knights.

Typically, a page will represent a young female, a jack will represent a young male, a queen is an older female, and a king is an older male. Based on which suit you draw, you can use the descriptions to infer the energy this person brings. Since there’s no page in a standard deck, you can use your instincts to see who the card is referring to or pre-assign other cards to represent this. An example would be including the jokers to stand in as pages, or maybe making all red jacks stand for females and all black jacks for males. Tarot reading is pretty loose-going, so as long as you establish your rules before starting the reading, you will be okay.

Once you have an understanding of the types of cards, you can then start doing readings!

Translating the Readings

First things first: learning how to shuffle. There are so many ways to do this, and no way is wrong! It’s best to find a method that works for you. I like to shuffle them like playing cards, which works great in this scenario. In witchcraft, it’s best to do things in threes, so I usually shuffle the cards three times, followed by three taps on the top of the deck. Tapping the deck isn’t necessary but it’s a great way to clear the energy the cards may be holding already.

Once the cards are ready to deal, you can find a spread to follow online (Check out these fun ones from Pinterest!) or you can continue to shuffle the cards between your hands until some fly out of the pile. I prefer the latter method. I give myself a limited number of shuffles to control how many cards I read, and if a group of cards with more than three falls out, then it is bad shuffling and not a read. Sometimes, you may find two or three cards fly out at once. I tend to associate these cards with a group message, so you can interpret the two cards as one piece rather than two separate pieces. 

For this article, I drew three cards: the 2 of Diamonds, the Jack of Hearts, and the 5 of Diamonds. The order doesn’t matter if that’s the vibe you want to go for, but I tend to read them in the order they were received in. This way, the message is more concise. I also like to check the card at the bottom of the deck after I am drawn so I can get a general read on the vibe. This step also isn’t necessary but it adds more depth. The vibe card for this reading is the Ace of Clubs. 

Using what we learned earlier, we know the Diamond suit is pentacles, and 2 is represented by balance, union, and embracing what life throws at you. The Jack of Hearts is either a young male or female. The Heart suit tells me this person is someone either emotionally reliant on me or someone who will bring me a lot of emotion. Paired with the 5 of Diamonds, which stands for challenge and conflict, this reading is telling me that while I may be comfortable at the start of this new financial journey, there is someone out there who is trying to use me for my wealth and prosperity. The vibe card, Ace of Clubs, represents the beginning of action and growth in terms of my intellect, so I will probably be able to see this person coming and will be able to prevent it. 

We hope this articles helps you learn about tarot card reading with playing cards! Let us know if you have any questions in the comments below!

More Health + Wellness Articles

Pop Culture Articles

Relationship Articles