A Quick Guide to Reading Ordinary Playing Cards by Cheryl Lynne Bradley

Divining from regular playing cards is an old practice and I am sure many of us know at least one fortunetelling game done with this tool. Reading regular cards is called cartomancy or metasymbology. Playing cards have been called “The Devil’s Picture Book” and have a few superstitions associated with them. Miners and fishermen viewed it as bad luck to have a deck with them while working or on a voyage. Thieves will rarely steal a deck as they have a belief that this will turn luck against them . Each king in a deck of playing cards represents a great king from history: Spades – King David; Clubs – Alexander the Great; Hearts -Charlemagne; and Diamonds – Julius Caesar.