I had intended to pull cards from one of my oracle decks, but my playing cards were closer, so I used those instead. I don’t always give my playing cards the love they deserve. They’re the OG divination tool for me outside of pen and paper. I started having more direct communication with my spirit folks using just this simple deck of playing cards with a few notes scribbled on them. I’d even venture to say these cards are a tad more efficient to communicate with than any other deck I own.
I didn’t have anything in mind when I picked up the deck. No pressing questions that I haven’t already asked a thousand times and my Grandma has answered a thousand different ways. I know she loves me, but I also know she gets tired of my foolery sometimes.
As I was shuffling, the Queen of Hearts jumped out the deck. That’s how I knew she was present and talking to me. She was calling me the Queen of Hearts, which I have come to associate with the Empress in tarot. Both represent women with a lot of love in their hearts. Very maternal. Life-givers who are one with spirit and nature. Also, I have someone who often refers to me as the “Queen of his heart.”
The next two cards came after shuffling for a little while longer.
Queen of Hearts – nice woman, emotional, empath
6 of clubs – communication, business success, financial help
3 of hearts – expansion, be cautious
The funny thing about most reading playing cards is that there aren’t any reversals. The cards look the same no matter which way you turn them. The court cards are interesting because, in most playing decks, they have faces. For me, the direction in which those faces pointed gives me more context in what the message is supposed to be.
In this little spread I pulled this morning, the Queen of hearts jumped out the deck at me as the first card. My queen on the top half of the cards is looking the opposite direction of the following cards, so she won’t see them.
The bottom half of the card shows my queen looking in the direction of the following cards, but her view is upside down.
That could mean anything, but since this is a personal reading, I think I have a pretty good idea of where my Grandma was trying to go with this. I have been focusing on doing “heart work” as my Grandma calls it. The more popular term is shadow work. Basically, in working on my inner self and trying to be a better person.
No matter which way I turn the Queen, she’s never going to see the next two cards in their correct positions unless I, the person who pulls the cards, move her into a different position.
So in the spread as I initially pulled it, the Queen of hearts can’t see her financial blessings as clearly as she could because she’s in the wrong place. However, if I change her position, I change her perspective. If she’s in the middle, she can see the success and also clearly to see the warning to be cautious. Upside down or not, a warning to be cautious is a warning to be cautious.
For clarity, I pulled one more card and moved the Queen to the top so she can oversee all the cards. The last card I liked was the 5 of spades.
5 of spades – activity, interference in happy home, reversals & opposition, eventual success
“Be very careful of your next moves. Things have been getting better for you in terms of money. You know your money is tied to your spirit. Don’t let nothing get in the way of your money or your spirit. It’s going to try. Best believe it is going to try, but you’re a queen, baby. You are a queen.”
So with that, I’m taking this as my cue to double down on the protection work and stay focused on healing.
Side note: just because you’re protected from it doesn’t mean you’re impervious to injury. I had to remember that in a recent interaction that went to hell, but I did some protection work right before and forgot about it. It still hurt when things went south, but it was over much quicker than it might have been otherwise because of that little insurance policy. The work works.
The Gifted Reader: Tarot Readings and Cartomancy 