Using Playing Cards as Tarot
If you are looking for a quick guide to reading playing cards as you would tarot cards, then you’ve found it. I've put together a basic list of meanings for the cards that you can refer to any time.
By necessity, this list of playing card interpretations is short and to the point. However, if you take each keyword or phrase as a kernel of an idea, you should be able to build on it in a tarot reading. Take into account the circumstances of the person asking the question. Try to combine the meanings of two cards to come up with a third. Use your imagination and tap into your intuition.
You might want to go deeper and learn the structure of tarot as it applies to playing cards. If so, I have another article—How to Read Tarot With Playing Cards—that breaks down the basic elements so you can read any card for any question. By the way, reading cards of any kind to obtain information is called "cartomancy."
A note about these playing cards: The cards used to illustrate this article are Ghost Playing Cards by Bicycle. They are a little confusing because they are mostly black, with just elements of red to differentiate Hearts and Diamonds. They are of excellent quality and, like all the Bicycle decks, good for cartomancy.
Playing Cards as Tarot Meaning Chart
Playing Card | Tarot Card | Meaning |
Joker (2 included) | Fool (1 included) | taking a risk (positive), doing something foolish (negative), innocence (unknowing) |
Clubs | Wands | action, passion and inspiration (see chart of each card's meaning below) |
Hearts | Cups | emotions, feelings, fulfillment, and, of course, love and loss (see chart of each card's meaning below) |
Spades | Swords | connected to thought and communication. All the activity that goes on in our minds; ‘head stuff' (see chart of each card's meaning below) |
Diamonds | Pentacles | relate to the material word; all that we see and touch: money, work, practical projects, homes, etc.; the practical aspects of relationships (see chart of each card's meaning below) |
Playing card interpretations: use one of the Jokers if you want to.
Ghost cards by Bicycle
The Joker
It’s entirely up to you whether you include the Joker/s or not. The Joker is the playing card representative of the tarot Fool. Keeping it simple, the Fool is numberless; he is the unformed consciousness that journeys through the tarot, undergoing transformation, self-understanding, challenges, and generally educating himself via those experiences.
Personally, for a quick playing card reading, I’d leave it out.
However, should you choose to include either one or all, then the meaning assigned is: taking a risk (positive), doing something foolish (negative), innocence (unknowing). Which of those interpretations you select depends on the question.
Playing Card Tarot Meanings: Clubs
The Suit of Clubs
Clubs are the equivalent of the tarot suit of Wands. They represent action, passion and inspiration. They are associated with fire.
- Ace of Clubs: Spark of inspiration, passion. A new love affair, the idea for a business or life-change.
- Two of Clubs: Planning, delays, waiting for the signal to move.
- Three of Clubs: You’ve done all you can, hard work pays off.
- Four of Clubs: Celebration, rest, stability, pause.
- Five of Clubs: Competition, petty arguments, fights, not working in harmony.
- Six of Clubs: Success, victory, good exam results.
- Seven of Clubs: Standing up for oneself. Defending your viewpoint.
- Eight of Clubs: Events moving quickly, getting organized (fast), possible pregnancy.
- Nine of Clubs: Stressed, but unbowed. Determined to finish the task/fight.
- Ten of Clubs: Responsibilities, weighed down, burdened but almost at the end of the project/life-stage.
- Jack/Knave of Clubs: Feckless charmer. Passionate affair. Individual unable to focus on one task.
- Queen of Clubs: Passionate, enthusiastic, fun. Career woman.
- King of Clubs: Leader, always aware of the larger picture, not good at details.
Playing Card Tarot Meanings: Hearts
The Suit of Hearts
Hearts are the same as the tarot Cups. They represent emotions, feelings, fulfillment, and, of course, love and loss. Hearts are associated with water.
- Ace of Hearts: New love, beginnings of a deep connection, conception.
- Two of Hearts: Mutual attraction, love, friendship.
- Three of Hearts: Celebration of friendship, a girls’ (or boys’) night out, end of an emotional cycle.
- Four of Hearts: Emotional stability, possible low-level depression; unaware, or deliberately ignoring the positive aspects of life.
- Five of Hearts: Loss, sadness, depression, grief.
- Six of Hearts: Childhood, nostalgia, memories, the past revisited, an old flame appears.
- Seven of Hearts: Feeling-based choices, indecision, going astray.
- Eight of Hearts: Leaving, splitting up, change of direction.
- Nine of Hearts: Fulfillment, understanding that solitariness is not loneliness, contentment.
- Ten of Hearts: family, love, achievement of emotional peak.
- Jack/Knave of Hearts: A person who is in love with being in love. Romantic suitor, short-term love affair.
- Queen of Hearts: Someone to turn to; she offers emotional support, a listening ear. Watch out for darker undercurrents; she may have problems of her own.
- King of Hearts: Kindly counselor, gives wise advice based on experience. Possible alcoholic or addict of some kind.
Playing Card Tarot Meanings: Spades
The Suit of Spades
Spades are equivalent to the tarot suit of Swords. They are connected to thought and communication. All the activity that goes on in our minds; ‘head stuff.’ Spades are associated with air.
- Ace of Spades: Flash of insight, revelation, realization, understanding, idea.
- Two of Spades: Reluctance/refusal to acknowledge the truth, withdrawal. Possible communication difficulties.
- Three of Spades: Breakdown in communication; misunderstanding leading to a rift, fight, or break-up.
- Four of Spades: Recovery, recuperation, time-out.
- Five of Spades: Deception, bullying, walking away from a disagreement. Resistance or non-resistance.
- Six of Spades: Moving on, a change of direction, travel; putting the past behind you.
- Seven of Spades: Theft, recovery of property or abstract quality (confidence, self-esteem, etc.). Subterfuge.
- Eight of Spades: Feeling there’s no choice, backing oneself into a corner, can’t see the way out—although the solution is right there in plain view.
- Nine of Spades: Nightmares, repetitive thought, problems, anxiety, depression.
- Ten of Spades: Endings, mental breakdown, the only way is up. New beginning.
- Jack/Knave of Spades: Someone on a mission. Single-minded individual. Clever, sarcastic, intelligent.
- Queen of Spades: Truthseeker, efficient person. She cannot put up with indecisiveness or stupidity.
- King of Spades: Professional, good at his job, highly motivated and intelligent. Advisor, lawyer, accountant, writer.
Playing Card Tarot Meanings: Diamonds
The Suit of Diamonds
Diamonds are equal to the suit of Pentacles in tarot. They relate to the material world; all that we see and touch. They cover such areas as money, work, practical projects, homes, etcetera. Diamonds can also represent the practical aspects of relationships. Diamonds are associated with earth.
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- Ace of Diamonds: Prize, gift, new home, new project, new job.
- Two of Diamonds: Balancing the budget, time management. Juggling resources.
- Three of Diamonds: Focus on work. Honing skills, teamwork, collaboration.
- Four of Diamonds: Guarding resources, not socializing; holding oneself apart from society.
- Five of Diamonds: Needing help, destitution, lack of money, loss of job.
- Six of Diamonds: Charity, offering/receiving help, supporting another financially.
- Seven of Diamonds: Materially well-off yet spiritually dissatisfied. Looking for a possible new direction.
- Eight of Diamonds: New job, change of career, improving skills, undergoing training or teaching.
- Nine of Diamonds: Material and spiritual independence. Satisfaction, happiness in solitude.
- Ten of Diamonds: Family, inheritance, traditions, family business, social gatherings.
- Jack/Knave of Diamonds: Hard worker, loyal person, hidden attributes.
- Queen of Diamonds: Home-lover, nest-builder, mother, female leader.
- King of Diamonds: Businessman, achievements through hard work. Enjoyment of luxury and fruits of own labor.
If you have any questions, do ask in the comments. However, please don't ask for free readings or ask me to interpret your cards for you.
Remember that you should never make an important decision based on what you see in the cards. Tarot readings are for entertainment only.
You can support Tarot Study (and help me make more free content) by clicking on the Ko-fi link and ‘buying me a coffee’.
Q&A
Wally:
What do cards mean in combinations? I remember someone once had me shuffle the deck and place cards into three piles the largest closest to me, the cards were then tuned over making 4 rows of 13 and as the cards were spread on the table my friend began to tell me my reading and when a card from the row above touched the card next to it of on the bottom of it, it had a different meaning, as an example when the Ace of spades came into contact with the 9 of clubs I was told it ment change, or death, perhaps death of a situation, or of a relationship; something ending, perhaps a job ect. Do certain combinations of cards tell a story or have a particular, or special meaning?
Bev G (author) from Wales, UK:
Great question, Wally. Yes they do. Combinations tend to come under intermediate to advanced reading, and usually readers come to it themselves with experience. I usually take adjacent cards into account when reading tarot. Also, there is a concept called 'Elemental Dignities', where the element of the card (for example, Spades/Swords = air; Clubs/Wands = fire) have an effect - the air of the Spades card would accentuate the fire of Clubs.
Can't go into it all here, but it's a fascinating aspect. Maybe I should write an article about it?
G:
Hello! Thank you very, very much for this article. I am a novice in card reading and I am using my playing cards until I get a tarot deck of my own. Thus, I would like to ask if in the interpretation of the playing cards we should take reversals into account (e.g. a reversed Ace of Spades or a reversed Ace of Cups), as I have noticed that reversals are usually taken into account in Tarot readings.
Thank you in advance for your time. Keep up the excellent work!
Namaste,
G.
Bev G (author) from Wales, UK:
Hi G,
Most playing card decks are the same whichever way they are dealt, so reversals aren't possible without marking the cards.
However, in tarot reversals can be a bit of a double-edged sword for a new reader. For example, how do you decide what percentage of the deck should be turned? And wouldn't deliberately turning a portion of the deck be interfering with the fall of the cards?
Personally, I prefer to keep the cards upright, but at the same time, I'm aware of the whole range of possible interpretations from negative (reversed) to positive. I allow my interpretations to be driven by the other cards, the energy surrounding the question and my own intuition.
A good deck to take a look at is the Revelations Tarot, which has the reversals built right into it.
You can find more tarot articles at tarot-study.info.
Good luck on your journey :)
Me 901:
I was given two joker cards under me n my mates pic what does it mean?
Bev G (author) from Wales, UK:
Whoever gave the cards was implying that you and your friend are a pair of jokers. It was a crude attempt to be funny.
Ltheflowerwitch:
Can you make another post about this but more specific like you said the joker means the fool but what does the queen of clubs mean is it the empress or the queen? thank please reply
Bev G (author) from Wales, UK:
Hi Ltheflowerwitch,
There is another article, which I have linked to in the article above, "How to Read Tarot with Playing Cards". It details how to use the cards as a substitute for tarot.
As there are no Majors in playing card tarot (apart from the optional Joker), the Queen of Clubs has to be the equivalent of the Queen of Wands. As she is listed under her suit, where it says Clubs are the same as Wands, then she can't be a Major.
If you read through this article, and the other one, I mentioned, you should gain a clearer understanding. I can't be more specific than I already have been.
Juno:
I would like to know if the meanings of any card could have a different meaning for me, example 8 of diamonds new job etc. could I have a different meaning for it?
Bev G (author) from Wales, UK:
Hi Juno, they can have different meanings for people - those who read intuitively, for example.
However, I believe that the best way of doing it is to know the basic meanings and then expand on them yourself. For example, in tarot, the Three of Swords (Spades) is often seen as a broken heart. I disagree slightly - I think it means mixed up communication which *could* lead to a broken heart. Because Swords/Spades are connected to thinking and communication, not to emotions.
The Eight of Diamonds (Pentacles) is usually connected to work and can mean things like retraining, apprenticeships, change of career, etc. Eights are connected to movement or lack of it. Diamonds to practical issues.
1:
hello, I would like to ask are the tarot cards always accurate...also I pulled queen of pentacles, queen of swords, 10 of pentacles and 7 of wands about how the person in my mind feels about me at the moment what does this mean?
Bev G (author) from Wales, UK:
Hi there 1, the cards are always accurate, it's the interpretation that can be wrong.
I'm not sure why you would pull four cards when one would do. Tell me what you think the cards mean. Because whatever you thought when you saw them is probably correct.
Two articles that would help with your questions:
Crystal:
Is it okay to do a reading for yourself?
Bev G (author) from Wales, UK on January 28, 2020:
Hi Crystal, sure it is. This article might help you...
Nanci:
I would like to contact you via email to request permission to use two of your articles to print out for the Chaplaincy program in the local jail. There is widespread interest in Wicca and Tarot and we are looking for resources, but need permission to use your material for copyright purposes.
Thanks.
Bev G (author) from Wales, UK:
Hi Nancy, feel free to print any of my articles out for educational purposes, but not to republish online.
All the best.
9ofHearts:
I pulled 3 cards on strategy to use to get my dreams. They were All Spades ♠️; the Ace of ♠️ , then Queen of ♠️ and 2 of ♠️. Can you help me to understand how to strategise based on what these cards are saying? Thank you
Bev G (author) from Wales, UK:
No, sorry, I can't do your reading for you.
Jayme:
How can i lay my cards and how many cards should i used to get my right reading? i am using playing cards.
Bev G (author) from Wales, UK on November 04, 2018:
This article explains all: Playing Card Tarot Spreads.
Pollypop147:
Hi, I'm completely new to using playing cards as tarot readings. I started with my question which was how my partner feels towards myself and a past wanted love which never took off properly. I used my Ryder-Waite tarot and for me I pulled out The king of prints followed by seven of spades. For the other female I pulled page of prints and the Ace of hearts! I just 'felt' the answer? Or am I wrong? Please can someone help me clarify the meaning. Thankyou
Bev G (author) from Wales, UK:
I have to admit to being confused about what you are asking. Are you using playing cards or tarot. And What are 'prints'?
Whatever the answer you felt will be the right one for you.
Originally published by the author at the HubPages network.
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