Playing Card Oracles

Playing Card Oracles by Ana Cortez

This week I'll be working with the Playing Card Oracles Vintage edition by the innovative Ana Cortez. Her system is a unique combination of intuition and structure with lots of room for poetics, beauty and psychological depth to move through as the dance of Spirit. As she explains it, a playing card deck has 52 cards and as such forms a natural lunar year-- 52 weeks in a year/52 cards in a deck, 13 weeks in each season/13 cards in each suit, 13 moons in a lunar year, 4 seasons/4 suits. One of the spreads Ana uses is a basic weekly spread in which the deck is shuffled and then the top four cards are turned over indicating possible energies for the week ahead.

Playing Card Oracles by Ana Cortez

The cards are usually laid out vertically or diagonally. The first card represents the head, next is throat, then comes torso and finally feet. These positions are represented by diamonds (fire), clubs (air), hearts (water) and spades (earth) respectively. If a card of the same suit falls in one of those positions then it is considered to be dignified and the energy more concentrated.




Accordingly one could do a reading for something coming up in several weeks' time by counting off cards (each one representing a week) from the top of the deck until one got to the card/week in question and then laying out the three cards that follow that card to see what influences might be present. So off we go for the week ahead...

Gilles de Rais ~ Leah ~ Peddler's Ace ~ The Bridge

Head = Diamonds = Fire
Throat = Clubs = Air
Torso = Hearts = Water
Feet = Spades = Earth

Gilles de Rais ~ Nine of Hearts ~ Playing Card Oracles

Look at this face peering out from the wrending in this card. I'm not feeling encouraged by that nor all the dripping hearts lol. This card, being the first one drawn, sets the tone for the reading. The character depicted here, Gilles de Rais, lived in 15th century, a man of prominence and nobility whose ways became increasingly self-serving as time went on. As such this particular Nine represents excesses of emotion as seen in the overflowing hearts.

Some keywords are :: fears and insecurities, extremes of behavior, flowing tears and sorrow.

There is a positive side to this card if it is worked with skillfully and it is that of humanitarian love. Ana describes it as the passion in the Hearts becoming transmuted and centered in compassion.

For me that feels resonant. I'm slated for between 5-6 hrs of rush hour driving every day this week. The reason being so that my son can attend a camp he really wants to go to, one that gives him tremendous joy and engagement. Though this is not a humanitarian act of love on a grand scale it is an act of love on a small scale that comes at some cost to my own level of comfort. The card, though, is not well-placed being a water card in a fire position. I sense the need to make sure the emotion/stress involved with all the driving doesn't drown the initial spark of generosity that initiated my decision to take this on. 

Leah ~ Queen of Clubs ~ Playing Card Oracles

This Queen is, I think, my favorite Court in the deck followd by Terrene, the Lady of Spades. Leah is certainly the Queen I most identify with. Being a club she is an air sign and her position here in the throat makes her placement dignified. I think of the throat position as an important mediator between the head and the torso (which includes the heart). To have this Queen here, with her skill in communication, feels good. I have this visceral feeling of confidence, a sense of okay, I've got this, I know how to do this. What 'this' is is not entirely clear but I feel her energy as familiar comfortable and compatible with my own.

Her domain, being a black suit, is that of night energy but rather than shadow energy she is more attuned to dreams, mysteries, intuition and the wisdom of the unconscious. So hopefully my communications this week will be skillful and effective both written and spoken. She feels like a stabilising influence, a channel or conduit for some of the more ambiguous energy of the cards above and directly below her.

Peddler's Ace ~ Five of Diamonds ~ Playing Card Oracles

I wasn't too keen seeing this crafty fellow show up in the Torso position which is the center of the spread including as it does the heart, the solar plexus and the womb. He is the Peddlar's Ace known for confusion and trickery. Ana says, "he usually has something fishy up his sleeve".

He suggests a caution or warning before entering into deals or transactions. Be aware of acting impulsively and instead take a more measured approach before moving on something. For some reason the phrase "mind the gap" comes up for me seeing this fellow so I shall be paying attention to any gaps in awareness that may present themselves.

That he is in the Torso position, the heart of the matter, suggests to me overall ambivalence on my part about the week ahead. His element is Fire, his placement is in a Water position which isn't compatible but with this card perhaps that's a plus. And I do like that Leah is in a position to monitor his movement, looking directly over his shoulder, so to speak, so I'll be calling on her clear communication skills for help with any confusion that might arise this week.

The Bridge ~ Six of Clubs ~ Playing Card Oracles

Rounding out the spread is a card that makes me breathe out a sigh of calm. The Bridge, Six of Clubs suggests transitions, a 'bridging' of work and aspirations, actualities and ideals. It offers the possibility of new vistas and forward momentum. That it rounds out the week feels quite positive. However it's an air suit in the position of the feet, associated with the element of Earth so some of that water from the first card needs to trickle all the way down here to moisten and enrich the soil otherwise it could blow away.

This is the foundation of the draw, what will anchor it so perhaps the idea is to keep my perspective wide and long while moving through the very practical duties of driving and lunch-making this week instead of getting caught up in the minutiae these kinds of tasks can engender. And again I get this intuitive hit of how the relationship between that first watery card and this last earthy one could be quite beneficial if Leah is able to work her communicating magic. That might look like giving the emotion in the first card an outlet by taking some long hikes on the ridge for actual perspective and letting my spirit soar. Gotta watch out for that Peddler though.

I'm going to pause here for now with my very rudimentary analysis of this spread. Tomorrow I'll work with the geomantic attributes which really enrich and enliven a reading giving it depth and texture bringing out subtleties that might not be so apparent. My week will be full and I shall be regularly looking to this spread as it unfolds to see where some of these influences might be felt.