Can you use French cards to tell fortunes?

Interest in cartomancy has a long history and it is difficult to trace its origins. As you know, interest in divination , through the most varied instruments, is innate in man.

The use of cards for divination appears to have been a widespread practice in mysterious China and even in Ancient Egypt, but little concrete evidence can be found.

What is certain is that during the Renaissance, particularly in Italy, the first decks of cards appeared Tarot which are used for meditation and divination.

Those new to the magical world of fortune telling often ask themselves: can you tell the future using just a Tarot deck? Can't you use a simple deck of French cards, or classic poker cards, for fortune telling?

Professional card readers rely exclusively on the various Tarot decks available, but never on French cards. However, card readers are to be considered special, exceptionally gifted individuals, and require exceptionally effective tools to express themselves fully.

It should be noted, however, that several techniques have been developed, which are used by non-professionals, to successfully read French cards for divination purposes.

These are readings that can be performed with a certain degree of precision and relative ease. Tarot readings are considered preferable and more refined, but thanks to these techniques, even French cards can tell us a lot about the future.

Let's try to understand more about these techniques for using French card decks for divination purposes and learn their fundamental principles.

The importance of seeds

As you know, poker cards are divided into four different suits: hearts, clubs, spades, and diamonds. As you might imagine, each of these suits has a meaning, much like the Minor Arcana in the deck of cards. Tarot .

The suit of Hearts, in fact, indicates everything related to the sphere of passions and feelings. It should be noted that this is true both positively and negatively: feelings also include anguish and fear, for example, not just love and affection.

The suit of Clubs is particularly ambivalent. This symbol is connected to the sentimental sphere, like the suit of Hearts, but it constitutes a sort of bridge to the practical world.

Flowers is therefore the seed that represents concrete transformation, the practical expression, of feelings and dynamics in family relationships, friendships and love.

The suit of Spades has always been directly linked to the Archetype of War, and therefore symbolizes the obstacles that will be encountered in life, the dangers to be overcome, the difficulties to be circumvented.

Obviously, this seed must also be interpreted and understood in the general context of the overall reading, but its range of meanings is still linked to the difficulties and trials.

The Diamonds suit can in some ways be considered diametrically opposed to the Hearts suit: while the latter is the totally sentimental suit, Diamonds is instead the suit of absolute practicality.

Its meanings, in fact, speak of personal economy, success, luck, work... All the topics linked to this suit are particularly material and well-defined.

How to do divination with a French deck of cards

Before beginning a divination, it's important for the fortune teller to be well connected to the subtle forces. To do this, one must relax and enter a more "higher" frame of mind.

You can light scented candles, play some appropriate background music, or perhaps burn some incense. Some prefer to meditate for a few minutes before approaching the cards.

Everyone has their own way of preparing, the important thing is to aim for a more conscious state of consciousness and a more relaxed and reflective attitude.

To do divination with the poker deck that more or less everyone has at home, it would be useful to use a precise scheme in order to perfect the readings and standardize them.

First, you'll need to prepare your deck as best as possible to make it perfect for divination. To this end, it's important to immediately remove any Joker cards that aren't useful for divination purposes.

Just as with the Tarot deck, it's crucial to shuffle the deck, and to do it often. Shuffling should become almost a tic for any fortune teller.

Once the deck is shuffled, draw five cards and arrange them, face down, in a horizontal line. Then, slowly uncover them and analyze them carefully.

The cards on the left represent the past, those on the right represent the future, and the one in the center speaks to us of the present. From left to right: 2 cards for the past, 1 for the present, 2 for the future.

Once you've become familiar with this 5-card layout, you can develop it into a 15-card layout, arranged in three rows of 5 cards. This will refine your readings.

From an interpretative point of view, with French cards, you can use the suits as a basic principle and you can derive the meaning from the colors and numbers and their variations.

For example, if a certain color prevails in the spread of five or fifteen cards, it will be a sign that there is a certain coherence and predestination: a natural, stable evolution of events.

However, if you find yourself faced with a particularly colourful spread, you should interpret this sign as a continuous change in the situation.

Another important element for analyzing the spread is related to the card number and the clear distinction between numbered and face cards. As you know, there are three face cards in this type of deck for each suit: Jack, Queen, and King.

The number cards refer to reason and the world of logic, while the face cards represent the irrational and what is linked to dreams.

Among the number cards, even numbers represent security, while odd numbers signal uncertainty. Cards 1 through 5 suggest failure, while 6 through 10 represent a lucky choice.

Finally, it's worth noting that the Ace and Five cards have a significant influence on the cards around them. The Five invalidates them, while the Ace strengthens them.