Origin About 1480: the French suit signs were devised as a stencil-printable simplification of the German and Italian-Spanish signs.
The four suits of the French-suited playing card pack (hearts, diamonds, clubs and spades), are used in cartomancy in much the same way as the tarot's minor suits, and the two are historically related. The French suits are a simplification of the earlier German and Italian suit systems, adopted because they were easier to print. Divinatory meanings for the ordinary fifty-two card pack are attested from the eighteenth century.
Facts
Structure
StructureEach suit runs ace to ten with three court cards, jack, queen and king, making the 52-card French-suited pack. 1 Origins
Origin PeriodAbout 1480: the French suit signs were devised as a stencil-printable simplification of the German and Italian-Spanish signs. 1 Overview
Size of the Traditional SetFour French suits: hearts, diamonds, clubs and spades 1 Learn More
The Four Suits of the Playing Pack
The four suits of the French-suited playing-card pack (hearts, diamonds, clubs and spades), are used in cartomancy in much the way the tarot's Minor suits are, and the two are historically related. The French suits are a simplification, cheap to print from stencils, of the earlier German and Italian-Spanish suit signs, which the tarot's suits also descend from.
In fortune-telling with an ordinary pack each suit carries a field of meaning and each card a specific sense, often keyed to number and court rank much as in the tarot Minors.
Cartomancy With an Ordinary Pack
Reading ordinary playing cards is an old and widespread folk practice, requiring no special deck, and many regional systems assign the suits to themes (hearts to love and home, diamonds to money and news, clubs to work and friendship, spades to difficulty and conflict), with local variation. The practice overlaps with, and probably fed, the development of tarot cartomancy.
The atlas gives each suit its common associations and notes the correspondence with the tarot suits and their elements. The tarot's own suits are treated under the suit category.
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Playing Card Suits
Sources
1. The Game of Tarot: From Ferrara to Salt Lake City
Divinity Atlas Directory Prose, First Edition Category Descriptions
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