Playing Cards and Calendars

The video start screen shows The Nightmare by Henry Fuseli.

Playing cards have been part of everyday life the world over for many centuries. Exactly why we’re so drawn to them is, perhaps, a debateable topic. Most of the time we use playing cards to play games, and also for cartomancy, cardistry or magic, all of which have nothing to do with the calendar that is in the cards. If we take a look at the structure of the deck itself this raises interesting questions about its conception.

There are very few games, if any, that use the natural calendar in the cards. A game we know of that uses time, or a calendar, is the game of prophecy. This writer believes that playing cards as we know them today were actually conceived as something much more prophetic in nature - as a mystical device.

To begin using your cards as the calendar they are, allow curiosity to guide you. There is no right or wrong. Try thinking of each card as one week of time (52 cards = 52 weeks), and then start playing. I like to formulate a question and cut into my deck, counting the number of cards until I reach the place where the cut occurred. This can then be used to determine a date in time related to my question. Detailed techniques can be found in The Playing Card Oracles, A Source Book for Divination, and the soon to be released The Doors of Somlipith.

Further References

Jose Arguelles and Valum Votum: “Stopping Time” as featured in the video.

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