The Art of Reading with Playing Cards

Hello beautiful souls!

Today I want to share with you a little journey through time, the story behind cartomancy, the art of divination using ordinary playing cards, and how this practice has woven its way through history into the form of guidance it is known for today.

What is cartomancy?

Cartomancy is the practice of using a deck of playing cards to gain insight, guidance, or messages from the unseen. While in many modern contexts tarot cards are more familiar, the tradition of reading with playing cards is hundreds of years old, deeply symbolic, and richly layered. 

A brief history: from cards to divination

Origins of playing cards
The playing card deck as we know it reached Europe in the late 14th century, adapted from earlier decks in the Islamic world (notably Mamluk decks) that already carried familiar suits and court cards. 

Over time, these cards became everyday tools for gaming, entertainment, and social gatherings, but they also carried symbolic power.  

Early use of cards for divination
Evidence suggests that by the 16th and 17th centuries, people were experimenting with divinatory uses of playing cards - ‘chance’ and ‘lots’ readings, assigning meanings to numbers and suits, and using layouts or ‘spreads.’ 

However, these practices were often informal and underground, not yet systematised or widely published.

The birth of cartomancy as a term and system
The word ‘cartomancy’ itself appears to have been coined in the late 18th century by French occultists such as Jean-Baptiste Alliette (better known as ‘Etteilla’). He published books assigning specific meanings to each card in upright and reversed positions, and devised spreads and interpretations. 

Etteilla even created a special deck for occult use and formalised many interpretive traditions that still influence modern cartomancy.  

From cartomancy to tarot and esoteric expansion
While playing-card cartomancy had already been in use for decades, it was in the late 18th century that tarot cards began to be adapted for occult and divinatory work. 

Occultists like Antoine Court de Gébelin promoted the idea that tarot cards held ancient, mystical origins, and readers such as Etteilla responded by integrating tarot into cartomantic systems.  

19th & 20th centuries: popularisation and formal schools
Through the 19th century, card readers (often women) became fixtures in salons, fairs, and spiritualist circles. 

Many modern card reading systems and published decks (such as Lenormand decks) emerged during this time. The 20th century saw increased standardisation, symbolic linking (e.g. to astrology, numerology), and revival as a spiritual tool alongside tarot.  

Why the tradition lives on (and why I use it)

Accessibility and symbolism
The 52-card deck is common, familiar, and compact. Each suit and number can connect to everyday themes (love, financial, work, challenges), making the messages feel immediate and relevant.  No fluff. Just straight-forward guidance - sometimes too straight forward!

Layers of intuition
Because cartomancy is less visually dense than some tarot decks, there is more room for intuition, nuance, and personal symbolism to play a role in readings.

A bridge between worlds
As a medium, I use the cards as a tool - a bridge between your energy, the spirit world, and our collective symbolic language. The cards help channel messages in a way you can hold in your hands and interpret with your heart.

Honouring tradition while evolving
I honour the line of readers who came before, the 18th and 19th century cartomancers, the careful experimenters, the bold occultists and the modern cartomancers that have translated meaning to today’s world.

Thank you for reading, dear friends and seekers.  If you feel called to explore the wisdom of the cards - past, present or future - I’d be honoured to read for you.

Blessings,

Wendy

wendymedium.com.au