Did you know that all of the card suits in a regular deck of playing cards are in fact the exact same suits as in a tarot deck because a playing card deck is the same as the "minor arcana"? Tarot were originally playing cards, but then started being used for divination as well.

Why yes, this means that you can do minor arcana tarot spreads with a regular deck of playing cards.

spades = swords
clubs = staves
hearts = cups
diamonds = pentacles

There is a little bit of a loss in using a regular playing card deck because there are only three face cards instead of four, but if you really wanted to fill it in, you could grab a couple extra Joker cards from a second deck to stand in for either the Knight or Page.

Another fun card suit fact!

While hearts/cups are always associated with water, and diamonds/pentacles are always associated with earth, there are alternate interpretations of swords and staves versus which one gets to be air and which one fire.

Personally, I view spades/swords as Fire and clubs/staves as Air, but I believe there are common schools of interpretation that have them the other way.

In general, Fire is associated with force and conflict while Air is associated with thoughts and intellect, so even if you don't usually think of your card suits in terms of elements, you can most likely identify which one is which in your deck by association.

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@InspectorCaracal wizards have staves > wizards have big swishy cloaks > staves are totally air

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