Cartomancy 101: 3. Tarot, Astrology & Cartomancy

The differences between Tarot & Cartomancy

If you know tarot, then you will spot differences throughout these lessons. If you do not know tarot then like I said before , it doesn’t matter. However, some differences between Cartomancy and tarot are that Cartomancy does not carry with it some of the negative outlooks that people get when they whip out a set of tarot cards in certain crowds. (not that most people care who thinks what, but I’m just pointing these things out)

With Cartomancy there are fewer meanings to memorize then that of tarot. Since tarot decks consist of 78 cards while the Cartomancy is only 52. The tarot packs are larger because they have 22 trump cards of the Major Arcana and 52 cards of the Minor Arcana which is believed to have come from the Cartomancy cards.
Tarot cards also have four court cards (king, queen, knight and page) in each suit. But Cartomancy cards have three, Queen, King, and Jack. The suits have different names but share the same origins, and pretty much the same meanings.
I’ll point out more differences as the lessons go on. As this was to point out some of the obvious ones and to make you aware that there are differences.

Astrology and Cartomancy

There is a strong symbolic link between astrology and Cartomancy. All of which are based on numbers. There are 52 cards in a deck, matching the number of weeks in our years. (52 weeks in a year vs. 52 playing cards)
There are four suits which belong to four astrological elements.

Clubs correspond with the fire element…(Aries, Leo, and Sagittarius)
Diamonds are Earth elements ( Taurus, Virgo, and Capricorn)
Spades are air elements (Gemini, Libra, Aquarius)
Hearts are water elements (Cancer, Scorpio, and Pisces)

There are 13 cards in each suit just as there are 13 months in a lunar year (which used to be what our calendars were based off of in the Ancient World when the world used The Goddess, moon or menstrual calendar) These 13 months are still used in Chinese Astrology today.
There are also 12 court cards like there are 12 signs to the zodiac.