Looking at the Comparative Tarot Method with One Card Comparisons

from Tarot Outside the Box by Valerie Sim
Abridged version, for educational purposes

I have to stop before going any further and make the necessary disclaimer here: There are no cards that are totally "good" and there are no cards that are inherently "bad". Some cards are generally viewed as beneficial and others are widely seen as challenging, but all of the cards can run the full spectrum between positive and negative. Until you see both the promise of the challenging cards and the pitfalls of the welcome ones, you are not a real reader. The Comparative Tarot Method can help you to discover the full spectrum inherent in each of the cards.

To illustrate, let's start with a card that most people are delighted to have appear in their readings: the Nine of Cups.

Universal Waite

I will begin with the Universal Waite version of this card, as its predecessor, the Rider-Waite deck, was my original comfort deck and is known to most Tarotists in the United States.

In this card we see the visage of the familiar chubby-cheeked and smiling older gentleman. He looks like he is very happy, good-natured, and well fed. But is he happy or is he inebriated? Sometimes he strikes me as merely jovial, while at others he seems clearly besotted.
Many people know this as the "wish card". I have heard countless beginners say it indicates that your wishes will be fulfilled and that you will get whatever you want. As a general rule, I tend to see it more as a card that indicates you will get what you THINK you want, and often as a message to "watch what you ask for; you just might get it." For the sake of this example, though, let's just consider it as indicative of a sense of satisfaction and the enjoyment of desired results. Now let's take a look at the Nine of Cups in numerous other decks to see what they might have to add utilizing the Comparative Tarot Method.

Blue Rose Tarot

The idea of the wish card is conveyed literally in Paula Gibby's Nine of Cups from the self-published Blue Rose collage deck. Here we see the famous lamp of Aladdin complete with the stroking hands and the wise genie in the background.

Ma'at Tarot

Julie Cuccia-Watts' Ma'at Tarot endows us with another version of the "wish card". Quoting Ms. Cuccia-Watts from a private e-mail, she states: "Wishes as dandelion seeds in the wind". This fits in well with the waxing Virgo Moon because Virgo in this deck denotes the barren earth of Spring. The dandelion seeds represent the symbolic power of wishes that can fill this virgin blankness. The woman in the card is literally sowing wishes on the wind. Will she like her harvest?

PoMo Tarot

Sorry about the quality of the picture, I just couldn't find a proper image of it, and I don't have it.

In the PoMo Tarot by the late artist and historian Brian Williams, this card is titled the "Nine Bottles". Edouard Manet's A Bar at the Folies-Bergère, painted in 1881-1882, inspired this card. Here our modernistic Mona Lisa looks tired, dissipated, and used up, though her eyes contain a glint of life yet unstirred. Brian Williams likened this to "the silence under the cheerful noise, the emptiness under the glitter, the loneliness of the crowd" (Williams 2003, 69). This is a snapshot of the busy social life that hides the fact that this social butterfly is one who is privately lost and floundering.
Her we have a tongue-in-cheek look at wealth, opulence, and affluence, yet we see the emptiness that may lie behind such riches. I look at this modern-day Manet and think of poor little rich girls like Barbara Hutton or disillusioned stars like Marilyn Monroe. You can have wealth, fame, riches, and so on, yet still feel empty and hollow. The dream, though achieved, is not a source of any lasting happiness.
To the simple wish card of the Universal Waite deck I would like to add with the PoMo Tarot, "Is that all there is?"

 The Servants of the Light Tarot

The next deck we will consider is The Servants of the Light Tarot, by Dolores Ashcroft-Nowicki. This deck is fairly unusual in that the Major Arcana were drawn by Josephine Gill, while the Court cards and Minor Arcana were drawn some years later by Anthony Clark. In the Nine of Cups for this deck we see a Christmas tree standing on a windowsill. The theme here is celebration adn happiness complete with presents and good cheer. From suggested visions of figgy pudding to bank notes, this card is at first glance totally positive, but reversed or ill-dignified it could mean riches or inheritance via ill-gotten gains. So is it treasure or tinsel? And who is paying for all those fantastical presents anyway?

(Christmas tree? She is talking about the Nine of Spheres, Nine of Pentacles in this deck... oops...)

The Shining Tribe Tarot

In the book accompanying The Shining Tribe Tarot, by Rachel Pollack, Ms. Pollack begins with this poem:

When the ocean fills with tears
the redeemer will come
When we have healed the ocean
we will fill it with light
Pollack 2001, 159

She goes on to relate how this card, illustrated with eight cracked jars surrounded by a central whole jar, derives from a creation myth found in the Qabalah. The eight broken pots represent the fragmented areas of our lives. The central pot is healed and shines with the dark waters of the unconscious. Ms. Pollack explains how this illustration conveys our lives of broken shards and refers to them as "pieces of truth in which the light lies buried" (Pollack 2001, 159). The card references the Orthodox Jewish belief in gilgul, or reincarnation - the idea being that it takes many lifetimes to become that central healed pot. Along the way we quest for monetary happiness, fame, and/or victories, and consequently experience a lot of broken crockery. Restoration requires helping others by sharing one's inner truth. Forgive the mixed metaphors, but this is a case where walking the talk makes the pot whole. I like this card's message about the inner spiritual health that is necessary to attain true happiness.

The Tarot of the Crone

The Tarot of the Crone is a self-published and extremely visceral glimpse of ancient wisdom by author, artist, and poet Ellen Lorenzi-Prince. Ellen's Nine has a theme somewhat similar to that of Rachel Pollack's. Again, we look at that which is broken becoming whole, but in a startlingly different and beautiful way. Ellen's poem to accompany this card she aptly subtitles "Healing" is as follows:

I am the Many and One
I am whole who has been broken
I am the power of redemption
I am the renewal of creation. 

 The Wheel of Change Tarot

Another deck that uses pots or large urns to portray the suit of Cups is Alexandra Genetti's vibrantly colorful The Wheel of Change Tarot. In the Nine of Cups in this deck we see large pots of olive oil and wine lost in a shipwreck and resting on the deep waters of the ocean (so "cuppish") while schools of fish swim among them. In almost all decks this Nine expresses some aspect of our emotions, spiritual growth and/or wholeness. This card is no exception. As Ms. Genetti writes, "the Nine of Cups represents significant growth in the understanding of our emotions and their origins" (Genetti 1997, 250). This card is an excellent visual metaphor for that concept, as it is truly necessary for us to plumb the depths of our emotions in order to experience our deepest feelings and to both understand and recover them. The depth of the sea here represents the infinite depth and breadth of the collective unconscious and the emotions and archetypes we all share. Likening back to Rachel Pollack's whole and cracked jars, depth and wholeness are an integral part of real happiness as expressed in many Rider-Waite clones with far different illustrations.

Vision Quest Tarot

The Vision Quest Tarot also uses large urns for its visual of the Nine of Cups, and this is another rendition that I really like. In this card, we see a streambed that arches gently up to a small waterfall. A young maiden is wading in the streambed filled with literally life-giving water. The stream is lined by nine large jars filled with these precious waters. This is extremely appropriate, as in almost all indigenous cultures not only happiness, but life itself, depended on the availability and quality of the potable water. The riches people and the wealthiest societies were those that harnessed and controlled their water supply. This card helps us to see that water as a symbol of emotion leads you to think of what you nourish and what nourishes you, how emotions are expressed, how they are contained, and how they are quencehd as a necessity of life. What sustains you emotionally? For what do you thirst?

The Animal Wise Tarot

In the Animal-Wise Tarot by Ted Andrews, the Nine of Cups is known as the Nine of Shapeshifters. It is illustrated with the ladybug, also known as the ladybird beetle. Ladybug is considered lucky in numerous cultures, many of which wish upon her for good luck. This small red and black beetle is an aid to pollination and dines on aphids, making it the heroine of rose gardeners and many other horticulturists. The ladybug was also said to "fly to one's true love", making it a possible messenger or herald of emotional bliss, a symbol of getting what you want, specifically as it applies to emotional needs.
The life span of the ladybug is from nine to eighteen months, so Ted Andrews cites this as the length of the lucky time span indicated by the appearance of this card. This accentuates the lucky aspects of this watery Nine and brings to mind its association with Jupiter, planet of luck, which leads us to our next deck.

Thoth

The Thoth deck, envisioned by Aleister Crowley and painted by Lady Frieda Harris, was first published in 1944 as The Book of Thoth. Though conceptualized by two concurrent members of the Golden Dawn, no two Tarot decks could be more different in look and feel than those created by A.E.Waite and Aleister Crowley.
In this card we see lotus blossoms pouring wine into nine chalices, a vision that signifies overflowing joy. Astrologically, this card corresponds to Jupiter (Happiness, trust, magnanimity, luck) in Pisces (spirituality and universal love). This combination of planet and sign suggests bliss, optimism, trust and happiness. As per the illustration, it whispers of joy/luck (Jupiter) that lets the heart (cup) overflow.

William Blake Tarot

The William Blake Tarot by Ed Buryn utilizes an entirely novel reassignment of the four suits based on the vision of artist and poet William Blake (1757-1827). The closes match to a conventional Nine of cups is the Nine of Music in the William Blake Tarot. In this deck, emotions are perceived not to be the flowing watery type of the Cups in most suits, but are described within the passionate intensity of Fire. Happiness is still the theme of this card, but it is arrived at from a slightly different direction. In his Ode on the Spring, Blake demonstrates how happiness, like the flowers of spring, are ever-renewing, but are only available to those who seek them. One is advised to passionately "kiss the joy as it flies".

(Actually, the poem is "Eternity" and it goes

He who binds to himself a joy
Does the winged life destroy
He who kisses the joy as it flies
Lives in eternity's sunrise

Divination with Dominoes

Key Word: Innocence.

Additional meanings: Choice to be made, purity of heart, freedom, lack of restraint.
Beware tendency toward carelessness, vanity, bad judgement.

In innocence is all life reflected. It is an open book; a blank sheet of paper, awaiting the written word. It is still water awaiting the ripple of disturbance, large or small. This domino may be seen in the clear, open sky or in the unvarying, all-absorbing darkness of the night sky. Everything is possible on the blank canvas; the choice is your own.

There is the excitement of what is to come; of what may lie “just around the corner.” There are choices to be made but nothing to indicate what those choices should be. Innocence implies that there is purity of heart and, therefore, no chance of poor judgement. Yet that very innocence may translate as lack of experience, which could well lead to tragedy. Freedom is to be enjoyed but to be respected. By keeping and focusing on the purity of heart, bad decisions may be avoided.

Beware vanity. Making the right choice(s) is not the be-all and end-all for, having made a decision, it is necessary to follow-through and show your ability to handle all that results from that decision. If all goes well, then there can be a feeling of accomplishment, but that can quickly lead to self-satisfaction and arrogance. Never lose sight of the innocent phase. There is an innate joy, love, and sense of wonder connected to this tile. Don’t lose that. Keep everything in perspective 

Numerological value:0

Key Word: Success.

Additional meanings: Overindulgence, imperfections, mistakes.

This is frequently a sign of conflict and social disharmony. There is always the possibility of success and it can be within your grasp if you do not fumble, for this tile is not entirely negative. You must beware saying the wrong thing; boasting and/or claiming that which is patently untrue. There can be emotional instability here, either resulting from the above or as a result of it. There is a feeling of being on the outside looking in, with a burning desire to reverse the situation and to be a part of what is going on. There is a desire for respect and yet an inability to command it. Too aggressive behavior can defeat what you unconsciously desire.

You may feel that you have reached an impasse; that you have gone too far and it is now impossible to reverse things. But you can make use of this stalemate. Take the time to search within yourself and to find that sincerity that lies deep within. If you present it gradually – without flinging it in the face of those with whom you are in conflict – than your sincerity can bring about a turn of fortune. It can bring about the eventual success that you desire.

We all make mistakes. But the wiser person learns from his or her mistakes. When things seem to go wrong, examine the course of events and see if there wasn’t some other way you might have handled things, and remember that for next time. Success is always within your grasp – you just need to focus on it then reach out and grasp it.

Numerological value: 1

Key Word: Family.

Additional meanings:Home, contentment, perfect love, attainment, bliss ... but tread cautiously.

This is a tile of blessing. It frequently ties-in with family love and harmony. There is success, if not financially at the very least in relationships. Abundance in all things is often indicated.

This tile is a bright omen of what lies ahead, reinforcing what has already been achieved. Many times the appearance of this tile indicates an approaching initiation, in the sense of a new beginning. It might be a new job, it might be relocation, it might be a marriage or business partnership. It signals attainment. You have accomplished more than you ever thought you would or could. There is, however, a caveat: a word of caution. Do not rest on your laurels. Do not think that because you have attained a particular level, there is no need to continue the climb. Always look ahead. “Onward and upward” apply here. This is tile of the optimist, not the pessimist.

There is abundance of life reflected here. Procreation, eroticism, pleasure, even birth are in this tile. It is the realization of a dream and the attainment of goals. There are indications of swelling bank accounts; of growing circles of friends; of new interests and horizons. All are within easy reach. They do not have to be accepted, but they are available. Remember always not to stagnate.

Numerological value: 2

Key Word: Birth.

Additional meanings: Birth of idea, news, new proposal. Trust.
Beware tendency toward deception, seduction.

You possess the energy that is found in new birth, in the blossoming of springtime, the flowers bursting forth in a grand array of colors. A new cycle of birth/rebirth and fresh beginnings is here. There is also healing and intuition. As a child enters the world, it must trust in all that has brought it forth, for it takes time to achieve and accept self-responsibility. Only over time will strength develop and new pathways be made. The focus here is on the early steps. There is news of birth; of new life.

You are pointed toward a new way of progress. You will need to prove yourself. You will need to test your strength and fine-tune your judgements. It is said that from small acorns grow mighty oaks. Let this be your inspiration. Know that you have great potential and that for you all things are possible.

A motherly influence can be felt, with this tile. There is gentle nourishment with positive encouragement. Purification may be needed to ensure adherence to the right path. Look for news about an opportunity, proposal, or early investment. This is also a tile that works with feminine energies and with healing powers. To carry this tile, close to the heart, can produce great recuperative energy. It will promote personal well-being, physically and mentally.

Numerological value: 3

A really great blog entry about cartomancy!

Mastering Modern Cartomancy
Posted on January 28, 2015 by Cardseer



Do follow the link and read the article, I'm just posting a short referate for my own use.


- the numbers have significance as well as the suits
- it can be intimidating to use the intuition without key words and pictures, with only the suit symbols and numbers, but you will learn
- It's easier to learn the meaning of cards and card combinations if one practices regularly with a few cards. Tarot cards are easier to learn through "card of the day" practice, but playing card combinations have significance, and thus it's better to do a simple three card spread.

 

One way of reading these cards is "past, present and future".

Here are other possible ways of reading this spread, 25 different ways...

Here are some others. 

Now these are mainly for tarot cards, but there is really not that much a difference.

And just to bore you to tears, here's some more suggestions. 

(Or perhaps the same... that 25 ways was pretty exhaustive. :-D)

But - you get the idea.

This is how to build spreads.

You decide how many cards, which symbol, which questions, 

what is the meaning of different positions, etc. 

This is how the different traditional spreads were born. 

You are just as good and effective to create spreads as those who created the classic ones...

The difference is only that the existing ones you don't need to think...

- draw three cards every morning, thinking about the day. Analyze the cards, read different meanings, think about the combinations. Note your overall intuitive impressions.
- record your interpretation in a cartomancy journal, including "significant influences"

Do not be discouraged. There is an easy way I’ve found to master the playing cards through regular practice by analyzing the simple three-card spread. I advise drawing three cards every morning for insight into the coming day. Analyze the cards for all the possible meanings that come to mind. Contemplate the cards individually and in combination. Suit interactions and overall intuitive impressions should also be noted. Get a feel for what the cards mean before referring to a book or your notes. Record the resulting interpretations in a cartomancy journal including significant internal and external influences such as time of day, weather, moon phase, moon sign, mood, etc.

You will discover that mood can have an effect on the cards you draw. You may find that your readings are clearer during certain times of the moon phase or when the moon is in a particular zodiac sign. You might be surprised by how often the weather will appear in your daily cards.

Shuffle the cards while you focus on your question. I like to ask, “What will I experience today?” If you prefer a more structured reading, you can decide ahead of time to apply special significance to each card position, such as “morning, noon, night” or “past, present future” or “premise, situation, outcome.” I prefer to keep the reading fluid and allow the cards to speak to me freely.

Then at the end of the day examine your cards to determine how they reflect the energies of your day, and which of your predictions prove accurate. When something occurs in your day that was clearly predicted in the cards, but you missed seeing that morning, consider it a valuable learning experience. The next time this card combination appears, you will automatically remember the new interpretation.

If you find that you are unable to relate the events of your day to the cards, keep referring back to the reading over the coming week. Sometimes the predictions in a cartomancy daily draw can take up to a week to manifest in your life. Meditate on the particularly challenging combinations. Your Higher Self is fluent in the language of the cards.

As you continue this practice, you will easily assimilate the card meanings, and the subtle ways the cards interact in a spread. The experience you gain will enable to you tackle larger card spreads with ease. In time this daily practice will help you build new card associations. You will move beyond the meanings you learned in a book, and begin to develop your own personal meanings for the cards.

Cartomancy II

 

 

 When using cards to divide the unseen and unknowable, one starts by giving each card a symbolic meaning. These meanings differ from country to country and time to time, so you can choose which ever meaning that fits you best. After all, divination is reading the symbols. The cards themselves have no magical, mystical powers. :-D

But - that being said - there are beliefs associated with reading the cards.

There are the spreads, that are about the same as with tarot cards.

The card combinations have a meaning as well as individual cards and their placement.

Serena Powers says this:

Interpretations from Shuffling and Cutting

Who would have thought that a reading can begin from the cards even before that first card is laid out. Look carefully and note how the cards are shuffled and cut. Every person is different and has their own style, but this can even differ between readings.

When a person shuffles only the bare minimum number of times, this of course shows how eager they are to get straight to the point.

 When cards one or a few cards fall out during shuffling, take note of what they are because they are important to the reading.

When a lot of cards fall out, the querent is either not used shuffling cards, or they are reluctant or ambivalent about the reading.

When a person cuts only the top few cards from the deck, or leaves a tiny little pile, then they are reluctant to do the reading. This shows they do not really want to reveal too much or find out the true answer.

When cards fall from the deck as a person cuts the cards, this also shows a certain ambivalence or reluctance about the reading.

Shy and impressionable people cut the deck with their face virtually inches from the cards. They also tend to take any interpretations extremely literally despite their avowed scepticism.

Troubled querents also cut the deck with their faces inches from the deck and may take some time to do it. I also find these people tend to cut the deck dead centre if they can manage it and are most concerned to be doing it "right". These people tend to demand exact predictions and interpretations but this is because they are so troubled by their question.

Complex people tend to cut into multiple piles. These people cannot decide if they want to take the cards seriously or not.

Querents who are confident of the answer they think they will receive cut with their arm fully extended, often with a smile on their face.

There are people who barely glance at the cards when cutting them and expect you to shuffle and replace the cards in one pile. These people do not expect anything from the cards and are majorly sceptical or simply do not really want a reading.

When querents sit right back in their chairs and cross their arms you know they are feeling defensive. When the cards get right to the heart of the issue, you notice them lean forward and the arms are uncrossed. This simple body language reveals so much, and can be useful when the querent is determined to say only the bare minimum.

The next time you do a reading for yourself, notice how you cut the cards. Often you can pick up from the cut if you are secretly reluctant to know the answer (usually because your intuition/subconscious already knows the answer won't be what you want to hear).

Special Combinations to be aware of

    Ace of hearts next to any other heart – Friendship
    Ace of hearts with another heart on each side – Love affair
    Ace of hearts with a diamond on each side – Money
    Ace of hearts with a spade on each side – Quarrels
    Ace of diamonds with the eight of clubs – Business proposal
    Ace of spades with the king of clubs – A politician
    Ace of spades with the ten of spades – A serious undertaking
    Ace of spades with the four of hearts – A new baby
    Ten of hearts – Cancels adjacent cards of ill fortune; reinforces adjacent cards of good fortune.
    Ten of diamonds with the two of hearts – Marriage bringing money
    Ten of spades – – Cancels adjacent cards of good fortune; reinforces adjacent cards of ill fortune.
    Ten of spades next to any club – Business troubles
    Ten of spades with a club on each side – Theft, forgery, grave business losses
    Nine of hearts with the five of spades – Loss of status
    Nine of clubs with the eight of hearts – Gaiety
    Nine of diamonds next to any court card – Lack of success, an inability to concentrate
    Nine of diamonds with the eight of spades – A bitter quarrel
    Nine of spades with the seven of diamonds – Loss of money
    Eight of hearts with the eight of diamonds – A trousseau
    Eight of hearts with the five of hearts – A present of jewelry
    Eight of spades on the immediate right of the client card – Abandon your current plans
    Four of hearts next to any court card – A loss, injustice
    Two of clubs with the two of diamonds – An unexpected message

Cartomancy

Cartomancy is fortune-telling or divination using a deck of cards. Forms of cartomancy appeared soon after playing cards were first introduced into Europe in the 14th century. Practitioners of cartomancy are generally known as cartomancers, card readers, or simply readers.

Cartomancy is one of the oldest of the more common forms of fortune-telling. It is similar to tarot card reading in that various card spreads are used, such as single card, "Destiny Square," and 3 cards. The tarot is actually a form of cartomancy, as is oracle decks and other divination forms using cards.

Cartomancy using standard playing cards was the most popular form of providing fortune-telling card readings in the 18th, 19th and 20th centuries.
In English-speaking countries, a standard deck of Anglo-American bridge/poker playing cards (i.e., 52-card, four-suit set) can be used in the cartomancy reading; the deck is often augmented with jokers, and even with the blank card found in many packaged decks.
In France, the 32-card piquet playing-card deck was, and still is, most typically used in cartomancy readings, while the 52-card deck was, and still is, also used for this purpose. (A piquet deck can be a 52-card deck with all of the 2s through the 6s removed. This leaves all of the 7s through the 10s, the face cards, and the aces.)

Harry Roseland; Reading the Cards, 1899

Cartofeminists Review Harry Roseland's Fortuneteller Paintings

 

 Cartomancy by an unknown artist... looks Russian to me.

Playing cards were invented in China. There are cards as old as from the 9th century and it was in teh 9th century a writer referenced to playing cards, calling them "the leaf game". It is probably associated with the development of books, from rolls to sheets of pages.
The Chinese cards have four suits - coins; strings of coins (which may have been misinterpreted as sticks from the crude drawing); myriads of strings of coins and tens of myriads...

Here two of these cards; 1 of strings and 3 of coins. The myriads were usually depicted as people.

By the 11th century, playing cards were spread throughout the Asian continent and later came into Mamluk Egypt.[9]:309 The Mamluk pack contained 52 cards comprising four suits: polo sticks, coins, swords, and cups. Each suit contained ten spot or pip cards (cards identified by the number of suit symbols or "pips" they show) and three court cards, called malik (king), nā'ib malik (viceroy or deputy king), and thānī nā'ib (second or under-deputy). The thānī nā'ib is a non-existent title so it may not have been in the earliest versions. The Mamluk court cards showed abstract designs or calligraphy not depicting persons (at least not in any surviving specimens), though they did bear the names of military officers. Nā'ib would be corrupted into naibi (Italian) and naipes (Spanish), the latter still in common usage. The pip cards in two suits had a reverse ranking, a feature found in many old European card games.

mamluk cards - highly ornamented, no depiction of people.

Playing cards first entered Southern Europe in the 14th century, probably from Mamluk Egypt, using the Mamluk suits of cups, coins, swords, and polo-sticks, and which are still used in traditional Latin decks. As polo was an obscure sport to Europeans then, the polo-sticks became batons or cudgels.

Playing card symbols
The German symbols of acorns and leaves should be reversed 
- swords, leaves, piques, spades and batons, acorns, trèlles and clubs/clover

As cards spread from Italy to Germanic countries, the Latin suits evolved into the suits of Leaves (or Shields), Hearts (or Roses), Bells, and Acorns, and a combination of Latin and Germanic suit pictures and names resulted in the French suits of trèfles (clovers), carreaux (tiles), cœurs (hearts), and piques (pikes) around 1480. The trèfle (clover) was probably derived from the acorn and the pique (pike) from the leaf of the German suits. The names "pique" and "spade", however, may have derived from the sword of the Italian suits. In England, the French suits were eventually used, although the earliest packs circulating may have had the Italian suits. This may account to why the English called the clovers "clubs" and the pikes "spades".

"Coeurs, Hearts - denotes the Church.
Carreaux, Diamonds - denotes the arrowheads which are symbolic of the vassels from whom the archers were drawn.
Trefles or Clover, Clubs - signifies the husbandmen.
Piques, Spades - denotes the the points of Lances, symbols for the knights themselves."
- History of playing cards

 As you see the coins in the Chinese cards, they have a clear diamond figure in the middle.

When using cards to divide, one may choose to use the joker(s) and/or empty cards and give them a meaning. The Joker usually is interpreted as the Fool of the tarot deck, even though it has a different background story.

In the 19th century, people were playing the game of Euchre [from German Juckerspiel, (Jucker is a carriage horse, which is why I believe the game was called Junkerspiel. Junker is a young nobleman.)]. This Juckerspiel most likely developed from Karnöffel, a game where the jack is the "best" card. In USA the name of the game was Juker (originally pronounced as ewe-ker, not as jew-ker), and they added an extra jack, the best jack, unsuited, called Juker and later Joker. It was because of this, the depictions melted together with the tarot Fool.