Let me make clear here at the beginning that the artist behind The Cards, Chrissie Nichols, is a dear friend of mine who is not involved in the divination business at all. In fact, nobody involved in the creation of this set of cards is involved in the fortune-telling business in any way (that I’m aware of). Unless you believe that at being an NHS doctor is a more legitimate branch of what we do! But that would be the subject for a different kind of blog post! Today I’m only interested in this set of playing cards as a possible divination tool.
What are the Being Human Playing Cards?
This is a set of playing cards that have been designed (by two of the aforementioned NHS doctors with 65 years medical experience between them) for use in a therapeutic setting as an aid to improving mental health, for everyone. There is a standard playing card deck at the heart of The Cards – Four standard suits (Clubs, Diamonds, Hearts and Spades) running from Ace through to 10 with the courts (Jack, Queen, King) with two Jokers and seven additional cards.
Let’s look at one from each suit first of all.
The Hearts suit guides us to orientate and know ourselves.
The Clubs allow us to give of ourselves – connect and relate, have meaning and purpose in the world.
Spades and Diamonds help us manage ourselves by resourcing and balancing so that we can do what we intend to do in order to match our values and beliefs ***
The standard playing card symbols are in the top left, bottom right as usual, letting the card be read either way around with no trouble. The central portion of the card has an image which is not double-ended, but has a degree of duality about it – there are two rabbits in the 10 of Clubs, but they are not mirror images. Two animals in 8 Diamonds, but different animals etc. Each card carries two words which are often the same word, but not always – 2 Hearts has Shelter and Tranquil. These keywords are all soothing (maybe with the execption of Grief? What do you think?). Writing that offers some prompts, suggestions on how to activate the card’s keyword in your life runs around the perimeter of each card. In 4 Spades (keyword: Sleep) the writing reads: PRIORITISE SLEEP * KEEP A RHYTHM AND A SPACE * SWITCH OFF * PWER DOWN * KEEP COOL * MIND THE LIGHT AND MIND THE DARK * QUIETEN * SOFTEN
The two Joker cards are the only two in monochrome and follow the same pattern as the other cards – they both feature that most beautiful of tricksters – Fox.
The card back shown in the same picture is a selection of creature profiles found in the deck, almost like an abstract.
The court cards feature no ‘court’ images, but continues the theme of the deck. Any correlation between the keywords on the courts and how one might interpret the Tarot courts would be by accident rather than design: these are very much stand alone cards. We’ll look at whether it can work as an oracle in a few beats.
Looking at the additional seven cards, these slot together to make a single image. These are ‘explorer’ cards and they invite us to go more deeply into ourselves. There is an image on one side and on the other, where the ‘back’ should be, there are a few paragraphs with the card’s essential meanings and an invitation to go more deeply.
How to use The Cards
I am such a big fan of Chrissie Nichols work and have attended quite a few of her workshops that it’s difficult for me to drag my eyes away from the artwork to the all-important lettering that she has made around the cards!
I’ve used the cards in a variety of ways (and The Cards website offers some creative suggestions on how to use them) so here’s how I’ve employed them:
CARD OF THE DAY/WEEK etc
I have added one to my small altar at the beginning of the week (where it sits with whichever Wildwood Tarot cards are active too). At the beginning and end of every day (well, at least once a day – depends how tired I am going to bed or how frantic I am at getting up lol!) I take a look at the card and try to spend a few minutes at least contemplating the keyword – what does Anchor mean to me? How has it shown up in the day? Where can I be an anchor for someone? etc
COMBINING CARDS
I am also trying to make Jung’s studies of the psyche relate to my own Tarot work (in my own way, for my own self) and recognising the importance of my inner world and outer world being as congruent as possible. Yeah, a first world problem – I know. It’s a luxury and I appreciate having the time, space and freedom to be able to strive for that. I’ve found drawing two cards at random and smooshing the keywords together a useful tool for encouraging more difficult, deep thought. For example – carrying on with our Anchor – what does Grateful (Jack of Diamonds) Anchor look like to me? Lots of tasty ideas to journal with!
JOURNAL AND CREATIVITY PROMPTS
As I read around the carefully chosen prompts and keywords, I choose one to work with in some way – journalling, short-story writing, inner reflection, poetry, sketching …. whatever way you want to be inspired to move.
RELATE KEYWORDS TO TAROT CARDS
The Cards helps me freshen up my Tarot work – it’s easy to fall into the same kind of interpretations for cards, but by considering the keywords and trying to map them across to my Tarot work, not only am I extending my Tarot interpretations, it’s helping with my own Jungian Tarot quest too.
COURT CARD AMPLIFIERS
Finally, I have used these cards as amplifiers for court cards. It can be all very well to know what a court card means, but sometimes you need a bit of extra depth. So if I drew the Queen of Swords, for example, and then pulled … Become Wise (3 Diamonds), it sits very easily with how we understand her. But if we draw Welcome (2 Clubs) how does this sit with this famously stand-offish character? Thus a whole new line of thought springs up – how does someone who is not naturally very hospitable offer a welcome? Is the Queen of Swords going to act out of character? What does a Swords family welcome look like?! What else is written on that card that could be a message from the Queen of Swords to your sitter – read everything out – there is something that your sitter needs to hear!
MATCHY MATCHY!
I have even tried pulling the equivalent Being Human card with the equivalent Tarot card to see what pops up – 3 Swords, for example, is so often associated with grief and loss in most decks, but 3 Spades in this deck is Create/Play – with its prompts to – draw, cook, dance, weave, paint etc etc. What beautiful ways to work with grief.
Are The Cards any good as an oracle?
All in all I think that this is a lovely deck for all sorts of reasons – it’s lovely to handle and shuffle, the artwork is so lovely (of course!), the creative prompts, the keywords for contemplation, the additional depth that you can produce for a court card while working with your Tarot decks … and of course, you can play card games with it too!
My only criticism is the size of the deck – it’s playing card-sized and I would like it to be larger to better read the writing and enjoy the artwork. But that’s a minor quibble!
Have you got a copy yet? It’s only £10 and you can get it from Amazon HERE That is an affiliate link that generates 50p for me if you purchase a set of The Cards: Being Human cards. Discover more about them at www.thecards.org
Find Chrissie Nichols on instagram @inkpotandpen
** This is a purchased item, not a deck given to me for review **
*** – from the back of the Treasure is here card.
Stop being confused by court cards! Start being excited by the possibilities! Become a court card adventurer along with me 🙂 The Tarot’s Court Cards are my specialist area. They talk to me. Not LITERALLY though ….
