Understanding Cartomancy's Clubs and Spades

A magenta spade from a deck of playing cards on a pink and purple gradient background

Suit of Spades

Keywords: Spirituality, obstacles, action, experience, decisions, illness, fate, conflict

Spades get a bad rap, which makes sense because it is the suit that speaks most directly to illness, hardship, and death.

These experiences are part of life; none of us are exempt. Understanding the purpose of Spades experiences make a more well rounded person, who is better able to accept life on its own terms.

Those new to playing cards would do well to recall the Death card or its cousin the 10 of Swords. The messages infused in these cards can help us understand the role that Spades play in our lives.

Without Death (whether it be the esoteric endings of Death in tarot, or the corporeal endings represented by the Nine of Spades as well as Ace of Spades and Ace of Swords under some circumstances) there could be no life.

Trees grow from our corpses, as composters feast upon us; death makes space for new generations, new experiences, and new understandings of what it means to be alive.

The King and Queen of Spades are unique in personality to the tarot counterparts.

Together they are a doctor and an herbalist or healer.

Of course, medicine is among the traditional tracks of the King of Swords, and he is an intellectual, but the King of Spades goes a bit beyond that—he gets caught up in the brutal power of his trade.

He can’t see the humanity of those he serves for all his skill and acumen.

The Queen of Spades suffers under this paradigm less. She’s harsh, but able to listen enough to those around her to combine her intellect with an earthy understanding.

When she comes up with the Jack of Spades she could be a widow.

That dual nature shows up throughout the suit, so in some ways she typifies it—Spades demand that we take the triumphant with the challenging.

Several cards that indicate illness show up in Spades, notably the 4 and 5 of Spades, indicating long illnesses and short illnesses respectively.

Many times when I bring this up people ask me if these illnesses could be mental, and the answer is absolutely.

Just try to remember the spiritual aspects of endings and choices, and you’ll make peace with the Spades.

Suit of Clubs

Keywords: Employment, travel, distance, information, leadership, wisdom, luck.

The Suit of Clubs is one that brings messages from a distance, whether that message is from a potential long term job (after all, clubs bring steady work) or comes with unexpected money.

I’ve used the Ace of Clubs with the Ace of Diamonds dressed with money oil under a brown, dressed candle just last week to negotiate a higher salary—it worked even better than I expected!

That’s because the Ace of Clubs can bring steady work, so if you’re unemployed and looking for a job I highly recommend turning to the Ace of Clubs.

The Six of Clubs does carry some of the triumphant meaning of the Six of Wands, but it can also mean that you’ll be traveling out of town.

The Four of Wands and the Four of Clubs really couldn’t be more different: where the Four of Wands brings a celebration, the Four of Clubs generally brings a feeling of loneliness in all you have accomplished.

The Ten of Clubs is similar to the Ten of Wands in that it talks about working a lot, but the connotation of the Ten of Clubs is OK with that.

It wants you to start a business, run your company, become a leader, and move up in life. It has that in common with the Ten of Pentacles, and in some ways feels like the Ten of Pentacles and Ten of Wands combined.

The Queen of Clubs is a witch like the Queen of Wands, and honestly they are very similar cards.

The Queen of Clubs has real Girlboss energy (take it or leave it, but sometimes you need it!) so she can be used when you’re a person of a marginalized gender looking to start a business or ask for a raise.

The King of Clubs is a manager or lawyer type. He wants success and knows the best path forward.