Honestly it's usually my go-to! If you already know the meanings of the Minor Arcana cards, you basically know how to read a regular deck of playing cards. They're essentially the same thing, except Tarot has four court cards per suit instead of three! 🙂
There's this whole debate about whether Tarot or playing cards came first and where they originated from. I tend to lean towards playing cards coming AFTER Tarot. What's funny is that Tarot was originally used for playing games, while playing cards were supposedly the first ones used for divination and guidance. Now it's totally flipped!
Only rich and powerful people could afford Tarot cards back in the day. When playing cards came around they were way more affordable for common folk. Playing cards actually have this wild history of being banned in different places for different reasons throughout history. Card divination only really became popular during the 17th and 18th centuries.
Personally I believe Tarot was used for guidance pretty much the way we use it today from the very beginning, but it was kept secret. It was way more than just a simple card game like we're told. There's SO much esoteric meaning, numerology and symbolism behind each card and the artwork that survived for it to just be a game. Same goes for regular playing cards honestly. There's too much perfection and calculation involved for it to be random.
The church, governments and secret societies still have tons of secret knowledge about the occult, supernatural and the real history of the world (the stuff they don't teach in schools) that we'll probably never know about. They've been manipulating history and public opinion forever.
The cards were constantly banned by the church and officials who thought they corrupted people with gambling and divination, pulling them away from God. Card divination became historically popular in the 17th-18th centuries, but imo it was probably being kept secret by the church and elite way before that. Anyone who practiced it earlier was either persecuted or lived in fear of being accused of witchcraft.
Even A.E. Waite himself says in his book that he can't reveal everything he knows about Tarot. That should tell you something!
Anyway getting back to your question - the four suits of playing cards represent the same things as Tarot suits:
Cups (feelings/emotions) becomes Hearts. Element is water.
Swords (intelligence/obstacles) becomes Spades. Element is air.
Wands (creativity/passion) becomes Clubs. Element is fire.
Pentacles (earthly matters/finance) becomes Diamonds. Element is earth.
Different countries might have different names for suits and some cards, but the meanings stay the same ultimately.
Some people keep one of the Jokers and read it as The Fool, others toss both since the Joker was only invented during the U.S. Civil War. I like keeping both and interpret them as either "something unexpected" or just as The Fool (don't want to mess up the deck lol).
The BEST thing about playing cards imo is that they really stimulate your imagination and creativity more than a fully illustrated Tarot deck would. Regular playing cards/Minor Arcana represent everyday situations and obstacles, while Major Arcana deals more with spirituality and philosophy. Whether you read with only Minors, only Majors, or use them together, all methods have their uses. I'm sure you'll totally embrace regular cards with time! 🙂
Hope this helps!!
