THE MODERN PACK

by

Eve Bingham

When I was a child, I spent many a happy hour playing cards with my brothers and sisters, those that would play with me. The pack used was what is now called the “modern pack”.   With this modern pack consisting of ª Spades, ¨ Diamonds, § Clubs, and © Hearts, it is possible, and many readers do, use within a reading capacity, the four suits represented by the four elements of Air, Earth, Fire and Water, which in turn relate to the four aspects of life the mental, the physical, the material and the emotional.  Spades, Diamonds, Clubs and Hearts correlate beautifully with the suits of the Tarot Cards respectively Swords, Pentacles, Wands or Batons, and Cups.

The modern pack which to my mind, came from the ancient tarot pack, lack the Spiritual understanding and direction by the absence of most of the Major Arcana, the only card we find in the modern pack is the Joker depicted by the Fool in the ancient tarot.  This Joker or Court Jester as he is sometimes referred to, is the Spiritual being travelling through many life times, the many lessons of life they have come to learn are there within the Major Arcana.  The Court Jester travelled to many a court and told stories of his travels and encounters to the court, by doing this, he found a greater understanding of what life was all about by telling his stories, which were of the people he met and the experiences he gained from the interaction.    

If you look at the Fool card in the Tarot pack you will see him with a white rose in his left hand, showing to me he is Spiritual being, as yet untouched or untainted by this material world.  Although, he is eager and ready to embark on a journey of life, he is oblivious of the many pitfalls that can befall him, depicted by the precipice he is about to step off into the next existence.  Our Fool doesn’t bring much with him, shown by a small knapsack on his stick but the lessons of this life for which he has to learn, the little dog at his heel represents the still small voice to keep him on the straight and narrow path.   After selecting his chosen family (for I believe we choose our own family and the right environment before we arrive) he arrives in the only way we can, by being born, which is the only way into life as we know it on this planet anyway.  What’s the point of being born a King or Queen if one of the lessons is financial instability and the struggle to accrue the basics in life, like food, clothing and a home to call your own, so, we are all travellers in time and space and have put ourselves into the right place and the right time, astrologically speaking, the time, the date and the place all selected to give us the attributes for the journey ahead. 

Autumn 2004