Before we start talking about the four suits, it’s obvious that, as card readers, we cannot not consider the two colors present in modern playing card decks. Most systems of cartomancy, as far as I know, consider them. Some believe that a majority of red is good and a majority of black is bad. Others answer yes or no questions by the preponderance of colors. You need to find your own language, but I must confess that this yes-no thing has not worked reliably for me, although I know it does for other readers (such as J David Arcuri, whose work I highly recommend).

The way I see it, and the way that I have been taught, red suits tend to be “light”, moveable (Hearts) and moving (Diamonds), volatile, life-giving, cheerful and showy. They tend to shine in a reading, and the things they symbolize tend to shine more obviously: a promotion, a great love, etc. These are all things that make us feel good immediately. They please us, mostly. They are also very unstable. A love reading with only hearts, in my experience, is not good. Hearts don’t put effort into anything, meaning that all can turn out to be a flash in the pan. The answer may be good immediately, but you can already see troubled skies ahead.

Black suits tend to be “heavy”, struggling (Clubs) or suffering (Spades). They are limiting, oppositional, dour, serious, private, toiling, strict, but also stabilizing and disciplined. They give nothing for free, if anything at all. They are very firm, and a reading with too many black cards will tend to show either immobility or lots and lots of struggle and effort for very paltry results. However, they tend to give roots to positive situations, making them last longer.

Ask any couple that has lasted a long time. There have been hard times. There have been fights and misunderstandings and moments when all seemed lost. Those are the spades and clubs of the relationships. Having survived those phases makes the relationship much more stable, it gives the two people involved a keener awareness of how to steer the ship of marriage. It also implies a willingness to commit and to work out issues, to compromise, to leave one’s comfort zone behind once the initial emotional lubricant of pure bliss is over.

I’m not trying to say black suits are pleasant. I’m merely pointing out that we don’t exist just on some childish level of awareness of pleasure and pain. Life is more complex, and divination reflects life. There are pains that are necessary and pleasures that are harmful or distracting. This is reflected in the interplay of the suits and colors of the reading.