Conjure Cards & the courtroom

Today is Friday and we're on day four of the Rittenhouse trial. The above spread is not intended to ask if there would be a guilty verdict - it's a foregone conclusion that there won't be. The judge is biased and the jury probably is, too. There may be a few who comprehend that going out of your way to strut around with an AR at a protest is just looking for an excuse to shoot people, and that he murdered those two men in cold blood in front of multiple witnesses, but this is America. Common sense will be shouted down. And meanwhile Leonard Peltier has been in prison for almost half a century for a crime that the government knows he did not commit.

Rather, I asked if there would be a verdict today at all.

The first card is the Jack of Hearts, the Bass Fish. This card does not carry a reversed meaning. One of the meanings given is "a young person who is selfish and only thinks of themselves." Yeah, that's Rittenhouse.

The next card is the 2 of Spades, the Broken Bottle. It's upright. The instructions say "It identifies disputes between two subjects, or within a particular environment." This is why the jury is taking so long. They're arguing.

The third card is the King of Diamonds, the Bear. It's another one has no reversed meaning. It's normally a good card. But the instructions also say, "...his actions and place will be determined by the company of cards he keeps." He's paired with a card representing Rittenhouse and a strife card, so he's not good. I think he might be the judge. It's also a money card, there's most likely some bribery involved. It's only somewhat likely we will get a verdict today, or very soon (the cards are red - black - red: not a strong yes, more of a "soft" one) but it won't be satisfactory at all. Things are all gummed up.

That's ALL too bad. Every bit of this. I personally think a pair of boobs tattooed on his back would be a great look for ol' Kyle. But I can't say I'm surprised. Look at Zimmerman.

Even the pendulum wouldn't give me a hard 'yes.' It would only swing 'Maybe.' The future is still soft and bendy on this question, apparently. Something else has to happen before things are set in stone.

This is the deck I used. I like it so much, I fangirled all over Goodreads. You can read the review here:

Conjure Cards: Fortune-Telling Card Deck and Guidebook by Jake Richards
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This is a deck by a reader, for readers. That's all too rare these days, since a lot of non-reader artists see decks simply as a sales venue without having a good grasp of the subject. That's not the case here. Reading-wise, the Conjure Cards rank right up there with Lenormand. It reads clearly, and it reads true.

I was a bit skeptical about authenticity when I first ordered the deck. But after spending not even 24 hours with it, I was convinced this is authentic Appalachian folklore and Jake is the real deal. He just knows too much history and folklore. It's even more impressive because he looks really young. He couldn't have gained this depth of knowledge and understanding from google, he had to have actually grown up with all this. I'm reading his "Backwoods Witchcraft" book, too. The little moth on the cover made me think it would be a good expansion on the deck, and it is. But this deck can be used effectively on its own. You just need the cards and the instructions, nothing more.

The box is a miniature cigar-box style, it's sturdy and it's textured somehow so the cardboard feels like wood. Even the interior has been given a lot of care and attention to detail. Yes, there's a little issue with it not closing all the way. It might loosen up in time, though. In the meantime, I tied a loop of twine around it, loose enough to slip on and off but snug enough that even if the box gets knocked off the table, the cards and LWB won't scatter. I think the twine fits the cabin aesthetic of the deck.

The cardstock is good and sturdy, it's matte, and I can riffle it. The cards are a bit big, a little shorter and broader than a standard RWS Tarot. Fine for smaller spreads, and it shows the details. If I want to do larger spreads, I can just clear the table. But most of the time, all I need is a small spread. A second edition in bridge or poker size would be nice too, but these are perfectly workable.

The images are folk-arty and well executed. They're hand-drawn and painted playing cards with Appalachian dream symbols drawn over them. Everything is there for a reason: for example, the 3 of Hearts looks like a mistake at first since the Hearts were obviously painted over Diamonds. But one of the meanings given is "wrongs will be righted", so the "mistake" is actually a mnemonic!

The LWB is very good. There's a clear explanation of each card. Mr. Richards says they're derived from a playing card method he learned from his mother, matched up with traditional Appalachian dream symbols. Everything dovetails perfectly.

Since these are playing card based, some (not all) of the cards have reversed meanings. I seldom use reversals with other decks since I read by attendance (neighboring cards), but I'd strongly encourage their use with this deck. They can make all the difference between a bump in the road and a warning about something truly dire! It's an important distinction to make.

The King and Queen of Hearts are the male and female significators, but he makes it a point to note that the binary gender approach is not a requirement, and offers an alternative way of choosing significators: basically, using the card you identify with most for yourself, and the one you're most drawn to for your partner. There is none of the homophobia that people associate with rural America in this deck. Nor is there racism. Jake Richards himself is Melungeon, and the cards are a wonderful expression of the blending of Eastern Cherokee, African American and British culture. It's a beautiful perspective.

The last part of the LWB is spreads. They're the classics that people tend to think of as "Lenormand spreads" these days, but are actually the old standard for card reading in general: a Line of 3 that he suggests reading Past-Present-Future, or alternately, using as a yes/no spread. A 3x3 relationship spread where the outer columns are the people and the center column is what's between them. And one he calls "The Bullfrog", which is a 9x4 Grand Tableau that employs a counting method.

This is the best-reading new deck to be published in my lifetime. I don't say that lightly.

Conjure Cards are available here: https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/1578637449/