Fin de Siècle Kipper ->

 

I've been seeing commentary online for awhile now stating that directions in Ciro Marchetti's wonderful Fin de Siècle Kipper are "not easily discerned." Must people be spoon fed at every step? Has anyone tried looking at the cards? O ye generation of vipers, how long must I bear with thee? Sheesh. 😂

Directions in the Fin de Siècle are as easily seen as they are in the Originals.

1. Main Male: Yes, he's looking straight at you. But he stands facing left. Therefore, the card can be read as facing left.
2. Main Female: Right.
3. Marriage: No clear direction. (But the same can be said of this card in the Original, as the man and woman are facing each other.
4. Courtship: Again, no clear direction.
5. Mature Man: He faces left. Be aware, though, that he glances to the right, and his finger points to the card below him. All of this can be useful in a reading.
6. Mature Female: Inclines her head to the left.
7. Message: Both the drawer and the envelope open to the right.
8. False Person: Right.
9. Change: The car faces right.
10. Journey: The train moves to the left. The man in the foreground also faces left.
11. Sudden Wealth: The coins spill down to the card below.
12. Privileged Lady: Left. But again, watch her eyes.
13. Wealthy Man: He's inclined to the left.
14. Message of Concern: Right.
15. Lovers: Like 3 and 4, no direction.
16. Thoughts: Left.
17. Gift: Left.
18. Child: Right. Pay attention to the card above, as well.
19. Coffin: Opens to the right, the rose in the glass faces right, the near corner points right.
20. House: No direction.
21. Family Room: The portraits on the wall face right.
22. Official Person: Left.
23. Court House: Right.
24: Thief: Two out of the three people depicted on this card face left. Majority rules.
25. High Honor: Right.
26. Great Fortune: Left. But the card below stands to benefit most.
27. Unexpected Income: Queen Victoria faces left.
28. Expectation: Left.
29: Imprisonment: Right.
30. Judication: Right. Look at the Judge.
31. Bad Health: Right. Depending on context, you can also read this from the patient's POV, i.e., left.
32. Despair: Right.
33. Concern: Left.
34. Occupation: Right.
35. Pathway: The path curves and meanders, with no set left or right.
36. Distant Horizons: Both the gull and the ship are clearly moving to the right.
37. Poverty: No direction, though you could read the cat and rat as right if needed.
38. Toil & Labour: Right.
39: Community: Not really directional. The people face various directions. 

So you see the directions are no less clear than those in the Originals. This deck is perfectly fine for beginners, as well as more experienced readers. Just don't let facing directions shove you around the board, or fall into the trap of relying solely on english language sources. German websites are generally best for Kipper, and we do have Google Translate at our fingertips. Also highly recommended: Hildegard Leiding's Leiding Wahrsagekarten, Buch 1 & Buch 2.

On wellness, privilege, and cards

                                                                        Il Meneghello's Sibilla 1850 features numerous "people cards."

I think I've talked about the wellness model here before. It's essentially the marketing of pricey quack cures to the kind of people who can spend $60+ on a Gwyneth Paltrow yoni egg just to see if it works. There's a more in depth article about it here.

In recent decades, it's been gradually creeping into Tarot. Reading has become progressively more solipsistic. Articles have been cropping up in major publications saying that "Tarot doesn't predict the future", but rather, "it's a tool for self-reflection." Me, me, me. Even the New York Times has jumped on the bandwagon:

 

Source: https://www.nytimes.com/2021/04/01/style/self-care/tarot-guide-for-beginners.html

 

Do those questions remind you of anything?

 

 

They're all self-centered, other than "Why is my mother like that?" which amounts to armchair psychological analysis. They're vague, too. Ask vague questions, get nebulous answers.

 

The privilege is problematic. For all their "self-awareness",  the wellness crowd doesn't seem to mind doing things like continuing to sell and burn sage knowing the negative impact it has on Native Americans. They support a massive market for crystals, knowing the environmental impact and the working conditions of the people who mine them. Life is an endless gold rush to them. Lay things to waste, profit, and move on. I'm not saying that owning a few pretty rocks makes you a jerk. A lot of perfectly nice people have been sucked into wellness. But it's time to stop buying, or at least slow down considerably.

I'm just not seeing any real self-reflection.

And I'm all for skepticism. But my experience with cards has shown me that they really do seem to predict things. I don't know how or why it works. That's what makes it interesting. That's what makes going to a fortuneteller fun for people, that little mystery.

Tarot was not always nonpredictive and self centered. Until the 70's or so, it fell into two broad categories: traditional fortunetelling, something that mainly deals with the future and other people, and occult Tarot, which was often meditation, study and contemplation, but could also be used for predictive reading. Here is a wonderful bit about incorporating the Sephiroth and paths:
https://www.tarotforum.net/showpost.php?p=4312387&postcount=17

 

And then we started seeing "codes of ethics" with items like this: 

"Questions relating to third parties e.g., partners, family members, colleagues, will either be re-phrased or declined."

I read cards in the traditional way, and while others are of course free to do what they think is right, I resent the implication that readers like myself are somehow less "ethical" because we read cards the way people have for the last few hundred years. I won't disrespect a client by changing their question, and I do read about other people. We don't live in a vacuum, our lives are impacted by others. But no matter, you do you. Just don't try to push it on me.

 

Wellness marketing has a LOT of money behind it, so they've been more successful than I would like in marginalizing us. (Note how the example questions in the NYT article cited above are allegedly from "the experts." I doubt these "experts" could read their way out of a wet paper sack.) I'm fully aware of their intentions toward us, but their efforts are doomed to fail. The old books, the good books, and the better online content are proof enough that we've existed for a long time, they haven't erased us, we're still here. And we're good.

Luckily, the wellness model so far seems limited to Tarot and "oracle"/affirmation decks, at least as far as cards go. I haven't seen it applied to Lenormand, Kippers, Sibilla, playing cards, etc. And while I'm knocking wood that it never happens, it would be very difficult to force these decks into a wellness mold. These decks and methods center on our interactions with others, and how they impact our lives. Here is a Kipper spread - note the people cards:

These systems don't lend themselves well to the modern, non-cartomantic methods that have been shoehorned into Tarot. Which brings me to the point:

If you subscribe to the wellness model, I can't help you with Lenormand, Kippers, etc. I don't see how any traditional reader can. And if we are talking in an online venue where the rules state that the things people normally ask about have to be "rephrased" and "third party readings" are forbidden, I'm effectively gagged. It's not that I'm taking my ball and going home, I really can't help you. It's not workable.

On Kipperkarten...

 

There is an old thread at a ruined message board where someone asked about the difference between Lenormand and Kippers, and for some reason, my brain only decided to say something about the difference between scenic and non-scenic cards today. Brains are ornery and a little bit evil. Ask Hannah Hillam.

 So I thought I'd talk about that briefly today. The difference is not "Stop Cards." I never found any German readers who had heard of them prior to Toni's book. It's a useful book*, and direction is important, but we don't have to let that shove us all over the board.

Rather, the difference is this: those scenic Kippers have mnemonics all over them! Lenormand images might or might not have background imagery that gives extra clues, like trees on the Park, House, Sun and Roads, as a visual cue for the "many trees" rule from the PL Sheet. But the Rider is essentially about the Rider, the Clover about the Clover, etc. But the Kipper cards have a lot going on in each card, and you can use that. It's a little like RWS that way, but don't go off on a tangent and say things like "I feel like she's the whip the carriage driver is holding." Everything has its own intended meaning. Here's a simple one:

The title translates to "Good outcome in love." And we have paired doves - that meaning is obvious. But there's a dog, too - it can also be about friendship and loyalty. Ivy clings, but the fact that it's green and growing shows it's a good kind of clinging. The low wall encloses and protects, but it's not impassable. "Hold on loosely", as the old song says.

So it's not "The Birds", or "The Dog." It's about a successful relationship with someone. It might or might not have a sexual component, but it's deep.

Here's another:  

It's the Meeting card. The man looks amorous. The woman is still unsure, she hasn't decided one way or another. She's still thinking about it. Now look at the Cupid on the wall, the Cupids in this deck are important. Cupid holds his arrow aloft, but we don't see his bow. The arrow isn't even nocked, the point is up, and he certainly hasn't shot it. This could progress into romance, friendship, business, or enmity. It's simply a card of getting together. Que sera sera. 

Now, in case anyone tries to read a "Fool's journey" type numerical progression into the cards, we have No. 3: the Marriage card. We're only at 3, but this couple is already committed, and the woman is pregnant. It doesn't have to be literal, but it does indicate an established relationship, whether love, marriage, friendship, or business. There's a strong bond here: 

Trees and mountains form a protective barrier behind their backs. There's ivy again, and a house to show that they're settled. And there's that low wall again.

So you can see it's very different from Lenormand. But it's not RWS, either. Kipper is very much its own thing, and it makes a superb reading deck. 

For those who don't know, I blogged some basic Kipper meanings back in 2013. You can find them here. https://fennario.wordpress.com/2013/03/23/a-traditional-kipperkarten-primer/
Feel free to use them as you wish, but do not share them without attribution or claim them as your own. They're copyrighted under the DMCA.

*I do strongly object to the fact that she advocates using the opposite sex Hauptperson/Main Person card as the gay partner. A feminine lesbian should not be represented by the bearded male Hauptperson, nor a gay man who identifies as 100%  MALE by the female Hauptperson. When in doubt, always, ALWAYS ASK.

PS - URGENT. Help trans kids and their families escape Texas:

 https://www.gofundme.com/f/fundraising-to-protect-my-daughter

 
https://www.gofundme.com/f/help-us-move-our-trans-teen-out-of-texas  

https://www.gofundme.com/f/help-us-move-isa-to-safety  

 

https://www.gofundme.com/f/help-a-mother-of-trans-child-in-texas  

 

https://www.gofundme.com/f/help-me-move-my-daughter-to-a-safe-state 

 

https://www.gofundme.com/f/help-a-trans-family-get-out-of-texas 

Etc. Help somebody, even if it's just a little. Every dollar counts.

And keep a good thought for the people in Ukraine. Please take a moment to watch this: