Spanish deck

Origin and structure

The Spanish deck has its origin in the Mamluk decks introduced from Egypt to Spain in the 14th century, which arrived through Italy and Catalonia. The original four suits — cups, coins, swords and clubs/wands — survived in the Spanish deck and in the Italian tarot, while in northern Europe they were transformed (hearts, diamonds, spades and clubs of the modern French deck).

The complete deck has 48 cards: from 1 (ace) to 12 in each suit, where 10=Sota (Jack/Page), 11=Caballo (Knight), 12=Rey (King). The most common version today is the 40-card deck (without 8s and 9s), used for many traditional games and for cartomancy. There are no figures of "queen" — only Sota, Caballo and Rey, all male.

The four suits

Cups: emotions, love, family, water element. Equivalent to hearts in the French deck and cups in the tarot. Coins (or oros): money, work, material, earth element. Equivalent to diamonds and to pentacles/coins. Swords: conflicts, ideas, struggles, communication, air element. Equivalent to spades and to swords of tarot. Clubs (or bastos): action, energy, projects, fire element. Equivalent to clubs and to wands of tarot.

Each card has popular cartomantic meanings transmitted by oral tradition. Examples: the 1 of clubs = important news; the 3 of cups = celebration, wedding, birth; the 10 of swords = treason, hard ending; the 12 of coins = man of money, economic stability; the 11 of clubs = young man with energy. Each region has its variants.

Spanish cartomancy

Spanish cartomancy is the popular reading of grandmothers in much of Spain and Latin America: cigar-gypsy at the door, professional cartomancer in market neighbourhoods, family aunt who reads at home. It tends to be direct, concrete, specific: it reads love, money, work, health, news, journeys. Less spiritual than the tarot, more practical. Many readers combine Spanish deck with tarot: tarot for the depths, Spanish deck for daily questions.