There are fifty-two cards in a deck, one for each week of the year. The thirteen
cards in each suit can represent the lunar months in a year. The two RED
suits can indicate the warm seasons and powers of LIGHT;
the two BLACK suits then representing the cold
seasons and the powers of darkness. All four designs on the cards can be symbols
of life: the spade, a leaf; the heart, the center of life; the diamond, the
feminine principle; the club, a masculine principle. Cards can also represent
luck, either good or bad: "the hand that fate dealt me."
The suits also have more specific correspondences (DeVries, 82):
| suit | general symbol | life-symbol | caste |
| spade | discrimination between error and judgment | leaf, autumn |
king, warrior |
| heart | receptacle | source of life, spring | priesthood |
| diamond | material force, ring of eternity | vulva, feminine, summer | commerce, intelligentzia |
| club | power and command | 3-fold aspect of life, winter | agriculture, government |
Unlucky cards - 4 of clubs, jack and ace of spades, 9 of diamonds (deadly), two black jacks (poverty and unhappiness), two red jacks (hidden enemy).