Working Playing Cards: Clubs & Spades
This is Part 3 of a series. Go to Part 1. Go to Part 2
image: a Black person with braids and painted nails touching their chest and belly. A spade is in the corner. Their eyes are closed and a blanket is wrapped around them.
Clubs and Spades are our black cards in the deck of playing cards. They hold things steady—for better or worse.
They’re necessary to get work done, end and begin anything at all, and to help us find purpose in spiritual and intellectual pursuits. The results of working the Clubs and Spades come over time, and sometimes they need to be worked over a longer period of time, even indefinitely.
Their nature is steadier, which can actually become a problem with the Spades. The growth with Clubs and Spades can be slow, but it lasts. They represent the deep, difficult, dedicated work that then allows the red cards, our Hearts and Diamonds to come into being.
Make no mistake, working the Red Cards brings temporary gains. This is not so with the Black Cards. They’re here to build upon. They build to last. They can be difficult to reverse, and in the case of some of the more difficult Spades, they dig their hooks in and they are very hard to pull out.
I’ll discuss:
✹ Clubs and Spades in Hoodoo playing card magic
Jump to Section:
⟶ Spades
⟶ Clubs
image: playing card divination book, leopard print, and button to learn more.
Spades
Keywords: Spirituality, obstacles, action, experience, decisions, illness, fate, conflict
Recommendations: Pins, Cutting, Dolls, Talismans, Enemy Workings, Domination Workings, Spiritual and Divination Empowerment
People fear the Spades and they are correct, to some extent, to do so.
Spades are the suit of the soldier. They find us addressing how difficult life can be, including death, disablement, and misfortune, and trying to transcend earthly limitations by developing our spirituality, intelligence, and resilience.
Spades get a bad scary reputation, which makes sense because it is the suit that speaks most directly to illness, hardship, and death.
These experiences are part of life; none of us are exempt. Spades make us better able to accept life on its own terms.
Without Death (whether it be the esoteric endings of Death in tarot, or the corporeal endings represented by the Nine, Ten, and Ace of Spades—especially when they show up with The Joker) there could be no life.
Trees grow from our corpses, as composters feast upon us; death makes space for new generations, new experiences, and new understandings of what it means to be alive.
The King and Queen of Spades can be seen as a doctor and an herbalist or healer respectively. They can be crass, blunt, and even cruel. They also speak to surgery, acupuncture, IVF, infertility, and other experience where the remedy for pain is pain.
If the target of your work is someone in these positions, you may use the face cards of Spades as their signifier.
The other side of the Queen of Spades is as a spiritual powerhouse. You may appeal to her to dust your deck, enhance baths for spiritual insight and power, or for clarity in a difficult situation.
When she comes up with the Jack of Spades she could be a widow.
That dual nature shows up throughout the suit, so in some ways she typifies it—Spades demand that we take the triumphant with the challenging.
Several cards that indicate illness show up in Spades, notably the Four and Five of Spades, indicating long illnesses and short illnesses respectively.
Just try to remember the spiritual aspects of endings and choices, and you’ll make peace with the Spades.
Suit of Clubs
Keywords: Employment, travel, distance, information, leadership, wisdom, luck.
Recommendations: Foundations and Buildings, Workplaces, Between Book Pages, Near Money, with Important Documents
Clubs are the suit of the poor and working classes. Emphasizes the role of work and luck in daily life. The Clubs are here to remind us that time will go by without us. They encourage us to find purpose in every action every day.
The Suit of Clubs is one that brings messages from a distance, whether that message is from a potential long term job (after all, clubs bring steady work) or comes with unexpected money.
I’ve used the Ace of Clubs with the Ace of Diamonds dressed with money oil under a brown, dressed candle just last week to negotiate a higher salary — it worked even better than I expected!
That’s because the Ace of Clubs can bring steady work, so if you’re unemployed and looking for a job I highly recommend turning to the Ace of Clubs.
The Six of Clubs brings travel, progress towards your goals, and a sense of accomplishment.
The Four of Clubs brings a feeling of loneliness in all you have accomplished.
The Nine and Ten of Clubs help you start a business, run your company, become a leader, and move up in life. The Nine of Clubs is one of the most positive cards in the deck for your personal power and development.
The Queen of Clubs has real Girlboss energy (take it or leave it, but sometimes you need it!) so she can be used when you’re a person of a marginalized gender looking to start a business or ask for a raise.
The King of Clubs is a manager or lawyer type. He wants success and knows the best path forward.
image: playing card divination book, leopard print, and button to learn more.
Further Thoughts
Hey, I’m Cyrée
I’m a rootworker, diviner, and clinical herbalist. I believe that spirit work is an essential part of all movements for justice. I hope you’ll take a look around, there are plenty of opportunities here to deepen your connection with your gifts (with my guidance.)
New to Hoodoo cartomancy and don’t know where to start? Here are the card meanings I suggest for all fifty-four playing cards as a professional card reader!