A LITTLE HISTORY
The 36-card Kipper deck came into being in Germany in the 1890s. Some place the appearance of the first Kipper deck circa 1890, and others say 1900, but whichever date is closer to the truth, it’s inspired by an 1890s sensibility. The Kipper deck has been mostly-used in Germany and its environs over the course of its history, but it’s been gaining popularity outside of Germany in recent years, possibly thanks to decks like Regula Elizabeth Fiechter’s Mystical Kipper, Ciro Marchetti’s Fin de Siecle Kipper and the very modern-looking The Card Geek’s Kipper Deck. Given it is a 36-card deck, it’s possible the creator of the Kipper deck was inspired by the Lenormand, which itself may have been inspired by the ‘Game of Hope’ deck, which had been created by a German businessman for use as a family game around the year 1800. So I suppose, the Kipper cards could be considered a successor to these two earlier decks. Of course, it may also draw some of its inspiration from the Sibilla deck, but that deck will be covered in a future lesson.
The Kipper deck is not a card deck which has the capacity to address larger societal issues, like the Eighteenth Century cards. It’s more on a personal level, aimed at the everyday realities of people’s lives and it reflects both the highest and the lowest possibilities those lives can contain. The Kipper deck does not depict objects, like the Lenormand deck. It depicts people, societal-roles, and personal-states-of-being. Let’s just start going through the meanings of the cards and you’ll see what I mean.
I want a kipper reading
I don’t do readings. My hope is that by talking about these various divination methods, people will feel sufficiently knowledgeable-enough to give them a try. Education about divination is my focus. If you want a Kipper Card reading, I would suggest trying a Google search, something along the lines of ‘Kipper Card Reading (then enter your location here)’ and it may come up with a listing of card readers who are closest to you. Good Luck!
i am so glad i found your page! i was able to do a 7card spread and your notes have really helped! i have the little guide book but i feel that this is much more helpful as it only states an all card spread. thank you so much for sharing this!! i cannot thank you enough!
You’re quite welcome! I’m glad my website helped you.
I have a question… Why i can’t read over 3 other cards? 37. POVERTY, 38. TOIL & LABOUR and 39. COMMUNITY? Are the positive or Negative in a yes/ no reding? But i find this site great! Good work and a happy 2121! Greetz Kim
And a good and happy 2021 to you too, Kim! 37. Poverty 38. Toil & Labour and 39. Community are cards which were added to the Fin de Siecle Kipper Card deck by Ciro Marchetti himself, to better-reflect some of the harsh realities of late-nineteenth century life, which is when the Kipper Deck came into being. As for their positive/negative orientations, I’d say Poverty is negative/no, and Community is positive/yes.
Toil and Labour is a bit more tricky. It’s obviously meant to reflect the dangerous, grueling, under-paid, and boring, but necessary jobs available to the working class back then. Such a job would be better than no job at all, but that’s not saying very much. At best, I would put Toil & Labour in the neutral/maybe category, or maybe a begrudging ‘yes.’ Toil & Labour is a nose-to-the-grindstone sort of card, so it could be taken as a ‘if you work at it hard-enough, then the answer is ‘yes.’ Or, it could be saying, ‘it’ll be far more work and effort than you expect, so unless you’re willing to put the effort in, no matter what it takes, the answer is likely ‘no.’ I don’t like to be so wishy-washy about the positive/negative orientation of a card, but Toil & Labour is one of those cards which could go either way. It’s a plain-brown-wrapper card if I’ve ever seen one. It is certainly not a robustly ‘yes’ card. I hope all this has answered most of your question.
Great content. Thank you very much.
Reblogged this on I Am Shay Says and commented:
For anyone who is a tarot reader…
Hallo,
they are talking about mc1 and mc2 about frontsite and backsite but the man doesn’t look to the right or to the left, how do i have the make sure witch is frontsite and what is backsite.
also in the book of toni puhle she speaks about frond and backsite.
I have the fin de siècle kipper cards.
i hope you understand what i mean.
gr. nancy
Dear Nancy B: I think I understand what you mean. In the Fin du Siecle Kipper Deck, both the Main Male (Number 1 card) and the Mautre Man
Dear Nancy B: I think I know what you mean. In the Fin du Siecle Kipper deck both the Main Male (Number 1 card) and the Mature Man card (Number 5 card) are looking directly at the viewer. In those cases, when you want to determine which other cards they are ‘facing’, then take note of the angle at which their bodies are positioned. If their faces were looking in the same direction as their torsos, then what direction would that be? You can then interpret the cards accordingly. I hope this helps.
Hello, I used to make a 3-card
spread and the third card was Big
Fortune, but in the case I asked
about it turned out that it was lost
and the money was lost. Does the
third position card suggest what’s lost?
Hmmm…that is the first time I’ve fielded this question, where a seemingly-good third card in a 3-card reading turned out to indicate a reversal of fortune. Short answer: the third card can indicate a loss. That’s the problem with 3-card readings–they leave a lot of information out! Sorry to hear about your loss. To cut down on the likelihood of this problem happening again, what I would suggest for future 3-card readings is, if the third card appears to be something positive, then you draw one to three clarifier cards to help better define what the third card means. In truth, you could draw clarifier cards for the past and present cards as well. Or, you could choose to do the Six-Card Hungarian Method, which is two past cards (one over the other) two present cards (one over the other) ad two future cards (one over the other). I hope this helps.
I have a question. I asked for messages from Above, and I received 1 – Main Male and 31 – Bad Health, clarified by the bottom of the Deck, 35 – Pathway.
My interpretation is that a male figure in my life is going to pass on. Is that correct, or is there another meaning to this?
That is one possible interpretation. Another could be that, because of the Main Male’s health problem, he may be taking a different pathway in life, possibly going on a journey related to his health problem. The Pathway card is related to the concept of ‘long term’ and suggests the Main Male’s health problem will be here for a while, and something he’ll be wrestling with for some time to come.
Hello.
Where ist the Six-Card Hungarian lay-out?
Oh, let me check.
Checked a few of my posts and I can’t find it. Tell you what–I’ll do a separate mini-lesson on the Six-Card Hungarian Method, it’s a great little lay-out everyone should know.
Can you tell me what cards 37-39 mean please. ?
I assume you’re talking about the Fin de Siecle Kipper deck by Ciro Marchetti. Card #37 is Poverty, which could refer to past, present or future poverty, depending on where the card lands in the spread. It can indicate a job which pays so poorly, it isn’t enough to live on. Expenses exceed income. Depending on the cards around it, it can represent poverty of spirit.
Card #38 is Toil & Labour, depicting girls working in a 19th century textile mill. It refers to working hard, long, and exhaustingly for poor rewards, and can refer to a minimum wage job. It could indicate that whatever you want, you will have to work very hard for it–perhaps harder than whatever you want is worth to you.
Card #39 is Community, and depicts three working-class people outside some commercial establishment, such as a pub or restaurant. It can refer to anyplace where people come together for mutual support and fellowship, whether it’s a church, local tavern, public park, a civic center, or the like. It is your support network; no matter how hard life may be, you’ve got support. The cards around it could indicate what sort of support network it is referring-to. I hope all this helps.