I think that, like me, many people when they begin learning the system (or, as I like to say, the “grammar”) of a new oracle, are very attentive to the new rules, new keywords, new spreads, to experiment with symbolism and even the choice of a most preferred deck of cards.

On some occasions I was so worried about memorizing new meanings, the historical origins of the new oracle or system, or spending long hours searching the Internet for references, meanings, ways of interpretation and so on, that I forget something fundamental: the pleasure that must exist in everything we do, learning to read the cards included.

I have been working with Kipper cards for aroound 7-8 years but never, in fact, studied it seriously. As I do not speak German (almost all written literature is in that language), I could not find learning material on the Internet and didn’t know anyone with whom I could trade experiences and address questions.

Despite this the interest remained and at the end of last year, with the release of “Fin de Siècle Kipper”, by Ciro Marchetti, my curiosity increased and I realized that a significant amount of new decks self-published Kipper decks began to emerge in the market. That meant, I believed, that soon I would find the material and the help that was looking for.

Finally the opportunity came with the news that Toni Puhle from the World Association Lenormand was about to teach a first module of a course on Kipper. After 2 weeks of classes with a group of very interesting people from four continents, here I am writing to tell you my experience and how learning an oracle can be, at the same time, both serious and fun, respectful to ancient knowledge and rules and, also, a lot of fun and an incredibly creative process.

I don’t consider myself an expert, a teacher, a master, a deep connoisseur of Kipper, far from this, I’m just another student taking his first steps and seeking less traditional ways to learn this system.

I’m lucky enough to count on the support of Toni Puhle who encouraged us all continuously to bring the oracle to our daily lives, integrating it in our simplest activities such as, for example, listen to music, associating its words to the meanings of the cards. Sounds simple, doesn’t it? Believe me: Yes! It is! The cards become a new iconographic, pictorial “alphabet”, whose images can be used to compose phrases, highlight meanings, express ideas, describe situations, etc.

“The cards become a new iconographic, pictorial alphabet”

It’s like learning a new language: we have to “forget” our own and start thinking the same way the natives think.

Well, in this post, I want to propose a “game”, a challenge that I usually do to exercise my brain’s “muscles”, my intuition and creativity making the learning process less boring, less predictable, less old fashioned perhaps. I like to use the cards in the deck to “speak” simple phrases. I like to use them to “translate” titles of books, music, movies and plays. I like to use them to describe characters, to “tell” the plot of movies and plays, or even get a “picture mosaic” of what happened to my day the day before. Frankly I do not know if that kind of exercise could be of interest or help other students in studying, learning and assimilating any oracular system, but I must to say that it works with me.

Today I woke up thinking about which cards would better describe the character of “Norman Bates”, protagonist of Alfred Hitchcock’s movie “Psycho”, a true classic psychological thriller. Well, the result is just below and I hope that each one of you could suggest other cards, another pulling scheme, a different focus on the character, etc. All opinions are most welcome and should always be so because there are neither rules nor truths set in stone when it comes to oracles, fortunetelling, or how our intuition works.

(No shuffling, no aleatory cards’ drawing, just choosing the ones I think could represent our MC history in short)

Question: “Who is Norman Bates?

Card 1: MC1 (representing Mr. Bates, a fictional character based on a real serial killer)

Above: Dishonest Person(#8), Gloomy Thoughts (#33), Theft (#24)

Below: Living Room (#21), Good Lady (#6), Short Illness (#31)

Facing the MC: Court (#35), Prison (#29), Long Way (#23)

Behind the MC: Fatality (#19), Lots of Money (#11), Young Rich Girl (#12)

Reading:

The cards BELOW the Master Card describe the events, characters and activities that generate or underpin the current situation. They are the scenario where it all started or was motivated. LIVING ROOM may refer to a very close liason between the MC1 and a GOOD LADY, probably his mother with whom he developed an Oedipus Complex, a sexually charged relationship as depicted on the SHORT ILLNES card.

The cards ABOVE the Master Card will help to understand what’s going on in his mind, which are his thoughts and how psychologically he reacts to the facts, to his experiences. As we already know from the film or the book, Mr. Bates had a double life, alternating between living as himself and as his late mother (wearing her clothes, mimicking her voice, talking and cursing like her) and, therefore, the DISHONEST PERSON Card can well describe this split personality that took him to an unwanted, complicated and pitiable state of mind where guilt, disgust, sexual repulsion and depression (GLOMMY THOUGHTS) left their mark leading him to a “no return” psychotic episode, robbing (THEFT) him of what was still left of his personality and letting “the Mother” fully occupy mind and body.

The cards BEHIND, or in the BACK, of the MC1 can be read as “his past”, where cards like FATALITY (death, murder), LOTS OF MONEY (the big number) and YOUNG RICH GIRL (people, mostly women his own mother and stepfather included, he killed) narrate a succession of horrible crimes committed by MC1 when in psychotic breakdown and invested (or “kidnapped”) by his Mother’s image, “she” the real killer ready to protect the beloved son of all other women.

Finally, the cards IN FRONT of the MC1’s gaze, or face, are there representing what is MC1’s future (in our reading, we already know the story as it has occurred in the past), to where all this situation has taken him to, what can be the consequences of his actions, thoughts, behavior, desires and worst fears:

MC1 was finally discovered, arrested and tried (COURT) for the murders committed. Due to his precarious sanity, he was sentenced to a psychiatric ward in prison-hospital (PRISON) for the rest of his days (LONG WAY).

This exercise has no other intention but to show how virtually any subject can be used for us to train and learn even more about Kipper, the meaning of his letters and his reading interpretation system.

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Author Bio:

My name is Alexandre Moreira but my friends and students nicknamed me Alex Tarologo due to my passion for cartomancy, to which I’ve dedicated more than 4 decades of my life. I tried my hand working as a fortuneteller for a couple of year and as a Tarot teacher some more time but I decided to do just what I loved most: studying and collecting cards.
I’m an architect and a freelancer film critic in my country, Brazil, and I also keep a blog and a YouTube channel where, eventually, I post some considerations about oracles, cards’ symbolism and a few oracle decks unboxing videos with personal comments about them (everything in Brazilian Portuguese, sorry!).
At the moment I’m starting (and loving!) with Kipperkarten and pretty much interested in the Sibillas and other Italian, Hungarian and Russian divination cards.
http://www.alextarologo.blogspot.com

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