More On The Zigeuner WahrsageKarten - Part One

Or, in my case, the Cigany Kartya - which as far as I can tell is little more than a Hungarian reprint of the ZWK. Since I got this deck, I have been working almost constantly with it. Opinion on the cards seems to be divided, and a lot of people seem unsure of the cards and how to use them. I do not, nor will I ever, claim to be an authority on the subject - I haven't had them for long, after all - but I would like to share the way I have been using them, and hopefully this will be of some help.

Research

There are books available on the cards, and good ones. Buy or borrow a copy of Fortune Telling with Gypsy Cards by Esther Gombor (here is a link to the author's site), or the book Gypsy Witch Fortune Telling Cards by US Games, to name only a couple. You can pick them up quite cheaply through sites like eBay and Alibris, and the research is well worth such a modest investment. It will save you hours of headaches later!

Approach

Although some books provide Tarot card correspondences for the deck, they are still two quite different things, and while some knowledge of Tarot will certainly benefit you - since cartomancy requires that we hone skills such as conceptual thinking and the recognition of symbol and metaphor - I suspect that some experience with Lenormand style cards will be of even greater help to you in understanding the ZWK.

I have spoken to many people who simply find the ZWK cards unusable - they have found that, as the cards do not seem to give out a lot of information, the deck does not speak to them. I can certainly understand this, as I had a little trouble forming an initial bond with them. The advice I would give is: the more vague your deck appears to be, the more specific you should be with it. By this I mean more specific questions, and more specific meanings attached to the card positions. You want to try and leave as little room for doubt in your own mind as possible. 

Spreads

While there are specific spreads for the ZWK, other types of spread can work just as well. A lot of Tarot spreads do not work effectively - but spreads designed for oracle decks tend to work quite well, as well as the traditional Answer Deck layout.

As already mentioned, spreads which involve detailed or clearly defined position meanings are the best to use. 

Over the next few days, I intend to post some sample readings, as well as interpretations for what are considered to be the more obscure cards. 

Until then, Good Journey :)