Kipperkarten – Nocturnal Nuances

Master & Stop Cards

I first began to read Kipperkarten and blog about it while on a break from Lenormand studies in early 2012. It was then I came across the Master Card method on a YT video. I did not further investigate or incorporate it into my readings.

Later in the Fall of 2016 I took a course with Toni Puhle, the Stop Card method was mentioned as specific to a style of reading and layout she taught. The Stop Card is like the period in a sentence, it ends the line and no more cards are placed after it falls.

Both the Master Card and the Stop Card sound somewhat similar in function. However, if one is reading the full deck or Das Grosse Blatt neither are needed as the borders of the reading are already defined. The Nine Card Block which is the core used to investigate person & situation cards is a major key unpacking the information in a 9 X 4 layout.

I often use the Stop Card Reading Toni Puhle taught as it is usually a smaller and faster layout, but it can grow in size when the additional movements of certain cards in the method are taken into consideration.

Kipperkarten when learned from German sources is the most accurate fortune telling deck I’ve encountered. Celebrating ten years with Kipperkarten and still loving it!

The Kipper Vertical Line

In the using of the Kipper deck whether in the full layout or with smaller ones often the column associations of the card placements are overlooked. The basic image below shows the cards in numerical order. Take for example the third row which contains the “person card” or card 12 Rich Girl on the second horizontal line.

Over the head of card 12 is card 3 relationship which says that she is thinking about a relationship and below her is card 21 which is The Living Room which can mean the Rich Girl is involved in a living together relationship. Beneath card 21 in the layout shown is card 30 The Court Person which can indicate arguments or differences being discussed or aired out in that living situation. Card 21 also contains a timing element, which is very helpful to the Reader. All of this is shown in the four cards of the vertical line. A reader looking for the Rich Girl as a daughter, younger sister or close younger female friend of the Querent can get all of the details about her on the vertical line. Life situations which are depicted on the non- person cards can be given depth as well when read on the vertical columns in Kipper.

The horizontal line of a person card is interpreted based on the way the person card faces to show the progression of events. What is behind the person card are prior causes and what goes before it is what will soon manifest as effects. Since the Rich Girl is flanked by money cards- finances are the cause & effects which lead to an exodus (10 travel).

Line three across : 10-Travel; 11 Lots of Money – 12 RICH GIRL – followed by 13 Rich Guy. The Rich Girl facing 11 Lots of Money as a secondary meaning may also indicate large expenditures while the 13 Rich Guy behind card 12 can represent incoming monies being diminished as that card faces in an opposite direction. Rich Guy, card 13 represents finances or securities – and is not a “person card”. The male counterpart to Rich Girl is actually card 22, The Military Person, who appears firstly as son, brother, or a close in age male friend.

THE DECK SHOWN BELOW IS REVERSED AS THE ORIGINAL WAS IN FIRST PRINTING!!!

Prepping a Kipper Deck

When it is time for a new Kipper deck, which is about every year-it is my process to trim the white borders off of the deck all the way to the black line which is removed as well, then round the corners.

After the cards are trimmed a stop card dot is applied to the deck. This is from the “Bavarian style” taught by Toni Puhle. Others may mark the “Master Cards” which is a different system. The dot is a memory device only.

The Kippers work better in the full deck 9X4 layout without borders for Wii as it allows the action to flow like a story board. The white borders break the flow of the eyes when reading and place the scenes into rooms or separate areas. When dealing with the house system this is well and good but not so when one is looking for directions in the big layout or when adding additional movements in the smaller stop card reading style.

Of course, only the traditional kippers have all the directions and codes attributed to Mrs. Kipper’s system. Card lore says the original cards at some point were reversed by the printer save one, card 22 The Military Person.

This mirroring effect works with the anchor of the one faithful card No. 22 to connect the now rare antique original Kipper cards to the traditional German deck, the only Kipper deck Wii use for fortune telling. Period!

‘Tis the Season

In Regula Elizabeth Fiechter’s Mystical Kippers drawn by Urban Trosch the 17th card is aptly called in English, Receive A Gift. It perfectly sums up the flow of the spiritual current at the Yule season.

In reading Kipperkarten via the traditional methods, Card 17 brings the energy of the card above it down to the card below it. It is a vertical card, much like the Tree many decorate. The Star topper on the tree above shines on the earth allowing one to see the presents below.

In a mystical sense the questions /seeds which were asked or planted at the 2020 Mid-Summer’s Solstice are answered or made manifest as Epiphanies. The gifts wii receive from Dec. 25th – Jan. 6^th are symbols of a spiritual harvest or of Gnosis made flesh.

The Kipper Große Tafel

The Große Tafel is the German way of saying a GT or a full layout. Unlike the other 36 card systems, the traditional Bavarian Kipperkarten GT is only done in a 9 X 4 format. Though when reading for personal issues wii prefer the smaller stop card reading they too can often blossom out when using directional cards to include almost the full deck as well.

The most important question to establish by asking the client is their partnership status. This is MC1 -male or MC2 female. There are no options in this system. Choose the Querent’s card and automatically the other MC card is their spouse/partner/ lover. One must know if the person is single, living with someone or if they are legally married, together or separated even if the reading is to focus on matters other than relationship. Once you establish the major players and their “positions” in the Querent’s life, the status or the roster of the People cards can be clarified. Only then can you read the interplay of the people in your Querent’s life.

When reading for clients wii do not ask for a “theme” or a single major topic but for all the issues that concern the client at the moment. Usually there will be more than 1 area.The most common problems are WORK and RELATIONSHIPS. Often there are Querents whose inquiry is an issue with working or professional relationships. Kipperkarten, however does not specify health issues as does its older sibling the Lenormand system, or better said wii did not have access to health correspondents in our training or research materials.

The 36 spread full monty will expose the issues around your Querent when one follows the steps in reading. Issues are identified by Significator cards, an archaic card reading term wii call “situation cards”.

Since all the cards are there on the board you look for situations, people and relationships. The predominant energy or theme will be shown in the dynamics of the energy, the directions and movements on the board near the MC. After reading the cards as wii see them, it is time for feedback from the client. During feedback if there are issues to be clarified – have at it!

Note with Kipper the same cards can be used in more than one situation and with more than a single significator or Person card inside the borders of the same spread. There is no need to do another layout. This is what makes the Kipper große tafel the best option for doing client readings.

It will take at least an hour to go over the Kipper GT with your client. More time if the feedback is extensive and more questions are looked at. However, a reading should not exceed one hour & a quarter at your given rate.

Wii lay out the cards before speaking to any client on the phone. The people cards are established because wii have already inquired about their status- single, married, divorced, widowed. Again, be very specific on this point as it sets the tone of the reading.

Looking at the cards in the 9 X 4, wii make note of the major points- namely, the MC’s position in the column and rows*. The circle around the MC., the MC’s House position, the Line of Sight, then the major situations- taking into account their placement in the houses and also the positions of all CRISIS or NEGATIVE cards in relation to the MC. Then look to their chief concerns.

The timing division of the layout is established in ouur style of reading based on the vertical column the MC card occupies. In general, the timing on a GT does not go beyond a six month period, but practice has shown this is a three month period behind and a three month period before the client only if the MC card is placed in the center of the layout.

The Original Kipper cards shown above contain all the codes, directions and symbols on the card face to help you help your client. Accept NO substitute deck if you really want to read in the Kipperkarten system.

Health is Wealth!

Quarantine Cards

This is the condition card to use when asking about the quarantine or isolation. One may use it in the central position of the MC1/MC2 in a layout to check on the state of affairs. It may indicate states of martial law especially when card 22 appears in proximity, i.e. touching the sides right or left of it.

As a building card 29 with 31 the Short Illness card indicates a HOSPITAL. In terms of fatalities look for 10 the trip card (to the hospital) appearing with 19- Death or card 19 appearing to the right of card 31.

Card 23 or the Court in these situations are decisions made at the local level. In terms of the Federal Laws and edicts one would look for Card 25 or High Honors for national status or statements.

The Kipper cards were created at a time of unrest and repression so the images are particularly appropriate for readings at this time.

Health is wealth!

The Kipper Oracle

I have had this book on Kipper for quite a while. It is large about 300 pages and heavily illustrated with the Original Kipper cards. It was released in 2012 by Susan Zitzl.

Her fifth chapter is about Kipper card combinations in all the possible permutations. It is the largest chapter taking up approximately 150 pages or half of the book.

Ms. Zitzl’s focus on card combinations will fill in a gap which was left in my Kipper course studies. While combinations seem like they are not as important in the smaller spreads which are more position oriented than in the full 36 Card layout, they still give details- and a reader can never have too many of those!

Yes, the translation from German to English takes time, but it also helps one learn the way the root language of English works and that helps to understand how the Kipper cards work as well.

Kipper Connections

The Kipper Connection cards are 03- State of Marriage, 04 Convene and 30 Court Official and 31 Short Illness.

These cards help one to make combinations and function as a plus sign. The main meaning of a connection card is not dropped. It remains the topic of the combo, so cards flanking 03 speak of a specific relationship; those flanking 04 Convene speak of an association or a group with which the MC is involved. The cards next to 30 Court Official/Officer give details of two elements involved in a conflict, just as the cards next to 31 describe a short illness or an affair depending on the cards connected and of course the query of one’s client!

Connecting cards form links/combos and provide more details.

The key to Kipperkarten is the same as other Oracular systems, the reader works with the cards on a daily basis as a self-diagnostic tool (mirror) until they’ve made a strong connection with the “current” or the Spirit of the deck.

It helps to journal the process along the way as it takes a couple of turns of the Wheel before things click or the Spirit of the deck acknowledges your demonstrated commitment and chimes in on reads for yourself and clients.

I have been acquainted with Kipper cards for a while. I first blogged about them in the form of the Mystical Kippers in 2012, when taking a break from Lenormand studies. When I took three courses for certification from the World Kipper Association in 2016-2017 the Original Kipperkarten deck was used. From Spring 2017 until the present I have made it a habit to use that deck daily.

Kippers are the best Oracle deck I’ve used and I have handled many forms of Cartomancy in many years of reading.

The Discomfort Cards 14 and 31

The two cards shown below are often referred to as directional (14) and connecting (31) cards. In practice with the core Kipper read where the MC1 or MC2 is the center point of a four card read, cards 14 and 31 function differently in proximity, i.e. touching the MC card.

My daily reads use the 5 card spread which is the base of the STOP CARD METHOD (see bottom picture). When these cards 31 & 14 fall in them the meaning is either ILLNESS (31) or PAIN(14). In essence the two cards are read the same way when they appear in the spread above, below, before and behind the Main Person card.

The designations eliminate the need to change the meaning according to the way the MC faces. For example below the MC, the pain is well below the waist, behind it indicates back pain.

In front of the MC is a coming stomach ache and over the head is a current headache or migraine. With Card 31 the pain is temporary, a short illness which requires bed rest. The condition should be diagnosed by a physician and may require medication. When Card 14 is involved with the MC however it indicate a chronic already known condition which is aggravated or acute. Card 14 can indicate tears being shed because of the pain.

The meanings for pain are found in the standard Kipper-Karten Band II by Leiding. I experience them as having these particular meaning only when making contact with the MC card in the basic spread below. Other Kipper interpretations or cards 14 and 31 are general or based on the specific spread used.

START POSITIONS for DAILY & STOP CARD READS

Steppin’ Out & Up!

No more Tarot for client reads, no more Lenormand either. The past twenty years have effectively wiped out the vibratory frequency of Tarot whether Marseilles style or Rider Waite as a public divination tool. Having grown up with a Tarot deck in my hand I do not say this lightly.

Lenormand was quickly leveled by Millennials to base level fortune telling by intuitive readers- too busy burning sage to actually learn the system. After 7 odd years of teaching myself Lenormand from German sources and swimming in an Internet shark tank of cliquish, biased New Age wanna be Cartomancy superstars, the glamour of reading those cards wore thin.

To be honest Tarot is best used for those who are actually walking and working on the Hermetic Path. It is a great evaluation tool for initiates of the Golden Dawn, Silver Star, and other lodges. It is not a system to be used for fortune telling at a psychic fair. Tarot is divination not fortune telling. There is a BIG difference.

Since English is my Mother Tongue, working with a German oracle is a very comfortable energy. So I choose the Kippers, the Original Kippers to do fortune telling for clients and myself!

No 36 card Grand Tableau spread either. The 36 card layout doesn’t allow the free flow of energies which the Stop Card method encourages. I use the 4 base card method around the Main card & meanings as taught by Hildegard Leiding. From that starting position I then move into the Stop Card layout which I was introduced to by Toni Puhle.

The only downside is the small numbers on the Original Kippers which make notation of readings tedious as even with glasses on I still have to pick up the cards when I fail to remember their rank numbers.