We are all familiar with the standard playing card deck, the type used most often today for playing poker, but did you know that deck is full of symbology?  Primarily, it is symbolic of the material world and its nature of duality and opposites, but there is some spiritul symbology in there as well.  The 52 cards in the standard deck represent the 52 weeks of the year.  The 13 cards in each suit represent the thirteen months of a lunar calendar while the 12 face cards represent the 12 months of a solar calendar.  The four suits represent the four seasons: the red representing the warm seasons spring and summer, and black representing the colder seasons fall and winter.  The total number of spots on the cards is 365: the number of days in a year.  Spades represent the tree of the cosmos or the tree of life.  They also symbolize the environment, health, old age, and transformation.  Hearts represent the heart or center of the world.  They also represent knowledge, mind, creativity, love, art and childhood.  Diamonds symbolize feminine principles and clubs represent the masculine and the will. Diamonds also symbolize  fire, ideas, security, responsibility,  and the archetypal world.  They can also represent money and material things in general.  Clubs can symbolize education, intellect, youth and irresponsibility.  The ace is a symbol of the one God and the oneness of all creation.  The King represents the Father, and spiritual essence.  The Queen is a symbol of the soul, the personality and the mother, or the female aspect of God.  The Knave or Jack represents ego and energy.  Together, the King, Queen and Jack represent the trilogy.  The Joker is the fifth element: spirit or ether.