What are Kipper Cards?

Lets start with the basics, Kipper is a system of 36 Cards of a situational nature, the imagery is simple but not symbolic (like its cousin Lenormand), it is actually closer related to the reading style of Gypsy Cards than of Lenormand. Kipper was born in Munich, the first recorded publishing of the deck is in 1890 by the stationers Matthias Seidlein, who later sold the rights of the deck onto FX Schmid. Kipper holds many secrets, one of which is the true source of the system, many attribute it to the famed Fortune Teller Frau Kipper who it is said was famous in Berlin and who later moved to Bavaria and created the Kipper Deck that we know now. The legend is hotly debated with many readers suggesting the name of the cards was a marketing ploy (like that of Mlle. Lenormand) and that Frau Kipper had nothing to do with the deck. The facts we have to date is that the system was released in 1890 and then later sold on to FX Schmid.

If you hold the Original Kipper Fortune Telling Deck in your hands you will probably be seeing a Main Character 1 (The “Man” Card in the deck) facing left and the Main Character 2 (The “Woman” Card in the deck) facing right. This is because the cards were taken over by FX Schmid and then mistakenly transposed! The earliest deck by Matthias Seidlein had Main Characters that faced one another (directionality is the core of a Kipper read), and this leads me nicely into The Card Geek’s Kipper Deck and Book.

My love of affair with Kipper started when I met, via the internet, Toni Puhle.  Toni is a card reader and Kipper Cards are her passion.  As our friendship grew she slowly showed me “the ways of Kipper” (insert sense of mystery here) and I found them to be a reliable and very accurate system of divination.

Kipper Cards are 36 cards in number (that is where the similarities to Lenormand begin and end) and the scope of what they cover, vast.   Like any good Card System it can be used for almost anything but I have found when looking into situations or relationships that are particularly complicated – this is where Kipper Cards excel.  Yes of course they are a great fortunetelling tool, if they were not I wouldn’t use them, but when you see how these Cards break down issues, well you just have to learn it to really get the true sense and value of this very worthwhile deck.I was blessed with helping Toni Puhle in the editing process of her book, The Card Geeks Guide to Kipper cards- the front/back cover of the limited edition is just below

Kipper Book cover2

This book is the only English  book on Kipper Cards I can recommend  and I couldn’t be more proud of Toni for having put it together.  It will give you a good base to start your Kipper studies and then, well you need to dust off your Google Translate skills as any other book I know of worth its salt is written in German.  2 small books by Hildegard Leading are my recommendation here, and I myself sit and type a page or so to translate over to English when I have the moment.

These 3 books will create a Kipper Library for you to enjoy for years to come – I know they have for me.

Should I blog about Kipper Cards?  Let me know if you have an interest.