As a person, King Leo is the powerful man of the reading — an executive, financier, patriarch, or boss — courageous, ambitious, arrogant when crossed, and commanding real resources.
— The divinatory art of the 52-card deck —
The King of Diamonds is the mover and shaker of the deck — authoritative, ambitious, and the big money card. In the Playing Card Oracles he is King Leo, Fire ruling upon the Earth: a leader whose will is a team of mighty horses, whose temper is a raging inferno, and who — shown always in profile — keeps one whole side of his life carefully hidden.
The important thing to realize about this King is his connection to the suit of Spades — an association Diamond cards often demonstrate, and Leo symbolizes best of all. Leo epitomizes strength of character and strong rulership on the Earth, the realm of Spades: imagine his Element, Fire, as it encounters the Earth, and you get the picture. This card represents a mover and a shaker, one who takes charge and changes the face of the way things are. His will is as a team of mighty horses, his temper a raging inferno. Leo is also the big money card.
His other essential correspondences stem from the fact that the Diamond King appears in profile, one whole side of his person hidden from view. Historically, leaders often adopted this pose for portraits — it denoted power. Leo keeps a side unseen: a private world carefully hidden behind closed doors.
For a King of such stature this concealment is at least partly necessity — a retreat from the glare of public scrutiny. And how true it is that we often see only what we want to see, usually just what we are shown.
As a person, King Leo is the powerful man of the reading — an executive, financier, patriarch, or boss — courageous, ambitious, arrogant when crossed, and commanding real resources.
As an energy, he is Fire applied to Earth: the force that takes charge and changes the face of things. Money questions especially answer to this card — Leo is the deck’s big money card.
His profile is the caution: one whole side of this King is deliberately out of view. When he appears, ask what is being kept behind closed doors — his secret side, or the parts of the situation you are only being shown.
Traditional cartomancy reads the King of Diamonds as a man of business, money, and worldly power — capable and influential, though sometimes stubborn or hard in his dealings. Card lore has long noted that he is drawn in profile, the deck’s one-eyed King.
In the Playing Card Oracles, Kings carry the number thirteen — the number of cosmic majesty — and represent nobility, stature, and a governing influence: typically men of advanced age, experience, or responsibility, each strong in his own kingdom and weak outside it.
Traditionally a powerful man of money and business. In the Playing Card Oracles he is King Leo: authoritative, courageous, ambitious, and temperamental — the deck’s big money card, with a secret side symbolized by his profile pose.
Leo is the King of Diamonds, number thirteen of his suit — Fire ruling upon Earth. He epitomizes strength of character and strong rulership: a mover and shaker whose will is a team of mighty horses and whose temper is a raging inferno.
The profile pose historically denoted power in portraiture — and in the Playing Card Oracles it carries the card’s deeper meaning: Leo keeps one whole side of his person hidden, a private world behind closed doors. We see only what we are shown.
The full grammar of the deck — geometries, timing, and the voices of all fifty-two — lives in The Playing Card Oracles: A Source Book for Divination.