Fortune Telling by Playing Cards - Containing Information on Card Reading, Divination, the Tarot and Other Aspects of Fortune Telling

Anon

Description

A beginner’s guidebook to fortune telling, including chapters on reading playing cards, tea leaves, and tarot.

This insightful exploration of various methods of fortune telling was first published in 1936 and is highly recommended to those who wish to develop divination abilities.

Featuring the following chapters:

- Fortune-Telling by Playing-Cards

- How the Omens should be Regarded

- The Meanings of the Cards

- Methods of Divination

- Two Rapid Methods

- Etteilla’s Great Figure of Destiny

Sujets

• Spirituality
• Tarot
• Divination

Informations

• Publié par: Read Books Ltd.
• Date de parution: 01 décembre 2012
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781447482116
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 2 Mo

Extrait

Fortune Telling by Playing Cards
-
Containing Information on Card Reading, Divination, the Tarot and Other Aspects of Fortune Telling
By Anon
Contents
Fortune-Telling by Playing-Cards
How the Omens should be Regarded
The Meanings of the Cards
Hearts
Diamonds
Clubs
Spades
The Meanings of Various Groups of Cards
Reading the Cards
Methods of Divination
An Old Italian Method
Two Rapid Methods
The Temple of Fortune
The Five Heaps
The Tarot
The Major Arcana
The Minor Arcana
Etteilla s Great Figure of Destiny
A Rapid Method of Divination
Fortune-telling by Games of Patience
The Carpet
The Travellers
The Wizard
The Clock
The Four Marriages
The Star
The Windmill
Conclusion
FORTUNE-TELLING BY PLAYING-CARDS
IT is safe to affirm that no pastime in the history of the world has exercised such a deep fascination over the mind of man as card-playing. From their obscure and far-off beginning in the mysterious East-home of so many of the world s most significant inventions, throughout the centuries to modern times, when the use of playing-cards is universal-mankind has found an unfailing and irresistible allure in the manifold hazards and combinations that are possible in cards.
Contrary to what might have been expected, however, cards were not generally known in Europe until a comparatively late period. There is an old legend that Odette de Champdivers, the mistress of Charles VI, the mad king of France, was responsible for introducing them into the French court in the course of her efforts to find a means of distracting her royal lover during his recurring fits of insanity.
It is said that Charles soon fell under the fascination of gambling and started a fashion which spread throughout France and the rest of Europe. It is certain, at least, that a painter, Jacquemin Gringonneur, was commissioned in 1392 to make three packs for the king s own use.
The manufacture of playing-cards was among the earliest uses to which the woodcut was adapted, while some of the foremost painters of the Renaissance-including, it is said, the great Mantegna himself-considered it no indignity to their art to apply it to the designing of cards.
In place of the suits that are usual to-day, the earliest European cards bore hearts, bells, acorns and leaves. Later packs, like the tarot (afterwards to be described), were marked with cups, deniers (or money), staves and swords; while the modern devices of hearts, diamonds, clubs and spades did not appear until the sixteenth century.
Concerning the rational basis of cartomancy, as the art of divination by cards is known, we shall content ourselves here with suggesting that in some way, which is a complete mystery even to advanced students of occult science, the vast psychic power that fills all space and time exerts a magnetic influence upon the nervous system and the fingers of the person who shuffles, cuts, chooses or arranges the cards (who thus becomes essentially a medium), and so opens wide-in all its marvellous clarity and significance for those who have eyes to read-the Book of Life and Fate.
For the benefit of sceptics we would say that cartomancy, like phrenology and palmistry, is claimed to be an empirical science; that is to say, its revelations are based upon the portents and consequences that, throughout the ages, have been observed to accompany or follow the fall of the individual cards and their various groupings.
Perhaps the two most celebrated card-diviners of recent times were Etteilla and Mlle. Lenormand. The former, who is often called the father of cartomancy (a title which might have some justification if card-divining were not an art which flourished centuries before his time), was a barber and wigmaker in Paris, whose real name was Alliette- Etteilla is Alliette read backwards, in cabbalistic fashion. This remarkable man devoted thirty years to a profound study of cards, and especially of the tarot in all its subtleties, and his methods of divination gave rise to an enormous popularity of the science towards the end of the eighteenth century.
Mlle. Lenormand displayed great intuitive power in her readings, and some remarkable anecdotes are related of her predictions. On one occasion, in January, 1804, Bernadotte, one of the great Napoleon s generals, and his aide-de-camp repaired under the guise of business men to the house of Mlle. Lenormand, where Bernadotte begged to be told of the outcome of some supposed commercial ventures. Mlle. Lenormand, on consulting the cards, promptly remarked, You are no merchant, but an officer of high rank. This the general strenuously denied, but the sibyl, again scrutinizing the cards, once more affirmed, You are not only of high rank, but you are, or will be, related to him who will be emperor.
Continuing to read the fateful cards one by one, she went on, Yes, he will become emperor of France . . . see how his star is in the ascendant! And you . . . you, too, will be a king! History tells us that Napoleon became emperor at the end of 1804, while in 1818 Bernadotte himself was crowned king of Sweden and Norway as Charles XIV.
It should be assiduously born in mind that cartomancy is governed by the same esoteric influences as other psychic phenomena, and successful prognostications cannot be expected unless a few simple rules are observed.
The most reliable results are said to be obtained in the early evening, at that hour when the stress and turmoil of the day are half forgotten, and the world of Nature is calmly awaiting that long period of reflection, peace and repose which comes with the night.
It is not for nothing, we may add, that the night has ever been universally regarded as a time of mystery, when occult powers are at their height. Night, known to the ancient Egyptians as Nut, the mother of Osiris, represents the negative and occult part of each twenty-four hours, and is the dominion of the passive and contemplative moon; while day, the realm of the ardent and fiery sun, is strongly positive in its magnetic value.
There are two days of the week, Monday and Friday, that are considered to be especially favourable for divining, which, moreover, should only be attempted in calm, clear weather, when Nature is at her best and the psychic forces and magnetic currents which surround the earth are pursuing a normal and undisturbed course.
H OW THE O MENS SHOULD BE R EGARDED
At this point we wish to make it quite clear to the reader that, according to an invariable law which runs through all the occult sciences, the extent of the revelations granted by the cards is proportional to the degree of faith and enthusiasm with which they are consulted; and while sceptics or those who approach cartomancy in a light-minded fashion may obtain much harmless amusement from it, it is to the earnest student alone that serious revelations will be made.
It should be understood, too, that the omens received are not bound infallibly to be fulfilled; they should be regarded more as indications-straws in the wind-which point out the turn that one s life will take, unless conscious efforts are made to divert it towards another direction.
For fortune-telling by means of the ordinary pack, as distinct from the tarot, it is usual to discard the deuces, threes, fours, fives and sixes of each suit, the remaining cards thus forming the piquet pack of thirty-two.
It is also usual to identify a particular card with the inquirer-he or she whose fate is being told. This is to be done upon the following lines:-
A young, fair man is represented by the king of hearts.
An elderly, fair man is represented by the king of diamonds.
A young, dark man is represented by the king of clubs.
An elderly, dark man is represented by the king of spades.
A young, fair woman is represented by the queen of hearts.
An elderly, fair woman is represented by the queen of diamonds.
A young, dark woman is represented by the queen of clubs.
An elderly, dark woman is represented by the queen of spades.
White or pronouncedly grey hair is to be regarded as fair.
T HE M EANINGS OF THE C ARDS
The four suits have the following significations:-
Hearts denote love and all that concerns the affections, such as friendship, sympathy, peace and family ties.
Diamonds relate to travelling, voyages, business undertakings and connexions.
Clubs are concerned with power, fame, ability and all kinds of money matters.
Spades speak of misfortune, suffering, loss, mourning, treachery, enemies and betrayal.
The following are the meanings traditionally accorded to the individual cards. It will be noticed that a card which presents itself reversed, that is, upside down, has generally an inauspicious meaning, often the opposite of that which it would express if it were in an upright position.
H EARTS
Ace (upright): happiness, a letter, an invitation;
(reversed): strife, lovers quarrels.
King: a pleasant and easy-going man, fair or grey-haired.
Queen: an affectionate and sympathetic woman, usually fair.
Knave: an upright and faithful young man.
Ten: success, affection, fortune.
Nine (upright): success, a happy result;
(reversed): worries, obstacles.
Eight (upright): an unexpected present or visit;
(reversed): disappointment, annoyance.
Seven (upright): someone loves you truly;
(reversed): a jealous, fickle and worthless infatuation.
D IAMONDS
Ace: an important document or letter.
King: the protection of a man of power and authority.
Queen: a frivolous and light-minded fair woman, a stranger; if she stands next to the king of diamonds, she will marry him.
Knave: a soldier or an official in uniform, perhaps a postman bringing a letter.
Ten: an approaching journey.
Nine: a new business deal to be undertaken.
Eight: a large party or a picnic in the country.
Seven (upright): a present;
(reversed): quarrels, disputes.
C LUBS
Ace (upright): success in business dealings and speculations;
(rev