by Marcus Katz
After the reading, the mother and daughter walk out into the afternoon sun. The young daughter has been very attentive to the cards and the way in which Mrs. T was using them to tell the future. The mother appears satisfied with the answers; although the reader appeared hesitant, she has taken what was revealed to bode well for her health. She looks down at her daughter and gives her 5p. She smiles and says, “Go on, Tali, go and get yourself an ice cream.”
In this chapter, we will look at a selection of cartomantic methods across time, including stars, fans, pyramids, and squares, to encourage our practice of card-reading for questions both vintage and contemporary.
Writing on Your Deck
When you first learn to read playing cards, do not be afraid to write text on a deck of playing cards. This was done with abandon on a deck created by the artist and occultist Austin Osman Spare (1886–1956) who was born into a working-class background in the Smithfield area of London. He began his early career with much success, but as his biographer Phil Baker wrote, his trajectory as an artist was in reverse of the usual rags-to-riches story; “he began as a controversial West End celebrity and went on to obscurity in a South London basement.” 69 His downfall has been attributed to his insistence that his “mystical practices lay behind the production of his artwork.” 70
9. Playing Card with Handwritten
Notes, created by Marcus Katz, 1985.
The mystical etchings Spare left upon his cards open a full deck of possibilities and give us license to create.
In the creation of his fortune-telling tarot-like deck, Spare was influenced by the French style of cartomancy; he uses the suit symbols of hearts, clubs, spades, and diamonds, rather than the Italian-style iconography of cups, wands, swords, and coins/pentacles. We can see the influence of both Papus and Lévi in Spare’s work. It was also said that the young Austin Spare learnt the skill of cartomancy from a mysterious female figure during his childhood called “the Witch Paterson.” However, this was a period when there had been a spate of “how to read the future by the cards” books; they were very much in vogue. Spare was likely to have read What the Cards Tell by Minetta and “Professor” P. R. S. Foli’s Fortune Telling by Cards; we have seen already how these books collected and popularised cartomantic knowledge. 71
The deck—like yours—should also be a “self-instructive deck” with the writing on the cards teaching you to remember every time you perform a practice reading. Spare, for example, on the Ace of Hearts, wrote “THE HOUSE” and “habitation, success, fortune, riches, good news, envy” as keywords to aid the learning process. He uses the word “house” from a French method written within Foli’s Fortune Telling by Cards.
We can also see Foli’s further influence on Spare’s Ace of Hearts. Foli has a list of the cards for a game and the meaning he gives for the Ace of Hearts is “a new house.” Spare has written on the card “The HOUSE,” and the meaning of the card reversed is written as “Change of residence.” On the card, Spare has also written “engagement in the family.”
Spare’s following of Foli continues on the 10 of Hearts and the 10 of Diamonds, where we see in Foli’s list he has 10 of Hearts and Diamonds as meaning “marriage settlements.” In these few examples, we can see how Spare was influenced by Foli and how by writing on his cards he created his very own effective self-instructive deck.
In fact, one of the founders of the Golden Dawn also wrote keywords on their first deck. Here we show an example of W. W. Westcott’s own European deck (prior to the work of the Golden Dawn on the tarot) and see that he has also written keywords for the cards in pencil.
10. Tarot Card with Keyword written in the hand
of W. W. Westcott, c. 1888 (private collection).
We will now look at a range of spreads for cartomancy with playing cards. In any linear layout, emphasis is put more on the position of the card, rather than the card itself. The order of the cards can change the subject matter from being just about you and your action, to being all about the action of somebody else. Remember the card always influences the card next to it, right to left. We see this in the following example:
Ace of Clubs + Ace of Diamonds = YOU will write a love letter.
Ace of Diamonds + Ace of Clubs = A love letter will be written to YOU.
We will also introduce now the idea of a Significator, which is the card often used to represent the querent, querist, sitter, or client in the spread.
Choosing a Significator
You could say that the most significant part of a reading is the querent, and in cartomancy, this is decided by the querent choosing a Court card from the pack that most represents their personality. There are several ways of choosing the significator from the pack of cards, and we will provide one to time travellers as a basis. You are encouraged to explore alternatives in the future.
The way the significator is chosen is by matching their physicality and personality to the Court cards. In doing so, we consider age (maturity or youth), gender, physical appearance, profession, and personality. In later years, there are systems for corresponding the sun sign of astrology, the birthdate, or even the Myers-Brigg Type Indicator label to the court cards. Vintage methods are far less elaborate. As an example, “Minetta” wrote that “knaves … represent young men, soldiers, lovers and traitors.” 72
The spades are representative of “very dark people, widows and widowers” and clubs are “not so dark, brown eyes.” The hearts have “fair, blue eyes” and diamonds are “very fair, red-haired, grey-haired, widows and widowers.” Minetta also elaborated on this cartomantic profiling by saying “It is well to judge the Significator’s coloring by the eyes.” Further, “a club, if a widow, becomes a spade, and if a heart, becomes a diamond.” 73
The Significators
Spades: Very dark people, widows and widowers.
Clubs: Not so dark, brown eyes.
Diamonds: Very fair, red-haired, grey-haired, fair, widows and widowers.
Hearts: Fair, blue eyes.
Clubs
King: Generous man, straight-forward.
Queen: Loving, forgiving.
Knave: Lover [a down-to-earth character].
Hearts
King: Kind man.
Queen: Fair woman.
Knave: Cupid [a romantic lover].
Knave of Hearts is of no sex, and always shows the best friend of the consulter. 74
Spades
King: Widower, lawyer.
Queen: Widowhood.
Knave: Professional man.
Diamonds
King: Grey-haired man.
Queen: Widow, friend.
Knave: Military.
If you are reading for a child or a pet, use the 7 of Diamonds. 75
We will now begin our spreads by looking at a basic method using the four aces. We will also make suggestions for using these spreads with tarot so you can revisit this chapter with tarot knowledge at any point in your time travels.
The Ace of Base
This technique uses the aces of the pack in a very simple way. 76
We use a thirty-two-card Piquet-style deck for this method, comprising the French-suited deck of thirty-two cards, consisting of aces, 7, 8, 9, 10, jacks, queens, and kings.
First, take the four aces out of the deck and lay them out into the position of a cross. Place the Ace of Clubs at the top, the Ace of Spades at the bottom, the Ace of Hearts on the right and the Ace of Diamonds on the left.
The remaining twenty-eight cards are then handed to the querent, and we ask them to focus deeply on the question they are asking the cards and to shuffle the cards well once more. When they are quite satisfied that they have forged a connection with the cards, take the cards back. Next lay out all twenty-eight cards, as follows: the first card on the Ace of Clubs at the top, the second card on the Ace of Spades at the base, the th
ird is placed on the Ace of Hearts to the right, and the fourth on the left upon the Ace of Diamonds. Continue placing the cards down in this order until you have exhausted all the twenty-eight cards. There should be seven cards on each of the four aces.
We now turn over each of the four stacks and read the seven cards together.
If the Wish Card (9 of Hearts) and the Significator of the person (a chosen court card) appear in the same stack, this is a good sign of general success in the situation.
Tarot Version
In the tarot version of this method, we lay out the four aces in the same way, with the Ace of Wands at the top, the Ace of Swords at the bottom, the Ace of Cups on the right, and the Ace of Pentacles on the left.
We then lay out seven cards on each Ace in the same manner but from a shuffle of the remaining seventy-four tarot cards. Some time travellers may realise that this type of method is the pre-cursor for the Golden Dawn method called “Opening of the Key.”
When we read the tarot in this way, we can correspond the four stacks to their themes and read the cards contained in each stack as applying to that aspect of our lives, making it a more rudimentary tarot spread.
Ace of Wands (Fire) = World of activity, enthusiasm, confidence, success, energetic attitudes, competitive nature, ideas, innovation, sleeplessness, living on nerves, highly strung, motivation, driven.
Ace of Swords (Air) = World of intellect, reasoning, decision making, organization, management, education.
Ace of Cups (Water) = World of emotion, over sensitivity, nurturance, worry, love, psychic ability.
Ace of Pentacles (Earth) = World of security, money, investment, training, application, practicalities, building, greed, banking, resources.
The Star of Fortune
This quick technique uses thirteen cards and divines for a person who is not present. 77
Take a court card to represent the person for whom the reading is being conducted and place it central on your table.
Shuffle the rest of the deck and focus on the question while you do so. Then cut the pack into three piles, and turn them face-up. The three top cards can be read as an overall prognosis of the reading. Again, this is another element that is picked up in the later Golden Dawn “Opening of the Key” method.
Now collect together the cut cards into one deck again and lay out the cards around the significator as illustrated, creating a star. 78
The original publisher of this method tells us that if the 9 or 10 of Hearts comes out as the thirteenth card, this is lucky, but not so the 9 of Spades, which would bring ruin to the situation. In early cartomancy, there was a clearer division of good and bad cards, and a more fatalist regard to their significance. However, mitigating that was a general idea that the cards were merely a parlour game and not to be taken seriously overall.
In the early version of this method too were indications of overall interpretations by suit and number, for example, if three nines appear, it shows delays and that patience will be required. Four kings would indicate good regard, social standing, and honors. The card at the top of the significator also has a large influence (as we see in our encounter with Lenormand cards in a later time zone) so we hope to get a heart card there, rather than a spade.
11. Star of Fortune, from “Minetta,”
What the Cards Tell, 1896.
Diamonds overall are most influenced by the cards near them, so they take on a negative aspect with spades, and a positive one with hearts. Clubs are generally positive.
The bottom of this spread relates to the past, and the top to the future, so if there are negative cards at the bottom and more positive ones at the top, it shows that someone has gone through a challenging time but is coming out of it. The reverse can also be the case.
As we will see in our Lenormand chapter, a significator or “key card” can be used for a specific subject rather than the person themselves. So, if we wanted to read for a question about an official matter, letters, awaiting contracts, etc., we would use the Ace of Clubs; for money matters, the Ace of Diamonds; and for the house or love, the Ace of Hearts. We would not use the Ace of Spades as it is a generally negative card.
The cards in this spread can be read in pairs, above, below, and to the sides of the significator, and as the single cards at the top and bottom, influenced by the cards paired to either side.
Advanced Method: Reading a Narrative
In this method, we simply draw cards one at a time and tell a story from their appearance, linking each card to another in sequence. This requires some reasonable knowledge of the cards, or plenty of time to piece the story together. Again, as we see with so many early methods, these were incorporated into the Golden Dawn and then re-surfaced in the twenty-first century with the refund popularity of the Lenormand. As both the Golden Dawn methods and the Lenormand were closer to early cartomancy, ironically, esotericists who were practiced in the Golden Dawn methods often found the transition to Lenormand reading a more natural process rather than straight tarot readers who were used to fixed spreads and positional meanings.
These tailored readings need to consider where the client is now; as a reader, you guide them through the narrative. It is more useful to find out from the clients as much as they are happy to divulge before commencing this style of reading.
Discuss with the client what is going on in their lives at present, do not focus too much on the past, but where they are now in their lives, and where they would like to be. Ask about family, friends, and romantic relationships. Encourage them to talk about the environment in which they live, work, and socialise. Discuss their likes and dislikes. Consider how they present themselves and their personality. As the original instructions often say about this type of reading, “make a smooth and interesting story.”
The Name Method
This technique draws upon using the clients initials to construct a spread.
Take for example the three initials A V G, where someone has a middle name. Work out the three initials’ corresponding order in the alphabet.
A = 1
V = 22
G = 7
Shuffle your tarot deck well and then remove the first card from the deck, this represents the letter “A” of the client’s initials.
Shuffle again and then remove the twenty-second card from the deck, this represents the letter “V” of the client’s initials.
Shuffle the remaining cards one last time and then remove the seventh card from the deck, this represents the letter “G” from the client’s initials.
Lay out the three cards in the form of a triangle (or the top of a pyramid), or as a pair side-by-side if there are just two letters.
Read these two or three cards together.
The Birthday Method
To use birthday cards, simply refer to the client’s birthdate. We will use 8 May in our example.
We shuffle the deck and take out the fifth card to correspond to the month, and then reshuffle and take out the eighth card to correspond to the day.
We then read these as a pair.
Name and Birthday Combination Method
We can also combine the two previous readings doing both and by laying out the birthday cards beneath the name cards, forming a square or the base of a triangle.
Reading for a Dream
When cards appear in a dream, they have similar significance. These common interpretations ascribed to dreams in their relationship to our everyday lives are from a vintage teaching booklet from the “Washington Bureau”:
Cards: To dream of playing cards denotes of wealth, love and marriage. Each card has the same significance as in fortune-telling. Many picture cards, a fortunate and wealthy marriage. Mostly diamonds, quarrels; spades, hard work; clubs, happiness and wealth; hearts, love, honor and prosperity. To dream of holding the Joker indicates a false friend. 79
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nbsp; You can also read for a dream and its significance by choosing a significator that relates to a key item in the dream and then using any standard spread as may be relevant. So, a dream about discovering a strange house would be best read by using the Ace of Hearts. If you dream of driving in a car, we would use the 2 of Spades as a significator (see previous chapter).
Many of the kitchen-table readers throughout these years would have made-up meanings, learnt them from others, or gained them from the few books of the “Professor Foli” variety. However, there was another current that would carry cartomancy to the future, away from the esoteric orders and into the modern-day of the time—women’s magazines. The history of cartomancy would be written across these magazines until the 1960s and the new era of tarot revival.
The “missing years” of cartomancy were being carried in plain sight through the 1930s to the 1950s by women’s magazines, supplements, and—after awhile—mail order courses.
Here we see one example of the supplements that were so popular: “Palmistry and Fortune Telling at Parties” from Woman Magazine, 6 December, 1952. On the front cover of the pamphlet we have a blonde Grace Kelly look-alike who gazes longingly up into her partner’s eyes. It is captioned: Here’s Magic!
The magazine supplement describes the techniques within as “spell-binding,” and that the sixteen-page supplement will “give you and your friends hours of fun.” In fact, the social status of a reader is guaranteed: “Take your supplement to a party, and the guests will clamor for you to stay on and on!” What a brilliant marketing method.
Following the next two magazine covers, we present a summary of card meanings for your reference.
12. Cover, Woman’s Own, 13 January, 1934.