Is Your Future in the Cards?

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Original Source: “Is Your Future in the Cards?” By Chester Geier, FATE Magazine , June 1952.

Seers have long believed in telling fortunes by cards; now the parapsychologists offer a theory of why it works.

"It's in the cards" is an expression that has come down to us from times when it was widely believed that future events could be foretold by colored bits of pastel. Much more skeptical today, however, we are inclined to ask, "But is it in the cards? What facts, if any, lend support to the belief that cards can indicate coming events?"

A few years ago, a woman investigator, whom we will call Helen Martin, carried out an experiment to answer these very questions. Her results, based on creditable, if not absolutely scientific, procedures, are illuminating.

Helen first selected three of the most reputable cartomantes (female card diviners) she could find. Reputable cartomantes are generally distinguished by the matter of fees. Miss A, for instance, restricted her consultants to persons recommended by friends and charged no fees whatsoever, explaining that doing so might cause a loss of spiritual power. Mrs. B charged only a small fee and would accept nothing over the set amount. Mrs. C accepted donations of any size up to a fixed amount.

The next step in Helen's experiment was to consult each of the three cartomantes in turn, trying as far as possible to obtain answers to the same set of questions. Immediately after her visits, she wrote down a detailed summary of the readings she had been given.

The final step was to wait for about a year to see how many of the predictions came true. The readings were given in the spring of 1950. Early in 1951, the records made of them were taken from safekeeping and compared with a diary kept during the interval of waiting.

WHAT WAS PREDICTED

Miss A:

"A distinct change is coming into your life... You will meet many new people and will be more active socially... In September, you will come into money... You will receive an offer of marriage in three years... You will travel in July or August, and again in November... I see a possible complication regarding your teeth... Be careful in driving cars; you have already just barely escaped a serious accident..."

Mrs. B:

"The year 1950 will bring important changes into your life... Financial conditions will be much better for you in the Fall... You will marry in about four years... Keep a close watch on your money during July and August... You will travel unexpectedly in November or early December... As for your health, the only illness I can see appears to be kidney trouble... Guard against jealousy and intrigue, which will arise within the year..."

Mrs. C:

"Your life is reaching a turning point... You will soon become financially much better off... You will come into some real estate, or a small inheritance soon... A successful marriage lies very close in your path... This summer you will travel; it appears likely that you will go abroad... You will have a reconciliation with a friend, or will see one you have not seen for a long time..."

WHAT CAME TRUE

Comparing the predictions with what she recorded in her diary, Helen sums up:

"First of all, each card placed emphasis on the fact that my life was to undergo an important change. I was to turn the corner within the year.

"This actually seems to have happened. The first thing I noticed was that my male friends began to show greater interest in me. Several, in fact, became unusually sympathetic and helpful.

"These men took me out to dinner and dancing, and on long drives. We saw plays or heard concerts. We took rambling walks together and had long, frank discussions." In contrast to my former, quieter life, all this had some of the quality of a dream.

"I came into no money or real estate either before or after September, though in general, through the help of friends, I did better financially than the previous year. As for marriage, I came close to receiving a proposal - one I'm afraid I could not have accepted. But there is still quite some time to go before the wedding bells are predicted to ring.

"There was a remarkable amount of agreement regarding travel. I did not take a trip abroad, but in July and August I did go on a long vacation trip during which, it must also be noted, I did not keep close watch on my money, as Mrs. B had advised. I spent more than I had planned on, and as a result had to keep my financial belt tight for months afterward.

"I did travel unexpectedly, as was predicted for November. This was a four-day trip to the country over Thanksgiving weekend.

"As for my health, I had no trouble with my kidneys, but in October I had to have a tonsil operation, which was probably just as bad. And since Miss A warned of a complication concerning my teeth, I insisted on having my dentist examine them thoroughly even though he had already given them a check-up a few months before. This time he discovered a cavity that he had overlooked - one which he said might have led to a serious infection.

"Miss A also warned me to be careful in driving cars, adding that I had barely escaped a serious accident. I took considerable pains to heed this particular warning. For shortly before my visit to Miss A, I had been in a car accident, which only by a miracle had not been fatal.

"Mrs. B told me to guard against jealousy and intrigue, which were to arise within the year. They did. The jealousy happened to be my own, and was therefore harmless. But the intrigue had to do with an important business matter, and would have resulted in serious loss had not good friends nipped it in the bud.

"Mrs. C said I would have a reconciliation with a friend, or would meet one I had not seen for a long time. There was no reconciliation. But I did see two women, who were among my oldest friends, after a separation of many years.

"It seems impossible to be scientifically detached in stating my conclusions regarding this experiment with cartomancy. Nobody could fail to be astonished by the similarity between the readings given to me by the three cartomancy practitioners. But the fact that they should have come true in so many instances is little short of awe-inspiring.

"At the same time, however, the discrepancies that arise when the predictions get down to details should not be overlooked. They should serve as a reminder that even the best of card forecasts should not be taken too seriously."

In fairness to the cartomante, it can be pointed out that discrepancies in readings are to a large degree the result of certain inherent limitations in obtaining messages from cards.

The language of the cards is symbolic, and interpreting this language is a science that is still in its infancy. Thus, even the most psychically advanced cartomante is somewhat in the position of having to use a primer when an unabridged dictionary would give best results.

Another limitation exists in the matter of time. Many cartomantes admit that, as a rule, it is next to impossible to give a precise date for an event. The reason is that time is a purely human institution and does not exist in clairvoyance. To the true clairvoyant, past, present, and future are all one. For the most part, only approximations of dates can be given, from hints which may appear in the cards, or which may flash intuitively into the mind of the cartomante.

The cartomante can also explain in her defense that some consultants are so deeply skeptical or so emotionally upset that they affect the cards and confuse their meanings.

One woman, for example, had barely managed to escape a terrible fire in which several people had died. A psychotic dread of being burned to death haunted her for years afterward. This fear inevitably communicated itself to the cards, with the result that warnings of death by fire appeared in the readings.

The cartomante herself can adversely influence the cards. If she is worried, despondent, or tired, they will be muddled and contradictory. If she presses them to make sense, they will become childishly obstinate and vigorously resist all attempts to make them behave.

In this connection, a parallel might be noted with the experiments in extra-sensory preception by Dr. J. B. Rhine of Duke University. In his book, New Frontiers of the Mind, Dr. Rhine notes that worry or depression on the part of his subjects lowered the number of "strikes" which they usually made in calling out the special markings on the ESP cards used in the tests.

Dr. Rhine's research, in fact, may shed further light on how it is possible to foretell the future by means of cards.

In his earliest experiments, subjects called out the markings of cards which were spread out, face down, on a table. Later subjects "worked down" through a pack of ESP cards, calling out the markings of the cards, one under the other, as they were stacked.

In almost every case, their scores were considerably higher than a figure mathematically calculated for pure chance.

What is more impressive, in still later tests the same high scores resulted when subjects foretold what order a pack of cards would take before being mechanically shuffled.

In fortune telling by cards, it is always the consultant who shuffles. Some students believe that during this procedure, the consultant transfers to the cards her deep-lying, subconscious awareness of coming events. And considering Rhine's results, the idea appears to have some sound basis. For if the order a pack of cards will take can be predicted before mechanical shuffling, it is reasonable to assume that actually holding the cards in the hands should make the process all the more effective.

Yet how can the consultant be aware of coming events? In psychic circles, it is believed that everyone possesses the faculty of clairvoyance, only some more so than others. Our conscious mind, it is explained, is limited to a "moving present," while our true and more or less unknown existence actually takes in the past and future as well. Glimpses of the future, it is said, often rise to the surface of the conscious mind through the agency of dreams. The Englishman, J. W. Dunne, has treated this subject with scientific thoroughness in his famous book, An Experiment With Time.

A cartomante who seems uncannily successful in reading cards thus prepared for her attention is merely a person with greater clairvoyant ability than average. She may be a member of a "psychic family."

There is no one specific method of divination by cards. Each cartomante develops their own system, just as a writer or a pianist develops their own individual style. Thus, in studying the methods used in fortune telling by cards, it is best to select those of one particular cartomante. For several reasons, while the foundation may be more or less the same, the superstructure, determined by talent, intelligence, and experience, is always quite different.

A survey of the methods of cartomancy might begin with the cards themselves.

There are many methods of using the ordinary pack of 52 cards in divination. These may employ the entire pack, but a more general practice is to use a reduced pack of 32 cards. The reduced pack gives speed and clarity to readings, even though it may be felt that more subtle nuances of meaning can be obtained with a full pack.

When the reduced pack is used, all twos, threes, fours, fives, and sixes are removed. Due to space limitations, only methods involving the reduced pack will be considered here.

The values ​​of the four suits and the meanings of each of the cards included in them form the groundwork of cartomancy.

Clubs stand for position, authority, capacity for business, organization, and success.

Diamonds stand for speed, finance, sharpness, rapidity in decision-making, and precarious undertakings, dominated to a large extent by surrounding cards.

Hearts stand for happiness, pleasure, affections, domestic affairs, and comforts.

Spades stand for misfortunes, sorrow, mourning, distance, missed appointments, and darkness.

The suits also have certain values ​​when taken in combinations.

Diamonds and clubs show successful business or monetary transactions, an increase in prosperity. Hearts and diamonds show pleasure, happiness, enthusiasm, and energy. Diamonds and spades together are evil, showing danger, accident, illness, and sometimes death. Clubs and hearts show lasting affections, reliable natures, making good friends, and kind dispositions. Clubs and spades denote things desired but difficult to obtain, remoteness, thwartings, despondency, and disappointments. Spades and hearts show regrets, obstacles, unhappy marriages, and unfortunate love affairs.

Certain of the cards are used to represent persons such as the consultant, her family, and friends.

Queens stand for women, according to their coloring. Kings stand for men of mature years, also according to their coloring. Jacks stand for young men or boys, messengers, enemies, lovers, or close friends, according to their suit and position. They also represent the thoughts of the kings and queens.

Diamonds denote people with white, red, or very fair hair. Clubs indicate persons of medium coloring, neither fair nor dark. Hearts show persons with fair skin, brown hair, and blue or gray eyes. Spades denote persons of dark coloring, black or dark brown hair, and brown eyes.

The meanings of the other cards in the pack are as follows. It should be noted that the meanings are quite different when the cards are reversed. For this reason, it helps to clearly show which is the top and which is the bottom of a card by marking the pack before it is put into use.

CLUBS

Ace: Letters, good news, luck; reversed, bad news, delayed letters.

Ten: A short trip or outing, pleasing events; reversed, an outing near water, sea, or river.

Nine: Pleasure, legal business; reversed, delays, depression, disappointments.

Eight: A good friend, meetings with friends; reversed, news, papers, discussion.

Seven: Success, achievement; reversed, annoyance over money.

HEARTS

Ace: A house, an affectionate letter; reversed, changes, a home not your own.

Ten: Happiness, love, lessens the influence of any bad cards it may be near; reversed, birth, change, pleasure.

Nine: Attainment of desire, indication of success; reversed, great affection, someone dear to you.

Eight: Friends, marriage, affection; reversed, a tendency to jealousy.

Seven: A gratified wish, domestic affairs; reversed, ruffled feelings, small annoyances.

SPADES

Ace: A large building, business; reversed, annoyance, danger, death.

Ten: Water, voyages, distance; reversed, trouble, illness, mourning.

Nine: Loss, failure of plans; reversed, grave danger, death.

Eight: Illness, depression, night; reversed, sadness, obstacles, deceit, plotting.

Seven: Change, determination; reversed, disturbance, accident.

DIAMONDS

Ace: A present, jewelry, paper money; reversed, financial news, money matters.

Ten: Money; reversed, engines, fire, electricity.

Nine: Sudden happenings, anger, sharp instruments; reversed, danger, fighting, pain, operation.

Eight: A road, a walk, a short outing; reversed, irritability, rudeness, things going wrong

Seven: A brother or sister, a child or animal; reversed, a present, a parcel.

Cards in groups of fours, threes, and twos also have their meanings.

Four aces: A bad sign, distress, adversity; reversed, they show annoyance, some treachery.

Three aces: Promotion, rise in position, some pleasing news; reversed, pleasant meetings.

Two aces: Suggestions and plans, new ideas; reversed, doubting and indecision.

Four kings: Contact with important persons, social advancement; reversed, undertakings requiring legal advice.

Three kings: A successful undertaking; reversed, new friendships.

Two kings: A good friend, pleasant meetings; reversed, new ideas.

Four queens: Much talking, sometimes leading to quarrels; reversed, carelessness, gossiping friends.

Three queens: Social pleasures; reversed, jealousy, suspicion, scandal.

Two queens: Friendly advice and conversation; reversed, disturbance, trouble.

Four jacks: Something underhanded, payments difficult to meet; reversed, a prison, a law court.

Three jacks: Plans upset, irritating occurrences; reversed, calm, indifference.

Two jacks: A demand, an investigation; reversed, a bill, treachery.

Cards in mixed combinations also have their meanings.

Nine of clubs and jack of spades, for instance, indicate a lawyer. Together with the eight of diamonds, the cards indicate a policeman.

Many other meanings could be given, but lack of space precludes going through the entire list, suit by suit.

Suppose we conduct an actual reading. This begins with the consultant taking up the cards and shuffling them thoroughly. Some of the cards should be turned end to end at random, since, as has been mentioned, the meanings of the cards are different when they are reversed.

Having shuffled the cards, the consultant places them face down and cuts them three times. The cartomante will then turn up the cards and interpret the cut, considering the three cards as something urgently dominating the consultant's mind, or as some important event close at hand.

A married woman, the consultant is now identified with some particular card—the queen of hearts, for example, since one of the cards she has cut is the king of hearts, which can be identified as her husband. The other cards are the ace of spades and the eight of spades, showing an illness which requires her husband to be placed in a hospital.

The consultant next picks up the cards in the order in which they were cut. Holding them face down, she lays them out in any one of a group of patterns, choosing a pattern that fits the particular case under consideration.

She may choose a simple block pattern, placing the cards face upwards in four rows of eight, forming each row in a straight line from left to right.

Still identifying the consultant with the queen of hearts, it is now seen that she comes out in the middle of the second row. On her left is the king of hearts, with an eight of hearts between them, showing that they are linked by a strong bond of affection. On her right is the ace of hearts (the house card) and ace of spades, with the seven of clubs, and seven of spades, reversed, at her head. This signifies worry and difficulty as to plans, intensified by the fact that two reversed sevens touch the ten of diamonds (a money card), showing that expense is an added complication in her husband's illness.

The king of hearts is touched by the nine of diamonds, eight of diamonds, and ten of diamonds, reversed, showing an automobile. Since these are signs of illness and accident, it is known that the king of hearts has been involved in an auto accident, though not a serious one.

Opposite the auto cards, at the ends of the same rows, are a ten of hearts and a ten of clubs, indicating a complete recovery from the accident, followed by a pleasing change of scenery after the hospital stay.

The above is little more than a quick survey of the general situation shown by the cards. Many additional details can be obtained from the layout by a process called counting. This links the cards together into combinations, each of which has a different shade of meaning.

Counting may be done in any direction from any point, but it is done systematically. It should always begin with the card representing the client. And it should follow a certain numerical order, depending on the type of layout chosen. In the layout already described, the cards are counted in threes, sevens, nines, and thirteens.

Beginning with the consultant, the Queen of Hearts, taken as the first card, the counting passes on to the third card, which is considered in connection with the two preceding cards, and the one next to it. From the third card, counting passes to the seventh, which is considered with those touching it. A similar procedure is followed from the seventh card to the ninth, and from that to the 13th. From the 13th card, counting begins again, number one card being that next to the 13th.

From this, such additional facts are brought out as a telephone call notifying the consultant of her husband's accident, the arrival of the doctor, and a trip in an ambulance to the hospital.

This is a simple block pattern, with the 32 cards laid out in four rows of eight. Layout is for general aspects of situation. S designates consultant (significator).

Another method of laying out the cards is interesting and useful. It gives satisfactory results for such events as may develop in a few weeks.

The significator—the card representing the consultant—is first placed in the center of the table. The remaining thirty-one cards are given to the consultant to shuffle. There is no cut in this method of laying out the cards

After the shuffle, the cartomante takes the pack and places the two top cards side by side, face up, over the significator. The first card goes at the head, the second on the left, as shown in Figure 2.

The third card is then put aside. Continue doing this, each time placing the two top cards on the left hand in the circle around the significator and the third card aside, until only two cards are left in the hand.

Then pick up those put aside and give them to the consultant to shuffle once more. After this, repeat the process as before, laying down the first two cards and putting the third aside until all the cards are used, and a circle of 26 cards is formed around the significator.

There will now be five cards left over. Put these aside until the circle has been read.

The counting of the 26 cards begins from the card immediately above the significator (Card No. 1 in the diagram) to the third card on its left. Next, from the third to the seventh, and from that card to the ninth and thirteenth.

When the counting reaches its starting point, Card No. 2 will now be the one to start from, continuing in threes, sevens, nines, and thirteens as before. This is kept up until all the cards have in turn been a starting point for a round of counting.

Finally, take up the five cards left over from the circle of 26. Having given them to the consultant to shuffle, place them on the table again in a row: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5.

The card reader then reads them thus: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5. The third card, being the connecting link, is used twice in the counting. These five cards will indicate a condition or happening that is close at hand for the consultant.

Another short method of reading the cards is easy to remember.

The consultant first shuffles the cards and hands them to the card reader, who holds them loosely, face down, while the consultant draws eight cards at random from any part of the deck. The consultant may draw the cards separately, or two or more at a time until eight cards are withdrawn from the deck. This should be a matter of free choice.

The cards are placed face up as shown in Figure 3, in the shape of a fan. Care must be taken to place the cards down on the table in the exact order in which they were drawn. Then eight more cards are drawn in the same way and placed on the left, above the No. 1 position.

Again draw eight cards. These are placed in the same way, on the right, opposite the top group. Finally, the last eight cards are drawn and placed opposite the lower group. Each fan is then read in accordance with its respective position.

Position No. 1 represents "That you will gain."

Position No. 2 represents "That you will lose."

Position No. 3 represents "That you will have."

Position No. 4 represents "That you would choose."

The counting is done in four pairs, using the third card of the fan each time as the first card for the next count.

Whether cards read in this way can truly tell something about the future is indicated but not definitively proven by research to date. While physical scientists are extremely doubtful, parapsychologists and many psychologists give considerable credence to card reading. It is plain, however, that we are only nibbling around the edges of a great and practically uninvestigated subject.