Lessons on Four Significant Card Systems:

       |Endora| - for a clarifying update on the current episode of your life adventure

      |Kipper| - for questions that deal with a courtship

      |Lenormand| - for questions that deal with a mundane situation which one might 'observe' externally

        |Tarot| - for questions that deal with how one 'feels' about a situation internally

Always remember that the cards are just visualization aids, and that established card system procedures are only recommendations.
Forecasting is a personal dialog with the subconscious, so while standard methodology is a useful fallback, ultimately each individual card reader must determine how their cards are utilized and what they indicate.

Example Decks:

Forecasting Systems

Oracle Cards

Unique Decks

These decks are being presented only as examples of suitability for a particular cartomancy scenario (please see the cards blurb), and may currently be out of print. In instances where there were several decks that equally fulfilled the same niche, those which aligned more towards the underrepresented masculine taste were chosen for showcasing.


Common Cartomancy Questions

What is Cartomancy?

Cartomancy (still a female dominated field) is forecasting using Cards of all sorts, and it has its greatest popularity in card game playing Roman Catholic Western Europe. Cards can be used for all manner of purposes, from traditional fortune telling, to receiving affirmation, to emotional healing. Even other fortune telling systems have been emulated with cards.

Unlike forecasting tools such as dice which are Cast (casting disconnects the operator from the result), cards are intentionally Drawn under subconscious influence. This is why cards are always final overhand shuffled (or fan drawn using the non-dominant hand) by forecasters, so that like a prestidigitator, the subconscious can manipulate the cards into a readable symbolic message. A Cartomancer is thus merely a symbolic message translator, and while they must hone the skill to grok a Spread, they do not have to pursue any meditation or esoteric studies.

What is the reasoning behind Cartomancy Systems?

The subconscious uses imagery, rather than words, to communicate. While it is true that a Cartomancer can assign any consistent meaning to a card and thus create their own fortune telling deck, using a standardized system of card meanings both eases the burden on the subconscious, and allows for reader skill verification by an auditor. Should a Cartomancer choose to deviate slightly from the prescribed system, it is important that they inscribe those changes prior to a Reading (so the subconscious can compensate).

Why do many fortune telling cards have playing card inserts?

Fortune Telling Cards are colored inks on paper, which are indifferently manufactured in factories just like dollar bills. Up until mass market printing became practical in the latter-1800's, only locally made playingcard gaming decks were available to Cartomancers. Card decks were expensive, so when decks created specifically for fortune tellers were first designed, the publishers included playing card image inserts, so that the decks could also be used for playingcard games. Since it is cheaper to reprint from an existing template, the inserts remained even as justification vanished (to the extent that they are now considered "traditional", and even placed on newly designed decks). Provincial publishing is also why historically older decks often exhibit variation and lower card counts.

What types of Forecasting decks are popular?

Forecasting system popularity was, and to a large extent still remains, region based. Different systems grew up among the Americans, French, Germans, Italians, Austrians, and Russians. Recently there has been a worldwide interest in new forecasting Oracle decks, but they have yet to fully displace the classic forecasting systems.

Americans: Originally the forecasting deck most used by Americans was a standard deck of 52 Playingcards. Since the early 1970s, the Rider-Waite-Smith 78 card Tarot system has become the most popular.
French: Since the Napoleonic period, the French have preferred the system of 36 pictogram cards called Lenormand.
Germans: Fortune telling cards are mostly used in southern Germany. Since the late 1800s, their preferred system is the 36 card Kipper deck.
Italians: Fortune telling is so unofficially condoned in Italy that convenience stores sell decks. Their preferred system is the imposturous 52 playingcard-imitating Sibilla deck.
Austrians: Former territories of the Austro-Hungarian empire prefer a system of 36 allegorical artwork cards called Gipsy.
Russians: The Russians prefer a very different Cartomancy system called Pasyans [patience]. This is not a card "deck", but rather a set of (typically 25) partial-image squares that are rotated during the Reading.

Is it Ok to ask the same question more than once?

The whole point of Fortune Telling is to get a glimpse of what may lie ahead, so that the querent can possibly do something to brace for, or alter, it. This is why a Reader only acts in the capacity of a translator, and will never attempt to steer a querent onto a particular path, or force a meaning onto a vague card reading in order to obtain a preferred answer. A Reading is just a snapshot of the current timeline, which the querent or other involved parties may perhaps alter by consciously exerting free will. Although it is best to delay a bit before seeking another forecast (so that events will have time to develop), it is useful to see if any changes have occurred. Often it is more insightful if you re-ask the question using another deck or a different fortune telling system.


Note: The destructive practice of card trimming (like scissoring heirloom photographs to make a collage) is never recommended. Card borders are intentional, and function as a picture frame to protect the cards imagery.