Fortune Telling Cards are selected either blindly or face-up. Cards designed for face-up drawing are used when you suspect that your subconscious is trying to express a healing need (either it wants you to consciously fill a deficiency, or it wants you to consciously change an attitude). You examine all the cards in the deck, then study the one that seems to be "calling to you".

Cards designed for blind drawing are a way for your subconscious to communicate, and can be subdivided into two major categories. Forecasting Cards will have a methodology, and are the ones used most often by Fortune Tellers. In the past these were always a variant of one of the Traditional Forecasting Systems, but recently a few Predictive Oracle Card forecasting systems are also being offered.

Oracle Cards are the other blindly drawn cards, and they can mostly be divided into Counseling, Keynote, and Empowerment. Counseling Oracle Cards allow your subconscious a way to communicate in a manner similar to they way a confidant might offer their perspective on your situation. Keynote Oracle Cards are "wake up calls" from your subconscious, that propose a theme to ponder and focus upon. Empowerment Oracle Cards are "cheers" from your subconscious to boost your confidence.

A specialized category of Oracle Cards are called Angelic Oracle Cards. Unlike the other blindly drawn cards that function as a communication circuit from your subconscious, these cards supposedly provide a way for benevolent protective supernatural beings to deliver a general message.

Lessons on Four Significant Forecasting Card Systems:

       |Endora| - for a clarifying update on the current episode of your life adventure   {highly recommended}

      |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:

Oracle Cards

Traditional Forecasting Systems

Unique Decks

These decks were all aquired new through retail channels, but may have since gone out of print. They are being presented here only as singular examples of suitability for a particular cartomancy scenario (please see the cards blurb). In instances where there were several decks that could equally fulfill the same niche, the one which aligned most towards the currently underrepresented refined masculine taste was chosen for showcasing. When reading for yourself, you should select a deck that resonates with your personal esthetics or emotional needs of the moment. However if you are reading for a client, they will feel less apprehensive about their reading if you are using a deck that matches the venue/season. Ideally you would also have alternatives available for proffering, which are closer still to the clients personality and comfort level.


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 is a form of fate, as it 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. [Tip: In the case of giant cards where overhand shuffling is not possible, the forecaster could instead mix the cards by delicately stirring them face down, gather all the stirred cards into a neat stack, and then cut the stack multiple times until it feels right]. 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 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.

Do decks have personalities?

Absolutely. Besides just the emotions that individual images will elicit (joy, gloom, confusion, etc.), the deck as a whole will radiate a distinct vibe. Since your subconscious communicates using images, you will get a clearer reading if you situationally choose a deck with a vibe that closely matches with the subject of the question (a good reason to avoid doing "cold" readings).

Beyond just the vibe, many decks will give a sense that they only want to be used for answering certain categories of questions. They seem to take on the personality of perhaps a jester, or instructor, or therapist, and will present their answers in the tone of that personality. Should you ever desire to use multiple decks together during a reading, it is important that all of the decks vibes and personalities mesh well. Although a decks imagery is helpful for guessing how a deck might respond, this can sometimes be misleading. The only way to truly discover a decks personality is to perform several test readings with the deck.


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.