A Lesson in Cartomancy

Susan Slaviero

definition: Car-to-man-cy (Esoteric) (Eerie) (Obscure) n. The art of fortune telling by the means of cards. [Cf. F. cartomancie see card and –mancy*]

*-mancy from the Greek word for divination, manteia.

precursors: Before the invention of playing cards, initiates practiced divining by observing the knots in the umbilical cord, by means of fingernails, eggs, or examining the soles of the feet. See also: ashes, onions. Others prognosticated by studying the drippings of beeswax candles or the movements of cats.

*cartomancy, or “by cards” is not to be confused with catoptromancy, “by mirror” or chiromancy, “by the palm of the hand”

literary references:

From The Cartomancer’s Journal “It is said that cards were once used to entertain the concubines of the emperor in Ancient China. Some later mythologies claimed that Faerie Queens could inhabit woodcuts, and find their way into tarot packs, via the printing process. Thus, a new deck was always to be cleansed with a combination of water and salt” (13).
From A Diviner’s Tale: Witchery in the 15th Century “I dreamed that I inhabited the Lovers card, that I was the alchemical queen in a green dress, surrounded by persimmons and lotus flowers. My body continued to fold in upon itself, until I was the size of a bee. The king swept me under his tongue, and kept me there until my wings were sodden, useless” (76).
From The New Manual of Fortune Telling “Adepts will tell you that the mystical Fool serves an important purpose aside from simple divination; his appearance suggests the initiation of a quest, a need to tap into unknown talents, and an emphasis on canine semiotics” (22).

From A Diviner’s Tale: Witchery in the 15th Century “I dreamed that I inhabited the Lovers card, that I was the alchemical queen in a green dress, surrounded by persimmons and lotus flowers. My body continued to fold in upon itself, until I was the size of a bee. The king swept me under his tongue, and kept me there until my wings were sodden, useless” (76). From The New Manual of Fortune Telling “Adepts will tell you that the mystical Fool serves an important purpose aside from simple divination; his appearance suggests the initiation of a quest, a need to tap into unknown talents, and an emphasis on canine semiotics” (22).

correspondences: Traditional playing card suits and their tarot equivalents

Clubs=sticks or wands, the symbols of power {phallic}; suggests news in the form of a telegram or wolfbite; fire element

Hearts=cups, representing human emotion, primordial waters {yonic}; may indicate a fondness for tea, or an addiction to home-distilled strawberry liquor; water element

Spades=swords, suggestive of intellect, fierce winds, academia or fistfights; air element

Diamonds=coins or mirrors (a.k.a. “pentacles”) predict cholera, lottery winnings; having to do with the corporeal; earth element

notes: 1.) decks used for cartomancy should not be used for gambling or any other form of game; 2.) these cards should not be handled by anyone other than the owner/reader; 3.) arcana= “hidden things”