The art of telling fortunes by cards, known professionally as Cartomancy, has been practiced for centuries.

In our day and generation divination by cards is chiefly employed for amusement and pastime, for the entertainment of one's self or one's company, or at church fairs, charity bazars, and the like; but in the days of the ancients it was practiced by prophets and sibyls as a serious business, and so accepted by all, from king to peasant.

Certainly there were some remarkable coincidences, to call them by no other name, in the fulfillment of many cartomantic divinations, of which history maintains a record. To cite but one:

THE STORY OF JOSEPHINE, EMPRESS OF THE FRENCH.

Josephine Tascher de la Pagerie, while in her native land of Martinique, had been approached by an aged negress, who astonished her through declaring to her: "You will ascend upon the loftiest throne in the world."

Always treasuring the memory of this prediction, Josephine, when the widow of Gen. Beauharnais, during the bitter days of the Reign of Terror, was induced to consult a distinguished seeress of the Faubourg St. Germain, who relied upon cartomancy as a means for elucidating the mysteries of the past, present, and future. Although her visitor was disguised as a waiting woman, the seeress, through a simple resort to her pack of cards, read most correctly the entire past existence of her consultant. Then, by the same means, she laid bare the gloomy picture of Josephine's present situation; how the prison doors of the Luxembourg stood ready to receive her; how the guillotine thirsted for her life's blood; how, nevertheless, she would be saved from all these impending dangers through intercession of a young soldier, to her at the time personally a stranger. Subsequently, by a fresh appeal to her cards, the seeress threw aside the veil obscuring Josephine's future destiny, predicting her marriage, the onward march of her husband towards fame and power, until finally, after a studious observation of the cards, the cartomancian announced to her skeptical consultant that on a given day, within the cathedral church of Notre Dame, the unknown man she was destined to marry would place upon her head an imperial diadem, and furthermore that she would be hailed, in the presence of the highest ecclesiastical potentate on earth, as "Empress of the French," and as such would be respected until her death.

The remarkably rapid and literal fulfillment of the predictions made by a professional seeress to an unknown lady, to whom she promised the most exalted of mortal positions, not only astonished the crowd of courtiers, wonder-stricken at realization of this indisputable and well-authenticated augury of miraculous events; but elicited the attention of men of intellect and of science, hundreds of whom visited the remarkable prophetess, and in every instance testified to the accuracy of her predictions, although at a loss to comprehend the source from whence she attained apparently super-human knowledge. It appeared wonderful to these men of science that the mere combination of a series of cards, which they had been accustomed to look upon as a mere species of diversion, could be employed as well to read the past as to penetrate the mysteries of the future; still they were compelled, in an elaborate report made to the Emperor, whose comprehensive mind yearned after explanation of all secrets, mental as well as physical, to state that, while unable to account for the cause for this prophetic knowledge, there could be no rational doubt of its existence.

RESEARCHING GYPSY LORE.

This present treatise on the subject of divination by cards is a gathering together in handy form of the best authenticated methods of its ancient practice as handed down from the Romany gypsies and the seeresses that antedate them. As different nations and different times had their varying interpretations of the values of the cards and separate and distinct methods of laying the cards for readings, as well as fundamental differences in their interpretations of the many possible combinations of the various cards, we have decided to lay before you in this work a complete symposium of each, that the reader and student of the art may see before him all the approved methods of the past and choose intelligently that which best pleases or suits his convenience.

All the old and many of the recent authors that have been consulted in the preparation of this book have been found to insist that divination through playing-cards is to be relied upon as a truthful exposition of the past and future and a veritable portent of the future. They desire to be taken seriously. The present editor has no desire to detract from this position if it be a fact, nor does he know that it is not a fact. His part in this work is that of editor, and there ends. Here he presents you with the results of centuries of effort on the part of those who profess to believe sincerely in what they practice and teach, and leaves the reader to place as much or as little credence in the truthfulness of their divinations as he chooses.

Certainly there is a wonderful fascination in the mastering of Cartomancy, in the being able to tell fortunes by the chance falling of the cards into this or that position, and in knowing what each card and grouping is believed to signify in their relations to the person consulting.

HOW TO ACQUIRE THE ART.

The would-be adept is advised to study in detail every word in this book, as he would any other lesson he desired to master. Learn the various methods of dealing and of reading the layout; consult the several interpretations of the meanings and learn to apply them, first in reading your own fortune and later that of friends,—this only after you have memorized many of the meanings and acquired a degree of fluency in elaborating the "talk" or "patter" that goes with a successful "reading."

No prophet or seer ever professed that divination by cards is a natural gift. It is universally recognized as being solely the result of study and practice, and can be mastered by anyone who has this book and gives the subject a little thought and sufficient experimental, practical test to acquire proficiency.

CARDS TO BE USED IN TELLING FORTUNES.

While any ordinary pack of playing cards sold in the usual stores can be used, it is best to secure, if possible, a pack whose face cards have only a single head, inasmuch as when, in dealing, cards come out reversed they bear a different signification in some cases, than when upright. When, however, the usual double-headed cards are used it is only necessary to make a distinctive mark on the top end of the faces of certain ones to secure the same result as though the special fortune-telling pack were employed. This mark may be a simple dot or cross with pencil or pen, and should be made at one end of the card only, which will then become the top of the card in all cases, and cards coming out in the deal with this mark at their tops will be considered as upright, and with the marked end down, as reversed. The only cards that need to be thus distinguished are: The face cards of each suit; the ace, eight, nine and ten of diamonds. (The spot cards below the seven in any suit are, in most cases, not used. Where they are employed, their reversal has no significance.) The top of the seven of diamonds, and the other suits, is considered to be the end that has the extra central pip. Spot cards of the three suits other than diamonds usually require no mark to determine their top or bottom. The "handles" of all spades and clubs, and the sharp points of all hearts, point downward when those cards are upright; hence when they point upward the cards are considered as reversed. If, however, any other cards than those here mentioned are so printed as to make it difficult to distinguish the top from the base, you should mark them at the top.

THE ONE SPECIAL CARD—THE CONSULTANT.

In some of the methods of fortune-telling by cards it is essential to have a special card as the representative of the party seeking the response of the oracle. This is commonly called the "Consultant." If there is a joker in your pack, or an extra blank card, as is the case in many packs, use one of them as the Consultant, marking this card to show which is its top, as its reversal has its own signification. If there is neither joker nor blank card, use the discarded deuce of either suit in the pack, with a mark at its top end.