Cartomancy

In some instances, I have read that Cartomancy refers (in general) to the use of cards for the purpose of divination. This presumably includes all categories of decks which are used for this particular purpose ; Tarot, Lenormand, Oracle, Playing Cards, Kipper etc. etc. In other instances, it is stated that Cartomancy refers solely to the use of Playing Cards for the purpose of divination. There is a similar crossover in the language which refers to Oracle Cards. Again, in some instances the term Oracle Cards refers solely to the less rigidly-structured system of picture-themed cards (Angel, Mermaid, Fairy, Unicorn, Energy, Cosmos etc. etc.) which a…

These decks are going to be getting a lot of attention soon, since Bababarock is publishing one of their own and a restoration of an old deck, as well. And I found a video with card meanings that are basically sound. This is for the Art Deco cards, but that deck is closely related to the Zigeuner Wahrsagekarten and Biedermeier Aufschlagkarten. (Note: they are NOT interchangable with Kippers, French or Italian Sibilla.) So the video is useful for those cards, as well. I also want to add that this is not an endorsement of the guy who owns the channel, who is apparently selling Art Deco cards at his etsy shop for $74 (!) Anything more than about $10-12 for a Piatnik deck…

Hi folks, I've posted an article which might interest some of you on the spread called 'the Great Game' (le Grand Jeu) and some of the cartomantic meanings from a French work on the subject, and it is online here. As far as I can tell, these meanings go back to Etteilla's works, via a 19th century book on cards.

Hi guys, I open this thread on the Gypsy Cards (Zigeuner Wahrsagekarten) because I decided to study them a bit (it was a temptation for a while!) There is another deck named "Gypsy cards" by Lo Scarabeo but it is actually a version of the Sibilla Italiana, not this one. This one is a 36 cards deck, I don't know its history but it developed in central Europe where it seems still widely used. It is not a Lenormand! Below a pic of the whole deck (in this version, because it doesn't seem the only version for this deck!). Baba studio is working on a version of this deck, so people will be more interested in this deck/system in the fu…

Hi all, I've started a blog series here https://fennario.wordpress.com/tag/series-on-the-grand-jeu/ If you have anything you'd like to see, post here and I'll certainly consider writing about it at some point in the series. While I do have a general structure in mind, I want to make this something that people find useful. So your questions and concerned will be addressed. It might not be right away - I'm starting with basics and gradually working through different aspects of the deck and how it's used. But I'll be bookmarking this thread and returning to it as I add to the series.

Do you know Le Petit Cartomancien? It's a French deck of 36 cards. I have it, don't use it much (my bad!), but it could interest people. The meanings of the cards are written in French on the cards (there is a meaning for the card upright and also reversed). It's short so you can type what is written and have a good translation with google translate since the sentences aren't complicated. The LWB is actually just one leaf, in French only for the edition that I have. Very simple, nothing more about the meanings concerning the cards (nevertheless there is a list of combinations when you pull 2,3 or 4 Kings/Queens/Jacks/ etc.) but an explanation regarding the …

I am very new to tarot so please excuse my complete ignorance. For the last two months I've basically been playing around and just starting to get familiar with it. However, over the last week something happened at work. This is something that I completely screwed up and my boss is about to come back from leave and find out. The issue is that I've known about about the screw-up for some time and just kept putting off fixing it. Anyway, for the last three days I've been pretty stressed and concentrating on what's happened I've drawn a card from the major arcana to see what it says. And every single day it has come up the same: Death. I did it thi…

I post a link (below) toward a video-interview with Dmitry Korolev about Russian cartomancy: "the Babushka Way". Here it is a general presentation concerning what is Russian cartomancy, but it is a clear and lively presentation. I tried to find this video on YouTube but apparently it only exists on Facebook (for now at least). Dmitry Korolev is young but quite knowledgeable! In a few words, Russian cartomancy is folk cartomancy, and traditional. There are definite meanings (not too much) for the cards, and definite spreads to deal with a Russian deck of 36 playing cards. It's really interesting and Russian cartomancy seems easier than French car…

I'm really curious about the name of the spread on the cover of this French cartomancy book and how it's read. It is identical in layout to one I created - having never seen this one - for the purpose of missing-person tarot readings. ETA: I just realized this isn't a Lenormand book, so this post is probably in the wrong section. https://www.dropbox.com/s/kz9ay5wf44526er/Train to Nowhere Spread.pdf?raw=1

I have a couple of Lenormand decks (Mystical and Gilded Reverie), don't think I have a Kipper. What's the difference between them in use? On the surface they appear very similar, but obviously I've not used the Kipper at all and I've only tried out the Lenormand a couple of times. And can anyone recommend a Kipper?

Using reversals with oracles (especially the kipper and the lenormand) After I had just brought my lenormand deck and did a reading exchange with my friend who had the lenormand as well. So we were getting started and she said now this card is reversed and I was like what you use reversals ? and she said yes , I use them in the tarot why not the lenormand:? And that blew my mind for I was content to use the reversals with the tarot for in the books I had when I first started out had reversals. And I realized the shock I had was what tarot purists must have had when the new generation at the time started using reversals. (assuming marsielles purists didn’t use reversals…

In a previous thread, we discussed how to figure out our Tarot Birth Card. I just found out that it has an equivalent in cartomancy - the Life Card! It's quite simple and straightforward really, and there's no need for any calculation. Just look at the table below: Find your month of birth on the first row and your day of birth on the first column. Take note of the cell where they intersect. That there contains your Life Card. So for example, if you're born on January 1, by looking at the table you'd see that your Life Card is the King of Spades. January 2 equates to the Queen of Spades, 3 to the Jack, etc. Now once you find out your Life Card, go to The …

(I didn't quite know where to put this, since could be inclusive of Tarot as well as non-Tarot. Is it OK here?) Post 'em here. :D I've only come across one other person who uses this deck. Even people on French forums don't seem to be using it, though the people are familiar with it, and might even own a copy. It's the Petit Oracle des Dames. I think it came out in 1799 or so, about the same time as the Game of Hope. I got this one back in 2013. It reads well, and everything is pretty self-explanatory. You probably already recognize some of the images from Etteilla Tarot. The deck is a mashup of that, French Sibyl, and Grand Jeu myth, with a good many of th…