The Amusements of Cartomancy 1 Le Marchand THE AMUSEMENTS OF CARTOMANCY or A Picturesque Description of each card of the Great Game of the Ladies' Oracle with Combinations to Explain the Present, the Past and the Future Written by Madame Le Marchand Translated by Jean-Christophe Dufau PARIS Available in the shops of all novelty merchants 2 The Amusements of Cartomancy THE AMUSEMENTS OF CARTOMANCY Copyright © 2016-17 by Abracax House®. All rights reserved. This work is an original translation of a work which has entered the public domain. All portions of this work pertaining to content translation, annotations and notes, original artwork, and any and all other original content, is subject to copyright. 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The publisher makes no warranty, express or implied, with respect to the material contained herein. This book is for entertainment purposes only. Publisher: Abracax House® Translation and Annotation: Jean-Christophe Dufau Editor, Layout: Michael Coles 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 3 Le Marchand About this e-Book This e-book is made available by the publisher, Ab- racax House, free of charge for personal use. Under the rights granted by the publisher are the rights to use the content freely for personal use so long as the content of this e-book remains unmodified. This e-book may not be sold or modified in any way. By downloading and reading or using this e-book, you agree to these terms. If you do not agree with the publisher’s terms as de- scribed above and on the prior copyright page, close the e-book and delete all local copies of it immediately. 4 The Amusements of Cartomancy Foreword by Madame Le Marchand These days everyone knows that sorcerers don't exist and, therefore, that no one can predict the future in any particu- lar form. Nevertheless, there are still a few people who prac- tice cartomancy as a pure and simple leisure activity. Our little book is meant for them. The difference between our book and the other books of the same kind is the selection of the oracles. The author con- sidered that a game of whatever kind would be unlikely to entertain people if it left unpleasant feelings in the minds of those who practiced it. Therefore, the author only collected the oracles that were likely to bring some leisure and smiles to the lips of the charming female readers who might browse it. May this book achieve such a thing! In this way it will have reached its goal and, by reading this book, our gentle readers will earn that laughter which adds to graces and beauty. 5 Le Marchand Method To get an oracle with cards, we use a spread made of 78 tarots.a Here are the figures and their corre- sponding meanings: 4 kings Numbers 22, 36, 50, 64 4 queens Numbers 23, 37, 51, 65 4 knights Numbers 24, 38, 52, 66 4 pages Numbers 25, 39, 53, 67 4 tens Numbers 26, 40, 54, 68 4 nines Numbers 27, 41, 55, 69 4 eights Numbers 28, 42, 56, 70 4 sevens Numbers 29, 43, 57, 71 4 sixes Numbers 30, 44, 58, 72 4 fives Numbers 31, 45, 59, 73 4 fours Numbers 32, 46, 60, 74 4 threes Numbers 33, 47, 61, 75 4 twos Numbers 34, 48, 62, 76 4 aces Numbers 35, 49, 63, 77 You find there card no 1, which represents the male consulting person, and card no 8, which represents the female consulting person. The six days of creation are numbers 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 and 7. The four cardinal virtues are numbers 9, 10, 11 and 12. Then come the remarkable events of man's life under numbers 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21 and 78. a The Great Game of the Ladies' Oracle, 78 tarot cards, printed in th chromolithography so as to imitate 15 century miniatures. 6 The Amusements of Cartomancy Operationb After shuffling the spread both ways—that is to say by shuffling the cards alternately upwards and down- wards—you must have the spread cut by the consult- ing person, who must use her left hand, which is crit- ical to success. Then you must take the first 42 cards of the spread and make six piles of seven that you will place on the table in the following order: You must take these piles one after the other begin- ning with the first, and you must spread their cards on one line going from right to left. Therefore, you will have what follows: b The operation we give above is borrowed from a very thorough book entitled The Grand Etteilla or the Art of Reading Cards, etc., etc., by Julia Orsini, a big in-12 volume with the 78 figures, etc., etc. (See the catalog at the end of this volume). At the same addresses, you can also purchase a book bearing on the art of reading the cards. Its title is Genuine Cartomancy, by French sibyl L. Norma. It is a new edition adorned with 1750 draw- ings. 7 Le Marchand All in all, you will have seven piles of six cards each. Then take the first card of each of these piles, shuffle them and form a line from the right to the left accord- ing to the way Easterners write. Next, take two cards from each pile, shuffle and form two lines of seven in the same way as is explained above. Pick up the remaining twenty-one cards, shuffle them and form three lines of seven, which you must place after the three others. When this is done, you will have six lines of seven cards. At this point you must explain them following what is said from page 11 to page 88, starting from the right and finishing on the left. Thus, let’s suppose you are reading the cards for a young girl and that, on the first line, you find numbers 63, 20, 64, 77, 44, 13 and 42. Take no 8, the female consulting person, out of the game and place it to the right of no 42, as below: 8 The Amusements of Cartomancy You say: 8 The female consulting person. 42 A young fair-haired girl. 13 Marriage. 44 Future. 77 Happiness. 64 Brown-haired man. 20 Fortune. 63 Pregnancy. It is easy to formulate an oracle as below. You say: 8 is the female consulting person, 42 is a fair-haired girl, 13 heralds marriage, 44 that the marriage will take place soon, 77 that it will be a happy one, 64 that the husband-to-be will be a brown-haired man, 20 that he will be rich and 63 that they will have many children. When no 8 is present in the line, you place it at the beginning and replace it with a card taken at random in the spread so as to complete the line of seven cards. When you make the spread for a man, you do for no 1 that which is said above for no 8. If, with this first line, you haven't managed to form a sentence that may be explained clearly, as in the case where, instead of no 64, which represents a brown-haired man, you find no 23, which is a country- woman, or another card that breaks the logic of the sentence, you will explain the 2nd line and so on until you manage to complete an oracle that makes sense. Here is the simplified meaning of the 78 tarots: 9 Le Marchand UPRIGHT REVERSED 1 The world. The male consulting per- son. 2 Clarification. Fire. 3 Intention. Water. 4 Austerity. Air. 5 Travel. Earth. 6 Night. Day. 7 Support. Protection. 8 Rest. The female consulting person. 9 Justice. The jurist. 10 Temperance. The wise man. 11 Strength. The sovereign. 12 Prudence. The people. 13 Marriage. Union. 14 A big strength. A small strength. 15 Sickness. Disease. 16 The ruling. The ruling. 17 End. Nothingness. 18 Traitor. Falsehood. 19 Misery. Prison. 20 Fortune. Increase. 21 Dissent. Arrogance. 22 Countryman. Good man. 23 Countrywoman. Good woman. 24 Departure. Disunion. 25 Good foreigner. News. 26 Betrayal. Betrayal. 10 The Amusements of Cartomancy UPRIGHT REVERSED 27 Delay. Crosstie. 28 Day in the country. Quarrel. 29 Negotiation. Indecision. 30 Servant. Awaiting. 31 Gold. Trial. 32 Society. Prosperity. 33 Initiatives. Past sorrows. 34 Grief. Surprise. 35 Fall. Birth. 36 Fair-haired man. Man in power. 37 Fair-haired woman. Woman in power. 38 Arrival. Deceit. 39 Fair-haired boy. Liking. 40 The town. Wrath. 41 Victory. Sincerity. 42 Fair-haired girl. Satisfaction. 43 Thought. Projects. 44 The past.