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.