We now come to the most important and approved method of telling
fortunes by cards, the method preferred and practiced in nearly all
countries. This widely accepted method requires but 32 cards of the 52
found in the pack, consisting of eight cards of each suit, as follows:
Ace, king, queen, jack, ten, nine, eight and seven only. To these may
be added, in some cases, the Consultant card, concerning which we have
spoken earlier in this work.
To enable this oracle to be read with an intelligent and proper
understanding it is important that one be fully informed as to all the
possible values or interpretations of the cards, singly and in
combination. Hence we shall devote a number of pages to these
definitions in very complete form before proceeding to elucidate for
you the various methods of dealing, laying and reading the cards. We
give first the simple and primary meanings, followed in detail by
their secondary or synonymical meanings, the whole constituting a
valuable work of reference for all who practice the art, enabling them
to give a full, fair and wise reading of every possible "fall" of the
cards. The primary meanings, while sufficient for the amateur, will
soon be seen by the student to be lacking in that completeness and
flexibility demanded by the adept. Their natural amplification into
their secondary and more extended definitions gives the interpreter
the fullest scope to exercise his powers of reading any possible
layout of the cards intelligently, and with satisfaction both to
himself and to the person consulting the oracle.