Playing cards have always been magical. While not as ubiquitous and long tenured as dice and other means of games and gambling, card games have been a part of western culture for over 600 years. Inevitably, as soon as something gets used for games, it immediately gets used for divination and fortune-telling as well. This form of divination has been called Cartomancy and since the 15th century it has an incredibly diverse and fascinating history, one which currently sees it as the second most popular form of divination in the western world.
If you have yet to listen to my episode on The History of Tarot, please make sure you do so!
Oh! Also! Very early on in my Podcasting days I did a short episode on Cartomancy as well.
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Much of the information for this episode came from Mary K. Greer’s work on the Origins of Cartomancy. Mary has one of the best Cartomancy Blogs on the Internet for the last 15 years. Well worth your time to check it out; it is the greatest resource on Cartomancy we have right now!
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Over the last twelve years, my favourite method of using an Ouija board has been a highly portable version using blank Playing Cards. I have a Patreon video which shows you how to make one for yourself – The GOuija!
Show Notes & Book Recommendations
- The World of Playing Cards – This is such a fantastic website; such a treasure. If you love Playing Cards of every kind you have now found the best resource
- Who invented playing cards? The history of the 52-card deck
- Short History of Cartomancy by Ross Caldwell
- Mamluk Playing Cards
- Oldest Evidence for Divination with Cards?
- A Closed Kickstarter Campaign for The Mainzer Losbuch – An English Translation With Cards – Very cool!
- Playing Cards and Popular Culture in Sixteenth-Century Nuremberg
- Francesco Marcolini and an English translation of his Garden of Thoughts
- Some scans of a copy of Marcolini’s Garden of Thoughts. Amazing!
- Games and Game Playing in European Art and Literature, 16th-17th Centuries edited by Robin O’Bryan
- The first deck of Cards made specifically for Fortune-telling?
- Harry Margary makes a reproduction of the above cards
- The Renaissance Philosophy of Cartomancy
- Tasseography and Tasseomancy
- The Social Life of Coffee: The Emergence of the British Coffeehouse by Brian Cowan – Huge thanks to Liam for the suggestion of this book! It looks awesome!
- The New and Complete Fortune Teller – A scan of a 19th century republication
- “SKETCHLEY’s New Invented CONVERSATION CARDS.”
- A closed Auction for some of Sketchley’s Conversational Cards
- S. Hooper’s Fortune-Telling Cards. Could these be the Oracle Deck as advertised ten years earlier?
- Etteilla, ou maniere de se récréer avec un jeu de cartes
- A late 19th century example of Etteilla Cards
- A History of Oracle Cards by Robert M. Place – Must Read!
- Marie Lenormand, the most famous card reader of all time – From Mary K. Greer’s Blog
- Marie Anne Adelaide Lenormand – Biographical notes
- The Game of Hope, the Anchor, and the Tarot by Robert. M. Place
- The Game of Hope Manual English Translation
- More about The Game of Hope
- Grab yourself a reproduction of The Game of Hope cards
- Sibilla and Gypsy Fortune Telling Card Decks
- About Sibilla Cards
- Maybe Lenormand by Ryan Edward – One of my absolute favourite Cartomancy Decks
- The Complete Lenormand Oracle Handbook: Reading the Language and Symbols of the Cards by Caitlín Matthews
- Ducale – Jeu de 78 Cartes – Jeu de Tarot – Fabriqué en France – The Best of all worlds! If you learn to tell fortunes with these you are set!
- The Folklore of Playing Cards from Chambers Book of Days – Great stuff!
- Kipper Fortune Telling Cards – Have a look!
- Old Gypsy Fortune Telling Cards – an American Jewish immigrant/hoodoo deck – From Mary K. Greer’s Blog
- Tarot and Divination Cards: A Visual Archive by Letitia Barbier
- The Playing Cards’ Lifeworld: A Double-sided Agency in Meaning-making
- The Devil and the Two of Hearts – Great story here from Ross Caldwell
- Get yourself the prettiest of Playing Cards from Stockholm 17
- The Tarot Deck of Austin Osman Spare – Unfortunately most of them are out of stock
What Magic is This? 