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Rossetti’s “The Card-Dealer”
Pre-Raphaelite artist and poet Dante Gabriel Rossetti’s first published poem, “The Card-Dealer,” was based on a painting by Theodore von Holst (1810-1844) called “The Wish” or “The Fortune-Teller”...
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Secrets of the Playing Card
The History Channel TV program Decoding the Past produced a 45 minute episode on the “Secrets of the Playing Card” (2006) featuring several well-known tarot historians like David Parlett, Thierry...
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Harry Herman Roseland
The most significant painter of American cartomancy is probably Harry Herman Roseland (c.1867—1950). He was born and died in Brooklyn and was most known for depicting the lives of African-Americans,...
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Reading the Story in a Picture – Doré’s Saltimbanques
Gustave Doré (1832-1883) - Les Saltimbanques (Entertainers), 1874 Several paintings of card readers tell fascinating stories. As tarot readers we work with the images in pictures as rich symbols of the...
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Oldest Cartomancy Meanings in English
Dr. Flamstead’s and Mr. Patridge’s New Fortune-Book containing . . . Their new-invented method of knowing one’s fortune by a pack of cards appears to be the oldest book with instructions on...
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Translating Images in a Tarot Reading
Much is made of how tarot cards can be interpreted through their images or symbols—especially modern decks that feature pictorial scenes with lots of images on all the cards. This post is about how to...
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Minetta’s Star of Fortune
In 1896 a gem of a book called What the Cards Tell appeared by “Minetta.” Minetta also wrote a book on teacup fortune telling. A special deck by her appeared around 1898 (see ad below), followed by...
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Die Kartenlegerin
Heidi Kabel as Die Kartenlegerin The German word for Cartomancer is Kartenlegerin. A YouTube search brings up two fascinating works. The first is the amazing singer/actor Heidi Kabel as the card reader...
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Learning the Petit Lenormand
I’m happy to announce that I will be presenting, in webinar format, my recent slide-show on the Petit Lenormand Deck. It was showcased at the latest San Francisco Bay Area Tarot Symposium to great...
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Gadalka – a popular Russian Fortune Teller Song
The song in English: Fashion is constantly changing But as long as the world exists The Gypsy with an old pack of cards Will have at least one client… Someone longing for bizarre miracles Will knock...
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The Imitation Game – the Fox, the Bear and the Devil
How many of us go to a movie or a play—even a really good one—and a couple of days or weeks later don’t remember a thing about it? Yes, movies have a role in relaxation and just plain momentary...
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A Visit to Mlle. Lenormand by Marie, Comtesse d’Agoult
In June of 1834, Marie Catherine Sophie, Comtesse d’Agoult (later known as the writer Daniel Stern), at the urging of her friend, novelist Eugène Sue, sought a reading with Mlle. Lenormand that...
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285 Year-old Coffee-Ground and Card Readings
This post should help place the Viennese Coffee-Ground Cards of 1796, forerunners of the Petit Lenormand deck, in the context of the time. In 1724 eighteen-year-old Benjamin Franklin and his good...
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19th Century American Lenormand Decks
When I began collecting Lenormand decks I soon discovered that in the 19th and early 20th centuries they were far more common in the United States than I had imagined. It appears that German-American...
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Old Gypsy Fortune Telling Cards – an American Jewish immigrant/hoodoo deck
Old Gypsy Fortune Telling Cards from United Novelty, Mfc Company, Chicago, circa 1920-30 are a 36-card deck with playing cards inset and meanings given on each card. The instructions are in Polish and...
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What does he think about me?
“What does he (or she) think (or feel) about me?” In the whole field of card divination this is one of the most asked questions online and one of my least favorite. In my experience people are a hotbed...
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The Imitation Game – the Fox, the Bear and the Devil
How many of us go to a movie or a play—even a really good one—and a couple of days or weeks later don’t remember a thing about it? Yes, movies have a role in relaxation and just plain momentary...
View ArticleClik here to view.
A Visit to Mlle. Lenormand by Marie, Comtesse d’Agoult
In June of 1834, Marie Catherine Sophie, Comtesse d’Agoult (later known as the writer Daniel Stern), at the urging of her friend, novelist Eugène Sue, sought a reading with Mlle. Lenormand that...
View ArticleClik here to view.
285 Year-old Coffee-Ground and Card Readings
This post should help place the Viennese Coffee-Ground Cards of 1796, forerunners of the Petit Lenormand deck, in the context of the time. In 1724 eighteen-year-old Benjamin Franklin and his good...
View ArticleClik here to view.
19th Century American Lenormand Decks
When I began collecting Lenormand decks I soon discovered that in the 19th and early 20th centuries they were far more common in the United States than I had imagined. It appears that German-American...
View Article