Seven of Hearts--Delay or slight anxiety.

Seven of Spades--Speedily.

Seven of Diamonds and Ace of Spades--News read in the newspaper.

Ace of Spades and any Court Card--Photograph.

Two Red Tens with Ace of Diamonds--A wedding.

Two Black Tens with Ace of Spades--A funeral.

Eight and Nine of Clubs--Dinner or supper party.

Seven of Clubs--A present.

Three Eights--Good business transactions.

Three Nines--A removal.

Three Tens--A rise, either of money or social.

PAST, PRESENT AND FUTURE

The person wishing to try her fortune in this manner (we will suppose her to be a young, fair person, represented by the eight of hearts), must well shuffle, and cut with the left hand, the pack of thirty-two cards; after which she must lay aside the topmost and undermost cards, to form the surprise. There will now remain thirty cards, which must be dealt out in three parcels--one to the left, one in the middle, and one to the right.

The left-hand pack represents the Past; the middle, the Present; and the one on the right hand, the Future. She must commence with the Past, which we will suppose to contain these ten cards: The king of clubs, ace of spades, jack of diamonds, nine of diamonds, ace of hearts, jack of hearts, queen of hearts, king of spades, jack of clubs, and the king of hearts.

She would remark that picture-cards predominating was a favorable sign, also that the presence of three kings proves that powerful persons were interesting themselves in her affairs; the three jacks, however, are supposed to warn her to beware of false friends; the nine of diamonds, some great annoyance overcome by some good and amiable person, represented by the queen of hearts; the two aces, notice of a plot. Taking the cards in the order they lay: "The king of clubs--a frank, open hearted man--ace of spades--fond of gayety and pleasure, is disliked by--jack of diamonds--an unfaithful friend--nine of diamonds--who seeks to injure him. The ace of hearts--a love letter--jack of hearts--from a gay young bachelor to a fair amiable woman--queen of hearts--causes--king of spades--a lawyer to endeavor to injure the clever--jack of clubs--enterprising young man, who is saved from him by--the king of hearts--a good and powerful man.

Nevertheless, as the jack of clubs is placed between two similar cards, he has run great risk of being imprisoned through the machinations of his enemy."

The second parcel, the Present, containing the ten of diamonds, nine of spades, eight of spades, queen of diamonds, queen of clubs, eight of hearts, seven of spades, ten of spades, queen of spades, eight of diamonds, signifies:

"The ten of diamonds--a voyage or journey, at that moment taking place--nine of spades--caused by the death or dangerous illness of someone--eight of spades--whose state will occasion great grief--queen of diamonds--to a fair woman. The queen of clubs--an affectionate woman seeks to console--eight of hearts--a fair young girl, who is the person making the essay--seven of spades--who has secret griefs--ten of spades--causing her many tears--queen of spades--these are occasioned by the conduct of either a dark woman or a widow, who--eight of diamonds--is her rival."

The third packet of cards, the Future, we will suppose to contain the eight of clubs, ten of clubs, seven of diamonds, ten of hearts, seven of clubs, nine of hearts, ace of diamonds, jack of spades, seven of hearts, and the nine of clubs, which would read thus:

"In the first place, the large number of small cards foretells success in enterprises, although the presence of three sevens predicts an illness. The eight of clubs--a dark young girl--ten of clubs--is about to inherit a large fortune--seven of diamonds--but her satirical disposition will destroy--ten of hearts--all her happiness. Seven of clubs--a little money and--nine of hearts--much joy--ace of hearts--will be announced to the person making the essay by a letter, and--jack of spades--a wild young man--seven of hearts--will be over joyed at receiving--nine of clubs--some unexpected tidings. The cards of surprise--viz., the king of diamonds and the ace of clubs--predict that a letter will be received from some military man and that it will contain money."

THE MATRIMONIAL ORACLE

In the case of consultation upon the subject of marriages in general, the Consultant should be withdrawn from the pack, inasmuch as it is necessary that the couple should be of the same color, in order that a marriage be formed.

Should the young lady be a blonde who consults the oracle upon questions of marriage, she should pick out the jack of hearts and the queen of hearts, and taking these two cards from out of the pack, place them aside; then, let her shuffle the cards well and again pick out eleven, which are in like manner set aside. Then take up the jack and queen of hearts and replace them among the remaining cards in the pack, shuffle them again, place them in succession in a line from right to left. It is necessary so that the marriage be an accomplished fact, that a quint, or five cards in hearts, appear in the lay-out, and, if it be found at the end of the deal at your left, the marriage will be a certainty; but, should the nine of diamonds or the seven of spades be placed in front, the marriage will be most certainly delayed; should the nine of diamonds alone appear, the delay will be not over serious; but should, in place of these cards, there be found the king of spades inverted, or three tens, the marriage will never come off.

If the lady be a brunette she will take the jack of clubs, and, if very dark, the jack of spades as her representative husband, and represent herself by a queen of corresponding color, always taking care that the card ordinarily used as the Consultant be retired from the pack.

Should a widow desire to contract a second marriage, she represents herself as the queen of clubs and her future husband as the king of clubs, which cards should be retired and placed aside. Then the pack is shuffled well and dealt upon the table, face downward, in five rows; take these up again in a reversed manner, shuffle them well and cause the consultant to cut, and to select eleven from the pack, which are to be put aside. Then retake the king and queen of clubs, and place them among the remainder of the pack, whence the eleven have been withdrawn; shuffle well and again let them be cut, and then deal, placing the first one dealt upon the table directly in front of you in an isolated position--this is the surprise. Deal the others and place them in a single line below the surprise card on the table, ranging from right to left, one by one. Turn over all the cards except the surprise, which is only to be consulted after the rest. Read the cards thus placed likewise from right to left, and study their significations well. It is necessary, in order that the widow's desire for a second marriage be successful, that the queen of spades come out inverted, that the king of the same color likewise appear, and that the jack of spades be at the side of the ace of spades or of hearts, and under this combination her second marriage is an a.s.sured fact. Should the ace of spades emerge near the jack, it will also be necessary that the ace of hearts come out to effect an alliance; but, if the consultant have three tens before her, the marriage will not occur; and, should the nine of spades come out, it denotes absolute failure. Again, if instead of these cards the eight of clubs and the eight of hearts appear, the marriage will be a great success. Great care should be observed in noticing whether three eights appear behind the Consultant, for in that instance the marriage will not be a happy one.

[Ill.u.s.tration: _The Star Method._]

THE STAR METHOD

We will suppose the person making the essay to be a widow, and consequently represented by the queen of spades. This card is, therefore, to be withdrawn from the pack, and laid face uppermost upon the table. The remaining thirty-one cards are then to be well shuffled, cut, the topmost card withdrawn and placed lengthwise, and face uppermost, above the head of the queen of spades. The cards are to be shuffled, cut, and the topmost card withdrawn, twelve more times, the manner of their arrangement being this: The queen of spades in the center, the first card lengthwise above her head, the second ditto at her feet, the third on her right side, the fourth on her left, the fifth placed upright above the first, the sixth ditto below the second, the seventh at the right of the third, the eighth at the left of the fourth, the ninth, tenth, eleventh, and twelfth, at the four corners, and the thirteenth across the center card--the queen of spades--thus forming a star. (See engraving.) We will suppose the fourteenth card to be the queen of spades, which represents the person making the essay; then--1. Ace of hearts; 2. King of clubs; 3. Ten of clubs; 4. Nine of diamonds; 5. Queen of clubs; 6. Eight of hearts; 7.

Ten of spades; 8. Jack of clubs; 9. Seven of clubs; 10. Ten of hearts; 11. Jack of diamonds; 12. Eight of diamonds; 13. Nine of clubs. These being placed at right angles, the person consulting them takes them up two by two, beginning with those last laid down.

The first card, 12, the eight of diamonds, and the one in the opposite corner, viz., 11, the jack of diamonds, read--"Overtures will be made--jack of diamonds--by a fair young man--next two cards, 10 and 9, ten of hearts--which will prove unsuccessful--seven of clubs--on account of something connected with money. Next two cards, 8 and 7, the jack of clubs--a clever dark young man--ten of spades--will be greatly grieved by, 6--eight of hearts, a fair girl to whom he is attached. Next two cards, 5 and 4, the queen of clubs--a dark woman--nine of diamonds--will be annoyed at not receiving, 3--ten of clubs--a sum of money--next two cards, 2 and 1, the king of clubs--which was to have been sent her by a generous dark man, who is fond of obliging his friends--ace of hearts--it will at last arrive, accompanied by a love-letter--13th card, placed across the queen of spades, nine of clubs--and be the cause of unexpected gain to the person consulting the cards."

SHORTER STAR METHOD

The shorter and simpler star method surrounds the card representing the person trying his or her fortune with a less number of cards. The cards are shuffled and cut as before described, and the topmost one withdrawn. We will suppose the center card to be the jack of clubs, representing a dark young man. The first topmost one proves to be the ace of clubs and is placed above the head of the jack. The second, the eight of hearts, is placed at his feet; the third, the jack of diamonds, at his right; the fourth, the queen of spades, at his left.

These are now read: Ace of clubs--"you will soon receive a letter which will give you great pleasure"--eight of hearts--"from a fair girl"--jack of diamonds--"a man in uniform"--queen of spades--"and a malicious widow will seek to injure you on that very account."

WISHES

Having finished all the different methods of laying the cards, various indications will now be given which are supposed to show whether the one who is consulting will obtain his or her wish. These are done in various methods, and each is given in order.

WISH NO. I.

The pack of thirty-two selected cards having been well shuffled and cut, proceed by turning them up by threes; if an ace appears amongst the three, those three cards must be taken out; and if the nine of hearts and the significator appear, they must also be taken out with the cards that accompany them. This operation has to be repeated three times, and if in the three times the four aces, the significator and the nine of hearts come out in eleven or nine cards, then the wish is taken to be certain; if they do not appear under twelve or fifteen, it is said the wish will not come to pa.s.s. To make the meaning perfectly clear, we will suppose that a dark man, represented by the king of clubs, is making the essay. Having well shuffled and cut the cards, they must be turned up in threes.

In the first come the king of diamonds, ace of spades, and king of clubs--the person who is making the essay; the next three are king and queen of spades and ten of diamonds--these are useless; the next three, the ten of hearts, six of diamonds and king of hearts--these are laid on one side; then the seven and eight of spades and ace of diamonds--these are withdrawn and are put over the other three, with the ace and significator; the next three--nine of diamonds, eight of clubs and ace of clubs, these come out; likewise the jack of clubs, ten of spades, and ace of hearts, and the two left are the jack of spades and nine of hearts--the other cards are useless. Fourteen cards are now left, they are shuffled and cut, and again dealt in threes.

The ace of spades, nine of hearts, king of spades remain; the next three, ten of spades, ace of hearts and nine of diamonds also remain.

The following triplet: king of diamonds, king of clubs and jack of clubs all come out. The seven of spades, ace of diamonds and eight of clubs remain, as also the two last--eight of spades and ace of clubs.

This makes eleven cards, so that the wish is considered to be gained; but if it is tried the third time, and more cards come out, then it is supposed that it will be very speedily accomplished.

WISH NO. II.