Cartomancy refers to fortune-telling with the use of cards. This form of divination emerged in the 14th century, right in the heels of the emergence of the playing cards. Those who practice this form of divination are called cartomancers or card readers. Cartomancy is often the choice for some people who like the familiarity brought by the common playing cards, compared with the more alien-quality that the other tools for divination have.

History of cartomancy

It is believed that card reading initially was for the entertainment of the concubines of the Chinese emperor in the 12th century. Tracing the origins of card reading back to China seems logical enough since it was China that first invented paper.

Other accounts place the origin of the first deck of playing cards to 15th century in Italy. A total of 22 more cards were added to the card deck during this time, and it was believed that this is where the first tarot cards first came from.

Famous historical figures who used cartomancy to aid them in decision making include Napoleon, the Empress Josephine, and Tsar Alexander of Russia.

What you can learn from cartomancy readings

Cartomancy readings are useful in times when you need guidance in making decisions, whether you are doing cartomancy readings online or cartomancy tarot reading with the help of a reader. In times of confusion, when we feel like we do not know what the right answer is, or when we feel like we know the answer but circumstances hinder us from making a choice, cartomancy readings can help us put the final nail in the coffin and decide with certainty. A cartomancy reading is also useful during times when we are making decisions that we feel we cannot yet share with the rest of the family. In this case, a professional card reader can help us make those decision without the bias that family members often bring with them. A professional card reader who has had experience helping clients deal with sensitive problems can help by giving an accurate, insightful and objective reading.

Cartomancy card spreads

Card reading can be done with an ordinary 52-card poker deck, but a better alternative would be tarot cards. There are three popular card spreads used by most card readers today. These are the Celtic cross spread, the horse-shoe spread and the three card spread. In a Celtic cross spread, the reader spread 10 cards on the table, with five set into a cross and four cards placed vertically beside the cross. The last card is placed horizontally across of the central card of the cross, commonly referred to as the significant card.

The cards are arranged in a V-shape or in a horse-shoe spread and read from left to right in order to see the past, the present, obstacles and problems, possible solutions, and outcomes in the future.

Finally, the three card spread uses three cards, each of which represent the past, the present, and the future.

Difference between Tarot cards and cartomancy cards

Cartomancy can use the standard deck of playing cards or Tarot cards, which ever the client or the reader prefers.In most cases, however, most readers prefer to use Tarot cards.A deck of Tarot cards consists of the Major Arcana, 21 trump cards and one Fool cards, and a Minor Arcana, composed of 56 conventional cards. Any deck of cards that does not have this number and classification of cards can be used for cartomancy.