Two eights.—A brief love-dream; reversed, small pleasures and trifling pains.
Four Sevens.—Intrigues among servants or low people, threats, snares, and disputes; reversed, that their malice will be impotent to harm, and that the punishment will fall on themselves.
Three sevens.—Sickness, premature old age; reversed, slight and brief indisposition.
Two sevens.—Levity; reversed, regret.
Any picture-card between two others of equal value—as two tens, two Aces, etc.—denotes that the person represented by that card runs the risk of a prison.
It requires no great efforts to commit these significations to memory, but it must be remembered that they are but what the alphabet is to the printed book: a little attention and practice, however, will soon enable the learner to form these mystic letters into words, and words into phrases; in other language, to assemble these cards together, and read the events, past and to come, their pictured faces pretend to reveal.
There are several ways of doing this; but we will give them all, one after another, so as to afford our readers an ample choice of methods of prying into futurity.
DEALING THE CARDS BY THREES.
Take the pack of thirty-two selected cards (viz., the Ace, King, Queen, Knave, Ten, Nine, Eight, and Seven of each suit), having before fixed upon the one you intend to represent yourself, supposing always you are making the essay on your own behalf. If not, it must represent the person for whom you are acting. In doing this, it is necessary to remember that the card chosen should be according to the complexion of the chooser, King or Queen of Diamonds for a very fair person, ditto of Hearts for one rather darker, Clubs for one darker still, and Spades only for one very dark indeed. The card chosen also loses its signification, and simply becomes the representative of a dark or fair man, or woman, as the case may be.
This point having been settled, shuffle the cards, and either cut them or have them cut for you (according to whether you are acting for yourself or another person), taking care to use the left hand. That done, turn them up by threes, and every time you find in these triplets two of the same suit, such as two Hearts, two Clubs, etc., withdraw the highest card and place it on the table before you. If the triplet should chance to be all of the same suit, the highest card is still to be the only one withdrawn; but should it consist of three of the same value but different suits, such as three Kings, etc., they are to be all appropriated. We will suppose that, after having turned up the cards three by three, you have been able to withdraw six, leaving twenty-six, which you shuffle and cut, and again turn up by threes, acting precisely as you did before, until you have obtained either thirteen, fifteen, or seventeen cards. Recollect that the number must always be uneven, and that the card representing the person for whom the essay is made must make one of it. Even if the requisite thirteen, fifteen, or seventeen have been obtained, and this one has not made its appearance, the operation must be recommenced. Let us suppose the person whose fortune is being read to be a lady, represented by the Queen of Hearts, and that fifteen cards have been obtained and laid out—in the form of a half circle—in the order they were drawn, viz., the Seven of Clubs, the Ten of Diamonds, the Seven of Hearts, the Knave of Clubs, the King of Diamonds, the Nine of Diamonds, the Ten of Hearts, the Queen of Spades, the Eight of Hearts, the Knave of Diamonds, the Queen of Hearts, the Nine of Clubs, the Seven of Spades, the Ace of Clubs, the Eight of Spades. Having considered your cards, you will find among them two Queens, two Knaves, two tens, three sevens, two eights, and two nines; you are, therefore, able to announce: