4 Nines, good actions; 3 Nines, imprudence; 2 Nines, money.
4 Eights, reverses in business or love; 3 Eights, marriage; 2 Eights, trouble.
4 Sevens, intrigues; 3 Sevens, pleasure; 2 Sevens, small affairs and gossip.
THE CONSULTATION. There are several ways of telling fortunes, but one example will suffice. The most important thing is to know what your client wants to be told, and the next is to be sure that she cuts the cards with her left hand.
The cards are shuffled, presented to be cut, and then counted off into sevens, every seventh card being laid face up on the table, the six intermediates being placed on the bottom of the pack each time. When twelve cards have been obtained in this manner, they are laid out in a row, and examined to see if the card representing the questioner is among them. If not, they must be gathered, shuffled, cut, and dealt again. A married man with light hair would be the ♢ K, with dark hair, the ♣ K. If he claims to be single, the ♡ J. If your client is a woman, the ♡ Q will do for blondes, the ♣ Q for brunettes. Do not ask if she is married, and take no notice of rings.
Having obtained the necessary twelve cards, the more you know about the consultant’s history, hopes, and prospects, and the better you can judge her character, the less attention you need pay to the cards, and the more satisfactory the result of the consultation will be. It is not necessary to stick too closely to the meanings of the cards, nor to their combinations; the great thing is to tell your client what she wants to hear.
In order to confirm the truth of the pleasing story you have built upon the twelve cards, they must be gathered together, shuffled, presented to be cut with the left hand, and then divided into four packets of three cards each. The first packet is for the Person, the second for the House, the third for the Future, and the fourth for the Surprise. Each packet is successively turned up, and its contents interpreted in connection with the part of the questioner’s life which it represents. In case there should be nothing very surprising in the last pack, it is well to have a few generalities on hand, which will be true of a person’s future six times out of ten. The expert at fortune telling has a stock of vague suggestions, supposed to be given by the cards, which are so framed as to draw from the client the drift of her hopes and fears. The scent once found, most of the fortune telling is in the nature of confirming the client’s own views of the situation. Nevertheless, when well done, by a good talker, fortune telling is very amusing, especially in a small company.